Smews

January has been pretty kind to me so far and today continued that trend as Alan Shorrock and I made the relatively short trip over the border to Rutland Water. As well as enjoying beautiful winter sunshine there was also a decent selection of birds on view.

Smew.

We began by looking out over Lagoon 1 where the most obvious birds were the four Great White Egrets that were spread around the margins. Closer inspection of the other birds produced sightings of a Stonechat, a minimum of fourteen Goosander and a total of six Smews. None of the Smews came that close but I managed to get a few record shots including a few of the single male. Several Pintails were also seen amongst the commoner wildfowl before we decided to move on.

Great White Egret and Goosanders.

Lagoon 3 had many Shovellers and a few Shelducks as well as a further Great White while an impressive number of Pochard were also present. Perhaps as many as three Water Rails were heard calling from various points on the reserve though we didn't manage to catch a glimpse of any. A look out across the main reservoir from Lapwing Hide produced a bit of a surprise in the shape of two Black-necked Grebes, these normally frequent the North Arm. Some truly awful record shots were taken and I will of course share one here. Also seen from the hide were a few more Goosanders on Lagoon 2.

Lapwing and Teal, Shelduck and Shovellers.

The walk back towards the centre was fairly uneventful, a few more views of Smew and also a pair of Egyptian Geese were perhaps the highlights. We had enough time to pop back into the centre where a trio of Curlews were welcome additions to the earlier selection. With the lure of dinner proving too much to ignore we left at about two o'clock and headed back towards Corby.

Rubbish pic of Black-necked Grebes, Goldeneye and Coot.