A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - January 4, 2018

I had been asked to get involved in Countryside shoot at Rutland Water and I left home at around 07:20. It was still dark when I left and I had a Barn Owl sitting on a hedge just after passing through Slawston and then another on the corner of the turn to pass over the inlet at Eyebrook Reservoir.

I arrived at Rutland Water just after 08:00 and headed for the Volunteer’s Training Centre.  There had been some heavy rain as I drove over, but it was more of a fine drizzle as I parked but it had become a little misty.  After a coffee and some introductions to the film crew we made our way to the North Arm to begin filming.  There were further periods of heavy rain whilst the crew filmed the area and interviewed Mat.  This took quite some time during which time the rest of us did some birding, seeing my first Mistle Thrush of the year and hearing a Skylark pass over.  I also found the Black-necked Grebe but generally there were few birds and Andy went to check out Manton Bay and South Arm two for more suitable locations to shoot my involvement, which was to support a mock WeBS Count.

When Andy returned he and Lloyd agreed that the best site would be Heron Bay, so we drove around beyond Lagoon Seven and entered the meadow to the west of the bay to carry out the rest of the morning filming.  Jeff and I acted as counters whilst Steve interviewed Lloyd in terms of the WeBS count and how it was conducted at Rutland Water.  There were plenty of birds in Heron Bay, mainly Coot but also a good selection of other waterfowl including two drake and single female Goosander.  Andy also found a male Scaup in South Arm Two and there was a Great White Egret along with seven Little Egrets along the Lyndon shore.  A Pair of Stonechats also performed well and the Lapwings on the bund were flushed several times along with circa forty Golden Plover and Circa forty Dunlin.

After we had finished the filming I went back to the Egleton car park for my lunch, where a Red Kite drifted over the woodland, before venturing to the centre to view the feeding station and Lagoon One.  There was plenty of activity at the feeding station with a Marsh Tit paying a fleeting visit.  From the viewing area in the centre there was six Pintail on the lagoon and a male Goosander flew over.  A single Curlew was on the long island and a second was feeding on the meadow to the west.  As I scanned the area I found Stonechat near to Mallard Hide and a Sparrowhawk flew in front of the centre and a Buzzard was observed over Brown’s Island.

Although the American Wigeon hadn’t been seen again today I went into Grebe Hide and was surprised to find Roger, who was looking for the wigeon.  Other than a single red-headed Smew there was nothing else of note on the lagoon, so we decided to go to Dunlin Hide to see if it was on Lagoon Four.

There were plenty of Eurasian Wigeon along the west bank and in the water, close to the bank but there was no sign of their American cousin but I did locate another Northern Pintail.  A Herring-type Gull was observed on the water that Roger though was the same bird he had seen in the North Arm earlier, which had been reported as a Caspian Gull.  We watched it for quite some time, but I was never convinced it was a Caspian when it eventually flew and landed on the near island.  Although the whole bird wasn’t visible we could see that it had a pale eye and the bill had a distinct gony-angle, which suggested it was a Herring Gull and with upperpart colouration approaching that of a Common Gull, L. a. argentatus.

Roger then called it a day and I went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three where I found a couple of Snipe and another Stonechat.  There were quite a few Eurasian Wigeon but still no sign of the American Wigeon and I started to make my way back to the centre.  I called at Grebe Hide again in the hope that the American Wigeon might have comeback but had no joy, although I did see a male and three red-headed Smew.  The wind had now increased significantly and it was quite unpleasant as I made my way back to the car park and I saw nothing else before I departed.

It had been a reasonable day with the filming being a new experience and I had recorded sixty-three species, six of which were new for the year and taking my year-list onto eighty-six. 

A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - January 1, 2018

I left home this morning hoping to get the tear-list off to a good start and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir.  David, Malcolm and Roger had opted to go out tomorrow, but I always like to get out on the first day of the year and the weather forecast wasn’t too good for tomorrow and I was pleased to making a start.  I added just fifteen species on route to Eyebrook Reservoir that included a Grey Heron, four Red Kites, nine Fieldfare and three Redwing and the small group of Fieldfare turned out to be my only sighting of the day.

I approached Eyebrook Reservoir from the southern approach road and parked near the gate leading to the fishing lodge where there is now a feeder.  There weren't too many birds around the feeders with just a few Chaffinch feeding on the ground below the feeders and I suspect that the feeder was empty.  Roger and I had seen twenty Tree Sparrows here last month and I was hoping for a repeat and I did find two before I was joined by another birder from Norfolk.  He wanted to know how to get to the dam as he was hoping to see the Smew that had been reported yesterday, along with two Black-necked Grebes.  I explained that the fishing rights had changed hands and it was no longer possible to gain access to the grounds and his best chance was to go to the island coral and view from there.  He was interested in seeing the Tree Sparrows but whilst I was with him we just had more Chaffinch, a Greenfinch, two Goldfinch and three Yellowhammers.

