I was back at Rutland Water
today to help with the WeBS Count and had support from Jeff this morning and
only had to complete South Arm Three.
We started at the Old Hall
during intermittent rain, which made counting from the northern shore a little
difficult and unpleasant. There were
twenty-one Dunlin and a Redshank on the exposed mud but the reservoir is now
filling quite fast and any suitable habitat will soon disappear. We counted the birds close to the northern
shore and then decided to go to Lapwing Hide to continue counting.
There were still plenty of
birds in front of the hide, which were mainly Coot but there was also good
numbers of Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal and Tufted Duck with smaller numbers of
Mallard, Pochard and Goldeneye and there was also seven Goosanders. There were five Little Egrets around the arm
and a Great White Egret flew in but disappointingly there was no sign of
yesterday’s Scaup, Ruddy Duck or Red-necked Grebe.
Satisfied we had counted all
we could from Lapwing Hide we went to Fieldfare Hide to get a better a few of
the southern shore. There was little to
add with another Redshank being the best and with Tim calling and agreeing to
count the birds between Goldeneye to Gadwall we were able to call it a day.
As we left the hide Jeff
noticed three Lesser Redpolls feeding on the path but as I raised my bins they
flew and I only managed to get on one of them and we couldn't relocate then
afterwards.
We returned to the centre to
hand in the count figures and after dropping Jeff back at his car I headed for
home seeing three Buzzards and five Kestrels on route.
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