I set off for Rutland Water
today hoping to see a Bean Goose that had been present since 20th. As I drove down the unnamed road Steve and
Terry had just arrived and after getting my gear on I joined them in the North
Arm. Unusually there wasn’t a goose in
sight and presumably they were off feeding somewhere and we began scanning the
area but it wasn’t easy as the mist was just enough to make viewing
difficult. Steve did find the two Black-necked
Grebes and a Yellow-legged Gull on the south shore but we had seen little else
when he and Terry decided to leave and complete their circuit of the
reservoir. It wasn’t too long after they
departed that the geese arrived and landed on the water. I scanned through them a couple of time
before they started to get out of the water onto the north shore but didn’t
fine the Bean Goose. I did see one of
the two Barnacle Geese but only on one scan and was still fairly optimistic
that the Bean Goose was probably there.
I was joined by another birder but after a good hour with no sign of the
Bean Goose, I decided to leave and come back later as many of the geese were
now sitting down and roosting making very difficult to locate the Bean Goose.
I drove to the Lyndon Reserve
and with nothing on the feeders I went down to Teal Hide to scan South Arm Two
and Three. David had seen the Red-necked
Grebe out in front of Teal Hide yesterday but there was no sign but I did find
a female Common Scoter and a Kingfisher.
I eventually returned to view the feeders and had a couple of Marsh Tits
and a single Tree Sparrow before Steve and Terry appeared. Having pointing out a male Kestrel in the
nest box I went back to Teal Hide with them.
Little Grebe from Teal Hide
Great Crested Grebe from Teal Hide
Male Kestrel
We spent quite some time in
the hide but with no sign of the Common Scoter or Red-necked Grebe, although we
did see a Chiffchaff just outside the hide, I decided I would go and have
another look for the Bean Goose. I had
just reached the centre when Steve called to say he had found the Red-necked
Grebe and so I returned to the hide.
Steve gave me some directions and I soon found it in the middle of South
Arm Two towards Manton Bay.
We all then went back to the
North Arm and scanned the geese but couldn’t locate the Bean Goose. The long staying Whimbrel was on the north
shore along with seven Curlews and there were also two Black-tailed Godwits and
a Redshank. We decided to have some
lunch and then give it one final try before going to the Egleton Reserve.
When we returned there was
still no sign of the goose and we suspected that it might not be amongst the
Greylag Geese. The Black-necked Grebes
were still present and one of the Great White Egrets flew into the fishponds
before then flying to the south shore.
Before going to Egleton I went
to see if I could see a Mandarin in Dickinson’s Bay from the fisherman’s car
park on the Hambleton Peninsula. I
couldn’t see too much of the bay and so walked up the hill to view from the
cycle path. I could see that most of the
ducks were Wigeon but also I picked out several Shoveler and a Pintail as well
as three Little Grebes. I felt that one
of the ducks under a tree was possibly a female Mandarin but as I couldn’t be
certain I felt that it was inappropriate to add to the patch list.
When I entered the centre
Steve and Terry were in the viewing area and they informed me that there were
two Stonechats just in front. However
when we tried to find them they had obviously moved and then Terry picked one
up to the right, which I had the briefest of views before it flew off and out
of sight. There was one of the Great
White Egrets at the back of the lagoon and I counted thirty Pintail. Steve and Terry the moved on to the northern
lagoons and just afterwards I found a Buzzard resting on one of the islands.
With little else in evidence I
also made my way to the northern lagoons seeing a few Redwings on route. Steve and Terry were in Shoveler Hide when I
arrived and it was good to see that there had been significant work done on the
islands which had all had the vegetation cut down and the reed island had also
been taken down to ground level. This
gave a much better view of the lagoon and there was a Black-tailed Godwit and a
Redshank around the now visible island and there was a Great White Egret at the
back of the lagoon. Another Great White
Egret then flew in and Steve called the centre to see if the one was still on
Lagoon One but if it was it wasn't visible.
We then had two Black-tailed Godwits flying around, which were presumable
those we had seen in the North Arm earlier and two Snipe were also observed in
flight.
Black-tailed Godwits
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Steve and Terry then left and
shortly afterwards John Wright came in.
I had noticed that there were a lot of birds flying around south of the
lagoon and then the birds on Lagoon Three started taking to flight. I mentioned it to John, who was getting
something from his bag, it took one look and said “Only one thing would cause
this amount of disturbance, a balloon”.
We poked our heads out of the slats and sure enough there was a Virgin
balloon passing right over. John
immediately rushed outside with his camera, saying they had been warned before
not to come over the reserve. The birds
continued to fly around for quite some time and the two Great White Egrets, now
together flew the length of the lagoon at least four times before coming back
down at the far end. Most of the other
birds failed to return and had obviously gone elsewhere. John then returned saying he had photographed
the balloon with the birds flying around it showing the disturbance it had
caused and was going to send the photos to English Nature. He left shortly afterwards as there were now
very view birds present and certainly nothing close. Many birds were still flying around and were
very reluctant to comeback but I then noticed a party of birds drop in close to
the now visible island. There were five
Curlews and the Whimbrel from the North Arm and there were now four Redshanks
and a single Black-tailed Godwit.
Great White Egrets
I eventually moved onto Crake Hide
were there were twelve Little Egrets on the bund but little else and from
Lapwing Hide I could see another two Little Egrets.
I made my way back to
Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four were there were seventy-two Golden Plovers and
four Dunlin but with little else I returned to the car park and headed to the
North Arm for a final attempt for the Bean Goose. As I arrived Chris Park was just leaving and
he informed me that the geese had all gone onto the water when the balloon went
over and he was certain that the Bean Goose was not there. As I stood talking to him many of the Greylag
Geese flew over and were presumably returning to a feeding area and so I called
it a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment