Alarm call with Rutland Ospreys

With a big birthday approaching, Mrs D booked a fantastic weekend away to one of our favourite places, Rutland Water. Whilst not bathed in sunshine it was humid and dry on the Saturday when we visited the nest in Manton Bay where both chicks were growing well. We got some terrific views of the parents returning from hunting although some times unsuccesfully.

We stayed in lovely place and had a fantastic meal before retiring fairly early as an early present Mrs D had booked me a Osprey Experience which would require getting up at 3.15am for a 4am appointment. The light and weather wasn't great but I still got to see two differnet Ospreys perched and dive in front of us. Much too fast for my bridge camera so I just enjoyed the spectacle. Thankfully another guest, Peter "Moose" Jousiffe, took some fantastic photos that he kindly sent to me for use on the blog and to remember the experience.

As part of the weekend we also did a trip on the Rutland Belle and a nice walk on Sunday morning where we picked up two Ospreys together high above us on west shore line. Other sightings included Mandarin family, Common Terns, Cormorants, Greylag, Eygptian Goose, Grey Heron and Little Egret. Another great weekend.

All the grebes kinda a day in Rutland

 Juvenile Goldeneye

 Greenfinch on the feeders

 Superb winters day

 Black-necked Grebes

 Drake Smew

  Red-necked Grebe

Great White Egret

 Marsh Tit

 Goldeneye

Egyptain Goose - a local speciality

 Stunning views all around

One of many flocks of Wigeon

I took advantage of an extra day off on Friday for a bit of winter birding around Rutland, well I had been in work for 4 days !

First stop was a quick tour of @1stbirdoftheday's local patch in Warwick. Keep your eye on his feed and blog and I reckon there might just be a good bird or two there in the coming months.

Next stop was Eyebrook Reservoir where after a bit of scoping from a couple of different stops we found three over wintering Smew, 2 drakes and 1 red head.

As my regular followers will know I'm a regular at Rutland and know my way round quite well. Often the same species are in the certain arms of water. The problem for any Rutland novice is you can't find where to park and access the birds. Thankfully my previous knowledge was put to good use as we found 2 Black-necked & a Slavionan Grebe quickly. 

The Red-necked Grebe had been reported off Old Hall but we didn't have any luck so I suggested to try in the opposite direction to where I found it last year. Rolly picked out a good suspect for it and we used my Swaro 85 ATX to zoom on to confirm it's ID. 3 Grebes in a day......

We headed back to the North Arm where we added two Scaup, Little & Great White Egret. Our final stop was on the other side of the water where we added a Marsh Tit & Greenfich to our day list and had some fantstic views of Goldeneye from the Teal hide. 

Osprey on a bike

A couple of mad weeks at work since my two weeks leave so not had any time to update the blog. Mrs D and I had two fantastic days in Rutland cycling and birding. The star attraction were of course the Ospreys that were doing very well in Manton bay with four chicks on the nest. 

The Osprey reserve have installed a new double tier hide with has made viewing even better. Other species of note were 2 Arctic Tern & 6 Egyptian Geese both being year ticks whilst best of the others were 20 Common Tern & a Barn Owl out hunting on our second morning.

Ripple & Rutland

Glossy Ibis

Birding in North Arm

Red Kite

Birding from Old Hall

A couple of trips away from the pits over the last fortnight have included Ripple Pits & Rutland Water. 

The views of the Ripple Pit Glossy Ibis were a little distant before it disappeared. It seems to be coming and going so lets hope its located again within the county border as these birds make interesting viewing at close quarters. There were large number of ducks on the south lake including Wigeon, Teal, Pintail and a single female Red-crested Pochard. Also recorded in the visit were 5 Oystercatcher, a Little Egret and a flock of Herring & Lesser Blacked Gulls. 

This Saturday I called in at Rutland Water after attending a Sport Memorabilia auction in Leicester. Rutland is one of the most reliable places to see all the grebes species. I concentrated birding two areas, Old Hall & the North Arm. From Old Hall, I managed to find the Red-necked Grebe after a lot of scanning & six distant Scaup. Viewing the North Arm, one of my favourite places, included 3 Slavonian Grebes, 2 Black-necked Grebes, many Great Crested Grebe, Common Gulls, Goldeneye, two Scaup, & two Red Kite. 

