When I left home this morning
it was misty, but the mist became fog at times and was quite dense on the high
points of the journey. Approaching
Rutland Water, it became misty again but when I pulled up at the end of the
unnamed road it was quite thick again. I
couldn’t see the north shore and when I walked down towards the end of the spit
it cleared a little and I could see partially into the southern bay. I was hoping that yesterday’s Bewick’s Swan,
which was the only record for the counties this year, would still be
present. I could see quite a few swans
with some resting but all those identified were Mute Swans. The mist came and went and at one point it
became quite frustrating as I could see Burley House but not the north shore of
the reservoir as the mist appeared to be hanging just above the water. I was eventually satisfied that all the swans
in view were Mute and that the Bewick’s Swan had either gone or moved elsewhere
the reservoir.
The mist eventually cleared
sufficiently for me to see as far as Dickinson’s Bay, but the Black-necked
Grebe was also proving elusive and all I saw of note were the two Barnacle
Geese, six Pintail, four Pochard and a couple of Redshank. As I continued to look for the Black-necked
Grebe I did see a couple of Dunlin in flight amongst a flock of Lapwing and two
Goosander in the fishponds, but I eventually called it a day and headed for the
Egleton Reserve.
As I was leaving David arrived
and I briefed him on what I had seen, and he then went to look for the
Black-necked Grebe, ringing me later to say he had found it just beyond
Dickinson’s Bay.
I checked out the feeders near
the Egleton centre and although there was a fair bit of activity there was
nothing of note and I went into the centre.
The lagoon was now almost unfrozen and there were quite a few
birds. I counted fifty-four Pintail
along with sixteen Goosander and there were nine Golden Plover and two Snipe on
the long island. A pair of Stonechat
performed well in front of the viewing area and when I scanned Lagoon Two I
found two Great White Egret and a Little Egret and there were also two more
Goosander.
From the centre I headed for
the northern lagoons seeing a Treecreeper just beyond the ringing area and a
Red Kite just west of the big meadow. I
called in Grebe Hide on Lagoon Two where there were plenty of birds but nothing
of note. I could see that Lapwing Hide
had now been dismantled and hopefully it won’t be too long before work is started
on its reconstruction.
I moved onto Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three and on entering the hide two other birders pointed out a Grey
Wagtail. There was another twelve
Pintail and two drake Goosander on the water and a single Snipe was observed on
the edge of the reedbed.
A brief visit to Sandpiper
Hide on Lagoon Four produced very little with just several flocks of Wigeon
feeding mainly around the bund and a visit into Osprey Hide to look for a Marsh
Harrier proved unsuccessful.
When I got back to the centre I
saw a Marsh Tit at the feeders before I joined Brian, Roger and Rosie in the
viewing area. There were fewer birds on
the lagoon and nothing new, although the two Great White Egrets and three
Little Egrets were standing with a Grey Heron on the left-hand side of the
lagoon.
I went for my lunch and then
drove to the Lyndon Reserve and although the feeders were full there were still
no Tree Sparrows visiting, although there were plenty of Blue and Great Tits
and a single Coal Tit. I walked down to
Teal Hide and found Brian, Roger and Rosie already in the hide but there were
fewer birds than on Tuesday, although I did find a single female/immature
Scaup. There was very little close to
Lax Hill as volunteers were involved in carryout some habitat maintenance. The light was awful from here and it was
difficult seeing anything at long range, but I did eventually locate nine
Red-crested Pochard before I departed for Eyebrook Reservoir.
When I got to the northern
coral, Brian, Roger and Rosie were already there and had counted ninety-two
Golden Plover and fifteen Dunlin and had seen two Redshank. I counted the Dunlin and also had fifteen,
but I could only find one Redshank and didn’t bother to count the Golden
Plover. Brian found a single Stonechat
and they left for the island coral shortly afterwards to check out the
gulls. I remained a little longer seeing
two Shelduck and nine Pintail but then headed for the island coral.
I looked in the bay to the
north of the island for three drake Smew that had been seen but couldn’t find
them and so continued onto the coral, which I found was full, and so went onto
view the gulls from the south section of road.
Phil was already in position but hadn’t seen the first-winter Glaucous
Gull or anything else amongst the now sizeable flock of gulls. I then received a message from Roger saying
there was a second-winter Mediterranean Gull, but Phil and I hadn’t found it
when another message saying it had flown off north arrived. With the light beginning to fade and still no
sign of the Glaucous Gull I went back to the island for another look for the
Smew. There was still no sign, so I went
down to the style and found two males and two red-heads and a small flock of
Pochard.
A quick check at the inlet for
the Mediterranean Gull produced nothing and after a coffee I headed off home.
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