After an uneventful journey I
arrived at the dam at Rutland Water but it was very quiet with just two Yellow
Wagtails putting in a brief appearance.
I moved back to Normanton and walked through the car park towards the
church but there was no sign of the resident Mandarin Ducks and it was
generally very quiet with little song.
There had been a number of
Wheatear reported on the practice green at the Luffenham Gold Club, which is
close to the old airfield and now army barracks. I parked alongside the area and counted
twenty-five Wheatear on what is quite a small area. There was also single Skylark, Yellow
Wagtail, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit feeding on the grass and a Swallow flew
over. There was a Whitethroat in the
scrub close to the fenced off area and several more Skylarks were either
observed or heard. This is the most
Wheatear I have ever seen in a single location and I would expect that there
were more on the inaccessible areas of the site.
Returning to the reservoir I
went to the Sailing Club Bay, which can also be good for both Wheatear and
Whinchat but there was no sign of either today.
There was a single Blackcap close to where I parked and a Whitethroat in
the scrub on the golf course and three Swallows and three House Martins flew
over.
House Martin at the Sailing Club Bay
Dunnock at the Sailing Club Bay
On reaching the Egleton
Reserve I had a quick word with Tim who informed me of a Grasshopper Warbler on
the reserve but in an area not accessible.
He gave me permission to go and have a look and I heard it on several
occasions but failed to see it. There
was also Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat in the same area.
Having returned to the car
park I walked to Shelduck hide on lagoon five and looked back onto lagoon seven
but there was no sign of the Grey Plover.
From Shelduck hide there was three pair of Avocet on the islands on
lagoon five, one of which may well have been sitting. Moving on I called at both pintail and tern
hide on lagoon six where there were a couple of Oystercatcher and three
Shelduck but nothing else of note. I
continued on to fieldfare hide but there was no sign of the Great Northern
Diver today but a Cuckoo was calling frequently from Brown’s Island and
eventually if flew from there to the poplars just outside the hide. It started to call again but was hidden
amongst the foliage and couldn’t be seen.
I made my way back towards the
centre and called briefly at snipe hide where there two Avocet, which were
probably two of the birds seen earlier on lagoon five and there was a distant
Osprey towards the north arm.
Willow Warbler close to snipe hide
After some lunch I went to the
northern side of the reserve and was informed on route that there was a pair of
Garganey on lagoon three. On entering
the hide they had disappeared behind the reed island but it wasn’t too long
before they reappeared and provided some nice views before going behind the
island again. From bittern hide I could
hear a Reed Warbler again but as previously it remained hidden. Quick visits to lapwing and smew hides
produced very little, just a few Common Terns over south arm three.
Mistle Thrush in the Egleton Meadows
Comma in the Egleton Meadows
Grey Heron on lagoon three
Barnacle Goose on lagoon three
Coot on lagoon two
From plover hide on lagoon
four I had seen two Oystercatcher, five Ringed Plover and six Dunlin when I saw
a party of birds drop in close to dunlin hide and I was pretty certain that
they were Black-tailed Godwits. I left
plover hide and headed towards dunlin hide but was delayed by a singing Garden
Warbler, which failed to appear. This
area of scrub between the two lagoons if very good for warblers, with a single
Cetti’s, several Sedge Warbler and at least single Willow Warbler, Blackcap and
Whitethroat as well as Reed Bunting.
On arriving in dunlin hide my
initial identification of the incoming birds was correct as there were
forty-six Black-tailed Godwits just beyond island seven. They appeared restless and on several
occasions flew onto the grass bank before returning to the lagoon. A Carrion Crow flew amongst them and they
quickly took to flight and looked as though they were off. Four broke away from the main party and returned
to the lagoon but the other forty-two gained further height as they headed off
to the northwest.
Black-tailed Godwits over lagoon four
A single Curlew was present on
the lagoon for a while and I also found a Little Ringed Plover and a sixth
Ringed Plover.
It had been quite warm today
and the latter part of the afternoon was very pleasant with some warm sunshine
and virtually no wind and I had also recorded eighty-three species of
bird. The Wheatear at Luffenham and the
Garganey and the flock of Black-tailed Godwits were clearly the highlights.
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