There had been a couple of
Bearded Tits heard in the reedbed at Rutland Water yesterday and so I headed
straight to the Egleton Reserve, seeing Red Kites over the A47 ay both Tugby
and Uppingham. On arrival in the Egleton
car park I set off towards the reedbed on lagoon three, which is an area not
normally accessible but Tim had suggested that I go in and try to locate
them. As I approached the area Steve and
Terry had given up as the area was pretty wet and wellingtons were
essential. Fortunately I had the
foresight to wear mine and was able to get around without too much
difficulty. After walking through most
of the assessable area the only bird of note I had seen was a Marsh Tit but
there was no sign of the Bearded Tits, although I did hear at least three
Cetti’s Warbler. I was in the reedbed
for well over an hour and also spent a good half-hour in Bittern Hide but still
with no indication that the Bearded Tits were still present.
I checked out Lagoon Four from
Plover Hide but other than four Pintail there was nothing else of note,
although I was surprised to see a pair of Egyptian Goose with two small young,
which I considered to be quite a late date.
I moved on Smew Hide where there was a single Little Egret and there
were seven from Crake Hide and I found six Goldeneye from Lapwing Hide. Whilst I was scanning the South Arm I noticed
Malcolm on the north shore and assumed he was looking for the Red-necked
Grebe. I gave him a call and my
assumption was correct but he hadn’t found it and so I checked with Steve to
see if he and Terry had seen it but they had also drawn a black but had seen a
Rock Pipit on the dam. I had intended to
go to Sykes Lane car park to obtain and annual permit to all the car parks and
after calling Malcolm back agreed to meet him in the Egleton car park and we go
together to try and find the pipit.
After obtaining the parking
permit we walked onto the dam and found several Pied Wagtails and six Meadow
Pipits but there was no sign of the Rock Pipit.
We did find two Green Woodpeckers on the fence posts below the dam but
saw very little else and armed with my new permit we called at Whitwell. Steve and Terry had seen a female-type Scaup
in the creek and after some searching we located the bird, which was presumably
and immature as the white around the base of the bill wasn’t complete but the
pale patch on the ear-coverts was obvious.
It was slightly larger than the nearby Tufted Ducks and the head-shape
was more rounded without any sign of a tuft.
A probable second bird was then found but it was slightly smaller with
no white around the base of the bill and a fainter ear-covert patch but again
the head-shape looked good and there was no sign of a tuft.
We called at Barnsdale as we
made our way back and found the two Black-necked Grebes in the North Arm and
there were a couple of drake Pintail and four Little Egrets in the bay.
We also viewed the North Arm
from the end of the cottage road and found the seventeen Barnacle Geese on the
north shore, fourteen Pintail and two Curlew off the end of the spit and there
were another twelve Little Egrets further down the arm.
After a discussion with Steve
and Terry, Malcolm and I decided to go Lyndon as they had seen a Garganey and a
Green Sandpiper in Manton Bay and it would also give us another opportunity of
finding the Red-necked Grebe. On
reaching Lyndon we set off for Shallow Water Hide but other than a Kestrel near
Tufted Duck Hide and a Chiffchaff beyond Wader Scrape Hide we saw very
little. From the hide I soon found the
Garganey and a Ruff and Malcolm located the Green Sandpiper. There was a single Snipe in the direction of
Wader Scrape Hide and four more near the fence close to the hide and I counted
twenty-seven Pintail in the bay. We
eventually called it a day and walked back to the centre but still didn’t have
any luck with the Red-necked Grebe.
We made a brief call to
Eyebrook Reservoir on route home and found that the immature Spoonbill was
still present along with nine Pintail and there was a Red Kite and two Buzzards
soaring over the fields beyond the Leicestershire bank.
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