A morning in Leicestershire & Rutland - July 11, 2017

I was helping with the WeBS Count at Rutland Water today and had made an earlier start as I didn’t want to be late getting back home as Sandra and I were heading off on an Alaskan adventure early tomorrow morning.

I had agreed with Tim that I would count South Arm Three and Lagoon One and was on site to begin counting by 06:00.  There had been a lot of wildfowl on Lagoon One during my last visit and I was expecting that they would either be in South Arm Three or still on Lagoon One.  As I started the count in South Arm Three, although there were good numbers of Mute Swan and Tufted Duck the numbers were well below what had been on Lagoon One during my last visit.  Highlights included twenty-four Egyptian Geese, three Little Egrets, an Oystercatcher and four Common Terns.

Tim called and asked if I could possibly do some of the new lagoons and agreed to call him after I had finished Lagoon One as I was still fearful of it taking quite some time.  The centre wasn’t open when I reached the Egleton Reserve and so I went to Mallard Hide to begin counting Lagoon One.  When I opened the flaps, I was surprised and quite relived to find there wasn’t masses of ducks on the lagoon and I was soon on my way to Snipe Hide to continue counting Lagoon One and the Wet Meadow.  Highlights on Lagoon One were a single Shoveler, a Great White Egret, two Common Terns and a Kingfisher.

When I reached Snipe Hide there was another Shoveler on the Wet Meadow but very little else on either the meadow or additions to Lagoon One, although I did find a female-type Marsh Harrier resting in reeds on Lagoon One.

There was little to add to either counts from Harrier Hide and I called Tim and agreed to count lagoons five and six.  Neither of them took long to count with the highlight being sixteen Little Egrets on Lagoon Five but a further check from Snipe Hide produced a couple of Green Sandpipers on the Wet Meadow.  With my agreed sections now all complete I headed off home to prepare for the Alaska trip.