I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
on my way to help with the monthly duck count at Rutland Water. A Green Woodpecker was the highlight on the journey
to the reservoir with a bird getting up from the roadside at Slawston.
On arriving at Rutland Water I
was advised that I had been assigned south arm three and lagoon four in terms
of the count. South arm three had been
quiet easy to count over the last few months but today Tufted Duck numbers were
increasing and it took a little longer with over 500 Tufted Ducks being
present. There was also good numbers of
Mute Swan and Egyptian Geese with sixty-one of the latter counted near the Old
Hall. There were a few Mallard and Great
Crested Grebe and two Shoveler but only three Coots were observed.
I drove from the Old Hall to
the Egleton car park and walked down the service road to dunlin hide on lagoon
four. There were plenty of Lapwings on
the lagoon but there was little else, particularly wildfowl. As I scanned the area close to island ten I
found two Ringed Plovers and then there was a surprise as a Wood Sandpiper was
working its way from island ten towards dunlin hide. I called Steve who informed that four had
been reported on the wet meadow but when I looked for the Wood Sandpiper on
lagoon four it had disappeared. I moved
on to plover hide to complete the count and fund another five Ringed Plovers
and the two Shelduck, with one escorting the now well grown young.
Having finished the count I
moved on to shoveler hide on lagoon three.
The water level was quite a bit lower than my last visit and there was
an Oystercatcher, three Curlew, four Greenshank, at least seven Green
Sandpipers and a Redshank feeding in the area to the left of the hide. This provided some good photo opportunities
and I was able to get shots of all of the waders. I stayed in the hide quite some time before I
headed off back to the centre to hand in my count figures and take some lunch. As I walked back to the centre I met Steve
who informed me that there was a Whimbrel on lagoon one with two Curlew. When I got back I had a quick look without
success before handing in my count figures.
Oystercatcher
Lapwing
Curlew
Curlew
Juvenile Redshank
Juvenile Redshank
Greenshank
Greenshank
Grenshank
Green Sandpiper
Bob arrived back from the wet
meadow area having seen the four Wood Sandpipers but very little else and
shortly afterwards Ken arrived. After I
had finished my lunch Ken and I set of for snipe on the wet meadow and met Mike
at the centre and he had just seen five Wood Sandpipers from snipe hide. Initially when Ken and I arrived we could
only see a Green Sandpiper on the far shore but I then noticed a second bird
that turned out to be one of the Wood Sandpipers. We eventually saw the other four as they came
out from the right-hand bank. A Red Kite
flew over the centre and four Ospreys were observed initially beyond the centre
but they gradually drifted to the south and one was clearly carrying a fish,
which was probably an unpaired male.
Wood Sandpipers on the wet meadow
Ken and I decided to go back
to lagoon three as Steve had seen the bittern.
There was still a single Curlew and the four Greenshank and Redshank
still present and we eventually counted nine Green Sandpipers and found a
Little Ringed Plover but not surprisingly there was no sign of the
Bittern. A Sparrowhawk also flew low
over the lagoon.
On returning to the centre we
found three nice summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwits on the lagoon.
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