David and I left home just
after 07:00 and headed for Dean’s Lane where we were hoping for some visible
migration. Roger joined us shortly after
we arrived, but it was unfortunately rather quiet but with some intermittent
migration, particularly Woodpigeons early on.
We also had 370+ Starling, ten Fieldfare, 140+ Redwing, three Mistle
Thrush, an alba wagtail, forty+ Chaffinch, five Greenfinch, eight Goldfinch and
30+ Siskin and we also heard a Brambling but didn’t see it.
Whilst on site other birds of
interest were a Sparrowhawk, at least six Jays, two Ravens and a Nuthatch.
After we had left Dean’s Lane
we went to Swithland Wood briefly to view a feeding station and had several
Blue & Great Tits, a Coal Tit, a Marsh Tit and two Nuthatch and also had a
Treecreeper close by.
Coal Tit
Nuthatch
Nuthatch
Nuthatch
Nuthatch
We then headed for the North Arm
at Rutland Water where we found a Barnacle Goose, two Pintail, fifty-six
Pochard, five Great White Egret and three Redshank. From the North Arm we went to the Egleton car
park where we had lunch before going into the centre to view Lagoon One.
From the centre we found a
Shelduck and five Pintail on the lagoon and a Sparrowhawk flew over and I found
the drake American Wigeon on Lagoon Two and the David found a Stonechat whilst
looking for the wigeon and when I looked there were two Stonechats. Six Snipe flew over but Roger still hadn’t
seen the American Wigeon or the Stonechats and when I looked again I couldn’t
find any of them, so we went to Grebe Hide on Lagoon Two.
We stopped near the badger
hide as there were a few passerines in the trees near the bridge, that were
mainly Goldfinch, but Roger found a couple of Lesser Redpoll and there was also
a Treecreeper.
When we got to Grebe Hide on
Lagoon Two there were plenty of wildfowl and David soon located the American
Wigeon amongst the more numerous Wigeon and there was also a single Great White
Egret. There was no sign of the two
Stonechats and we eventually moved on to Lapwing Hide.
As we walked along the path to
Lapwing Hide a Chiffchaff was heard and then observed briefly. We called at Crake Hide to look for Water
Rail that had been seen earlier but with no sign we continued onto Lapwing
Hide. There were plenty of Tufted Duck
visible from the hide and Roger found a Goldeneye and when David and I looked
we found another three but with no visible Scaup we started to make our way
back.
Grey Heron from Crake Hide
A look in both Crake and
Buzzard Hides failed to produce a Water Rail and we had no better look from
Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three. We did
see another twenty-two Pochard, a Little Egret and a Kingfisher from the hide
before we moved onto Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four.
Lagoon four was very quiet
with just a single Little Egret and circa eighty Golden Plover being worthy of
note.
We called at Redshank Hide on
Lagoon Two on our way back to the centre and could hear a call that we thought
might be a Water Rail, but it didn’t sound quite right. However, after a few minutes a Water Rail appeared,
and we watched as it swam over a small stretch of water and then walked through
some reeds in front of the hide. As it
continued a second bird appeared and there was then some conflict between the
two which resulted in the original bird giving in and retracing its steps and
disappearing.
David and I made brief visit
to Eyebrook Reservoir on the way home where there appeared to be more
birds. We hadn’t got much time but did
add Red-legged Partridge and Ruff to our day list but sadly there was still no
sign of any Little Owls as we left for home.
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