A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - December 28, 2013

I went to Eyebrook Reservoir first today in the hope of seeing the female Ring-necked Duck that has been present for about a week.  On arrival there were few birds in the bay to the south of the island where the Ring-necked Duck was being reported but there was no sign this morning.  I noticed that there were quite a few Tufted Duck on the far side and so I walked through the plantation almost a far as the dam.  There were plenty of Pochard and Tufted Duck and I did fine two drakes and a red-headed Smew but the Ring-necked Duck was not seen.  There was very little evidence of birds in the plantation, just a few Blackbirds and Chaffinch and single Blue Tit; Marsh Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Wren and Robin.  I did see two Ruddy Shelduck from the Stoke Dry car park but eventually gave up on the Ring-necked and went to Rutland Water.

Drake Smew

After some lunch I spent a few minutes observing the feeding station close to the centre where there was a Great Spotted Woodpecker briefly and a few Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinch, a Greenfinch and a Goldfinch.

Female Chaffinch

Male Greenfinch

Ken joined me in the centre and we found eight Curlews and a couple of Redshank on the lagoon and two Stonechats were performing well just in front of the centre.  I counted forty-four Pintail, which is a good count for late December and a Red Kite flew over causing some disturbance.

I walk to lagoon three produced some nice views of Fieldfare and Redwing as they fed in the last big meadow.  We went to buzzard hide on lagoon three where we had some reasonable views of a Water Rail and found a drake and three-red-headed Smew.  There were two Redshanks and a single Green Sandpiper feeding to the left of the hide but other than a single Shelduck and drake Pintail there was little else.  A Sparrowhawk flew over and a distant Red Kite was observed over Burley Wood.

Great Crested Grebe and Lapwing

Water Rail

Adult winter Great Black-backed Gull

We called at shoveler hide on lagoon three a found an immature male and four red-headed Smew at the back of the lagoon and had further views of the Green Sandpiper.

We walked back to the centre and found thirteen Curlew on the lagoon and also an additional Redshank and a Barn Owl performed for a while on the far side of the lagoon.

A rather quiet day and disappointing that the female Ring-necked Duck did not obliged.

A brief visit to Swithland Reservoir, Leicestershire - December 26, 2013

A Black-throated Diver had been found at Swithland Reservoir on Christmas Eve and was still present yesterday and so Dave and I had decided to go this morning to hopefully see it.

Whilst I was waiting for Dave, Roger called to say he was there and the bird was still present, which was good news.  When we arrived the early mist had become much denser but Roger was watching the bird just off the dam.  As the fog began to clear the bird moved further out but eventually came back just before we were about to leave and I was able to get a few shots of the bird, which was clearly a juvenile.  There was still at least five Scaup and two brown-headed Goosander but very little else.

Juvenile Black-throated Diver

A day’s birding in East Yorkshire - December 21, 2013

Dave, Roger, Ken and I set off for Patrington Haven in East Yorkshire and hopefully a juvenile Ivory Gull that had been present since the 15^th.  We received notification on route that it was still present near the pumping station and on arrival a number of birders were leaving.  Having parked up we walked to the pumping station and found that the Ivory Gull was still on the rocks on the edge of the Humber.  The views were rather distant and he strong wind didn’t make viewing easy but we were able to get reasonable views as the bird sat preening on the rocks.  It flew on a number of occasions but only to move to different rocks.  After a while Dave, Roger and I moved to the pumping station hoping that it would come to the fish that had been laid out for it.  Dave eventually decided he would go back to the car for lunch and asked the three of us to back by 13:00 as he wanted to Hornsea Mere for a Grey Phalarope.  At around 12:00 there was a shout that it was coming in and after flying around the pumping station for a while it came down to feed on the fish and provided some excellent photo opportunities.

Juvenile Ivory Gull

On the ground it seemed to have a preference for what looked like skinned salmon that had been laid out and it devoured most of it quite quickly but ignored most of the other fish.  It didn’t stay for much more than five minutes before it flew back towards the Humber and so elated we walked back to the car.

The tide was receding as we arrived and there were masses of waders feeding on the Humber with good numbers of Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Dunlin and Redshank but also Grey Plover, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit and Turnstone.  A Merlin was also observed perched briefly on the marsh before it flew towards us passing low over the mud and causing some panic amongst the feeding waders.

