Rod's Birding: A day in Leicestershire & Rutland

As I was defrosting the car before leaving for Rutland Water I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming and eventually saw it in the trees to the east. As I drove between Kibworth and Tur Langton I had three Buzzards and a Kestrel, all of which were perched in roadside trees. I then had a further two Kestrel between Tur Langton and Slawston and just after passing through Slawston a Green Woodpecker flew along the road in front of me. There were a few Fieldfares and a Redwing in the field as I approached the old railway bridge and a yet another perched Kestrel and more Redwings after turning onto the Medbourne Road. As I turned towards Blaston there were a couple of Tree Sparrows in the hedge and then two more Buzzards on the far side of Blaston. Between there and Stockerston eight Red-legged Partridge flew over the road and a single Fieldfare was seen just after Stockerston.

Other than a single Fieldfare at Gunthorpe I hadn’t seen anything else of note as I pulled up in the Egleton car park at Rutland Water. There were a few Redwings along with a Song Thrush in the first meadow as I walked down towards the centre but there was nothing of note on the feeders and so I set off to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.

Redwing

A Jay on the path alongside the large meadow was the best before I reached the Shoveler Hide, where I had gone hoping for a sighting of the Bittern. There were couple of Pintail amongst the raft of ducks and three Little Egrets were on the lagoon but there was no sign of the Bittern. Another birder joined me in the hide and a Green Sandpiper dropped in just afterwards and then an adult White-fronted Goose, which was a county year-tick, dropped in and joined two Greylag Geese on a small island. I sent Erik a text to let him know about the goose and he called me back a few minutes later saying he had seen one in the North Arm and after some discussion we assumed that it would be the same bird.

Adult White-fronted Goose

Lapwing

He had seen a Whimbrel on the north shore of the North Arm as well as a couple of Black-necked Grebes, a Slavonian Grebe and a Pink-footed Goose and as I was keen to see the Whimbrel I walked back to the car park.

As I walked back I met Erik on his way to the northern lagoons and whilst talking we had three Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a couple of Siskin before I continued onto the car park and the North Arm.

Song Thrush in the Egleton Meadows

Redwing in the Egleton Meadows

Chris Park had arrived a few minutes before myself but hadn’t seen anything and we discussed what Erik had seen he was keen to see the Slavonian Grebe. Another birder, who we later found out was Craig Robson, informed us that the Slavonian Grebe was straight out and not too far way. We soon found it and also a single Black-necked Grebe and then Chris found two more Black-necked Grebes just off Dickinson’s Bay. We both then scanned the north shore for the Whimbrel several times but there was no sign. We did find the two Barnacle Geese but couldn’t find the Pink-footed Goose Erik had seen earlier. There was a Great White Egret in the fishponds and another along the south shore, five male and a single Goosander flew over and there were eighty plus Pintail in the arm but we eventually gave up on the Whimbrel and I went back to my car for lunch.

Whilst having lunch a second Great White Egret flew into the fishponds and I decided I would go back to the spit to have a final search for the Whimbrel. I scanned the south shore first and found that there was a Great White Egret still there confirming there were now three. I then scanned the north shore finding a Buzzard on the ground, which was obviously feeding on something but there was still no sign of the Whimbrel. Something then disturbed the birds in the fishponds including a large party of Greylag Geese, which then landed in the water close to the north shore. As scanned through them and almost immediately found the Pink-footed Goose, which was stood on the bank preening. A further scan a few minutes later produced the adult White-fronted Goose but there was still no sign of the Whimbrel and I decided to go back to the centre.

When I got back the car park I went to the centre and joined Erik but he hadn’t seen too much of note. There were another twenty-five Pintail on Lagoon One and five male and three female Goosanders. Erik then found eight Snipe on the long island, a male Stonechat appeared in front of the centre and the Wigeon feeding on the long island then took to flight and I picked up a Sparrowhawk as it flew towards the Wet Meadow, where three Curlews flushed. Erik located three red-headed Smew on Lagoon Two and whilst looking at these I found another drake Goosander.

We eventually set off to Lapwing Hide as Chris had found the Red-necked Grebe but we stopped in Smew Hide on route as a Kingfisher had been seen. We didn’t see the Kingfisher but there was a Great White Egret and whilst in the hide Erik had message on his new Apple watch that there was a Surf Scoter at the dam. He called Chris to make him aware and he joined us as we headed off back to the car park.

The bird was reportedly on the south side of the dam with a party of Tufted Ducks and so we decided to park at the style and then walk to the dam. There was a raft of Tufted Duck near the tower but there was no sign of the scoter. Chris then found it amongst another party of Tufted Duck about halfway along the dam. We could see that it was a female-type Surf or Velvet Scoter but at the range couldn’t be certain, which and so we continued onto the dam and then walked towards the flock.

We were now much closer and could see it more clearly and the bill profile seemed to support Surf, being triangular in shape and rather flat along the upper edge and it wasn’t much bigger than the nearby Tufted Ducks. It then raised it wings showing no white in the wing, cleanly ruling out Velvet Scoter. Another birder, who had found the bird, then joined us and we established that it was Craig Robson, who had also found the Green-winged Teal last week. He should certainly make more visits back to his home counties if he can deliver birds of this quality. The Surf Scoter was a new bird for the counties and a welcome addition to my personal list but there will be a few anxious birders hoping it will still be here tomorrow.