I left him looking for the Tree Sparrows and drove around to the island coral where I could get a good view of the southern section of the reservoir.  As I scanned along the southern shoreline there was a good selection of birds with Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Coot all being seen.  I then picked up a wader in flight just before it alighted on the grass on the edge of the water but then walked behind some juncos.  I got the scope on the area hoping it would appear and it wasn’t long before it did and to my surprise it was a Common Sandpiper.  This species is very unusual at this time of the year in the counties, although one had been present on the Hambleton Peninsular at Rutland Water during December and I suspected that it would probably be the same bird.  The Norfolk birder then arrived in the coral and I pointed out the Common Sandpiper before I continued to look for the Smew.  The Norfolk birder then found a drake near the plantation and then realised there were two drakes.  One then flew across the dam before coming towards us and landing in the corner to our right but out of sight and we didn’t see it again.

Roger then called to say he was up and after seeing the forecast for tomorrow had decided he was coming out and I arranged to meet him in the north arm at Rutland Water.  I drove along the Leicestershire bank but didn’t stop at the northern coral as the reservoir was now full and there was no suitable habitat for waders and I continued towards Stockerston.  I checked out the old oak but there was no sign of the Little Owl but the year-list had moved onto forty.

I added Starling on route to Rutland Water and then added Rook, House Sparrow and Song Thrush before I stopped on the unnamed road to view Tim’s feeders where there was a constant procession of birds visiting the feeders.  Most were Blue and Great Tits, but I also had a Great Spotted Woodpecker, both Coal and Marsh Tits and two Nuthatches.  After parking near the gate and getting out I heard a Treecreeper calling and found it in one of the close trees.  As I scanned the fishponds a Little Egret flew by and the two Barnacle Geese were feeding with a group of Canada Geese on the southern shore.  Roger then arrived, and we set off to the end of the spit to look for the Black-necked Grebe that had been reported earlier.

There was a Wren calling near the gate and I saw several Little Grebes as I scanned for the Black-necked Grebe.  There were far fewer birds in the arm today and with there being little wind the water was fairly flat and the grebe should have been easy to locate but it wasn’t and I was beginning to doubt that we were going to find it.  However, persistence finally paid off when I picked it up quite some distance to the east of Dickinson’s Bay and a Redshank on the south shore was my fifty-eighth species of the day.

From the North Arm we went in one car down to the south arm to look for a Red-necked Grebe that had also been reported.  Roger found a Great White Egret on the far shore and it wasn’t too long before I found the Red-necked Grebe, which some distance out and left of the island.  There was far less of the island showing today and clearly there was water being pumped in now that the local rivers are swollen.  Chris park joined us and after giving him directions the Red-necked Grebe we started to scan through a mixed flock of Tufted Duck and Coot when Roger found a Grey Wagtail on the shore.  We went back scanning the flock of birds on the water and Chris found a female Scaup asleep and whilst trying to find this I found a male.  After getting Roger onto the birds we walked towards the reserve and found ten Red-crested Pochard on the far side and another Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over.

As we were walking back to the cars Tim arrived and after a chat we continued with Chris going to the North Arm and Roger and I intending to go to the end of the peninsular to look for a Great Northern Diver.  Chris had seen a Great Northern Diver from Whitwell and a Common Sandpiper, which suggested the bird I had seen earlier at Eyebrook Reservoir was in fact a different bird.  As we started to drive down to the peninsular there were lots of vehicles and so we decided to go to Whitwell to find a diver as parking would probably be difficult at the end of the peninsula.

We parked in the car park at Whitwell and walked down the water edge to view Barnhill Creek where Chris had seen one earlier.  As we scanned we both saw two birds dive and suspected that they were both divers and when they surfaced we were able to confirm that they were indeed Great Northern Divers.

It was now almost lunch time, so we went to the Egleton car park, which was pretty full and after lunch we checked the feeders, where there was nothing new, so we went into the centre to view Lagoon One.  The water level had risen considerably and there were far fewer birds but we did add Egyptian Goose, Northern Shoveler , Northern Pintail and Goosander to the list.  We also found a couple of Eurasian Curlew and four gulls turned out to be Herring Gulls and a single Stonechat was observed just in front of the centre.  Brian and Rosie then joined us and Brian found a Goldcrest amongst the reeds, which took the total to seventy-two.

With the rain easing we set off to the northern lagoons but were disappointed that the American Wigeon hadn’t been seen all morning.  We went into Grebe Hide, which was full, so we went onto Osprey Hide but like everybody else drew a blank on the American Wigeon.

We continued onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three were I added Shelduck and Reed Bunting but a walk to Crake Hide failed to produce for the hoped-for Water Rail, so we went back to Shoveler Hide.  Two Reed Buntings flew into the bushes to the right of the hide and Brian said that there was a Water Rail feeding right in front of the hide, which provided some excellent views.  Brian then called a Marsh Harrier, which unfortunately dropped behind the trees and didn’t reappear but whilst looking for this I found a perched Buzzard taking the total onto seventy-seven.

As we left the hide two Stock Dove flew over and a visit into Grebe Hide produced three red-headed Smew.  As we reached the big meadow fourteen Golden Plover flew over and a Barn Owl flew along the hedge before disappearing towards Lagoon Four.  The final addition to the list was a Green Woodpecker, which flew over the meadows as we approached badger hide and was followed by my third Great Spotted Woodpecker of the day.

The year-list had reached eighty, which whilst not my best ever start to the year was quiet a respectable start.