It was quite misty when I left
home this morning and remained so all day, which impacted on the visibility throughout
the day. I initially headed for the
Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water, seeing a Little Egret on the River Sence at
Wistow on route. When I arrived I
checked the feeders out but there was very little just a procession of Blue and
Great Tits and so I set off down the track to Shallow Water Hide. I had just started to walk alongside the
first field when I noticed a Green Woodpecker on the second power cable pole,
which then flew off over the field before I flushed a second off the field as I
continued along the path. As I
approached Deep Water Hide, which is currently under reconstruction, I saw a
few Fieldfares and as approached closer they continued to come out of the hedge
and fly up the field and there was at least seventy. As I was observing the Fieldfare I saw my
only Tree Sparrow of the day when it flew into the top of one of the trees and
two Song Thrushes were my first for several weeks. Other than a few Bullfinches I saw nothing
else of note before reaching the hide.
As I opened the flaps on the
hide I was surprised to find that the water level had risen considerably and
presumably the sluice gate had been raised as the reservoir level was still
lower. There were seven Snipe and a
Black-tailed Godwit to the left of the hide and two Redshanks to the right but
the area is now much less suitable for waders.
There were also fewer birds on the water, particularly Pintail of which
I only saw four.
As I set off back towards the
centre I saw a couple of Redwing and then had another eight fly over near Wader
Scrape Hide. When I reached the centre I
rechecked the feeders but again it was mainly attracting Blue and Great Tits,
although I did see a Coal Tit and a single Chaffinch. A small party of Tufted Ducks just in front
of the centre contained a rather drab looking male Red-crested Pochard.
As I headed up the track
towards the road Steve and Terry were driving down and they had already done
the North Arm, Barnsdale, the Dam and Normanton and based on their sighting I
decided to head to Barnsdale.
They had seen Marsh Tit,
Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Lesser Redpoll near the bottom of the road and the
Black-necked Grebes in the North Arm.
After parking I stopped to overlook the area of scrub and found the male
Blackcap and a Lesser Redpoll but there was no sign of either the Marsh Tit or
Chiffchaff. I counted seven Pintail in
Dickinson’s Bay but there was nothing else of note. I moved to view the North Arm hoping to find
the Black-necked Grebes but the mist made quite difficult and there was no sign
of them or of the Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes present on Saturday.
I eventually went to the end
of the cottage lane to view the North Arm.
As I walked down the spit I flushed a couple of Shelduck off the near
shore and counted thirty-nine Pintail just to the right of the spit. I scanned the area for a while seeing only
the seventeen Barnacle Geese and the escaped Fulvous Whistling Duck on the
north shore and as I was beginning to feel quite cold and decided to return to
the car for some lunch. Whilst I was
having my lunch Steve and Terry arrived and after we had finished lunch we
walked back down the spit, this time armed with a pair of gloves. After viewing the Fulvous Whistling Duck
Steve then found a Yellow-legged Gull and Pink-footed Goose on the north shore
and after walking to the end he then found the two Black-necked Grebes. The grebes were not too distant and it wasn’t
surprising I hadn’t seen them from Barnsdale but perhaps should have seen them
on my first visit to the spit. After
seeing a Nuthatch and a fly over Lesser Redpoll near the cottage we went to the
Egleton Reserve.
With little else Terry and
Steve went to Shoveler Hide and I continued on to Lapwing Hide to see if I
could see either of the Great White Egrets that had been reported from
Fieldfare Hide earlier today. However
there was no sign but there were ten Little Egrets in the corner of South Arm Three
and another four along the southern shore line.
There were three more Pintail on Lagoon Two as well as another three
Little Egrets bringing the total for the day to twenty-three. I then joined Steve and Terry in Shoveler
Hide but other than three Pintail, a flyover Sparrowhawk and a Redshank there
was little else. Terry finally called it
a day and a short while afterwards with the Starlings not wanting to perform
tonight I also called it a day, seeing a Treecreeper on route back to the car.
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