I went to Rutland Water today
to help with the monthly WeBS count and is is usual I was assigned South Arm
Three. Whilst we were waiting for the
other counters to arrive there were fourteen Barnacle Geese visible in the
north arm and thirty-five Egyptian Geese and three Redwings flew over.
As it was so windy today I
decided that I would count the arm from Lapwing Hide as it would have been very
difficult from the Old Hall. A singing
Chiffchaff as I approached the hide was unexpected but I was unable to locate
it as it was keeping low out of the wind.
There were quite a few birds along the shore along the green Bank and as
the water was quite choppy that made them quite difficult to identify and
count. However the birds on the southern
shoreline were at lot easier being sheltered to some degree from the wind. There was nothing really special, with four
adult Shelduck perhaps being the most unexpected, although they do normally
begin to return during November. Other
birds seen were Mute Swan, Egyptian Goose, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard,
Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen and
Coot and there were also five Little Egrets and three Grey Herons.
Having completed my count I
joined Terry in Shoveler Hide but lagoon three at present is very disappointing
with just a few Cormorants, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard and Shoveler and a single
Goldeneye being present. Lagoon Two was
a little better with a good range of wildfowl but nothing unusual.
I left Terry to finish
counting Lagoon Two and went to the Bird Watching Centre to hand in my count
numbers and view Lagoon One. There were
twenty-two Pintail on lagoon one but like the other lagoons very little else. As I was leaving Terry arrived saying he had
seen a pair of Stonechat after I had left him and so I went to Grebe Hide in
the hope of seeing them but drew a blank.
Tim had reported a Great Northern Diver from the dam but as it was my
oldest granddaughter’s birthday I was going out for lunch and had to call it a
day.
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