David, Roger and I had agreed to meet Malcolm at Rutland Water and to
then look for a Garganey that was present yesterday before potentially heading
for Gibraltar Point for a Red-rumped Swallow.
When we arrived at Rutland Water, Malcolm's car was there but there was
no sign of him. When I called him, he
had been to Lagoon two looking for the Garganey without success and he said he
would make his way back to the car park.
Whilst waiting with no news of the Red-rumped Swallow we discussed our
options, which was to either go to Frampton Marsh or remain at Rutland Water.
When Malcolm eventually got back he wasn’t too keen to go to Frampton as
he suspected that it would be quite cold in the fresh easterly wind and with
still no news on the Swallow we decided we would stay at Rutland Water.
We made our way to the northern lagoons, seeing two Eurasian
Oystercatcher near the centre and a Garden Warbler near the badger Hide, but we
didn’t see a great deal else before deciding to go to Lapwing Hide to view
South Arm Three and Lagoon two.
There were sixty Common Terns feeding over the water, but we were unable
to find any Arctic, and a Western Osprey passed over. We checked the western edge of Lagoon two, but
there was still no sign of the Garganey and so we headed for Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three where we found the second-summer Mediterranean Gull and there were
three Common Shelduck and a Common Pochard on the water. To the left of the hide there was a Little
Egret and an Eurasian Oystercatcher.
We decided to go to Dunlin Hide on Lagoon Four and found four Common
Shelduck, four Eurasian Oystercatcher, a Pied Avocet, sixteen Common Ringed
Plover, seven Dunlin, a Whimbrel, a Eurasian Curlew, two Common Sandpiper, four
Common Redshank and fifteen Common Tern.
A Western Osprey still appeared to be trying to attract a female and was
seen adding sticks to the man-made nest.
A Red Kite was seen towards Hambleton, another and a Common Buzzard were observed
over the Volunteer Training centre and another six Common Buzzard were observed
over Burley Wood.
Great Crested Grebe on Lagoon Four
Grey Heron on Lagoon Four
Western Osprey landing on the perch on Lagoon Four
Redshank on Lagoon Four
Redshank on Lagoon Four
As we walked back to the car park for lunch we saw a Great Spotted
Woodpecker near the centre and after lunch we went back to the northern Lagoons,
but other than a Peregrine Falcon over Burley Wood it was pretty much the same
on Lagoon Four and we decided to call at Eyebrook Reservoir on the way home.
We called it a day a little earlier as Roger and I had booked a week’s
holiday with Heatherlea to Orkney and specifically North Ronaldsay.
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