Last Trip Before Christmas

It was arranged that the 16th December would be the last trip to go birding before Christmas and the New Year with work and family commitments so myself and my good friend Neil would have a days birding going to Rutland Water, Eyebrook Resevoir, and Willow Tree Fen to do a bit of target birding.

Neil picked me up just after 7am and we set off to Rutland Water as this is a great place very big and expansive but it always turns up the birds. On the way there we saw Common Buzzards and a couple of Red Kites which are always a pleasure to see. We arrived at Rutland at 840 ish and we arrived at a part called the dam and sailing club where the previous day there had been 2 Great Northern divers and a Red Necked Grebe seen i could wait to start looking as i was using my new scope for the first time a Swarovski ATS 80HD we stepped out of the car and noticed how cold it was and overcast we got to the path and started viewing the large area there were good number of Great Crested Grebes some Goldeneye plenty of Wigeon too but no diver or Red Necked Grebe so i suggested we walked up a bit further towards the Sailing club we walked a bit picking up Fieldfare and Redwing in the bushes we came to a bench so we set up base there and started to look . After only a couple of minutes Neil said he had the Red Necked Grebe close in and sure enough there it was it showed well in periods and was diving frequently but a lovely bird none the less but still no sign of the Divers.

Then after half an hour Neil said he had the Diver but then he lost it i was scanning trying to see this bird then finally after 15 minutes the bird appeared in a totally different spot showing well in the sun as it had broken through it was quite happy preening in the sun then we decided to head for another part of the big complex called the fishermans carpark where a Slavonian Grebe had been seen so off we set.

The Grusome 2 Some

We arrived at the Fishermans carpark and clambered over the gate and started scanning the water plenty of Wigeon Tufted Ducks and Egyptian Goose was nice to see and whilst scanning through the large flock of Tufted ducks i found 3 Scaup a winter duck 1 male and 2 females which were nice to see and after a about 15 minutes Neil picked up a small grebe so i scoped it and sure enough this was the Slavonian Grebe a great result we decided then to head to Eyebrook Res where 2 male smew were seen the previous day.

We arrived at the Stoke Dry Car Park and set up the scopes and started scanning the first thing we notice was the good number of Teal and Wigeon and then Neil found a flock of about 40 plus Pintail which was a great number and then he spotted an Otter which was a real treat to see fishing away it was we watched it for about 10 minutes still scanning but no sign of the Smew so we decided to move further round.

Male Wigeon

After driving round to the other side of the Res we parked up and there was another birder who was just setting up after about 5 minutes we found the 2 male Smew very distant but unmistakable pure white duck with a black eyepatch so that was great the time was now 1230 so we decided to head over to Willow Tree Fen as it was an hours drive.

We arrive around 1345 and parked up in the small car park and started to set up the scopes and started scanning around there was good number of Teal on the small areas of water and then a guy who was there spotted a leusictic Marsh Harrier which was pretty impressive with it which feathers in its wing and throughout the afternoon showed really well.

i was enjoying seeing the Cattle egrets which were present there were 8 in total which is a good number so i got some footage of them and took some stills off them and then Neil spotted a Common Crane in the reeds which was amazing and throughout the afternoon 10 more birds flew in calling which is nice to hear and to see 10 is fantastic as we were watching them a pair of Stonechat were sat on the fence infront of us . We saw 5 Marsh Harriers in total and 10 Cranes and 8 Cattle Egrets which was impressive as time was pressing on we decided to head home.

Cattle Egrets

So a good years birding had come to end in which i saw 206 different species so heres wishing my followers a great bird filled 2025 and thanks for reading