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.
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