A day at Rutland Water, Rutland - December 14, 2017

Although yesterday’s rain had mainly cleared the remains of Sunday’s snow fall there had been a further fall overnight and the roads were a little tricky, particularly as David headed for the A47 at Billesdon.  David and I had agreed to meet Malcolm in the car park at Rutland Water but had called him as we were going to be late.  He warned us that the car park was like a skating rink and that he almost went into one of the gate posts when he arrived.  As we approached Uppingham there was a lane closer and the police were directing the traffic as two cars had been involved in an accident at the top of Wardley Hill.
We eventually arrived in the Egleton car park and the journey had taken just over an hour, which we can normally do in just thirty-five minutes.  Our plan was to go in one car to the end of the Hambleton Peninsula and then look for a Common Sandpiper and Rock Pipit that had been seen a couple of times recently.  However due to the road condition we thought we should stay on the reserve for a while hoping the conditions would improve later.  Malcolm wasn’t kidding when he said the car park was like a sheet of glass as the whole area was just sheet ice, so we made our way on the grass surround to the footpath and then walked on the grass to the feeding station.

There was plenty of activity at the feeding station but nothing unusual, so we headed for the northern lagoons.  The path wasn’t too bad, but we needed to be careful and use the edges quite a bit.  I had seen about thirty Redwing in a field just to the west of the village and there were plenty of Blackbirds feeding the meadows along with several Song Thrush but there were no winter thrushes.

As we approached the path to grebe hide David heard a Redpoll and then Siskin but   as we approached the summer trail we saw two groups of passerines fly off.  We tried to relocate them and although we had them in flight on a couple of occasions we were unable to find them feeding.  We did have brief views of a single Jay but very little else.

We went into Grebe Hide and found that there was a significant amount of ice free water on the lagoon and there were plenty of birds, mainly Gadwall but also smaller numbers of Wigeon and Mallard and we also found three Shoveler, a red-headed Smew and a female Goosander and a Buzzard landed very close to the hide but flew off almost instantly being harassed by a couple of corvids.

We moved onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three were we found the water was mainly ice free and again lots of birds.  There were twelve Pintail, sixteen Red-crested Pochard, eleven Pochard, two Goldeneye, two red-headed Smew and a male Goosander and more Gadwall and smaller numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Mallard and Tufted Duck.

We moved onto Crake Hide were there was very little and as Lapwing Hide was being dismantled we went back to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four.  The lagoon is now on top water but there were very few birds except for good numbers of Wigeon and Teal feeding on the western bund.

As we made our way back to the centre Malcolm located a small party of Siskin feeding in the alders near Grebe Hide.  We repositioned ourselves to get a better view but could only find a few Siskin and a couple of Goldfinch.  As we stood watching, more Siskin arrived and there must have been at least thirty and presumably the same Jay we had seen earlier reappeared.  Despite an extensive search we were unable to locate any redpoll and went to the centre to get warm.

Male Siskin

Male Siskin

Jay

We went up to the viewing area in the centre and found that there was more ice than on the other lagoons and fewer birds.  We did find a pair of Goosander and there were two Curlew feeding on the long island and four Pintail appeared.  We then heard a Curlew calling and on looking on the long island found that they had disappeared, but Malcom then located three on one of the more distant islands.

We checked out the feeding area again and although there was now more activity with a good selection of common species but nothing of note.  The car park was now beginning to thaw and as we had seen cars going up the hill to Hambleton without any problems we decided we should now go to the peninsula to look for the Common Sandpiper and Rock Pipit.  The road beyond the village was still a little icy in places but we got to the end without any problems and after lunch starting walking towards Barnwell Creek.

As we approached the creek Malcolm picked up one of the Great Northern Divers just beyond the creek and after a brief view we continued around to view the northern shore, where are two target birds were being seen.  As we reached the summit of the hill we could see Brain and Roger who were clearly watching something and on joining them they had a pipit but weren't sure if it was the Rock or just a Meadow Pipit.  We all got on the bird when we also had some doubt, although the bright sun wasn’t helping and whilst I was chatting to Brian and Roger, David and Malcolm walked closer to try and get a better view.  David then waved us over and when we joined them he indicated that they were both happy it was a Rock Pipit.  We were all soon watching the bird in better light and could see that it was obviously the Rock Pipit seen by Andrew Harrop earlier in the week.  There was a Redshank further along the shore but there was no sign of the Common Sandpiper and so David, Malcom and I walked further to try and see more of the shoreline.  When we got down on the shore near Armley Wood we were unable to see much more and there was still no sign of the sandpiper and started to walk back.

As we made our way back David flushed a couple of Snipe and then Malcolm flushed a third and our only Fieldfare flew over.  When we got back to Barnwell Creek we looked for the Great Northern Diver and found one in the creek and a second at the mouth and we were able to make out that they were both juveniles.

From the peninsula we headed for the North Arm where we found our forth red-headed Smew and a female Scaup.  There were also forty-two Pintail, three Dunlin and three Redshank and a brief stop at Tim’s feeders produced a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Coal Tit and a Nuthatch.

We went back to the centre to spend the last hour in the warmth of the viewing area but other than a Barn Owl and a Barnacle Goose there was little else with no sign of either the Goosander or Curlew seen earlier, so we called it a day just before 16:00.