I had arranged a day out with Jem today, who I hadn’t seen January 2012,
when we last visited Rutland Water.
We set off just after 07:00 and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir but we
didn’t see a great deal before we turned onto the north approach road. The old oak was checked but there was no sign
of the Little Owl and other than a Common Kestrel there wasn’t much else and so
we headed for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water.
We had a Red Kite over the road just after leaving Manton and after
dropping down to the reserve we went to view the feeding station. Initially the feeders were quite quiet, but
we did manage to locate a couple of Eurasian Tree Sparrow in the hedgerow and I
found a Great Northern Diver just off shore before we continued to Teal Hide to
view the South Arm.
There were nine Greater Scaup between the hide and Brown’s Island and a
single Eurasian Oystercatcher and five Eurasian Curlew at the base of Lax
Hill. As I scanned towards Manton Bay
there was a single Little Egret close to Heron Bay and one of the Western
Osprey was on the nest and I found the Great Northern Diver again, which was
now close to Manton Bay.
We went into the centre and whilst talking to Lloyd there was at least seven
Eurasian Tree Sparrow visiting the feeders and a nice male Yellowhammer also
paid a visit. After Jem had bought his
permit for the day we left and headed for the dam but not before seeing a Raven
as it flew over the car park.
It was very quiet at the dam the best being a couple of Eurasian
Oystercatcher near the man-made beach and a single Red Kite towards Empingham and
so we moved onto Dickinson’s Bay. We
were hoping that the four Greater White-fronted Geese would still be present but
when we got into the bay there were two fishing boats and the geese had moved
to the other side of the trees. We
scanned what we could see but they were all Greylags although we could see more
behind the trees we couldn’t identify and so we decided to go the unnamed road
and view from there. Before we left we
went and viewed the North Arm from a different position but couldn’t locate the
Black-necked Grebe but did have a Red Kite and a Common Buzzard circling above
us and saw another Common Buzzard as we were heading for the main road.
We stopped and viewed Tim’s feeders seeing a single Coal Tit and there
was a drake Goosander in the fishponds.
There were three other birders viewing from the end of the spit, but
they hadn’t seen the Greater White-fronted Geese but had located a Great
Northern Diver, which we soon found. We
scanned the geese several times during our stay but only saw Greylags, although
some were asleep and consequently at the range were not easy to identify. The three other birds then departed after
which we found two Eurasian Oystercatcher and a single Common Redshank on the
north shore and two more Eurasian Oystercatcher and four Common Redshank on the
south shore, where there was also another Little Egret.
We turned our attention back onto the water and Jem found the
Black-necked Grebe, which was now pretty much in full summer plumage and quite
striking. A Common Chiffchaff was then heard,
and we located in the bushes just behind where we were standing. A further check on Tim’s feeders before we
went to the Egleton Reserve produced a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Nuthatch.
After some lunch we went to the centre to view Lagoon One but stopped to
view the feeders where there was a good selection of commoner species but
nothing unusual and so we continued onto the centre. We found two Common Shelduck and three Common
Pochard on the lagoon and Jem saw a Common Snipe fly over the path and when we
looked in the vegetation we found two.
Our next stop was Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four and although the water
was beginning to fall the only waders were five Eurasian Oystercatcher but
hopefully it will become more attractive when the wader passage gets
underway. We found a single drake and
four red-headed Smew and there was also a pair of Goosander. There were fifteen Common Shelduck on the
lagoon and further scanning produced two drakes and a single female Northern
Pintail. We had found a Lesser
Black-backed Gull amongst the more numerous Black-headed and Common Gulls and
there was also a single Herring Gull type, which was sitting down but when it
stood up briefly we were able to confirm our suspicions that it was a
Yellow-legged Gull.
Great Crested Grebe
Eurasian Coot
Red-headed Smew
Red-headed Smew
Red-headed Smew
We moved onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three where we found a single
Common Shelduck, amongst the more common wildfowl, and two Eurasian
Oystercatcher. A party of Common Pochard
flew in and I counted twenty-two and shortly afterwards I picked up a male Smew
and there were also two Common Buzzard over the wood. I then found a single Dunlin that was feeding
along the edge of one of the islands.
Shelduck
Eurasian Teal
Drake Northern Shoveler
Drake & female Northern Shoveler
Drake & female Northern Shoveler
After a brief discussion we decide to head for Snipe Hide on the Wet
meadow but saw very little on route and found just two Common Shelduck and two
drakes and a single female Northern Pintail on the flash and a single Dunlin was
on the long island on Lagoon One. We
continued onto Harrier Hide hoping that the Western Barn Owl would appear, but
it didn’t oblige. Four Eurasian Curlew
did drop in on the Wet Meadow and there was two more Common Shelduck, a drake
Northern Pintail and a Common Pochard on the second flash.
Two drake Northern Pintail
With little else we headed back to the car park and after a chat with Tim
and a final check on Lagoon One we called it a day and headed off home. We had recorded seventy-six species during
the day of which several were year-ticks for Jem.
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