David, Malcolm, Roger and I
had planned for a day in Norfolk and after driving to David’s he then drove to
Rutland Water where we were to meet Malcolm and Roger.
As I loaded my gear into
David’s car there was a Swallow and House Martin overhead and I saw one of the
Manton Bay Ospreys as we passed over the bridge at Manton. Malcolm and Roger were already in the Egleton
car park when we arrived and whilst loading the gear into Malcolm’s car, who
was the designated driver today, there was a Chiffchaff and Blackcap singing
and a Green Woodpecker flew over.
Malcolm had heard a Cuckoo several times after he arrived but it had now
fell silent and didn’t call again before we departed.
As we left Rutland Water the
weather was dry and sunny but the forecast was a little uncertain later as some
rain had been predicated during the afternoon.
David and Malcolm saw a Red Kite as we headed for the A1 but it dropped
out of sight before Roger and I saw it but I did see a Great Spotted Woodpecker
in flight just after getting on the A47 Peterborough bypass.
Our first port of call was
Snettisham Country Park and we hadn’t seen a great deal else as we pulled into
the car park. It felt quite cold when we
got out of the car but the sea defences gave us some protection from the cool
westerly wind. As we started to walk
north-east several Shelduck flew over and I then picked up a female Wheatear,
which was to be our only sighting of the day.
We could hear several Sedge Warbler and did eventually see several when
David who had gone on ahead a little said he could hear a Grasshopper Warbler
reeling but as we started to walk towards him a Cuckoo called. Malcolm, Roger and I walked back into a open
area where we had brief view of the Cuckoo before we re-joined David. I could also hear the Grasshopper Warbler and
then we heard a Lesser Whitethroat, which despite hearing again we didn’t
see. As we approached the reeling
Grasshopper Warbler I was sure it was singing from a small bush, which was
confirmed when Malcolm said he could see it.
We all eventually manged to lock onto the bird before it stopped reeling
and dropped deeper into the bush.
As we walked back to the main
path the Cuckoo flew west and a few minutes later we had better views of a
second bird, which was also heading west.
We continued working the area with Malcom and I going further towards
Heacham than David and Roger but other than having a second reeling Grasshopper
Warbler, which remained elusive and we didn’t see too much else. When we all were back at the car we had, all
seen or heard Cuckoo, Swallow, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge
Warbler and Wheatear with David and I also hearing a Reed Warbler and David
seeing a Garden Warbler. Cuckoo, Lesser
Whitethroat and Grasshopper Warbler were all new for the year for myself, which
made the visit worthwhile.
We called briefly at
Hunstanton where we saw a single Fulmar from the car but with the rain
appearing to have arrived early we headed to Titchwell.
As we parked a group of
birders were observing and area in the car park and we established that they
had seen a Turtle Dove, which we then heard several times but it was not
visible. We were informed that when it
wasn’t visible from the car park it could be seen from the Fen Trail and after
a few minutes of waiting David and Malcolm decided to go and try from the Fen
Trail and I followed shortly afterwards.
When I got to David and
Malcolm they had heard the bird again but it was now silent and the rain was
becoming a little heavier. When Roger
joined us we continued along the fen trail with Malcolm and I going onto the
screen overlooking the Patsy’s reedbed and pool. The water was very high and other than a
couple of Little Grebe there was little else, although five male Red-crested
Pochard flew over.
When we went back to David and
Roger they hadn’t seen the Red-crested Pochards, which appeared to have flown
off high to the west. As it was still
raining we made our way to the Island Hide, seeing a House Martin and Reed
Warbler from the trail leading to the west bank. When we reached the hide, it was a little
congested and David informed us we had just missed a Caspian Gull but that
there were several Mediterranean Gulls present.
It wasn’t easy observing the freshwater marsh due to the number of
birders in the hide but the water was clearly quite high and there appeared to
be few waders.
We eventually gave up and headed
for Parrinder Hide and stood outside but undercover to view the lagoon. I had seen two Mediterranean Gulls from
Island Hide but now was able to see that there were quite a few and I counted
twenty-four. Most appeared to be adults
but I did see two second-summer and two first-summer birds. There were clearly few waders on the lagoon
other than a few Avocets and four Ruff.
With the rain easing we made
our way to the beach and with the tide receding there were plenty of waders
that included Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, Knot, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit
and Turnstone and numerous Herring Gulls were also feeding along the edge of
the shoreline. There was a fast flock of
Common Scoter on the sea, which must have involved at least a thousand birds
and after observing them for a while I picked up a Velvet Scoter in flight,
which then joined a small party of birds just off-shore. The small party of birds whilst still mainly
Common Scoter contained at least three Velvet Scoters. Despite spending quite some time on the
beach we didn’t see a great deal else and with the rain persisting we decided
to go back to the car for lunch.
We checked the book in the
centre to find that a drake Eider and fifteen Sandwich Terns had been seen
whilst we were on the beach. With the
rain persisting we were unsure what to do but eventually decided to go back to
have a look from the overflow car park for the Turtle Dove but were
unsuccessful and saw just a single Kestrel.
With the weather appearing to
be improving we finally decided we would stay and returned to Parrinder Hide to
view the freshwater marsh. We had found
out that the water level was high to encourage the Avocets to nest on the
islands surrounded by the netting but with the amount of Black-headed and
Mediterranean Gulls on the island I wasn’t convinced there would be much space
for Avocets, although one did appear to be sitting. I counted the Avocets and found that there
were less than thirty on the lagoon and with few elsewhere there appeared to be
fewer birds than when we last visited.
Whilst we continued to view the area we saw at least four Marsh
Harriers, a Bittern was booming with some regularity and thirty Black-tailed
Godwits had dropped in since our earlier visit.
As we were talking I realised that I hadn't seen a single Lapwing but
then Roger picked one up but it turned out to be the only one we saw and I
began to wonder if the strategy of keeping the water high was a good one. Based on what I had seen today the Avocets weren’t
showing much interest in the island and the numbers appeared to be down and few
other waders were choosing to use the marsh.
The rain had now stopped and
so I decided to go back to the beach, whilst the others indicated that they
were going back to look for the Turtle Dove.
I stopped at the far side of Volunteer Marsh and looking down the
channel found a rather smart looking summer plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit and then
I noticed a single Whimbrel. I called
Malcolm to let the others know and saw Malcolm coming towards me as he had
changed his mind and was coming to the beach.
After watching the Whimbrel for a while we continued onto the beach and
found the tide quite a way out and on scanning the shore realised that most of
the waders had gone. Conversely the
scoter had moved closer but on going through them we could only find Common
Scooters and three Great Crested Grebes.
Malcolm then picked up four Sandwich Terns heading west and shortly
afterwards I picked up another three.
As David wanted to be back for
18:00 and the with rain starting again we headed back to the car park and
probably got wetter than we had been all day as the intensity of the rain
increased. When we got back we found
David sheltering under a tree and Roger joined us just afterwards and we were
soon on our way home.
We had another Marsh Harrier
near Choseley and a Buzzard as we headed north on the A1 and added Sand Martin
to our day list on reaching Rutland Water.
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