I was back at Rutland Water
today to help with the WeBS (Wildfowl Count).
As we gathered at the cottage a Great Spotted Woodpecker provided a nice
view. I was given the responsibility of
counting the new lagoons and lagoon one on the Egleton Reserve.
There was a Chiffchaff singing
in the car park area and it was bright, if a little cool, as I set off for
lagoon seven. As I approached the
entrance to the 360° hide on lagoon six there was a
Whitethroat on the corner and several other passerines flew out of the hedge
and into the wood and disappeared.
Lagoon seven which is not accessible to the general public held were
quite a few Teal but very little else. I
then visited both Shelduck and the 360° hide
on lagoon five and again there was very little except for three Little Egrets,
although a pair of Little Grebes with two tiny young was a surprise. I scanned lagoon eight from the footpath and
couldn't find a single bird and there was very little on lagoon six as
well. On reaching harrier hide there
were quite a few Teal and three Ruff but there was no sign of yesterday’s warblers
or the reported Stonechat.
I moved onto the wet meadow
and other than another Little Egret and a few Teal and Shoveler, it was
quiet. When I got back into the centre
the light was awful for counting, although I did see four Green
Sandpipers. I decided I would go back to
the car for a coffee before going to Mallard hide where hopefully the light
would be better. The strategy paid off
and Erik and I, who had joined me, were able to complete the count and although
there was a good selection of wildfowl the only bird of note was a single
Garganey.
Having finished the count I
handed in my figures and went to lagoon three where a Red-crested Pochard had
been reported. There was a Ruff, Snipe
and a Greenshank to the left and I found three Pintail and Erik found a Water
Rail. Chris Park after counting lagoon
three earlier but had struggled due to the light returned to recount the
Gadwall as he felt they had been undercounted.
He soon found the female Red-crested Pochard, which was not easy, due
purely to the number of wildfowl present.
I walked back to the car park
with Erik and saw a Buzzard soaring just to the north whilst I was preparing to
leave.
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