David and I were heading for
the dam at Rutland Water as he hadn’t been able to get to see the Surf Scoter
since its arrival. We left David’s just as
it was starting to get light and we had a Barn Owl between Kibworth and Tur
Langton and then a Red Kite perched on a telegraph pole at the Horninghold
crossroads. We turned towards Eyebrook
Reservoir and found the Little Owl sitting in the old oak but we didn’t spend
any time at the reservoir as David was keen to get to the dam. We did however make a brief stop at Lyndon
where we had a Treecreeper and heard a Nuthatch.
When we reached Sykes Lane car
park the gate was locked and so we continued onto Barnsdale as there had been a
Brent Goose and Whimbrel in Dickinson’s Bay yesterday. There was no sign of any geese or the
Whimbrel with two Pintail being the highlight.
We returned to Sykes Lane and
with the gates now open after parking we set off over the dam. Carl Baggott was walking back over the dam
and informed us that the Surf Scoter was still present, much to David’s
relief. There was a small party of
Tufted Ducks just of the dam and a quick scan soon produced the Surf Scoter
amongst them.
First-winter Surf Scoter
With little else visible from
the dam we made our way to the unnamed road to view the North Arm. There were two male and six female Goosanders
in the fishponds but nothing else of note and so we walked out onto the
spit. We pent quite some time scanning
the north shore but couldn’t find the Whimbrel and the Brent Goose wasn’t
amongst the small number of geese but the two Barnacle Geese were. There were plenty of Wigeon and Teal along
the shoreline but there was no sign of the Green-winged Teal, which was also
seen again yesterday. As we scanned the
water David found two Black-necked Grebes but other than sixty-plus Pintail
there was little else. We had seen two
of the Great White Egrets, one of which was quite mobile and just before we
departed I found a third some considerable distance into the arm.
We eventually went to the
Egleton car park, seeing a Great Spotted Woodpecker on route, and then walked
to the centre to view the feeding station and Lagoon One. The feeders were pretty low but there were a
few birds visiting them, mainly Blue Tits, with a few Great Tits and Chaffinch
and there were also a few Blackbird and a Dunnock under the feeders.
From the centre there were
twenty-three Pintail, three male and a female Goosander, two Little Egrets and
a Stonechat but with little else we returned to the car park for lunch.
Just before we set-off after
lunch for the northern lagoons I found a Chiffchaff near the toilet block and
after getting David onto it we headed for Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three. There was a single Redwing in the first meadow
but we hadn’t seen very much else by the time we reached the hide.
On the lagoon there was a pair
of Red-crested Pochard and several Pintail and Pochard amongst the more
numerous Wigeon and Gadwall. There were
two Great White Egrets on the lagoon along with several Little Egrets but there
was no sign of the hoped for Bittern.
Moorhen on Lagoon Three
There were a lot of birds from
Lapwing Hide, mainly Coot but also good numbers of Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Duck
and Great Crested Grebe and a careful scan produced two drake Scaup but little
else of note. A quick look onto Lagoon
Two from the hide produced a red-headed Smew.
We called at Crake Hide on the
way back to Shoveler Hide but there was no sign of the hoped for Water
Rail. I had a quick look from Smew Hide
and had further views of the red-headed Smew and several Pintail were also on
the lagoon.
Drake Goldeneye from Lapwing Hide
Drake & female Goldeneye from Lapwing Hide
Drake & female Goldeneye from Lapwing Hide
Red-head Smew on Lagoon Two
It was pretty much the same
from Shoveler Hide but there were now thirteen Little Egrets and both Great
White Egrets were still present but again we drew a blank on the Bittern.
Ten Little Egrets on Lagoon Three
Great White Egret on Lagoon Three
David wanted to call at
Eyebrook Reservoir on the way home and so we headed back to the car park.
On arrival we drove around to
the coral overlooking the inlet where there were a few Golden Plover and
thirty-three Dunlin. There were a few
gulls assembling but something disturbed the birds and they and the Lapwing and
Dunlin circled quite high but we couldn’t see anything that caused the
disturbance. We were surprised to see
how many Golden Plover there were with there being at least 250 circling,
whilst we had only seen a few on the ground.
The Lapwing, Dunlin and some
of the gulls eventually returned and then gull numbers continued to rise. I noticed a herring-type gull further down
the reservoir with a very white head and on closer inspection we identified it
as an adult Yellow-legged Gull. David
then said I think I have a first-winter Glaucous Gull and after getting
directions I had excellent views of a rather superb first-winter bird as it
initially swam around the other gulls before standing on the edge of the
mud. Unfortunately the birds were
suddenly spooked again and that was the last we saw of it but it was an
excellent close to the day.
First-winter Glaucous Gull
When we left Eyebrook
Reservoir the light was beginning to go but we did have a Little Owl in flight
as we approached Slawston, which was my first in this area since May 2014.
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