We stopped at Mappleton All Saints for some lunch on route to Hornsea as the car park allowed us to look out to sea but it was very quiet and we saw nothing but a few gulls.

On arriving at Hornsea Mere and getting the kit on I picked up a Great White Egret sitting in some trees on the far side and on walking to the point we were soon watching the distant Grey Phalarope.  The Great White Egret took to flight and came towards us when it was joined by a second before coming down.  They then flew again and settled together where we had seen the original one before flying off towards the western end of the mere.  There was a good selection of wildfowl on the mere but we couldn’t find the reported Long-tailed Duck or Velvet Scoter it were becoming quite difficult conditions and so we decided to leave.

Great White Egret

An afternoon in North Leicestershire - December 19, 2013

Dave and I went to Barrow-upon-Soar sewage works this afternoon in the hope of seeing a Siberian Chiffchaff. We did see a couple of Chiffchaff but there was no sign of the Siberian Chiffchaff.  There also appeared to be fewer birds than my last visit but we also had some nice views of a couple of Goldcrest.

Goldcrest

Chiffchaff

We also went to the northern side of Swithland Reservoir where there were still six Scaup and three brown-headed Goosanders present and we also had three Buzzard and twenty-five Cormorants.

A day’s birding at Rutland Water, Rutland - December 17, 2013

I had decided to spend the day at Rutland Water and to do so, on the Egleton Reserve.  I had three Buzzards and two Red Kites on route over to the reserve and on arrival went straight to buzzard hide on lagoon three.  On Saturday there had been a lot of birds in front of this hide but there were far fewer today.  One of the first birds I noticed was a Bittern sitting on the edge of the reeds soaking up the early morning sunshine.  The three male Pintail present on this lagoon were still present and a Water Rail was observed feeding quite close to the hide but there was no sign of any Smew today.  A Kingfisher was perched in the tree to the left of the hide but unfortunately I didn’t notice until it flew out and disappearing to the east.

Cormorant on lagoon three

Grey Heron on lagoon three

Grey Heron on lagoon three

Grey Heron on lagoon three

Mute Swan alighting on lagoon three

Drake Teal on lagoon three

Water Rail from buzzard hide

Water Rail from buzzard hide

Water Rail from buzzard hide

Water Rail from buzzard hide

Fieldfare close to shoveler hide

I moved on to smew hide where there was very little, although I possibly had a brief view of a Chiffchaff but I was unable to confirm it.  There was nothing from crake hide but I did see a Kingfisher from lapwing hide, which was presumably the same bird I had seen from buzzard hide.  I then visited plover hide on lagoon four seeing just three Shelduck with very little else and from bittern hide I did find a drake Smew on lagoon three and also a Green Sandpiper at the back of the lagoon.

Wren from smew hide

I walked back to the car park lunch having some nice views of a Jay close to redshank hide.

After lunch Nigel joined me and we went to the centre to view lagoon one.  There were only thirty-six Pintail on view today, which was a considerable reduction since Sunday.  There were ten Curlew at the back of the lagoon with two more feeding on the southern edge and three Redshanks were feeding to the right.  It is strange that how a few weeks ago the large island was covered in birds and yet now there are very few, although there were still plenty of birds on the water and other islands.

Nigel and I moved off heading to shoveler hide on lagoon three but called at grebe hide to look for the Stonechats but there was no sign, although there were another five Pintail.

On reaching shoveler hide there was now a male and two red-head Smew at the back of the lagoon where there was also four Redshank and two Water Rails were observed along the edge of the reeds.  Closer, three Snipe were observed amongst the decaying vegetation on the near island and a Red Kite was observed over the north arm.  I called at buzzard hide again where I had further views of the Water Rail and saw the Bittern again as it flew quite a long way over the reebed before dropping in.

I spent the last forty minutes or so back at the centre but other than a couple of Curlew there was little else and I called it a day.

A morning at Rutland Water, Rutland - December 15, 2013

I was back out at Rutland Water today to help with the monthly wildfowl count.  I was assigned the task of counting south arm two and Manton Bay and walked from the Lyndon Centre down to low water hide.  There was very little around the centre or on route to deep water hide, except for a few winter thrushes around the hide. From deep water hide there was a mass of Coot that was tightly packed and constantly on the move making them very difficult to count.  There were also quite a few Wigeon and Tufted Duck and a few Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebes.  Tufted Duck hide produced more Wigeon but there were also a good number of Gadwall and Mallard and smaller numbers of Teal, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye and there were three drake and two brown-headed Goosanders.  There was also c.800 Lapwing and fourteen Dunlin on the bund between Heron Bay and south arm two.  Two Lesser Redpoll were observed as I walked to shallow water hide.

