Despite a grim forecast Dave,
Roger and I set off for Rutland Water in the hope that the rain would bring
down some waders. On route over we had a
Red Kite near Gaulby and a Buzzard at Skeffington.
On arrival at Rutland Water it
was overcast but dry and we set off to dunlin hide on lagoon four. As we walked down the service road it started
to rain and by the time we reached the hide it was falling steadily. There was a group of wades just to the left
of the road that included several Ringed Plovers, a Sanderling and a
Dunlin. We continued to scan the lagoon
and found a single Avocet, two Little Ringed Plover, at least nine Ringed
Plovers and a Redshank and there was also a couple of Little Egrets. As we were scanning Dave picked up a group of
waders and four Sanderling flew by and landed close to island ten. There was also a probable third-year
Yellow-legged Gull but we couldn’t see it very well due to island six. As the rain eased we made a dash to plover
hide where were able to confirm it has a third-year Yellow-legged Gull and
although we had several sightings of all the waders seen from dunlin hide there
was nothing new arriving.
We eventually moved to bittern
hide on lagoon three where we remained for some considerable time due to the
now very heavy rain. There were plenty
of Swifts feeding over the lagoon and they were interspersed with a few Sand
Martins and Swallows and two House Martins.
Reed and Sedge Warblers were singing continuously and a Cuckoo was also
heard on several occasions but we didn’t see any of them. Eventually the rain eased and we went to
sandpiper hide on lagoon four and other than a few Ringed Plovers we couldn’t
find anything else and we eventually headed back to the centre.
The rain now eased and we were
able to eat or lunches in the car park.
Based on what we had seen earlier we decided to go the Lyndon
Reserve. There were two Tree Sparrows on
the feeders along with Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and two Yellowhammers. We went to teal hide and observed south arm
and I quickly picked up a couple of Osprey towards the Old Hall. We then found a couple of Red Kites and four Buzzards and six Hobbies were hawking close to Brown’s Island on the Egleton
Reserve. As we went back to the car park
we saw a single Willow Warbler and heard a Whitethroat.
We called at Eyebrook
Reservoir on the way home but there was nothing unusual present, a Buzzard, two
Common Terns and a Whitethroat being the best.
Finally we made a brief stop
at Newton Harcourt church but there was no sign of a Spotted Flycatcher that
had been reported earlier in the week.
It was not one of our best
days at Rutland Water but this was not surprising considering the weather.
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