I picked Roger up and we went
to Dean’s Lane in the hope that there was some visible migration. We arrived just after 07:00 and Steve arrived
a few minutes later and it soon became clear that there were plenty of Meadow
Pipits moving and by the time we left Steve had counted close to a
thousand. There was also a large
concentration of hirundines feeding over one of the woods to the north and
these eventually moved off south and were primarily House Martins. There were also ten Jays moving north and three
Skylarks, twenty Swallows, ten alba wagtails, a few Chaffinch, a Siskin and two
Lesser Redpoll moving south. A single
Sparrowhawk, a Buzzard, a Kestrel, at least three Great Spotted Woodpeckers,
two Ravens and two Nuthatches were observed and we also heard a third Raven and
a Treecreeper. It went quiet just before
10:00 and Roger and I headed off to Rutland Water.
We went straight to the north
arm and the fishponds at Rutland Water as there had been a drake Ring-necked
Duck seen twice this week, including yesterday.
There were two Great Spotted Woodpeckers near the cottage as we arrived
and there were a lot of birds in the fishponds and in particularly Tufted
Ducks, with most of them roosting. Tim
and two other birders joined us but we were unable to locate the Ring-necked
Duck and Roger and I eventually went to look in the north arm. There were fewer birds on the water and very
few diving ducks and again there was no sign of the Ring-necked. We did find four Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin,
a Ruff and a Greenshank and three Barnacle Geese had returned also there were
four Little Egrets between the fishponds and the north arm. After some lunch we gave the fishponds
another go for the duck but with the same outcome.
When we reached the centre Ken
called to say there were three Greenshanks and a Stonechat from Shoveler hide
on lagoon three and so we set off there first.
The hide was pretty full when
we arrived but the Stonechat was still present but there was now only a single
Greenshank although a second returned along with two Green Sandpipers and there
were at least ten Snipe. The wildfowl
numbers were fewer than in previous weeks although Roger found a drake Scaup
but other than a single Pintail there was nothing else of note. A Hobby was observed perched at the top of
one of the trees behind the reedbed, where it spent a considerable amount of
time and a Water Rail gave brief views just to the right of the hide. With news of a Little Gull on lagoon four we
went to Dunlin hide to try and locate it.
Juvenile Greenshank
Juvenile Greenshank
Juvenile Greenshank
There were plenty of gulls,
mainly Black-headed but there was also Common, Lesser Black-backed, Herring,
Great Black-backed and three Yellow-legged but there was no sign of the Little
Gull. We also located two Ruff and two
more Greenshanks.
We found a single Chiffchaff
as we walked back to the centre and there was a Black-tailed Godwit, a Curlew
and a Common Sandpiper on lagoon one and a second Hobby briefly over lagoon
two. There was also a female Stonechat
in front of the centre which I saw briefly but it then disappeared and we
couldn’t re-find it. With little else in
evidence we finally called it a day and headed off home but not before seeing
two Grey Wagtails near the stream on the edge of the car park.
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