Good Friday with Rutland Water's Ospreys

33 & Maya on the Manton Bay nest

Goldeneye

Wigeon flock

Mediterranean Gull

Osprey Centre

Lunch stop

Normanton Church

Distant Osprey Shot

Four days off for Easter started with a trip to Rutland Water. We hadn't been for a couple of years so we thought we would see as much of it again as possible. Thick fog greeted us on arrival so we decided to walk south along the dam and then to the stunning Normanton Church. The foggy background set an atmospheric church built between 1826 & 1829. With the fog easing we saw our first Red Kite hunting above the lambs, singing Skylarks whilst a number of the Great Crested Grebes & Tufties came into view.

We then headed to the North Arm where the first bird to stand out was a Mediterranean Gull that was calling loudly. This particular Gull had been seen on the main reserve and was actually ringed in Poland. There were still excellent numbers of Wigeon along side Gadwall, Goldeneye, Common Gull, Little Egret and Great Crested Grebes.

We then headed down the peninsula to where I saw the Cory's Shearwater last year. This little spot came up trumps as a thorough scan found 5 Scaup in the bay (year tick). From here we headed into Oakham where we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Otters Smokehouse and Deli. The reviews met all our expectations. 

The main reserve was a little disappointed to be honest, 17 Sand Martin were busy over Lagoon 4 and there were three Chiffchaffs in full song. Other sightings included 6 Oystercatchers, Shelduck, Shoveler & other wildfowl. 

As we left it rained very heavily but thankfully it passed over when we reached the Lyndon Reserve that sits on the south side of Manton Bay. The feeders were very busy with Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch & Tree Sparrow (bonus year tick). 

The walk to the Osprey viewpoint took around 15 minutes which was an upgraded hide since our last visit. They also plan to upgrade another of the hides to a double tiered hide with no vibration. We are really pleased that both of the birds, Maya and 33, were on the nest or in close vicinity. Whilst we were there both birds took turns to incubate the egg laid two days previous. The male bird did a super circuit before returning to the nest. (Second egg laid 31/3). The volunteers reported at least 7 Ospreys have returned to date and they expect a total of around 30. A scan from the same point found four Egyptian Geese were on the bank, 2 Great Northern Divers & a winter plumage Slavonian Grebe. 

The rain started again as we return to the visitor centre making the drive home difficult but we were grateful of another top day in Rutland.

Cory's Shearwater at Rutland Water - Honest !

Cory's Shearwater

Photos difficult with distance & light

I was all set for my normal Thursday early finish at work followed by a long bike ride when suddenly CORYS SHEARWATER - RUTLAND WATER flashed up on the phone. Surely not,was my thoughts like everyone else's. I then checked on Twitter to see a report by Leicestershire birder Andy Mackay he had found a Cory's in the North Arm of Rutland Water.

I waited another twenty minutes for photographic evidence to be on social media and I was off surging east towards the summer hot spot for Ospreys. The journey took around 1 hour 50 and regular updates looked positive until I got within 30 minutes saying 'out of site flying around peninsula'. Having cycled around Rutland I knew the area pretty well so I bypassed the fishing lane and headed through Hambleton to the end of the road.

A two minute walk and low & behold the Shearwater was flying straight past me towards the south arm with the the stunning Normanton Church in the background. How brilliant was this. I probably watched the bird for about two minutes before it went out of view. Knowing the direction of flight I jumped in the car to drove five minutes to a different spot overlooking the south arm.

There, in the distance, was the Cory's Shearwater sat on the middle of the expanse of water with Mute Swans. The scope views were excellent & the pale pinky yellow beak stood out. I did expect the bird to be slightly larger but it seemed the size of a large gull. After five minutes on the water the birders were then treated to some outstanding flight views. What was strange was the days weather was very calm and didn't really project any thoughts of seabirds being blown off course.

Highly satisfied I headed for home & not even a couple of slow local tractors blocking the road denied me of a very good afternoon in Leicestershire.

From checking the records it's only the third ever inland record for a Cory's Shearwater with the previous records being at Chasewater (Staffordshire) & one in flight over Regents Park London.