Roger and I set off for
Rutland Water in pretty wet conditions and spent the first couple of hours in
the centre overlooking lagoon one. There
were plenty of Pintail still present, five Shelduck and at least four Goosander
and the Barn Owl could be seen at the entrance to the nest box but nothing else
of note was noted. There was also a
drake and four red-headed Smew we could see distantly on lagoon two.
As the rain eased we started
to walk towards lagoon three and found the last meadow covered in Redwing and I
counted 200 but there were probably more in the surrounding hedges. We also found a small party of birds feeding
in some alders, which quite difficult to observe but we eventually identified
at least three Siskin, four Goldfinch and a single Lesser Redpoll and a
Treecreeper was also observed.
After some lunch the weather
improved and we walked back to lagoon three.
The meadow was now devoid of any Redwing. We called at grebe hide on lagoon two where
there were more Pintail and a Redshank but we could only find two Smew, a male
and a red-head. The male was not in full
plumage and was different to the one seen earlier.
Lagoon three was pretty quiet with
six Shelduck and four distant Smew, a male and three red-heads. The drake was an full adult and presumably
they were four of the five we had seen earlier on lagoon two. There were at least fourteen Snipe roosting
on one of the islands that were quiet difficult to see and a Redshank flew in
and began feeding close to the hide. Two
Red Kites were observed distantly over Burley Wood but there was little else.
Shelduck on lagoon three
Shelduck on lagoon three
Shelduck on lagoon three
Drake Gadwall over lagoon three
Drake Shoveler over lagoon three
Lapwing over lagoon three
Redshank on lagoon three
A brief visit to smew hide on
lagoon two failed to produce the hoped for Green Sandpiper but we did have a
Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine pass over the hide.
On the walk back the Redshank
was still present in front of the hide and there were to Shelduck. We also called in redshank hide on lagoon two
and found two Green Sandpipers and a Buzzard on Brown’s Island.
We went back to the centre and
spent the rest of the time in the centre but three Curlew were the only
additions and they didn’t stay too long before flying off towards Lax
Hill. With the late fading we decided to
call it a day.
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