Wow, Rutland Water

The plan was to scooch down to Rutland to finally bag one of the many Cattle Egrets in the country these days, by the end of a very long day we'd scored a list of 81 species and some memorable views - this despite missing out several hides and the Manton Bay area.

Big surprise was the new lagoon on the north side of Egleton Reserve, even googling after the visit I find very little online to cover quite what an interesting development it is. Being Rutland it's another big area of water with islands and scrapes that are an obvious magnet for all kinds of waders, and crowning glory of this achievement is an Osprey platform with attending bird. To give an idea of what it's already getting we saw Sanderling, Sandwich Tern and Avocet on or around that lagoon (gales over the last few days certainly helped with that). At one point the two Avocets mobbed the Osprey, which really underlines two of the big successes in British bird conservation over the last couple of decades. Who'd have imagined that even 15 years ago?

On other lagoons, three Black Terns, a pair of summer plumage Black-necked Grebes, and dozens of Hobbies hawking high and low, are all birds to make any day. Early evening a Cuckoo finally showed itself after teasing with distant calls all day long.

Shouldn't forget the reason we travelled in the first place, the Cattle Egret. Always kind of distant, invariably gorgeous, and yes it was among the cows (substituting for the elephants and rhinos of Africa).

An apparently plastic* Ruddy Shelduck hybrid raised and disappointed hopes, and yet what a richly coloured bird nonetheless.

Get thee to Rutland!Osprey nidifying...

...Hobby... flying.

Ruddy/Cape/Egyptian Goose/Shelduck thing

Cattle Egret

Plus, a bonus video, shot from a good distance...




*plastic - noun, slang: A wild bird of dubious origin, usually an escapee from an ornamental wildfowl collection.

Great Legs

They're always special, those close encounters, those moments when a wild bird wonders almost beneath your nose in complete obliviousness to a threat that you don't actually pose. This Redshank toddled metres below a hide at our much visited patch of late, Carsington Reservoir.

Redshank will forever be on my list of probable favourite birds. I could never choose just one species, but the unassuming grace of these waders makes them a certain contender.

"Walking in the cold driving wind is half the point of birding, don't you know?"

Marvellous clear skies yesterday for our trip to Rutland. Although no megas were around we did see what I tend to think of as glamour birds, those that are a little scarce and very handsome - Goosander, Goldeneye, Red Kite, even Pintail falls into that category for me. Four very decent lifers for my girlfriend in her first year of birding.
Other sightings included Dunlin, Curlew, Egyptian Goose, Little Egret and Goldcrest. As the evening began to draw in I found myself looking across to the southern arm of the Egleton reserve when hundreds of Golden Plover descended to their roost. I've rarely been there so late and definitely plan to leave late next time I go. Around that time countless groups of 20-50 Starling hurried in and into the distance one of those awing swirling humongous winter flocks gather and tossed and turned into the distance, how many individual birds by the end I really don't know, just think of a number and triple it.

We chose Rutland in hopes of seeing Bittern, since on the Birdguides.com website one had been regularly reported at the site. No luck on the day, but I think we'll continue to keep an eye on that website, seems like the premier source for the latest sightings news and bird photographs. It will probably help us to decide which destinations to choose and when, even if that means paying a subscription when the free account deadline runs out.

Happy birding everyone.

Surprises

During a birding trip to Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire on an unsuccessful hunt for the park's famed Hawfinches, a couple of surprises presented themselves around a nearby layby used by birders to spot the Honey Buzzards.

We've seen several of these bottle-green-black pheasants along that stretch of road, birds presumably released during the shooting season.

Then along the fence a pair of shy wild Mandarin Ducks turned up, perched along the top feeding from the seed pots.

Pretty, long time and very welcome Chinese interlopers to our countryside, all seen from our mobile Volkswagen birdhide.

The Green Arrows

I'm a happy birder, it's still only been a matter of days since I saw my last new tick. Although I'm far from a twitcher I find it's nice to keep a growing list and at the bottom of mine now sits Ring-necked Parakeet.

Inevitably I saw them in Richmond Park during a visit to the capital. I confess I'd forgotten it was the famous home to the exotic birds so when the initial screaming calls came I wondered whether a bird of prey was quartering the area. You see, first of all you hear these birds.

As we walked between the pocketed woodlands of the park various groups of these green arrows squawked between the trunks and provided marvellous entertainment. Whatever the debate over the place this thriving escaped species has in our countryside, it's an exciting presence while they last.
If you can get to Richmond Park it's well worth taking the time, sighting the deer will please any family and for birders, well, within the brief hour or so we saw countless Jay, found Shoveler and Green Woodpecker, nice birds and indicators to what species the habitat can be expected to feature.

Such a surprising silhouette to find wild in Britain.
Admittedly not great shots of the parakeets, but you get the idea.

Also at Richmond,
ShovellerJay

The parks within central London also supply a ready number of birds for the photographer, particularly tamed wild species that would otherwise be vastly difficult for amateur duffers like yours truly to photograph.

My favourite, the Smew in St James'.

Ruddy Shelduck


Black-headed Gull

Closer to home, birds at Rufford Country Park in North Notts...

General update

My fledgling count went reasonably well, although the Song Thrush decided to avoid showing up until after the deadline. In all for my garden, 3 adult Blackbirds and no young, 8 adult House Sparrows and 7 young, 1 adult Robin and no young, 5 adult Starlings and 7 young. Those were the highest numbers of each at any one time.
These national counts always seems to have a southern bias. Blackbirds don't seem to fledge here for another couple of weeks, there are more Sparrows and Starlings later in the summer too. With an entire month of difference between Spring striking the North and South in this country maybe these surveys are missing out on the real numbers.

Anyway, lots of pictures, and one bird I was particularly happy to finally get a snap of...


It's a Grey Wagtail. Only a juvenile but a Grey Wagtail nonetheless. As the name suggests they wag their tails, A LOT, and are always on the move, ants in their pants or something, and are quite shy, hence the difficulty snapping them.
No ants actually, the wagtailing is all about constantly moving in order break up their reflection in the water. The birds feed on invertebrates in the stream and need to see them without their own beak shining back up at them.

Anyway, more of him...


More images from the reservoir...


Meanwhile at the local community country park...

House Martins are just the sweetest of birds, and still nest building, a muddy patch beside the carpark offered a perfect supply of material.

This time of year the orchids are dazzling. These are Common Spotted, yet uncommonly pretty.