A day at Rutland Water, Rutland - April 30, 2017

I was unable to get out yesterday as I was attending a wedding and with it being Sunday I needed to be back at my daughter for lunch and so I made an early start and left home at 05:30.

When I left home the sun was just breaking the horizon and there was a brisk easterly wind and I was hopeful of some good birds.  I didn’t see a great deal on route to Rutland Water with a Green Woodpecker near Blaston being the best.

When I arrived in the Egleton car park at Rutland Water the brisk easterly wind felt quite cold and after putting several layers on I walked towards the northern lagoons seeing just a single Chiffchaff on route, although there was plenty of song.  I continued beyond the path towards Bittern Hide as I was hoping to see a Nightingale present since last Sunday.  As I walked along the path I heard Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler but saw just two of the Sedge Warblers in the dense scrub.  As I approached the path to Bittern Hide I heard the Nightingale singing but despite spending a good twenty minutes around the area I didn’t see it.

I eventually decided to go into Plover Hide and view Lagoon Four and found a single Avocet feeding near Island Three and as I continued to scan I found three Bar-tailed Godwits on an area of exposed mud.  Two were pretty much in summer plumage whilst the third was still moulting.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Summer male Bar-tailed Godwit

Summer male Bar-tailed Godwit

I then picked up party of waders in flight and watched as they landed some distance away and on scanning them with the scope found a single Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover, twelve Dunlin and three Turnstones.  Whilst watching the group of waders I heard a Whimbrel call, I then saw as it flew behind Island Three and disappeared.  It called again a few minutes later and then flew over the hide and presumably continued with its migration.  A second Avocet then joined the first to the left of the hide.  The smaller waders were moving around quite a bit and I moved to the other end of the hide to get a different view.  I found more Ringed Plovers and two of the Turnstones in a different area and then I found a superb summer-plumaged Grey Plover on one of the more distant areas of mud.  It was clearly turning into quite a spectacular day and after texting Tim as it was still quite early I called Erik to make him aware but unfortunately, he was going to work and couldn’t visit until this evening.  Whilst talking to Erik a Common Sandpiper wandered into view, which was my tenth waders of the day.

I went back to view the area the Nightingale was in, which was still singing, but it still didn’t reveal itself and I continued onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.  I had seen a few terns from a brief visit to Bittern Hide and as I started looking from Shoveler Hide I could see that there were several Black Terns present and I eventually finished with a final count of twenty.  I was hoping for an Arctic Tern but could only find Common Terns amongst the Black Terns.  I then noticed a couple of drake Red-crested Pochard to the left of the hide but whilst ringing Tim to give him and update they flew off over Lagoon Two.

Male Red-crested Pochards

Drake Pochard on Lagoon Three

From Shoveler Hide I moved onto Lapwing Hide to check out South Arm Three but there weren’t any terns feeding over the water but I did find a female Scaup amongst a party of Tufted Duck.

Male Reed Bunting on the fencing as I came back from Lapwing Hide

I went into Sandpiper Hide to get a different view of Lagoon Four and found presumably a Greenshank I had heard earlier resting amongst some Common Terns.  Tim then joined me for a while, where he cught up with all the birds I had seen earlier, except the Whimbrel.  The Common Tern numbers resting on one of the near spits continued to build and peaked at thirty plus and there was a single Snipe on the spit to the left of the hide.  Whilst in the hide I heard a Grey Wagtail call and then picked it up as it flew over the hide but with little else I went back to the car park for a coffee and a bite to eat.

Wren along the Summer Trail

After a coffee, I went back to Sandpiper Hide and Lagoon Four and found a female Bar-tailed Godwit resting amongst the terns.  The Bar-tailed Godwit flew off south shortly afterwards to be replaced by three Whimbrel, two of which didn’t stay to long before they headed off north.  The third flew to another island but couldn’t be found shortly afterwards.  I counted sixteen Ringed Plovers and seventeen Dunlin, indicating that birds were still arriving and shortly afterwards I found two winter plumaged Grey Plover and there was a Wheatear on the east bank.  Five more Bar-tailed Godwits then dropped in, which included just one male summer-plumaged bird, with the other four being females.  Another birder then arrived in the hide indicating that there was a first-summer Little Gull on Lagoon Three and so I went to see if I could find it.

Two of the three Whimbrel

As I approached Shoveler Hide I met Kerry Harrison who informed me he had seen the Little Gull and a couple of Arctic Terns.  When I got into the hide the Black Terns were still present and there were plenty of Commic Terns feeding, most of which were Common but I did eventually find a couple of Arctic Terns but there was no sign of the Little Gull.

I returned to Sandpiper Hide to find that the Bar-tailed Godwits had gone but most of the rest of the birds were still present and I then had five Grey Plover in flight but they dropped behind Island Four and just to winter-plumaged birds emerged.  As I was about to leave I picked up a Hobby to the north and watched it for several minutes as it drifted off further the north.

It had been a cracking visit with ninety-four species recorded, four of which were year-ticks and another four were county year-ticks.  I was reluctant to leave as I expected the trend would continue, which was proven right with Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Sandwich Tern and Little Terns all reported later in the day.