Dave, Roger and I headed for
the dam at Rutland Water where we soon found both the Black-throated and Great
Northern Divers and eventually the Black Redstart, which had all been present
since the beginning of the year. Another
birder indicated that they had seen the Siberian Chiffchaff in the bushes below
the dam, so we went and took a look.
After a short period searching the bird was found as it fed amongst the
bushes. It was feeding actively in the
spring like conditions and provided some nice views. A Red Kite and Buzzard
were also observed.
Siberian Chiffchaff
Having cleared up at the dam
we went to the north arm seeing a Sparrowhawk as we turned onto the Hambleton
Peninsular. As Dave and I walked to the
end of the spit Roger indicated that there were five wild swans, which turned
out to be five adult Whooper Swans. We
soon found all three Long-tailed Ducks and then four Black-necked Grebes close
to the north shore. The ten Barnacle
Geese were feeding on the north bank and there was a single Oystercatcher in
the fishponds and a Redshank flew across the spit and headed to the north
shore. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was
also found amongst the flock of Black-headed and Common Gulls.
Lapwing over the north arm
During lunch we had some nice
views of a Treecreeper, which was heard calling and singing. After lunch in the Egleton car park we called
at the Bird Watching Centre and found eighteen Curlew, a Bar-tailed Godwit and
six Golden Plovers on the lagoon. There
was a single Shelduck at the back of the lagoon and a second could be seen on
the wet meadow and two drake Pintail flew over.
A Buzzard was also observed on one of the osprey nest platforms on
Brown’s Island.
With little else of note we
headed off towards lagoon three calling at redshank hide on lagoon two on
route. There were two trees down across
the path to the hide but we managed to still get to the hide. Seven Smew had been reported but all we could
find was a single roosting male. There was
a Green Sandpiper feeding on one of the small islands before it flew towards
lagoon one.
Rain started to fall and so we
set off for bittern hide on lagoon three.
We were in the hide for quite some time as the rain became quite
persistent. A Water Rail called to the
left and Roger and Dave had brief views as it ran across a channel in the
reeds. A Little Egret performed well in
front of the hide and a Snipe and Green Woodpecker were observed on the grass
between the hide and shoveler hide.
There were also four Shelduck and plenty of common wildfowl on the
lagoon but we saw very little else.
Cormorant over lagoon three
Little Egret from bittern hide
Little Egret from bittern hide
Little Egret from bittern hide
As the rain eased we set off
back to the centre and we had c.150 Golden Plover and a Dunlin amongst the
large flock of Lapwing overhead.
Something had clearly disturbed them on lagoon four and we suspected
that it might have been a bird of prey but we couldn’t find anything.
On reaching the centre we
scanned lagoon one and found four Goosander and just as we were thinking of
leaving the Barn Owl came out of its box.
There were reports of
Brambling roosting in the north arm and Dave had seen them last week so we
headed off back.
We soon found the Brambling in
the north arm; eventually counting nineteen and Dave found an adult Caspian
Gull amongst the pre-roost gathering of gulls.
The rain then began to fall again and so we called it a day and headed
off home. We had recorded eight-eight
species between us and I had seen eight-six and heard another. It had been another excellent day’s birding
at this land locked site
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