David and I went out a little
later today as there was a warning of icy roads first thing. We headed straight to the unnamed road to
view the North Arm north arm seeing a couple of Buzzard and two Kestrels before
we reached Rutland Water. As we were
getting our gear on along the unnamed road we were joined by another birder
from the West Midlands and after viewing the fishponds seeing a pair of
Goosander and two Red Foxes on the far shore we walked down onto the point.
A Jay flew off the ground as
we walked down and there were three Little Egrets on the bund and a Great White
Egret flew in before moving into the fishponds.
Moving out onto the spit a little further David found a Slavonian Grebe
and then I found a second individual and there were three Black-necked Grebes
further towards Dickinson’s Bay. There
was a single Dunlin and a Redshank on the spit but surprisingly I didn’t find a
single Pintail.
With no sign of the
Green-winged Teal we decided to head for the fisherman’s car park but found it
full and continued onto the Old Hall in the South Arm.
After passing over the cattle
grid we found forty-one Dunlin and a single Redshank on the shore but we
couldn’t see a great deal else and walked to view the bay on the other side of
the Old Hall. There was another Redshank
and a couple of Little Grebes towards Hambleton Wood and at least eleven
Redwings flew over.
We made our way back along the
path and went a little further to view the area towards Lapwing Hide. There were masses of birds between us and we
felt we would probably do better from Lapwing Hide later. As we were about to walk back to the car
David thought he might have the Red-necked Grebe and after a few directions we
were able to locate it just to the east of the now reducing island. It was quite distant but after seeing it on a
couple of occasions between dives we were all happy that it was the Red-necked
Grebe.
On reaching the Egleton car
park we had a quick look at Lagoon One from the centre where there were six
Goosander and a few Pintail on the water and a single Curlew on the long island
and we also heard a Water Rail.
As it was a little early for
lunch so David and I had decided to go to Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow but
having seen that there was a Green Sandpiper being seen from Fieldfare Hide we
went there first. When we reached the
hide there was a single Redshank on the shore but there was no sign of a Green
Sandpiper. A Kestrel was then observed and
shortly afterwards a Peregrine flew over and headed off to the east.
David was a little
disappointed that we hadn’t seen the Green Sandpiper as we made our way back to
the Snipe Hide. There were five Curlews
on the Wet Meadow and I picked up a Stonechat and I counted sixty-seven Pintail
on Lagoon One and there was also a Great White Egret on Lagoon One. We saw another Kestrel as we made our way
back to the car park for lunch and there were several Blackbird and Redwings
and a single Song Thrush in the first meadow.
Blackbird
Redwing
Redwing
Song Thrush
We didn’t see a great deal
whilst we were having lunch but another male Blackbird came quite close and
didn't seem to be concerned about David and I and it even came closer after
David and provided it with his apple core.
Erik then joined us and we set off for Lapwing Hide where he had seen
the female Ruddy Duck from there yesterday.
Blackbird
We hadn’t gone too far when
another birder informed us that he had seen a Bittern on three occasions from
Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three and so we called there before going on to Lapwing
Hide. There were plenty of birds on the
lagoon with ten male and six female Red-crested Pochards and three red-head
Smew being the highlights and there was also three Shelduck, seven Pintail,
five Little Egrets, three Great White Egrets and a Snipe and Erik picked up a
Kingfisher in flight before it landed in a bush on the edge of the lagoon. However with no further sightings of the
Bittern we moved onto Lapwing Hide.
As has been the case recently
there were masses of birds from Lapwing Hide, mainly Coot but also god numbers
of Wigeon, Gadwall and Tufted Duck. As
we and other birders scanned through the duck a male Scaup, a pair of Smew and
three male and three male Goosanders were found and there was another pair of
Smew on Lagoon Two.
Drake Smew on Lagoon Two
We were about to go back to
Shoveler Hide when another birder said I think I’ve got the Ruddy Duck. He provided directions and there was the
female Ruddy Duck roosting on the water.
With the target bird in the
bag David and I went back to Shoveler Hide leaving Erik scanning for a Common
Scoter.
When I arrived in the hide
there hadn’t been any further signs of the Bittern and so I settled down hoping
it would show. David then entered the
hide having observed a Chiffchaff close to Smew Hide and it wasn’t long
afterwards when Erik arrived. With no
sign of the Bittern Erik indicated he was going back to the centre to view
Lagoon One but as he was standing up to leave both David and I saw a Bittern
rise and then disappear behind the reeds close to Buzzard Hide. A few second later it emerged flying over the
water and landed on the edge of the reeds of the main reedbed. Someone then cried its flying again, which
turned out to be a second bird, with the first remaining to give good, if
distant, views whilst preening a little near the top of the reeds. After quite some time it dropped into the
reeds only to reappear a few minutes later and then David and I decided we
would leave. David had left the hide but
as I was about to follow it took to flight again and I managed to get a few
record shots before it dropped out of sight further along the reeds.
Bittern in flight (note Great White Egret below)
Bittern in flight
Bittern in flight
Bittern in flight
I caught David up and we went
into Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four as David had seen several large gulls
dropping in. There was a good number of
gulls at the back of the lagoon, mainly Herring and Great Black-backed with
smaller numbers of Black-headed and Common and we did find a couple of Lesser
Black-backed Gulls. Other than four
Pintail on the water and a Red Kite flying over, with a second over Burley
along with a Buzzard there was little else and we made our way back to the
centre.
Red Kite over Lagoon Four
Red Kite over Lagoon Four
Red Kite over Lagoon Four
Red Kite over Lagoon Four
There wasn’t anything new on
Lagoon One but both David and I heard a Green Sandpiper call and I picked it up
heading off towards Snipe hide before it flew back in front of the centre and
went off back over Lagoon two. We also
had our third Red Fox of the day that was walking across the meadow at the back
of the lagoon.
It had been a good day with
eighty species recorded, two of which, Ruddy Duck and Bittern, were new for the
year.
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