Dave and Roger had other
commitments today so I set off for Rutland Water on my own. I saw a couple of Red Kites on route, one
near Uppingham and the second just after passing through Preston.
I decided to go to the north
arm first and found three Black-necked Grebes almost immediately, which was a
surprise as I thought that only two were still present. The Long-tailed Ducks, as usual, were elusive
and although I did eventually have one in flight and then on water I couldn’t
find the second. The ten Barnacle Geese
were on the north shore and I had four Dunlin flying with a party of Lapwing
before they dropped onto the shoreline.
With the exception of Goldeneye most species of wildfowl still continue
to fall, although there were good numbers of Wigeon and Gadwall amongst the
mass of Coot in the fishponds. There were
also fourteen Egyptian Geese and a few Cormorants on the bunds within the
fishponds.
Feeling a little cold I
decided to make tracks to the Egleton Reserve and started to walk to snipe hide
on the wet meadow before I had lunch.
Just after passing mallard hide I met Rick who was watching a
Sparrowhawk overhead and after a brief chat I decided I would join him in
mallard hide as I had arranged to meet Ken in car park just before 12:00. This proved to be a good decision as we had
good views of a Peregrine as it caused some disturbance on lagoon one and a Red
Kite over the wet meadow. There was also
four Curlew on one of the islands and these then flew onto the meadow with
three coming quite close to the hide and a Water Rail was heard but failed to
show.
Red Kite over lagoon one
Curlew alighting on lagoon one meadow
Curlew on lagoon one meadow
Just after I had finished my
lunch Ken arrived and after spending some time talking to Malcolm and Steve we
headed off to shoveler hide on lagoon three.
There appeared to be very little on the lagoon today but I then found a
male and two red-headed Smew in the northeast corner of the lagoon. There was also five drake Pintail and two
Redshanks fed close to the hide. Malcolm
and Rick had joined us in the hide when Ken announced he had a Bittern. It was sat about half-way up the reeds and
only its neck and head were visible at times, which made it difficult to
see. As we watched it a second came up
close by and both then showed well on occasions. I called Steve to let him know that they were
showing but he was still in the centre but set off straight away. Just before he arrived we could only see one
of the birds, that then flew, just before Steve entered the hide, and dropped
out of sight. Malcolm then indicated
that the second bird was still present and Steve at least managed to see it
before it also disappeared.
Egyptian Geese on lagoon three
Redshank on lagoon three
Ken and I then decided to
leave and called briefly at sandpiper hide on lagoon four where there were two
Shelduck but very little else. We also
called at redshank hide on lagoon two but there was no sign of the Water Vole
today, although we did have several Pintail, a Green Sandpiper and another
Redshank.
From the centre I counted just
twenty-five Pintail and I say just as there had been ninety-two present
yesterday. There was also the only
Little Egret of the day and we eventually had five male and two female
Goosanders and two Redshanks.
The Barn Owl then came out
from the nest box and sat on the shelf.
I decided to walk back along the path to see if I could get a photo but
when I arrived at the vantage point it was perched amongst some bushes. I managed to get a couple of shots off before
it flew and settled on a post a little closer but unfortunately it flew again
and then disappeared deeper into the trees.
It wasn’t long before it was flying again but made a hasty retreat back
into the box when it was harassed by two Jackdaws. I returned to the centre seeing very little
else but the Barn Owl was again sitting outside the box just before I left.
Barn Owl
Jackdaw in the Egleton car park
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