After packing away the moth trap and some breakfast I set off for Rutland
Water where I was helping with the summer WeBS count. I didn’t see anything of note on route and
arrived at the Old Hall at Hambleton just after 08:00 to begin the count in
South Arm Three.
There were three Barn Swallows and circa twenty Common House Martins
feeding over a small copse and the water and a Blackcap was heard as I walked
towards the Old Hall. There were ten
Egyptian Geese and a few Mallard in and around the small bay, but it appeared
rather quiet. I then walked towards the
Egleton Reserve to view the large section of South Arm Three. There were three Common Terns over the water
but other than a few Mute Swan, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Great Crested Grebe it
was very quiet, although I did hear a single Lesser Whitethroat.
With the count in South Arm Three complete in probably no more than
thirty minutes I went back to the car and drove to the Egleton car park to
count Lagoon One. There was a Blackcap
singing in the car park and after a chat with Stephen I went up to the viewing
area to count Lagoon One. There were
more birds here that included Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Northern
Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Common Moorhen
and Eurasian Coot. There were also a
couple of Eurasian Oystercatcher and three Common Tern but there was no sign of
the pair of Garganey that I had seen on Saturday, although they were seen
briefly later.
In order to complete the count, I needed to go to Harrier Hide to view
the area not totally visible from the centre.
As I walked through the woodland area I heard a Common Chiffchaff and
saw a single Blackcap and heard another two and as I approached Snipe Hide there
was a Lesser Whitethroat singing but it remained elusive.
I went into the hide to view the back of the island on Lagoon One, but
the vegetation made it impossible to view and wasn’t I able to add to my Lagoon
One count. There were three Pied Avocet
on the near flash but very little else and surprisingly no sign of any Common
Shelduck.
I left Snipe Hide and headed for Harrier Hide hearing a Willow Warbler
and seeing my first Red Admiral of the year before reaching the hide. There were a few Mallard and a single Gadwall
in front of the hide, two Tufted Duck in the small area of water to the left
and a Little Egret on one of the islands.
With the count complete I headed for Tern Hide on Lagoon Six hearing a
Willow Warbler and a Garden Warbler before reaching the hide. There were two Common Shelduck and four
Eurasian Oystercatcher on the lagoon and there was a distant Common Buzzard
soaring to the south. I could see a pair
of Mute Swan who were attending a group of cygnets, but I couldn’t be sure how
many and moved onto to Pintail Hide hoping I might be able to see them. When I reached the hide, there was no sign as
they were obviously close to the shore and behind the vegetation but after a few
minutes they swam out and seven cygnets followed them.
As I approached the 360 Hide on Lagoon Five it started to rain but I got
into the hide before the worst of the shower.
There were three more Eurasian Oystercatcher and two Little Egrets on the
lagoon. A single Egyptian Goose was in
the far right corner and a single Common Shelduck and two Little Grebe were
observed towards Shelduck Hide and a Red Kite drifted over before I left the
hide.
As I left the hide I viewed Lagoon Eight and found two more Eurasian
Oystercatcher but very little else and started to make my way back towards the
centre. I went into the centre to hand
in my count figures and then headed back to the car park for lunch. I stopped at the end of the path just before
the car park where I was hoping to catch up with the Spotted Flycatchers. There was a Blackcap singing and after a few
minutes one of the Spotted Flycatchers appeared and was immediately joined by
the other.
Whilst having lunch and chatting to Terry I saw a Western Osprey over
Lagoon One and a Red Kite over the field to the south and we heard a Green
Woodpecker call.
As Steve and Terry had seen, the probably escape, Bufflehead from Smew
Hide I headed for there after my lunch, hearing a Common Chiffchaff, a Blackcap,
two Garden warbler, a Sedge Warbler and a Eurasian Reed Warbler before reaching
the hide.
I spent quite some time in the hide but only found a single Common
Pochard and Common Tern, with no sign of the Bufflehead and so I moved to
Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three. There
were six Common Terns and a single Mute Swan with a brood of five on the lagoon
and interestingly two of the cygnets were almost white and may possibly turn
out to be Polish Mute Swans.
I moved on to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four where I found nine Eurasian
Oystercatcher and five young, ten Common Ringed Plover, a Dunlin and a Common
Redshank. Steve had mentioned earlier
that the Pied Avocet was no longer sitting on island eight and with two birds now
feeding on the lagoon their nesting attempt had sadly failed. As I continued to scan I found an adult
Yellow-legged Gull amongst a roosting party of Great Black-backed Gulls. A single Little Ringed Plover was displaying
towards the Volunteer’s Training Centre and I counted twenty-four Common Terns
around the lagoon and saw two Red Kites over Burley Wood. I then received a WhatsApp message indicating
that the Garganey were on Lagoon One. It
was from Steve and so I gave him a call and found out that he had picked the
male up in flight and when it landed they also found the female. He also said that he had seen the Bufflehead
earlier from the centre on one of the rafts on Lagoon Two, but it had flown and
disappeared out of sight. He and Terry
could see me in Smew Hide and assumed that I was watching it but obviously I
wasn’t.
I therefore decided to go back to Smew Hide for another go and found the
Bufflehead preening but too far away to photograph. I watched it for some time and had forgotten
how small they were seeing it alongside some Tufted Duck. An erroneous WhatsApp message then arrived
and after reading it I couldn’t find the Bufflehead again. Two Ruddy Turnstone had been reported on
Lagoon Four, which I hadn’t seen from Sandpiper Hide and so decided to go to
Plover Hide,
As I walked down the path towards Plover Hide I picked up a Eurasian
Hobby hawking high above the path and lagoon and to my surprise the Common
Nightingale began to sing but as usual remained elusive. There was no sign of the Ruddy Turnstone from
the hide but both Pied Avocet were now quite close to the hide and there were
two Little Ringed Plovers.
As I walked back I heard two more Garden Warblers and a Common Chiffchaff and a Blackcap provided a nice photo opportunity.
Male Blackcap
I went back into the centre to see if the Garganey were still there but
there was no sign and apparently disappeared soon after being seen.
I decided to call at Eyebrook Reservoir on route home and was rewarded
with a Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper, which was a county year-tick, taking me
onto 168. There were also sixteen Common
Terns around the rafts and over the water, along with eight Common Swift. Two Western Osprey drifted over, two Red
Kites were observed, one over the plantation and the other over the water and a
Common Buzzard was soaring way to the south.
It was now probably the best part of the day, but I had get off and added
a Common Kestrel just after passing Burton Overy taking the total for the day
onto seventy-six.
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