There had been a Temminck’s Stint at Baston and Langtoft Pits in
Lincolnshire for about a week and we decided we would go today. I picked David up at around 07:30 and we
headed for Eyebrook Reservoir, seeing a Common Buzzard just after passing
through Kibworth and another on Blaston Hill.
When we reached Eyebrook Reservoir we drove to the northern corral where
we were hoping to find Malcolm but Mike Snow informed us that he had gone
around to the Rutland side and so we turned around and found him parked
overlooking the inlet. We parked up and
joined him and the first bird I found was a Green Sandpiper, which was close to
the vegetation and soon walked out of sight.
As I scanned further there were two Ruff and two Dunlin in amongst a
party of Northern Lapwing. David then
found a European Golden Plover amongst the Northern Lapwing and we eventually
had four and as I scanned through the wildfowl I found five Northern
Pintail. Malcolm then noticed a Common
Greenshank on the edge of the stream and we were able to point it out to Mike
when he joined us.
Roger was meeting us at Rutland Water and when we phoned him he had just
turned into the road to the Lyndon Reserve and so we went to join him in Teal
Hide. As we drove down the road to the
centre a single Redwing flew over. Roger
had gone there to hopefully connect with the Red-necked Grebe, but he hadn’t
found it when we arrived. I looked
towards Manton Bay and found four Common Goldeneye, a Great Egret, two Little
Egrets and a Yellow-legged Gull. There
was also fourteen Common Pochard and a Common Redshank to the right of the hide
and two Northern Pintail near Goldeneye Hide but there was no sign of the
Red-necked Grebe. We decided we should
make tracks for Baston and Langtofts Pits and found eight Fieldfare in the car
park before we all drove to the Egleton Reserve, where Malcolm and Roger
transferred their gear into my car and we set off, seeing a Red Kite on the
Stanford Road.
When we arrived at the pits at around 10:00 we found that the Temminck’s
Stint had been flushed by a Eurasian Sparrowhawk and hadn’t been seen
since. We stood on top of a bund
overlooking the appropriate pit where there were several hundred Greylag Geese
and as I scanned the pit I found a single Pink-footed Goose amongst them. On the far side of the pit I found a couple
of Common Snipe but there was still no sign of the stint. A small party of European Golden Plover
circled and dropped briefly onto a small island. Malcolm then found four Red-crested Pochard
on the pit on the other side of the road where there was also six Common
Pochard. As we focussed back on the main
pit several hundred European Golden Plover appeared and circled over the pit
for quite some time but were reluctant to land and eventually flew off. On the other side of the road there were now thirty-eight
Red-crested Pochard in two small groups.
Brian and Roger then arrived, and it wasn’t long afterwards that both
Brian and David said I got a small wader, which turned out to be the Temminck’s
Stint. It showed reasonably well for a
while, although a little distant, but as another birder arrived it disappeared
behind a small rock. We then suspected
that it might well have been there all the time but out of sight. Fortunately for the other birder it came into
view on the other side of the rock, but we then called it a day and headed back
to Rutland Water.
We saw a Common Kestrel just after leaving but hadn’t seen anything else
of note before arriving in the unnamed road to Tim’s cottage. After parking near the metal gate, we found a
Little Egret in the fishponds and Great Egret then flew out from the fishponds
into the North Arm and there was a Yellow-legged Gull on the bund within the
fishponds.
As we walked out to the spit to view the North Arm we found that there
were eighteen Little Egrets on the bund but with several fishing boats in the
area there were fewer birds than normal.
There were ten Egyptian Geese on the spit and I picked up a Little
Grebe, a Great Egret, a Little Egret and five Common Redshank in the southern
bay and there were nine Northern Pintail towards the fisherman’s car park. There were two more Egyptian Geese and two
Great Egrets on the north shore and five more Little Grebes near the bund. There were good numbers of Eurasian Wigeon in
the first part of the fishponds but there was no sign of the drake American
Wigeon, which had been there recently.
Malcolm, Roger and I then went into the field to view the western end of
the fishponds, where we found a Green Sandpiper and a Common Redshank but again
there was no sign of the American Wigeon, but two Eurasian Jays flew over.
Mike Snow had joined us again and informed us that he had seen the
Red-necked Grebe in the South Arm both from Teal Hide and the Old Hall and so
we headed for the Old Hall. After
parking we walked over the cattle grid and began scanning the arm but with
several fishing boats and poor light we weren't too optimistic. Malcolm then said is this a Red-breasted
Merganser and after providing directions we found it wasn’t too far out in the
near bay and confirmed his identification.
It was swimming out of the bay towards the Old Hall and so I walked out
onto the spit to get a better view. As I
approached the promontory a fishing boat was following almost in the same line
as the merganser had gone and when I reached the promontory there wasn’t any
sign. The light was better from here but
there was still no sign of the Red-necked Grebe, although I did find three
Common Ringed Plover and twelve Dunlin on the island. As I scanned South Arm Three I found five
Great Egrets in the far bay and two more on the Lagoon Three bund. After we reassembled near the cattle grid we
went back to the car and drove to the Egleton Reserve.
After transferring their gear back into their cars, we went down to the
visitor’s centre to view Lagoon One.
There were five more Great Egrets or were they those I had seen in South
Arm Three, three Little Egrets, eight Northern Pintail and a Eurasian Curlew on
the lagoon and a female Western Marsh Harrier was seen near the swift tower.
As we were setting off to the northern lagoons, Chris, Graham and Ricky
were returning but hadn’t seen a great deal but did mention there was a
Peregrine Falcon on Lagoon Four and so we headed there first. David and I arrived first, and David found
the rather large juvenile Peregrine Falcon on island one almost
immediately. As we scanned the lagoon I
counted twenty-five Northern Pintail and five Common Pochard. A second Peregrine Falcon then flushed the juvenile,
but I failed to connect but I did see a Eurasian Sparrowhawk mobbing the
juvenile over Burley Wood, where there were also three Red Kites.
We moved onto Shoveler Hide where there were plenty of Tufted Duck and as
we scanned through them I found two Common Goldeneye and a juvenile male
Greater Scaup. There was also sixteen
Common Pochard, another three Great Egrets and three Common Snipe.
When we reached Crake Hide we found five Great Egret and thirteen Little
Egrets, although viewing wasn’t easy as there were two photographers in the
hide that were occupying four seats, one by a bag, but didn’t offer to move and
so we went to Lapwing Hide, were we didn’t see anything of note.
Great Egret
Two Great Egret, four Little Egrets and a Grey Heron
Our walk back to the car park produced nothing and after a coffee we set
off for home. After dropping David off I
had a Eurasian Sparrowhawk fly over the road in the village.
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