Roger picked David and I up
and we then headed for Market Harbour for Malcolm who agreed to be today’s
driver. Our plan was to go to Rutland
Water first as Roger who wasn’t with us on Thursday was keen to see the Rock
Pipit. A Buzzard between Market Harbour
and Corby and a Sparrowhawk over the road as we approached Uppingham were the
only species of note before we parked at the end of the Hambleton peninsula.
The early morning sun was
becoming quite hazy and cloud was beginning to come in and although we were out
of the wind it felt quite cold. We
walked along the cycle track but there was no sign of the Great Northern Diver
in Barnwell Creek and we continued to view the southern shore of the North Arm,
which is where we had seen the pipit on Thursday. As I scanned the shore I found a wader that I
thought might be the Common Sandpiper we hadn’t been able to find on Thursday
and alerted David and Malcolm who had taken their scopes. They soon confirmed the that it was the
Common Sandpiper but there was no sign of the Rock Pipit, so we walked further
in to the arm towards Armley Wood. The
Common Sandpiper was observed in flight and we watched it as it came down near
the wood and a pipit seen close to where we had seen the Rock Pipit turned out
to be just a Meadow Pipit. David and I
started walking back along the edge still hoping to find the pipit but all we
had seen as we approached Barnwell Creek was three Pied Wagtail and a
Redshank. I then noticed one of the
juvenile Great Northern Divers in the creek and we were able to get reasonably
close and take a few shots. Malcolm and
Roger joined us, and we spent several minutes watching and photographing the
diver before it moved over to the far side of the creek.
Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Diver
Disappointed we hadn’t been
able to find the Rock Pipit but pleased with the Common Sandpiper as it was
only my second December UK record with the last being at Swithland Reservoir in
December 1972.
When we got back to the car
Brian and Rosie arrived and after a brief chat we set of for Blatherwycke in
the hope of finding Hawfinches. It
wasn’t long afterwards when Brian texted to say they had found the Rock Pipit
where we had seen it on Thursday. We had
a Red Kite as we approached Blatherwycke and when we arrived another birder was
leaving saying he had seen at least two Hawfinches.
As we started to walk to the
church there were five Red Kites over the field to the east of the footpath. David and I had got a little in front of
Malcolm and Roger and were scanning the trees alongside the path and beyond the
church. I picked up a Nuthatch, a
Fieldfare and Redwing and then noticed a bird perched at the top of one of the
more distant trees. As David trained his
scope onto the tree it flew towards us and was joined by six more and they flew
directly over us and we could see that they were Hawfinches. We alerted Malcolm and Roger as two of the
birds landed in a tree alongside the path but sadly they flew on almost
immediately. Malcolm indicated that they
had flown off in the direction of Bulwick and presumably to the church, where
they were also being seen. We discussed
going there as it is only a short drive away but we then spotted a bird at the
top of one of the distant trees that turned out to be a Hawfinch and so we
continued onto the church.
From the church you can see
part of Blatherwycke Lake where there were two Black Swans, an Egyptian Goose
and a drake Goosander. A patient wait
did provide another view of the Hawfinch but unfortunately it didn’t stay very long,
and a further wait proved fruitless.
We walked back to the car and
then drove alongside the lake before stopping to view the lake where we counted
twenty-eight Mandarin Duck and saw a couple of Pochard.
Satisfied with our excursion
to Blatherwycke we headed for our final destination, the Nene Washes at
Eldernell. We had two more Red Kites and
a Buzzard before we reached the A47 and headed towards Thorney and then a couple
of Kestrel before turning off the B1040 to view the fields to the north of the
River Nene, where Malcolm had seen Whooper Swan and Cranes recently. We had two more Kestrel and a Green
Woodpecker before we turned and headed back to the B1040.
As we reached the road there was a party of swans feeding in a field but turned out to be mainly Mute although there were at least three Whooper Swans with them. We continued along the road to Whittlesey seeing yet two Kestrels and then turned east along the A605 towards Eldernell. We decided to past the Eldernell turn to look for any swans in the fields between there and the March Farmers turn. There was another Kestrel just after passing the turn and although than a few Mute Swans and some very distant swans we hadn’t found any as we approached March Farmers turn. David who was in the front a picked up a party of birds heading towards us he had initially suspected were swans. I eventually managed to get onto them and didn’t think they were swans as they appeared rather dark. David then said they might be Cranes and so we pulled onto the March Farmers access road, when he confirmed his suspicions. Malcom and I got out of the car to try and get a few photos as they went over, although they were still quite distant but I did manage a few shots. They were heading towards Eldernell and Malcolm was now disappointed that they might well go over the car park or quite close. David and Roger who had stayed in the car confirmed that there were twenty-four birds.
Two of the group of twenty-four Cranes
Twenty-four Cranes
We went back to A605 and then
turned towards the Eldernell car park, which unusually was almost full, but we
did managed to get parked and had a rather late lunch before viewing the
washes. I had mine outside, whilst the
others sat in the car and I saw three Cranes flying near the old duck decoy and
altered the others. Malcolm gave me the
thumbs up but thinking I meant the Short-eared Owl, which I hadn’t
noticed. I then realised that more
Cranes were dropping in just west of the decoy and that they must be the party
we had seen flying over March Farmers.
They certainly hadn’t flown over the car park and were considerably
further away indicating we were in the right place at the right time.
After I finished my lunch I
set my scope up to view the washes and just after Malcolm joined me and there
were a lot of swans flying with some coming down to the east, whilst others
came back west and we were able to identify four a Bewick’s Swans, whilst all
the other identified were Whooper Swans.
David then joined us and managed to see the four Bewick’s but Roger unfortunately
missed them. I had also seen three
Short-eared Owls with two interacting and calling quite frequently. We then had two male and two female-type
Marsh Harriers, two Buzzards, two Kestrel, a Peregrine, a Barn Owl and a forth
Short-eared Owl. A vehicle had gone out
onto the wash and had managed to flush the Cranes and again we counted
twenty-four but a few minutes later three more, two adults and a juvenile, were
observed taking the total to twenty-seven.
These washes in winter are a truly magical place but the cold eventually
got to us and we called it a day and headed of home.
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