A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland and Northamptonshire - December 11, 2013

There had been a Hume’s Warbler found at an undisclosed site in Northamptonshire and Neil McMahon had arranged access for today.  Ken and I were in the first group and we arrived at the site in Kelmarsh just before 09:00.  We met Neil, who informed us the bird was still present, and after parking he gave us instructions on where to go.  We walked down through the field and joined a party of birders observed the woodland from quite some distance.  Neil eventually joined us as we all walked closer to the wood.  There was clearly a lot of activity in the woodland with birds coming to a feeding area but initially there was no sign of the warbler.  Neil played a tape a couple of times and then the Hume’s was heard calling and then observed in an ash tree at the edge of the wood.  Over the next couple of hours we saw and heard the bird on several more occasions and always in either the original ash or oak behind.  We eventually called it a day and I returned home for lunch.

Just as I was approaching home I received a tweet informing me that there was a Black Redstart on the dam at Rutland Water.  I spoke to Roger who was at the dam and had seen the redstart and also the Great Northern Diver.  I called Dave and after some lunch we went over as he also wanted to see the Velvet Scoter at Eyebrook Reservoir.

On arrival at the dam, Colin and Matthew were present and had been joined by Tim MacKrill and Lloyd.  However they informed us that only Matthew had seen the redstart and diver and both had been lost.  I scanned the main water and picked up the Great Northern Diver immediately but there was still no sign of the Black Redstart.  Colin, Matthew, Dave and I set off walking along the dam and I reached the other side without seeing the bird and a birder on the far side and also not seen it.  We walked back to pumping station and whilst looking for it I noticed that the birder on the far side was walking back and was obviously photographing something.  We scanned the dam but all we could see was a Pied Wagtail when suddenly up popped the Black Redstart.  I called Colin and Matthew who had both left but by the time they got back we had lost it again.  However it wasn’t too long before we found again and we were able to get some nice views as it fed on east side of the dam.

Dave and I eventually left and went to Eyebrook Reservoir where we had distant and brief views of the Velvet Scoter from the corral.  Although the views were rather poor due to the distance and the fading light.