The weather forecast wasn’t
good for today with rain forecast for most of the day and it was raining as I
left home and I was surprised to see a Red Kite as I was dropping down the hill
towards Stockerston on my way to Rutland Water.
I had decided to go straight
to Rutland Water today as at least there are hides where I could get some
shelter from the forecast rain and I was also hoping that there might be a few
goods birds. After arriving in the
Egleton car park and getting my wet weather gear on I set off for Dunlin Hide
on Lagoon Four. It was raining steadily
as I walked to the hide and continued to do so after I arrived in the
hide. As I glance out of the hide there
were very few birds in evidence, including gulls but as I made a scan with the
bins I picked up a group of waders feeding along the mud between islands nine
and ten. I got the scope on them and
immediately saw Ringed Plovers and Dunlin and then a Curlew Sandpiper and
eventually two, which were both immatures.
As I scanned further towards island ten there was a Bar-tailed Godwit and
that was two county year-ticks in a matter of minutes and we were off to a good
start. I went back to have a another
look at the Curlew Sandpipers but the party of birds had moved and I wasn’t
able to relocate them but I did see eight Pintail, eight Ringed Plovers,
fifteen Dunlin, two Snipe, two Greenshank and four Yellow-legged Gulls. The Bar-tailed Godwit remained for quite some
time but it also suddenly took to flight and as it did so I heard a Whimbrel
and then picked it up flying over the lagoon and watched it comedown behind one
of the islands.
I was unable to locate either
the Whimbrel or godwit and so moved onto Sandpiper Hide for a different
view. There was a Ruff on the mud in
front of the hide but again there was no sign of the Curlew Sandpipers, Whimbrel
or godwit. Another birder then entered
the hide and informed me that the godwit had dropped on Lagoon Three briefly
before flying off again.
With nothing new appearing on
Lagoon Four I made my way towards Shoveler Hide hearing a Cetti’s Warbler and
seeing a couple of Chiffchaff and a Reed Warbler near the gate to the
hide. Rather than go into Shoveler Hide
I continued on to Lapwing Hide to view the main water. When I arrived Terry Mitcham was in the hide
but hadn’t seen too much as the visibility was poor. He did pick up a Common Tern as it flew
towards the hide and then spent several minutes feeding before it
disappeared. Other than a few Swallows
over the water there was little else and as the rain eased Terry left and it
wasn’t long afterwards that I followed.
When I arrived in Shoveler
Hide there were two Great White Egrets to the left of the hide and the third
appeared briefly from behind the reed island but soon went back behind the
island. There were also five Green
Sandpipers to the left of the hide and on scanning the duck I found two
Red-crested Pochards, an eclipse male and a female. Brian had called a little earlier to inform
me that there was a Bar-tailed Godwit on Lagoon One, which was presumably the
bird I had seen earlier on Lagoon Four.
Brian, Roger and Rosie then joined me in the hide and informed me they
had seen a Spotted Flycatcher and a Blackcap near Dunlin Hide. As we were talking I noticed a Water Rail walking
across the mud to the reed island and as I got the others on it, it started
running and disappeared into the reeds.
A Sparrowhawk then flew over and we then found another female
Red-crested Pochard and a Pintail.
It was now approaching lunch
time and I left Brian, Roger and Rosie in the hide and returned to the car park
for lunch after which I went to the North Arm.
It was still raining and the visibility wasn’t good but I was able to
watch from the new shelter and at least keep out of the rain. As I scanned the far shore I found four
Pintail, a single Ringed Plover, three Knot, nine Dunlin, four Ruff, a
Black-tailed Godwit, a Curlew and a Yellow-legged Gull. I moved to the end of the spit but didn’t
find anything else but as I was leaving I saw that there were good numbers of
hirundines between the fishponds and Burley House but most were too distant to
identify although there were certainly Sand Martins and Swallows present.
I went into the centre to view
Lagoon One where I saw the female-type Marsh Harrier, which came quite close to
the centre before flying off and disappearing near Harrier Hide. Two Snipe were observed flying over and
presumably the same Common Tern I had seen from Lapwing Hide earlier was
perched on a post.
I did contemplate going back
to Lagoon Four but with the weather showing no sign of improvement I decided to
call it a day. I went back via Eyebrook
Reservoir and as the rain was easing I stopped to overlook the inlet, seeing a
Red Kite as I parked. Richard was
present and he informed me that he had seen a rather nice male Whinchat. We spent some time scanning the area but
couldn't locate the male but we did have a female/juvenile. The only wader I saw was a single Snipe but
there were also five Little Egrets around the inlet. There was a small movement of hirundines but
like Rutland Water most were Sand Martin and Swallow with Swallows being the
most numerous but I did see a single House Martin. A Sparrowhawk then flew right in front of us
and disappeared into one of the trees in the field and I scanned the exposed
area of mud I found a Yellow Wagtail amongst a party of Pied Wagtails.
With the rain becoming heavier
I finally called it a day and headed off home.
As I passed through Blaston there was a large concentration of
hirundines feeding over a wooded area but this time they were mainly House Martins,
although there were also a few Swallows.
As I reached home the rain was had at last stopped and I noticed two
birds circling over the fields. A look
through the bins and I was able to see that it was a Carrion Crow mobbing a
Sparrowhawk. Not a bad day considering
the weather with seventy-two species recorded, two of which were county
year-ticks.
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