Roger picked me up and we then
went to Dave’s who then drove to the Welches Dam on the Ouse Washes after we
had picked Ken up at Uppingham. There
had been a Cattle Egret reported several times and there was also a Baikal Teal
close by.
A Corn Bunting on roadside
wires was a nice find just beyond March as they are now proving rather
difficult.
On arrival at the RSPB Ouse
Washes we walked north to the second hide.
There was no sign of the Cattle Egret but there were at least
thirty-three Avocets and circa fifty Black-tailed Godwits. I counted nine Little Egrets and a Peregrine
flew over causing mass disturbance and I picked up a distance Marsh
Harrier. A rather distance drake
Garganey and a male and female Pintail were also observed but with no sign of
the Cattle Egret we moved on to the nest hide.
From the next hide we had better views of the Garganey and found a
second and a distant Crane but otherwise it was much the same as the first
hide. With still no sign of the Cattle
Egret we decided to move off for the Baikal Teal. As we walked back to the car park Malcolm was
coming down the track and he had been and seen the teal first as it was a new
bird for him. He advised us that it was
rather distant and kept disappearing into the grasses at the side of the pool.
After parking at Four Balls
Farm we climbed the embankment to overlook the small flash on the washes. It felt rather raw here as we were rather
exposed to the wind, which along with the distance and heat haze made the
viewing of the flash rather poor. There
were a few duck present including several Shoveler and two Pintail but there
was no sign of the Baikal Teal. Three
Little Egrets were feeding at the near end of the flash and we also saw a
distance Marsh Harrier but there were still only a few birds visible on the
flash. A male Marsh Harrier hen passed
over and flushed all the birds onto the water and it was surprising just how
many there were. Along with many other
birders we kept scanning the area without success until Ken announced I think I’ve
got it. As he tried to get us onto it
went back into the grass and disappeared.
As we continued scanning the area both Roger and I found it, seeing its
whitish-yellow face, which stood out quite well. At one point it flew about a foot and was in
full view but almost immediately it went back into the grasses and disappeared
again. Most people appeared to have got
onto the bird but unfortunately there were a few who didn’t. After about another ten minutes with no
further sign we called it a day.
As there was little being
reported on the coast we decided to go back to Rutland Water and as it was
nearing lunch time agreed to call at Eldernell for lunch.
Whilst eating lunch we had an
immature male Marsh Harrier and Dave and I saw a Crane drop in. After lunch we stood on the bridge over the
creek and Roger located the Crane behind some reeds but we could only seen its
head and neck as it stopped feeding.
There was also a rather nice adult male Marsh Harrier, which performed
for a while and a Red Kite, flew over.
Just as we were getting ready to go six Yellow Wagtails flew over and
headed off down the embankment.
On route to Rutland Water we
had a Buzzard and two Red Kites and with news of the Great Northern Diver off
fieldfare hide and a pair of Garganey on lagoon three we decided to go to
lapwing hide to try and see the diver.
We hadn’t been in the hide too long when Dave indicated he had the
diver. It was now coming into summer
plumage but other than it appearing darker around the neck other summer plumage
was not visible.
We called at shoveler hide on
lagoon three but there was no sign of the Garganey and we then made a brief
visit to bittern hide but they couldn’t be seen from there either. There were twelve terns feeding over lagoon
three but they were all Common. Plover
hide was also visited on lagoon four but all we had were two Oystercatchers,
three Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin and five White Wagtail.
Roger needed to be home early
tonight so we finally called it a day and headed off home.
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