A day at Rutland Water, Rutland - December 22, 2015

The weather forecast today was for strong winds and some late afternoon rain and so I decided to head for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water.  When I arrived in the car park it was still pretty dull and there was nothing at the feeders and so I continued on to Teal Hide.  I had seen a couple of Fieldfare as I walked down to the hide and found four Little Egrets on the Heron Bay bund and there was a Redshank just to the left of the hide.  On looking for the island I found that it was almost gone and clearly water had been pumped into the reservoir and probably still was and I suspect that the reservoir will be full again by the New Year.  Steve then joined me in the hide and he hadn’t been there too long when he picked up one of the Great White Egrets flying over South Arm Three, which then landed near Brown’s Island.  There was a Buzzard over Brown’s Island and another two Little Egrets in South Arm Two but other than the Redshank reappearing to the right of the hide and two Meadow Pipits to the left there was little else.

We walked back and spent ten minutes or so viewing the feeders where we had a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of Coal Tits and five Tree Sparrows at the feeders and there were a few Redwings flying over.  As we were viewing the feeders we noticed that many of the Lapwing that were roosting on the bunds were now flying high and on closer inspection found circa thirty Dunlin amongst them.  Steve and I then both simultaneously picked up a Peregrine that was just hanging in the wind before it suddenly swooped and disappeared.

Steve departed and was heading for Normanton Church to view the Main Water where he was to find a drake Mandarin and a Great Northern Diver.  I went to view the North Arm and on arrival found four male and two female Goosanders in the fishponds.  As I walked down towards the spit there was a Little Egret on the bund and I found the two Barnacle Geese in amongst a party of Greylag Geese.  Scanning from the point I soon located the two Black-necked Grebes but there was no sign of the Red-necked Grebe and so I decided to head for the fisherman’s car park on the Hambleton Peninsular but not before picking up a Red Kite over Burley Wood.

As I got out of the car a party of passerines flew over but disappeared almost immediately, although I was pretty sure that they were Siskin.  As I walked back towards the road they reappeared and landed in a tree on the other side of the road before dropping down in a gateway and I was able to confirm that they were Siskin.  As I started to scan the North Arm there were six Little Grebes just of shore and just beyond them was the Red-necked Grebe, which provided some nice views.

Having found and seen the Red-necked Grebe rather well I went to the Bird Watching Centre on the Egleton Reserve to view Lagoon One.  I counted a 128 Pintail and there was also good numbers of Gadwall and Teal with smaller numbers of Wigeon, Mallard and Tufted Duck and I also noted two drake Goosanders.  There were five Curlew amongst the Lapwing and when the Lapwing took to flight I noticed two Dunlin in the flock.  It was now approaching lunchtime and so I went back to the car for an early lunch before heading off to the northern lagoons.

As I walked along the path there were quite a few Redwing and Blackbirds in the area I call the cathedral but I saw little else between there and Bittern Hide on Lagoon Three.  I had gone to Bittern Hide as Joe had told me that the volunteers had been doing some habitat management and I found that there was now a wide channel running away to the left of the hide but it was very quiet bird wise.  I called at Plover Hide on Lagoon Four and found quite a large party of Wigeon feeding to the right and also a male and four female Pochard.

I retraced my steps back along the track and then headed for Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.  There was a Green Sandpiper and a couple of Redshank feeding just in front of the hide and I found a Green Woodpecker clinging to one of the fence posts at the rear of the hide, where it remained for close on fifteen minutes before it flew towards Bittern Hide and landed in a tree.  A single drake Pintail and a party of twenty-three Pochard were on the water and there was a single Shelduck along with several Cormorants on the distant island.  There was very little else with just a few Teal, a couple of Shoveler and a few Tufted Duck and Goldeneye.  I sat in the hide for quite some time hoping for a Water Rail but had no joy and so moved on to Dunlin Hide on Lagoon Four.

There was c.200 Golden Plover amongst the large number of Lapwing and again there were two Dunlin in the flock.  There was another three Shelduck and good numbers of Wigeon on the bunds but few other birds were noted.  There were a few gulls, mainly Herring but also a few Black-headed, Common and Great Black-backed and also two Lesser Black-backed.

It looked as though the forecast rain was perhaps not too far away and so I made my way back to the centre and found a Great White Egret and another Shelduck on Lagoon One before I called it a day.