When I left home this morning and headed to Rutland Water it was quite
cool and he car indicated that it was just 1.5°C as I was approaching
Stockerston. There was however a clear
sky and little wind and the forecast was suggesting the temperature might reach
as high as 20°C later in the day. I saw
a Common Buzzard as I approached Stanton Wyville and a Red Kite onto the
Uppingham Road, near Blaston.
When I arrived and parked on the unnamed road alongside the fishponds,
Steve was just coming out of the field, having checked the fishponds. He hadn’t seen a great deal with an eclipse
drake Red-crested Pochard being the highlight.
I saw the pochard before I went through the gate to check the fishponds
myself and I heard a Common Greenshank, which flew over the water as I walked
down to the water trough. As I scanned
through the birds towards the western end there were plenty of birds that
included Northern Shoveler; Gadwall; Eurasian Wigeon; Mallard and Eurasian Teal
and there were also good numbers of Common Moorhen and Little Grebe. As I scanned the muddy area close to the
trees I found three Common Snipe and two Green Sandpiper, and a Eurasian Curlew
flew over. There were a couple of
Egyptian Geese and several Great Cormorant on the bund but the area between the
bunds contained far fewer birds.
I eventually went back to the road and then to the gate before joining Steve
on the end of the spit. A Great Egret was
feeding in the bay south of the spit and four Little Egrets were observed. Steve saw a Common Buzzard land on the north
shore, where it remained for some time and there were a few Northern Pintail
along the north shore. Steve then left
and said he was going to Barnsdale to see if he could locate the Red-necked
Grebe and I went and viewed the woodland to the west where I found a Coal Tit,
a few Eurasian Blue Tits, a Great Tit and three Goldcrests. It wasn’t long afterwards when I received a
WhatsApp message indicating that Steve had found the Red-necked Grebe and it
was apparently swimming west from Armley Wood.
Malcolm had called me earlier to say he was a Eyebrook Reservoir and
would join me later. I gave him a call
and he was still at Eyebrook as he had been looking for a reported Whinchat
without success. I informed him I was
going to look for the Red-necked Grebe from the fisherman’s car park and he
said he would join me.
I drove along Oakham Road to the fisherman’s car park and climbed over
the gate to scan the north arm. As I
made my first sweep with the bins I picked up a grebe swimming west along the
arm and suspected it was the Red-necked Grebe.
I got the scope on the bird and confirmed my identification and watched
it as it continued swimming at some pace down the arm. It eventually stopped almost opposite the car
park and provided some nice views, although it was probably about
midwater. I then heard a Common
Sandpiper call, which then landed just to my left where it remained for a while
before going back up the arm and landing on the shore a little further
away. Malcolm had arrived in the car
park and both the Red-necked Grebe and Common Sandpiper were still visible, but
the sandpiper flew further up the arm and disappeared before he joined me. The Red-necked Grebe was still sitting on the
surface still provided nice views and when a fishing boat came down the arm it
started to come towards us but as the boat went by it swam back up the arm and
away from us. Other than a Northern
Pintail, a Common Pochard and a distant Red Kite we hadn’t seen much else and
so went to the Egleton Reserve.
I suggested to Malcolm that we went to the southern area of the reserve
and so we walked through the wood to the west of Lagoon One. We didn’t see anything much as we went
through the wood but stopped just after coming out and had a Common Chiffchaff
and a male and female Blackcap in the bushes and a Eurasian Jay flew over. We continued along the track to Snipe Hide
and found a rather nice example of a Shaggy Ink Cap just outside the hide.
Shaggy Ink Cap
The flash just outside the hide had almost gone dry during the hot weather
and since being filled hadn’t produced many birds and the water level was now
quite low again. There were a small
party of Canada Geese but nothing else on the scrape, but we could see a single
Great Egret on Lagoon One. Malcolm then
cried Kingfisher, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and I missed
it. A party of Common House Martin then
dropped low over the flash and were obviously feeding but they didn’t stay too
long and moved off, but I found a single Sand Martin just before they departed
to the west.
Having exhausted Snipe Hide we continued onto Harrier Hide to view Lagoon
One, where we found four Little Egrets and a Common Greenshank. When I looked out to the right of the hide I
found a Common Chiffchaff in bushes but with little else we moved on to
Fieldfare Hide, seeing a Small Copper as we walked along the track.
Small Copper
The water is now some distance away from the hide but other than nine
Little Grebe and a Little Egret there was little else. I then noticed a Great Egret alongside the
Little Egret but neither Malcolm or I had seen it fly in and we assumed it was
probably the bird off Lagoon One, which we had seen flying off. It then flew back towards Lagoon One and
disappeared adding further evidence that it was probably the same bird.
Great Egret
Great Egret
Great Egret
With the time now approaching 12:00 we headed back to the car park for
lunch and afterwards joined Steve in the centre. There was a single Common Snipe to the left
of the viewing area and a party of at least twelve Barn Swallow flew in front
of the centre as they headed south. Two
Eurasian Curlew were observed towards Harrier Hide and there were three
Black-tailed Godwits on the long island.
A Eurasian Sparrowhawk was observed over Lax Hill and a Common Buzzard
circled just in front of the viewing area.
Common Buzzard
Brian had joined us in the centre and he, Malcolm and I set off for the
northern lagoons, seeing a Common Buzzard over the large meadow and hearing a
Jay in the woodland alongside the Winter Trail.
We headed for Northern Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three and found two Green
Sandpiper quite close to the hide and a third towards the reed island. There was a Little Egret quite close to the
hide and we found four Common Snipe on the edge of the reed island. A Black-tailed Godwit then appeared from
behind the reed island and a Jay then flew over, followed by a second and then
a third and the godwit was joined by a winter male Ruff. We had already seen a Red Kite over the
woodland and Brian then picked up a Eurasian Hobby, which performed well over
the wood. A Great Egret then flew over
and a second dropped out of sight behind the islands only to appear a few
minutes later before flying off towards Lagoon Two.
Juvenile Green Sandpiper
Great Egret
Great Egret
Malcolm and I then went to Buzzard Hide to get a different view of Lagoon
Three and flushed several birds as we opened the flaps in the hide, included
another Green Sandpiper and just before we left there were two Eurasian Hobby
over the woodland and I counted seventeen Common Pochard.
There was a nice Common Snipe close to Crake Hide and another Little
Egret but nothing else of note and we moved onto Lapwing Hide, where we found
two eclipse male and a female Red-crested Pochard.
Common Snipe
Our final port of call was Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four where we found
two Yellow-legged Gulls and Malcom picked up a Eurasian Sparrowhawk that landed
in the bushes to the west of the lagoon.
As I scanned Burley Wood I found two Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel
before we started to make our way back to the car park. As we were approaching the centre Steve
called to say there was a female Greater Scaup in the North Arm.
I was thinking of calling at Eyebrook Reservoir to the end the day but
decided I would go and look for the scaup.
When I arrived, Steve was with Lloyd on the spit and when I joined them
Steve gave me directions for the scaup, which was asleep but when I found it,
it raised its head briefly revealing the white blaze and the rather rounded
head. Lloyd then pointed out the female
Common Scoter, which has now been present for well over a month. I stayed with Steve for a while but then
called it a day.
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