A day at Rutland Water, Rutland - January 17, 2017

The weather forecast for today was for a dull and rather drab day with the chance of some light rain.  However when I left home it was reasonably bright with some blue sky appearing.  As I approached Slawston there was a Kestrel perched at the side of the road and between there and Blaston I saw ten Fieldfare and four Redwings.  There was another Kestrel and a couple of Red-legged Partridge as I climbed Blaston Hill but I hadn’t seen anything else of note before reaching Rutland Water.

I had made a decision to start at Lyndon this morning and before walking to Wader Scrape Hide I viewed the feeders where both Coal and Marsh Tits paid a brief visit and there was also a single Tree Sparrow.  There was a Little Egret feeding in the bay just to the left of the centre but generally there were few birds on the water.

I had seen just a single Fieldfare of note by the time I reached the hide.  The bay was fairly quiet although there were good numbers of Wigeon and Teal and smaller numbers of Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye and there were also five Pintail.  Three Little Egrets were feeding around the edges of the bay and I then found three Dunlin amongst a party of Lapwing.  As I scanned the bunds I was surprised to find them covered in Lapwings and there must have been several thousand present.

As I left the hide to walk back a party of seventy plus finches flew over but they were just silhouettes and although they were calling I didn’t recognise it.  Fortunately a few landed in the trees close to the path and I was able to identify five Goldfinch and five Siskin and presumably the rest were mainly of these two species, although it is possible there were also some Redpolls.

I called at Tufted Duck Hide on the way back but other than a brief view of two Jays there was little else and a visit to Teal Hide produced a single Redshank just in front of the hide and a second close to Goldeneye Hide on Lax Hill.

Robin close to Tufted Duck Hide

Steve and Tim had both called to say that two Whooper Swans had flown off from the North Arm but that seven more had now arrived and I therefore headed for the unnamed road hoping they would still be there.  After parking near the cottage I walked down the road and viewed the fishponds where there were a couple of Little Egrets and a Great White Egret along with six male and three female Goosanders.

The area of vegetation screening the North Arm from by the gate had been cleared and there is now a clear view and the seven Whooper Swans were resting on the end of the northern spit.  Pleased that the Whooper Swans were still there I walked through the gate and joined to other birders.  They thought they had seen a Black-necked Grebe but had now lost it but I soon found both of the Slavonian Grebes and shortly afterwards two of the Black-necked Grebes and one of the other birders then found the third Black-necked Grebe.  As I scanned over Burley Wood I picked up a Red Kite and two Buzzards but was unable to locate a Raven we heard calling.  As the other two birders were about to leave I noticed a party of Dunlin in flight, which then came down amongst the Lapwings on the northern spit.  Once on the ground they weren’t that easy to see but I did manage to count thirty-two.  I then found another Buzzard on the north shore that was feeding on a carcass.

Following the success in the North Arm I drove to Egleton where I had my lunch before going to the Bird Watching Centre to view Lagoon One.  There was another Great White Egret and a Little Egret on the southern shore and two Shelduck were on the long island and I counted seventeen Pintail.  A second Great White Egret then flew in and landed out of sight near Harrier Hide and the first bird then went and joined it.  Craig then arrived and after he picked up a male Stonechat we had some difficulty helping two other birders get on them but during that time we also located a female and a second male.

Craig had already departed for the northern lagoons when I set off but I had only seen a single Fieldfare by the time I reached Shoveler Hide.  I was surprised to find the hide empty but then started to count the Red-crested Pochard and finished with nineteen males and seven females, which is a good number and they have built up rather quickly since the start of the year.  There was also a good number of Shoveler and three Pintail on the lagoon and a Great White Egret at the back of the lagoon.  Craig and Stephen then arrived and we were joined by two female birders who were from Northampton.  Craig then found a red-headed Smew that promptly disappeared and whilst looking for this he found a Water Rail on the edge of the reeds and then a Bittern, which appeared on the edge of the reeds briefly.  A Sparrowhawk then flashed through and there was a Red Kite and two Buzzards over the woodland with a third Buzzard passing close to the hide.  Steve and Terry then entered the hide and Terry soon latched on to the red-headed Smew and a party of Snipe were then observed in flight.

I eventually set off to Lapwing Hide but called at Smew Hide on route where I found twenty Pintail feeding but a stop at Crake Hide added nothing new.

Drake Pintail from Smew Hide

Drake Pintail from Smew Hide

As usual there were plenty of birds from Lapwing Hide but mainly Coot and there was nothing unusual with a distant grebe that looked as if it might be the Red-necked turned out to be just a Great Crested Grebe sitting low in the water.  I had seen a couple of red-headed Smew on Lagoon Two from the hide but Steve who was looking over the fence found five but when I opened a flap in the hide they flew off.

Red-headed Smew from Lapwing Hide

I called briefly in Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four where there were numerous Wigeon and a single Pintail.  There were also plenty of gulls, mainly Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls but also Black-headed, Common and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

I walked back to the centre, which was closed, but I viewed Lagoon One from one of the gates hoping that some Golden Plovers seen earlier would still be present.  As I scanned through the Lapwings there was no sign of any Golden Plovers but I did eventually find ten Curlews.  Fifty Redwings and a single Fieldfare appeared in the meadow behind me before I departed, which was surprising and a good close to the day as I hadn’t seen a single Redwing at the reservoir all day.