It was quite foggy when I left
home today and after a brief stop at Newton Harcourt I made my way to Eyebrook
Reservoir seeing a Red Kite near Cranoe on route. When I arrived at Eyebrook Reservoir I found
David who had been there some time and had seen very little and so we decided
we go the North Arm at Rutland Water.
Roger joined us in the north
arm and after looking a few Redwings and a Mistle Thrush near the cottage we
made our way out to the spit. There were
plenty of geese on the north shore, mainly Greylags but also Canada Geese,
seventeen Barnacle Geese and a few Egyptian Geese. There had been Red-necked, Slavonian and
Black-necked Grebe in the north arm yesterday but the misty conditions were
making viewing difficult. David and I
moved to the end of the spit, seeing a Yellow-legged Gull before David felt he
had found the Red-necked Grebe but all we could see were Great Crested Grebes
but as I scanned to the right I found the bird again, although the views were
not great. Roger and Malcolm, who had
also arrived, joined on the point and then both David and Roger located the
Slavonian Grebe but again the views were rather poor due to the mist. Other than six Pintail we saw nothing else of
note and David and Malcolm went to the fisherman’s car park on the Hambleton
Peninsular to try and get better views of the grebes, whilst Roger and I went
to Dickinson’s Bay to look for the Black-necked Grebes.
After parking on the lane we
walked through the gate to view the bay and soon located the two Black-necked
Grebes amongst the numerous other birds, that included Wigeon; Gadwall; Teal;
Mallard; Pintail; Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe and
Coot. David then called to say that he
and Malcolm had managed to get better views of the grebes and to ask if we had
found the Black-necked Grebes. They were
hoping to see them from the car park and so I gave David an indication as to
where they were but shortly afterwards Malcolm appeared as they hadn’t been
able find them.
Roger and I then made a brief
stop in the Barnsdale car park where we had a Nuthatch and three Siskin before
returning to the north arm. When we
arrived we found Norman and another birder looking unsuccessfully for the
grebes. As I started to scan the area
with the scope virtually the first bird I saw was the Slavonian Grebe and it was
now much closer and in better light.
Having got everyone on it I started to look a little further out and
found the Red-necked Grebe and also got everyone on to it. We then moved to view the north shore hoping
to find a couple of Pink-footed Geese that have been present for a few
days. Roger soon found one of the birds
but it was partially hidden and I then found the second bird, which again was
partially hidden by Greylags. As we
continued to scan Norman found a Redshank and Roger located a pair of
Red-crested Pochard.
We made our way to the Egleton
car park where we had lunch before going to the Bird Watching Centre. Rick who was also having lunch joined us in
the centre along with Graham, who had already located one of the Great White
Egrets and a Buzzard. There were six
Pintail on the lagoon and I found four Snipe roosting together and then Roger
found a fifth. As I continued to scan I
found a couple of Dunlin but there was no sign of the Ruff David had seen
earlier. Eight Curlew suddenly appeared
on the long island and we assumed that they must have dropped in without being
noticed.
As Roger and I walked to the
northern lagoons a Siskin flew over and landed in a tree briefly near the Badger
Hide before continuing and we had seen little else by the time we reached
Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four. However
on entering the hide we found it to be full and after having a quick look at
Fulvous Whistling Duck and a Peregrine I went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.
Again there was a bit of a
crowd but still a few spaces although it soon became apparent that there
weren’t too many birds, except for Teal.
There was a single Redshank feeding amongst the Teal and two Snipe near
the old raft, with five Pintail close by.
A Bittern had been on view for about ninety minutes yesterday but there
was no sign today but two Water Rails were observed and one rather well and a
second Redshank appeared.
Redshank on Lagoon Three
Redshank over Lagoon Three
David left to watch the Rugby
World Cup Final, which Roger was also intending to do and Malcolm left for the
North Arm hoping for the Red-crested Pochard.
I decided to go to Crake and Lapwing hides but found very little from
either with seventeen Goldeneye being the best.
After making my way back towards Shoveler Hide I decided to go on to
Bittern Hide in the hope of seeing either a Bittern or the very elusive Bearded
Tits. There had been quite a lot of
clearance work done in to the left of the hide with several tracks into the
reedbed but unfortunately the reeds to the right have not been cut and the
excellent views of the lagoon after last year’s work were not realised. With just a Wren, Dunnock and a few Reed
Buntings being seen I went back to Shoveler Hide.
Grey Heron from Crake Hide
I found Colin and Chris in
Shoveler Hide but there still hadn’t been any sign of the Bittern. As we sat hoping for the Bittern to appear,
which it never did, more and more Starlings began arriving and by the time I
left there must have been several thousand giving some excellent entertainment
as they flew around in formation. A
Sparrowhawk was also observed and it was probably hoping for a late supper
before going to roost. But with the
light fading I final called it a day.
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