Rutland Water 12th May 2017
We left our rented cottage in Thornham this morning but instead of going straight home we took the opportunity to go to Rutland Water again. We only went to the Egleton centre and started off going down to the Bittern Hide area where we immediately encountered a Nightingale hopping around in the vegetation at the side of the path to the hide and occasionally dropping down to the path to feed.
In the background we could hear a Cuckoo singing loud and clear though it was probably beyond our visual reach. From here we moved to the Sandpiper Hide and we got the expected Common Tern, Egyptian Goose, Black-tailed Godwit and various ducks but we also got half a dozen Ringed Plovers and some Dunlin.
On the main water there were the usual suspects again but there were a huge number of Sand Martins, far outnumbering the few Swifts in the air. From these hides we could hear another Nightingale and, in the end, we had to conclude that there were probably three or four Nightingales all singing amidst the general music of Whitethroat, Blackcap, Song Thrush, Robin and Blackbird.
We walked along the woodland trail that runs parallel to the main path and that has rarely been open on our previous visits. It was one of the most musical walks we have ever experienced.
All this came to a bit of an abrupt end when the skies opened up and a torrential rainfall commenced. We took shelter in one of the hides but eventually we had to brave the rain and we walked briskly back to the car park getting pretty wet on the way.
Bird Sightings : Thornham to Rutland Water
| Red Kite | 1 |
| Common Buzzard | 1 |
Bird Sightings : Rutland Water: Egleton
| Greylag Goose | 14 |
| Canada Goose | 6 |
| Mute Swan | 8 |
| Egyptian Goose | 2 |
| Common Shelduck | 8 |
| Gadwall | 8 |
| Mallard | 6 |
| Common Pochard | 6 |
| Tufted Duck | 14 |
| Common Pheasant | 1 |
| Little Grebe | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 4 |
| Great Cormorant | 4 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Common Moorhen | 1 |
| Common Coot | 6 |
| Pied Avocet | 2 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 4 |
| Northern Lapwing | 6 |
| Common Ringed Plover | 6 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 1 |
| Dunlin | 4 |
| Black-headed Gull | 30 |
| Herring Gull | 6 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 |
| Common Tern | 10 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 4 |
| Common Cuckoo | 1 |
| Common Swift | 4 |
| Common Kestrel | 1 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 2 |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | 4 |
| Carrion Crow | 2 |
| Sand Martin | 40 |
| Great Tit | 2 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 1 |
| Eurasian Wren | 2 |
| Cetti’s Warbler | 4 |
| Willow Warbler | 1 |
| Common Chiffchaff | 2 |
| Eurasian Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Blackcap | 1 |
| Common Whitethroat | 1 |
| Common Nightingale | 3 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 2 |
| Song Thrush | 2 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| European Goldfinch | 1 |
