David and I were out locally
today and headed straight to the Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water where a Jack
Snipe had been reported yesterday. We
had a Kestrel just after passing through Great Glen and I saw a Red Kite as we
passed through Preston.
There were both Fieldfare and
Redwing in the first meadow but there was nothing of note on the feeders and we
continued onto Mallard Hide on Lagoon One where the Jack Snipe had been
reported. There was no sign of the Jack Snipe,
but we did see six Shelduck and four Pintail on the lagoon, a Sparrowhawk over
the lagoon and two Stonechats, one in front of the hide and the second more
distantly near Harrier Hide.
With the sun shining brightly
I suggested that we should go to the Lyndon Reserve as the sun would be behind
us there making viewing at lot easier.
As we arrived in the car park a Sparrowhawk flew into the bushes and
perched briefly before flying again. We
checked the feeders as we walked down to Teal Hide and found a single Tree
Sparrow amongst the more numerous Blue and Great Tits.
We scanned the shoreline below
Lax Hill and found four Black-tailed Godwit and a Redshank and there were five
Great White Egrets and a Little Egret between Gadwall and Fieldfare Hides. There were a few Dunlin flying around and
once they had settled and become quite stretched out we counted seventy-five
and there was also thirty Pintail scattered along the shoreline.
As we walked back towards the
centre there was a Coal Tit and now three Tree Sparrow around the feeding
area. Walking towards Wader Scrape Hide
David noticed a Lesser Redpoll feeding on some Rosebay Willowherb near Deep
Water Hide and we were able to get a few photos before it went into the bushes.
Lesser Redpoll
Lesser Redpoll
We continued onto Wader Scrape
Hide but didn’t see a great deal else before reaching the hide. As I opened a flap a Snipe flew out of the
area and disappeared over the bund and we found another two Great White Egrets
near Heron Bay. There was a female
Goosander just on the far side of the bund and as we scanned the bay we found
two Curlew feeding in the shallow water and two Redshank along the water’s edge
and a second Snipe towards the bridge. I
then noticed a third Curlew-type bird feeding on the mud some distance from the
water’s edge and suspected and then confirmed that it was the long staying
Whimbrel. We were about to walk back
when I found a Green Sandpiper on the edge of the stream, which had probably
just walked into view.
The North Arm was our next
area and we saw a Red Kite as we entered Manton village and a Kestrel after
passing through Gunthorpe. As we drove
along Church Road, nearing the Old Stanford Road, thirteen Egyptian Geese flew
over and there was another twenty-two still in the field on the left,
We saw another Great White
Egret in the fishponds and a Great Spotted Woodpecker on Tim’s feeder’s as we
went down the unnamed road. After
parking we found a single Goosander in the fishponds and the Great White Egret
was now on the bund along with four Little Egrets and the two Barnacle Geese
were on the north shore. There was yet
another Great White Egret on the north shore and I counted fifty-seven Pintail,
most of which were close to the south shore.
On scanning Burley Wood, we located two Red Kites and two Buzzards and
as we were thinking of leaving a large number of wildfowl were noticed flying
around, which had probably been disturbed by the farmer driving close to the
water’s edge. There were numerous Tufted
Duck, which we scanned looking for a Scaup and I found a male amongst the more
distant party. Steve had seen a Lesser
Scaup-type hybrid on Tuesday, but the head shape and size of this bird ruled
out the hybrid.
We eventually departed for
Egleton seeing a Red Kite over the fishponds as we did so and on reaching the
car park had lunch before venturing back onto the reserve. A Kestrel flew over whilst we were having
lunch and as we stood on the steps to the centre a Red Kite passed over and a
few seconds after a Buzzard appeared being harassed by a Carrion Crow.
Red Kite
Red Kite
Red Kite
As we walked beyond the badger
hide David heard a Siskin call and then one flew over heading north. A little further along I noticed some
movement in some of the alders and when I looked I found several Siskin and a
single Goldfinch and David had a Lesser Redpoll, but I couldn’t find it. We went into Grebe Hide to look for a
red-headed Smew that had been present for some time but there was no sign and
all we found was a Shelduck and three Pintail.
Having no luck with the Smew
we continued to Lapwing Hide and found the American Wigeon amongst a small
group of Wigeon and a female Goosander was also found, which then swam across
the front of the hide.
Goosander
We had made a brief stop in
Crake Hide on the way to Lapwing but the reported Water Rails were not showing
and we had continued onto Lapwing Hide and so we tried again as we
returned. This time we were lucky and
two were showing quite well and I was able to get some photos of one of them.
Water Rail
Water Rail
Water Rail
Water Rail
Female Teal from Crake Hide
Carrion Crows from Crake Hide
We called at Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three and then Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four but both areas were very
quiet with just two Pintail of note from Shoveler Hide and a Shelduck from
Sandpiper Hide.
David was keen to get to
Eyebrook Reservoir as the Ferruginous Duck had been reported and he had already
been three times and not found it. We
stopped briefly at the northern coral where we found circa fifty Golden Plover,
a Dunlin, a Ruff and two Redshank and a Peregrine flew over just before we
departed. When we reached the fencing,
we found Colin and Chris parked at the roadside. We got out to look for the Ferruginous Duck,
which had been seen by Andy Mackay with some Pochard. We found the Pochard but even with Colin and
Chris help we couldn’t find the Ferruginous Duck. We stopped at the island coral to have a word
with Ken and Andy and Andy said that he had been unable to locate the
Ferruginous Duck amongst the Pochard again and presumably it was no longer with
them.
It had been another good day’s
birding with eighty-three species recorded of which seventy-eight were at
Rutland Water.
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