Roger and I were out locally
today and we headed for Rutland Water, calling briefly at Eyebrook Reservoir on
route. We had a couple of Red Kites, two
Buzzards and a Kestrel before reaching the northern approach road to Eyebrook
Reservoir and a brief view of a Green Woodpecker at Slawston.
There was no sign of any
Little Owls in the old oak but a brief stop at the feeding station near the
bridge produced a Kingfisher and a couple of Tree Sparrows. The reservoir is now on top water and
consequently there are fewer birds and five Pintail at the inlet and twelve
Goldeneye near the Stoke Dry car park, were the highlights.
We moved onto Rutland Water
and went to the Egleton Reserve and as we walked down towards the Bird Watching
Centre a Buzzard flew over but with centre still closed we headed for Snipe on
the Wet Meadow. We didn’t see a great
deal before reaching the hide but on opening the flaps we found a single Curlew
on the meadow and there were pairs of Shelduck on both flashes with the closer
of the flashes also producing a drake Pintail and two Pochard.
From Snipe Hide we walked the
short distance to the 360 Hide overlooking the Lagoon Five. There was a good number of Wigeon on the
Lagoon and we also found three more Pintail and a couple Oystercatcher were
observed on different islands. The roosting
Lapwing suddenly too to flight and Roger picked up a single Golden Plover
amongst the flock but with little else we moved down the track to check out
Lagoon Seven.
Party of Wigeon on Lagoon Five
When we reached Shelduck Hide
we could see that Lagoon Seven was high and there were few birds visible and so
we went into Shelduck Hide to get a different view of Lagoon Five but found
nothing new.
We decided that it might be a
good idea to visit Heron Bay, seeing a Red Kite and a Kestrel towards Lax Hill,
but after reaching the hide we found it and Wigeon Hide had been dismantled and
foundations were being laid for new hides.
A visit into Kingfisher Hide overlooking Lagoon Eight produced a couple
of Oystercatchers but with very little else we made our way back towards
Pintail Hide on Lagoon Six.
There was a pair of Shelduck,
five Pintail and another pair of Oystercatchers visible from the hide but we
soon moved onto Harrier Hide on Lagoon One.
I checked the Wet Meadow from
Harrier Hide but found nothing new and with Roger finding a male and two female
Goosander on Lagoon One, I moved to view the lagoon. We then noticed some Curlew resting and
feeding on the rough meadow towards South Arm Three and we eventually found
eleven Curlew and the wintering Whimbrel.
I then picked up a male Stonechat but it took some time to relocate once
it had dropped out of sight.
As we walked back to the
centre I had a party of circa fifty Golden Plover fly over and then a small
party passed right over our heads. On
reaching the centre we spent a while observing Lagoon One where there were five
more Shelduck and our first Little Egret of the day, with a second flying
over. We also had several more sightings
of Golden Plover in flight with a few dropping onto the long island.
After some lunch, we made our
way to the northern lagoons, seeing a few Redwing and a single Fieldfare in the
meadows, before entering Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four where two Ringed Plovers
had been reported that were the first for the year. However, as I opened the flap I saw three
red-headed Smew right in front of the hide and then found a male with another
three red-heads to the right and we eventually managed to find a seventh
red-head. Roger soon located the Ringed
Plovers on one of the islands and on closer inspection we found that there were
three birds. There were also five Shelduck
and an Oystercatcher on the lagoon.
Red-headed Smew on Lagoon Four
Red-headed Smew on Lagoon Four
Other birders had reported
that there were three male Smew and a Great Northern Diver in South Arm Three
and so we headed for Lapwing Hide. As we
walked down the path towards the hide Roger picked up a Sparrowhawk and whilst
looking for this I found two soaring Buzzards.
It didn’t take too long to locate the Great Northern Diver, which was
close enough today to confirm that it was a first-winter but we were unable to
find the three drake Smew before walking back to Shoveler Hide.
The water level had come up
quite a bit on Lagoon Three where we found nine Shelduck, a pair of Red-crested
Pochard and a red-headed Smew. We stayed
in the hide for some time hoping that the Bittern would appear but we had no
joy but a Water Rail flew in front of the hide before we moved back towards the
centre.
Drake Teal on Lagoon Three
We called at Grebe Hide on
Lagoon Two on the way back where we had brief views of a Chiffchaff and a
Stonechat but there was nothing else of note.
We decided we would make a
visit to the North Arm before heading off home and after parking walked down
towards the spit, where we found Chris and Colin. They had only just arrived but they soon
found the two Slavonian and three Black-necked Grebes. On the far shore, there were at least twelve
Dunlin and there was a Redshank in the fishponds.
On the way home, we had two
Red Kites over the road as we approached Manton Bridge and another between
there and Preston. We drove by Eyebrook
Reservoir but there was still no sign of the Little Owl but we did have a
Buzzard and a couple of Kestrel before arriving back home.
I had recorded eighty-one
species today, which included the first county Ringed Plovers and a Chiffchaff
and included most of the good wintering birds.
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