There had been a drake
Ferruginous Duck in South Arm Three at Rutland Water yesterday evening and I
was hoping it would still be there today.
I left home in rather dreary conditions being overcast and rather windy with
some heavy drizzle. I saw a couple of
Red Kites near Tur Langton and a Great Spotted Woodpecker as I approached
Cranoe on route. I called Erik as I
approached Uppingham, who had just arrived on site and agreed to give me a call
if the duck was still visible from Lapwing Hide.
The drizzle had stopped when I
pulled up in the Egleton car park and before I was ready Erik called to say
that the American Wigeon was present but there was no sign of the Ferruginous
Duck. He mentioned that there was a
large raft of birds near Fieldfare Hide but he was going to check out Lagoon
Three, whilst I said I would go to Fieldfare Hide.
I spent a few minutes checking
out the feeders where I saw a couple of Marsh Tit but was surprised that Erik
caught me up before I had got very far down the path to Fieldfare Hide. He had looked on Lagoon Three but there were
very few birds and no Ferruginous Duck.
As we walked around the path
we had a Red Kite over the path, a few Fieldfare and Redwing and two Goldcrest
and a male Sparrowhawk flew over as we reached the turn to Fieldfare Hide. There was a Great White Egret just in front
of the hide, but it flew off towards Gadwall Hide and another Sparrowhawk flew
over, which was larger than the one seen a few minutes ago and we considered it
to be a female.
Scanning through the flock of
birds it was immediately apparent that most were Coot with a just three male
and a leucitic female Red-crested Pochard and a few Pochard and Tufted Duck
amongst them. Nearer to the hide there
were a few Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal and nine Pintail. Whilst we were scanning the flock a
considerable number of Tufted Duck flew in and I picked out several Pochard
amongst them. Once they had settled on
the water we were able to go through the flock but there was still no sign of
the Ferruginous, but Erik did find a female Scaup. I called Steve, who was in Lapwing Hide with
Terry, to inform him of the Scaup and he confirmed that there was still no sign
of the Ferruginous from there but that they had found thirty-two Red-crested
Pochards in front of Brown’s Island and that they were now swimming out towards
the end and we should be able to see them.
We could see at least some of them amongst the Coot but the mass of
birds and the choppy conditions made them difficult to count and the most I got
was twenty-eight.
Erik eventually decided to go
to Lyndon to view South Arm Two and I also left a few minutes later and headed
towards the southern lagoons. As I walked
between Tern and Pintail Hides on Lagoon Six I could see that the water level
was now quite high and I couldn’t see any birds and so continued onto the 360
Hide on Lagoon Five. The water level on
Lagoon Five was also higher than my last visit and there were quite a few birds
with the highlights being three Pintail and four Little Grebes. Ken called whilst I was in the hide and I
agreed to meet him in the centre in about thirty minutes.
I went into Snipe Hide before
heading back to the centre but other than a couple of Black-headed Gulls on the
flash the area was devoid of birds and I was soon on my way back to the centre.
After a chat with Stephen I
went up to the viewing area and Ken joined me a few minutes later. Eight Shelduck and two Pintail were the
highlights amongst the small number of wildfowl on the lagoon and there were a
couple of Little Egrets on Brown’s Island and two Snipe flew over.
With still no positive news on
the duck I decided I would go to Lyndon and Ken followed me round to the car
park. After checking out the feeders
where there was nothing of note, although a Sparrowhawk flew over twice being
harassed by a Carrion Crow, we set off for Wader Scrape Hide to view Manton
Bay. We saw a few Fieldfare and Redwing
as we walked down and there were a couple of Red-legged Partridge and four
Skylark over the first large field to the south. We called in Deep Water Hide to view the
rafts of ducks in South Arm Two and although there were plenty of Tufted Ducks
there was still no sign of the Ferruginous Duck. There were a couple of Goldeneye on the far
shore and another seven Pintail in the arm.
We moved onto Wader Scrape
Hide and found six Great White Egret and nine Little Egrets feeding in Manton
Bay but there were far fewer wildfowl than on my last visit. As we scanned the area I counted eighteen
more Pintail but the only waders I saw were a few Lapwing. There was some disturbance and as the birds
were settling again I saw a Black-tailed Godwit drop to the left of the hide
and alerted Ken. Andy Howes then called
to say he had seen a Hawfinch fly over the path to Teal Hide and suggested that
it might be worth checking out the feeders when we returned.
As we approached the feeders
there were a few birds visiting them including a couple of Tree Sparrows but
there was no sign of a Hawfinch and we went back to the cars. Ken departed and after a bite to eat I went
down to Teal Hide to view the South Arm.
I found two more Pintail to the right of the hide and I picked up a
party of eighteen Goldeneye in flight that landed to the left of the island but
there was little else and so I went to the North Arm.
I saw yet another Sparrowhawk
over the road near Gunthorpe and on stopping briefly to view Tim’s feeders I
had a Coal Tit and a Nuthatch. After
parking at the end of the unnamed road I walked out onto the spit and found yet
more Pintail counting seventy-three with most being in the southern bay. There were two Little Egret on the Sothern
shore and another Great White Egret beyond the fisherman’s car park and two
Buzzards over Burley Wood were to be my only sightings of the day.
Having returned to the Egleton
car park I walked down to the centre and met Pete Jessop returning from the
northern lagoons. He hadn’t seen a great
deal and had been unable to find the American Wigeon from Lapwing Hide. I was considering going to Eyebrook Reservoir
when he mentioned there was a Peregrine perched in a tree in one of the meadows
and so I went to take a look. His
directions weren’t clear but on looking in the two areas I thought he might
have meant there was no sign of the Peregrine and I decided to carry on to
Lapwing Hide.
There weren’t too many birds
close to the hide but on scanning a small party of Wigeon I located the
American Wigeon but saw nothing else of note and returned to Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three.
Like most of the lagoons on
the reserve at present there was very little with the area directly in front of
the hide totally devoid of bird, except for a few Moorhen. I did find three Pintail and heard a Water
Rail but there was very little else and so I moved onto Sandpiper Hide.
Like the other lagoons, Lagoon
Four was barren, except for the normal gulls at the now small pre-roost and a
few Wigeon and Lapwing there was very little else. My fifth Sparrowhawk of the day flew over and
just before I called it a day four Dunlin flew around the lagoon, but I didn’t
see them come down. The weather had
closed in whilst I was in the hide and it was now raining quite heavily but
fortunately I had taken an umbrella and got back to the car without getting too
wet.
With the Ferruginous Duck not
being seen and the inclement weather made it a rather disappointing day with
just seventy species being recorded.
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