I was at Rutland Water early
today as over 200 Black-tailed Godwits had been reported yesterday evening and
I was hoping they were still there. As I
was walking to Dunlin hide on lagoon four I met Tim coming back who informed me
that they had gone but there was a pair of Red-crested Pochard to the left of
the hide. When I entered the hide I
looked to the left for the Red-crested Pochard but there was no sign. I scanned around the lagoon and found two
Avocets and I could see that there were quite a few Ringed Plover and Dunlin
scattered around but they were quite mobile and difficult to count,
particularly as the light wasn’t brilliant either. Steve then came in to the hide and he had
counted over thirty Dunlin and fifteen Ringed Plovers from plover hide and
after a joint but unsuccessful effort to find the pair of Red-crested Pochard
he departed to the north arm and I went to plover hide. The view was clearly better from here and I
managed to find twenty-nine Dunlin and twelve Ringed Plovers. There were also at least two Little Ringed
Plover and two Redshanks but there was still no sign of the pair of Red-crested
Pochard.
I had a quick look from both
Bittern and Shoveler hides on lagoon three but other than a couple of Shelduck
saw nothing else. A quick check from
sandpiper hide on lagoon four also failed to produce the Red-crested Pochard
and I decided to go to the southern lagoons.
The westerly wind was quite
fresh making it feel pretty cold and it was also rather quiet, although by the
time I had reached the far end of lagoon one I had seen or heard Cetti’s
Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Lesser
Whitethroat, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler.
I continued heading towards the 360° hide on lagoon five
and heard and saw another Lesser Whitethroat as I was approaching the hide and
there was a Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Garden Warbler heard as I approached
Shelduck hide. I checked out lagoon
seven first where I found an Oystercatcher, two Little Ringed Plover, a Ringed
Plover, two Greenshanks and two Redshanks as well as eight more Common
Terns. I had brief views of a
Whitethroat and heard another Willow Warbler and Sedge Warbler nearby and from
the 360°
I saw four Oystercatchers, two of which were on nests, and two more
Redshank.
I continued towards Pintail
hide and visited that and tern hide on lagoon six where there were another four
Oystercatcher, with two again on nests.
A nice surprise was to see a Lapwing with four chicks on one of the
islands.
The wind had now freshened and
birds were singing much less and it was pretty quiet as I walked to harrier
hide on lagoon one. I scanned the Wet
Meadow first and found a Greenshank standing on top of one of the islands,
which was presumably one of the two I had seen earlier. Lagoon one appeared to be particularly quiet
and so I continued on to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow. There was a pair of Shelduck and a pair of
Pintail on the flash but little else.
Pintail numbers on the reserve have been quite good this winter with
more birds than usual staying into the second winter period and these two appear
to be the final remaining birds and have been so for about ten days now. Although they have never bred in the
counties, could this be the year?
However before I left the hide one of the two Shelduck gave them grief
on a couple of occasions and they eventually flew off towards Fieldfare hide in
South Arm Three.
As I walked back towards the
centre I had some nice views of an obliging Chiffchaff just before the path
enters the more wooded area.
Chiffchaff
Chiffchaff
I went into Mallard hide on
lagoon one where initially appeared rather quiet but a pair of Moorhen and Coot
providing some entertainment in a territorial dispute and the larger Coot
didn’t get it all his own way.
Moorhen and Coot in territorial dispute
To the right of the hide I saw
another Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and a Sedge Warbler and an Osprey hovered quite
close to the hide, obviously looking for a meal, before it headed off to the
south.
Osprey over lagoon one
I went into the centre but
nothing of note had been reported and I went back to the car for some lunch.
As there was no news from
Steve who had gone with Terry on their normal circuit of the reservoir I set
off back towards the northern lagoons.
I initially went to Shelduck
hide on lagoon three where there were now plenty of terns feeding over the
lagoon. I counted forty-three at one
point but they were all Common Terns and with little sign of anything else,
other than three Ospreys over Burley Wood I moved off to sandpiper hide on
lagoon four.
Common Tern over lagoon three
There was still no sign of the
pair of Red-crested Pochard and the Ringed Plovers and Dunlin seemed to be
scattered far and wide over the lagoon.
Steve and Terry then joined me in the hide and shortly afterwards I
found a Turnstone on island five, which we hadn’t seen this morning and presumably
it was a new arrival. Steve and Terry
eventually moved off to lagoon three and I was then joined by Pat. As we continued to scan the lagoon I found a
Whimbrel, which was bathing just behind one of the islands. Steve then called to say he and Terry had
found the Great Northern Diver in South Arm Three from Lapwing hide but that it
was very distant. I informed Steve about
the Whimbrel but decided to stay put on lagoon three and I then picked up a
nice Yellow Wagtail at the back of the lagoon.
The Whimbrel had moved on to the west bank of the lagoon to feed and
Steve returned just in time to see it fly out of sight somewhere behind Dunlin
hide. With little else happening I
finally decided that I would depart and call at Eyebrook Reservoir on route
home.
I drove around the reservoir
from Stoke Dry to the northern coral to view the reservoir, as it would be out
of the wind. As I entered the coral there
was some disturbance and I then noticed an Osprey dropping into the stream to
bathe. Initially due to the disturbance
there was very little but I then found three Little Ringed Plovers and eleven
Dunlin. When I looked over to the stream
the Osprey had disappeared but then I saw it land a little further out into the
reservoir but it was shallow enough to allow it to bathe. When it eventually departed I was able to get
some photos as it flew around before heading off to the north. There were three Common Terns around the
platforms and there were numerous hirundines over the water, mainly Sand Martin
but also good numbers of Swallow with fewer House Martins. I also saw four Yellow Wagtails, one on the
mud by the inlet and three in flight over a field on the Rutland side. As I scanned further down the reservoir I
found a couple of Red Kites and a Buzzard and then two Swifts high over the
distant plantation.
Osprey
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