There were good numbers of Wigeon, Gadwall and Teal from shallow water hide with smaller numbers of Mallard and there were a couple of Egyptian Goose, four Shelduck; two Shoveler, two Pochard and three more male Goosander.  There was also more Lapwing, eighteen Golden Plover and seven Dunlin.

I went to the centre to submit my count figures and spent a short while overlooking lagoon one, where I counted sixty-four Pintail and found four male and a brown-headed Goosander, two Dunlin and two Curlew.  I went to grebe hide on lagoon two following reports of the male and female Stonechat.  It didn’t take too long to locate the male that was observed perched on one of the highest points.  The female was far more elusive but I did see it briefly on one occasion.  There were also another five male Pintail and a single Little Egret.

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - December 14, 2013

Dave, Roger and I went to Eyebrook Reservoir first today as Dave had not had good views of the male Velvet Scoter.  We had a couple of Red Kite at Cranoe and another three near Blaston on route.

On arrival at Eyebrook Reservoir we walked to the fishing lodge to find the male Velvet Scoter still feeding in the same area and again providing superb views.  There was a Red Kite observed over the dam and what was presumably the same bird flew over us as we walked back.  On reaching the car we scoped the fields to the north finding twenty-four Red-legged Partridges, two Buzzards and four more Red Kites.  At the northern end of the reservoir we found two drake and a red-headed Smew, a pair of Goosander, a Shelduck and two Dunlin and thirty Golden Plovers flew over.

Drake Velvet Scoter

Drake Velvet Scoter

Red Kite

We drove the short distance to the north arm at Rutland Water finding a single female Goosander in the fishponds.  From the end of the spit Dave picked up the female Long-tailed Duck almost immediately but it was some distance away.  He also located the three Black-necked Grebes towards the north shore but the other two reported Long-tailed Ducks were remaining illusive.  Dave thought he had one close to the grebes but we couldn’t find it and he and Roger started to look further afield.  I then had one briefly in my scope and almost immediately what I thought was the second came up nearby.  It then took several minutes before we were convinced that there were actually two immature present.  Four Buzzards and two Red Kites were observed over Burley Wood and a third Red Kite was observed over Barnsdale Wood and we eventually found nine of the Barnacle Geese feeding close to Dickinson’s Bay and a Curlew flew over.

Cormorant over the north arm

After lunch we went to the centre where Ken joined us.  There were a couple of Dunlin and a Snipe amongst the flock of Lapwing and circa sixty Golden Plover flew over.  Pintail were still quite numerous on the lagoon and I counted forty-nine, although there were probably more.

As we walked towards lagoon three we found a party of birds feeding in the alders behind lagoon two and on close inspection there were ten Goldfinch, nine Siskin and two Lesser Redpoll.

On reaching shoveler hide on lagoon three we soon found four Smew, an immature male and three red-heads and Roger then found an adult male.  There were three drake Pintail but little else despite the water levels looking good.  We decided to go to smew hide on lagoon two, which produced very little and so we called at buzzard hide on lagoon three.  This was more productive with a Green Sandpiper and Redshank coming close to the hide on occasions and there also close but brief views of a Water Rail.  The Water Rail appeared a little further away when it spent some considerable time feeding on an exposed island.  Both the adult and immature male Smew and two of the red-heads were visible on occasions and a Kingfisher flashed in front of the hide.

Gadwall over lagoon three

Drake Smew

Lapwing on lagoon three

Redshank on lagoon three

Redshank on lagoon three

Green Sandpiper on lagoon three

Green Sandpiper on lagoon three

Green Sandpiper on lagoon three

A brief visit to sandpiper hide on lagoon four produced just two Shelduck and so we returned to the centre.  The weather had now taken a turn for the worse with quite a strong south-westerly wind and grey skies and a threat of rain.  Seven Curlew flew in but didn’t stay too long and there were five male and two brown-headed Goosander now on the lagoon and a Water Rail was seen briefly.  We kept a lookout for the Barn Owl in the nest box but it didn’t appear and it either wasn’t still using it as roost or felt the weather was not to its liking.  As the light was beginning to fade quite quickly we called it a day.