Limited Rail Service

 It was another gloriously sunny early spring day and I chose to head over to Oundle to try and find the Barnwell CP Water Rail. Frost whitened grass greeted me on my arrival but the sunshine soon put paid to this and the rest of the morning spoke more of the coming spring rather than the departing winter. My wander did not produce any rarities but I saw more than enough to justify the trip.

Teal and Mandarins

A singing Chiffchaff was my first of the spring and as always was a welcome reminder of better days to come. I sat myself down in Lowlands Hide and waited to see what might appear. I saw the Water Rail swim across at the back of the pond and looked forward to better and more prolonged sightings. My optimism was sadly misplaced however as I did not catch even a glimpse of it again, looks like I may have to return. Some compensation came in the shape of a pair of Teal, they're quite scarce here and it's always good to get a good view of this attractive duck. No food had been put out for the birds here but a small trickle of passerines did come down on the off chance and these included a Nuthatch in their number. Rebecca from work, a keen wildlife photographer, joined me at this point and we headed towards Kingfisher Hide.

Robin and Moorhen

The regular pair of Mandarins were sitting on their favourite log but the Kingfishers did not show at all. On North Lake a Great Crested Grebe was new in and showed well, with a bit of luck it will attract a mate. Another drake Mandarin was noted on our travels and we also noted a good selection of passerines. I left my work buddy to continue with her photography and set off along the river.

Great Crested Grebe and Red Kite

Things were fairly quiet at first though the local Red Kites put on a pretty good show as they circled overhead. At the A605 floods it was obvious that the wildfowl numbers are dropping, Shovellers in particular seem to have moved on with just a low double figure count remaining. I looked for an early Garganey but my efforts came to nothing. More encouraging were sightings of a Redshank and an Oystercatcher which were my first waders other than Lapwings here this year, hopefully more will follow. I had hoped to see a butterfly on my way back to town but failed though I did see a few bees buzzing around the churchyard. With chores, shopping and a family meal on today's agenda I couldn't hang around any longer and caught my bus home.

Oystercatcher, Redshank and bee.

Popping Round To The Neighbours

 Regular weekend birding pal Shozzer called in sick this Saturday but a more than suitable substitute stepped forward to fill the void in the shape of Phil Rogers.  With the prospect of some cracking weather on what was apparently the first day of Spring we were left to decide where to go. After some deliberation we opted to venture over to Rutland Water where several of the scarcer grebes have been present for some time now.

Slavonian Grebe

We began at the North Arm where the Slavonian Grebe has been wintering, it didn't take too long before we found it close to the opposite shore. Decent views through the scope and rather poorer quality record shots were obtained of the bird as it fed in the spring sunshine. Once we had had our fill of the Slav we tried to find the reported Scaups in the same area. Looking into the sun caused us some problems but we did manage to find at least one associating with a few Tufted Ducks but the views were poor. Other birds putting in an appearance before we left were Great White Egret, Redshanks and Oystercatchers, sadly we missed the Goshawk which flew over this area while we were there.

Black-necked Grebes

Next on the agenda was Hambleton Peninsula where two Black-necked Grebes have been holding court for several months. On arrival we chatted to a couple of helpful birders who gave us some up to date gen on the grebes. Armed with their quality information it didn't take long to find them and I was able to get some of my best views of this species as both swam close to the shore. After a chat with some other birders we headed back towards the North Arm where we hoped to see the Scaups in better light. Our plan worked out pretty well as we managed to find both a female and a drake feeding with a mixed flock of Tufted Ducks and Goldeneyes. At this point we were confident that we'd seen all that Rutland had to offer and decided to head towards Eyebrook.

Scaups

Eyebrook was far from exciting though in fairness it wasn't a complete waste of time either. Small numbers of Pintail were noted at the sharp end and they were some of the few birds that were not spooked by a passing male Peregrine. Phil did well to pick out a distant female Stonechat on the other side of the res though we couldn't find her mate. A drive down towards the island produced reasonable views of a drake Smew but we did not find the immature male Scaup that has wintered here. By now the evening was beginning to draw in and Phil and I headed towards the Royal George in Cottingham where we enjoyed a pint of decent beer before heading home. News that we had managed to miss a Brent Goose in the field below Stoke Dry did little to spoil our mood, well not too much anyway!

Pintail and Smew