Dave, Roger and I were out
again but today the weather forecast was not good and it was already raining
when Roger picked me up. We went to
Dave’s who was driving and we set off for Rutland Water.
A brief visit to Barnsdale
Avenue produced nothing of note and we went to the Bird Watching Centre at
Rutland Water. It was still raining and
so we sat in the centre observing lagoons one and two for a couple of
hours. There were still plenty of
Pintail on the lagoon one and there were twenty-six Golden Plovers and a couple
of Dunlin amongst the flock of Lapwings on the large island. They were rather nervous and took to flight
on several occasions and we did pick a male and female Sparrowhawks during two
of these panics. A Buzzard was also
observed on Brown’s Island and there were five Shelduck on the two lagoons and
a couple of Little Egrets. With the rain
still falling we decided to call it a day and moved off to Deeping lakes in
Lincolnshire in the hope of seeing a Glossy Ibis.
When we arrived it was still
raining heavy and there was no sign of the ibis and we found out that it had
flown off earlier. It apparently had
done this before but returned to roost in some nearby trees. A local considered that it might have gone to
Maxey Pits but as this was rather out of the way and there was no conclusive
proof of it doing so we decided to head off to Eldernell in Cambridgeshire and
comeback later.
We saw a couple of Whooper
Swans before we reached Thorney and as we approached Eldernell we found four
adult and five juvenile Bewick’s Swan in a roadside fields and a little further
on circa sixty Whooper Swans also in a roadside field.
As we arrived at the Eldernell
car park the rain had almost stopped and did so for a short time whilst we were
there. There was a Buzzard sat on post
not too far away and I saw a second over the far side of the wash and also
picked up a nice male Marsh Harrier to the east. Dave then noticed a harrier drop into the
field just to the east of the car park, which turned out to be a ring-tailed
Hen Harrier. It then took to flight and
flew to the west giving excellent views through the scope. A Barn Owl was then seen in the same field
and this flew even closer before crossing the stream and disappearing. Dave then picked up a Short-eared Owl well to
the east and we eventually had a couple although they were always distant. The Barn Owl then made another appearance
just before we departed and made our way back Deeping Lakes. We had been at Eldernell for just under an
hour and had seen some really good birds.
Barn Owl
The Glossy Ibis was back when
we arrived at Deeping Lakes and we were able to watch for thirty minutes before
we set off for home. A Green Woodpecker
was also observed as it fed actively on the ground.
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