Wednesday 4 December 2013
Another calm day, the calm before the storm as it turned out, so off early to
Rutland Water for the morning arriving at the North Arm just before 9.30. A little cloud in the sky but very quickly clearing to become bright and sunny even if somewhat cold. As I said above, come today and it is blowing a gale and I would certainly not have even attempted a visit! But, duty called and i was determined to see if the Long-tailed Duck I missed last Wednesday might still be present.
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| A pair of the numerous Wigeon Anas penelope at Rutand Water |
Lots of duck on the water as I arrived having already recorded all the "black birds" of
Crow,
Rook,
Jackdaw and lots of male
Blackbirds plus numerous
Magpies.
Mute Swans were immediately obvious and this is the water which, at present, seems to be home for the numerous
Coots along with a good smattering of
Moorhens. The predominate duck was still the
Wigeon but also a few
Mallard and the odd
Shoveler. Work with the bins and scope duly revealed both
Gadwall and
Teal along with numerous
Cormorants and many
Egyptian Geese. A walk to the far end of the lane to look at the main water eventually produced a distant view of the sought-after
Long-tailed Duck and I even picked up the three
Black-necked Grebes that had been present for the past few weeks. Not to forget that there were also plenty of
Great Crested Grebes about along with a handful of
Grey Herons a solitary
Little Egret. Apart from the ducks there was a flock in excess of 200
Lapwings resting on the far bank plus a small number of
Tufted Duck on the water in front. Immediately in front of me a lone
Pied Wagtail was feeding and I decided it was time to make my way round to the main entrance, pay my entrance fee and explore the feeders and inner lagoons, etc.
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| Time for this Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus to stretch a wing |
Just as I set off a little
Wren dashed across the road and my first
Robin of the day seem to wave me off on my very short journey. Lots of
Jackdaws and
Wood Pigeons in the car park area and my first
Redwing of the morning along with more
Blackbirds. The feeders were being visited by mainly
Blue and
Great Tits along with
Chaffinches,
Greenfinches and a small number of
Goldfinches. Below the feeders, the usual handful of
Mallard and a couple of hen
Peacocks.
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| Marsh Tit Parus palustris |
Working my way over to
Lagoon 2 I came across one of the reserve's ringers and just in time to watch him process a
Marsh Tit. Was this to be my only sighting? Fortunately no as upon returning to the car park at the end of my visit a final check on the feeding station not only produced a "flying wild" specimen but also more
Robins and a single
Dunnock.
A call at the
Redshank Hide seemed, initially, to be a waste of time and the departing birder informed me that nothing was about. I was all set to leave a few minutes later when I thought I would have just one more concentrated look at the gullies as this was where my friend Ron recorded his Water Rail the previous Wednesday. Was that a Moorhen walking out of the reed into the muddy gully? No, it certainly was not. The
Water Rail was still about and quite content to feed out in the open. The only down side was that i was looking directly into the sun and the bird was in the shade. How clear the photos will be will be decided at the end when
Lightroom gets to work on the original RAW shots.
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| That very elusive and shy bird, the Water Rail Rallus aquaticus |
Then it was on to
Lagoon 4 which was very full and contained relatively few birds. mainly
Mute Swans but a few
Teal and, of course, I managed to pick up pair of
Shelduck along with the
Black-headed Gulls. So on to the
Buzzard Hide overlooking
Lagoon 3. Again, lots of duck and
Great Crested Grebes on the water despite the chaps undertaking some maintenance work on one of the nearby rafts. On the other hand, as soon as the completed their work the ducks seemed to quickly move in. On the open war the front of a few
Goldeneye and the the
Smews on the far side were disturbed and flew around and immediately over the heads of those in this hide. We even found a small party of
Common Pochards and a number of
Pintails. A
Goosander put in a fly-by appearance at close quarters.
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| Redshank Tringa totanus |
On the muddy wastes in front and to the side of the hide a couple of
Redshanks were busy feeding as were a small number of
Teal. A pair of
Egyptian Geese were also in close proximity. Meanwhile, the steep bank at the side of
Lagoon 4 had produced a dozen feeding
Meadow Pipits to go with the handful of
Pied Wagtails at the neighbouring water. There were small flocks of
Common Starlings in the area and then it was time to start the return journey to the Centre and neighbouring car park. Along with a single
Fieldfare seen from the
Osprey Hide I also recorded more
Redwings and a few feeding
Long-tailed Tits high in the canopy of the trees to the left.
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| Scaup Aythya marila and with Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula below |
Leaving the car park I returned in an anti-clockwise direction to take a look at both Manton centre and the dam. The former was closed but I could see large numbers of both
Greylag and
Canada Geese on the opposite bank. At the dam I may not have found the promised Red-breasted Merganser but in with the
Tufted Ducks I could see a couple of
Scaup. Add on both
Little and
Great Crested Grebe and I was almost "birded out" but, right at the end, a rather lovely
Green Woodpecker left its feeding area on the grass verge and flew across the road immediately in front of the car. Wonderful birding and a total of
53 species recorded.
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| Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus |
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| Pintail Anus acuta |
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| Teal Anus crecca |
Birds seen:
Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Scaup, Tufted Duck, Long-tailed Duck, Goldeneye, Smew, Goosander, Pheasant, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Heron, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Lapwing, Redshank, Black-headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Green Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Long-tailed Tit, Marsh Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch.
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