The one thing about living on the Stamford/Lincolnshire boundary is that you can op down to the local patch at Rutland Water when out buying you morning paper and still be back before your coffee is too cold to drink. This morning was a case in point. The forecast suggested rain and it was certainly cloudy but then appeared to brighten up so off I went. Red Kite overhead as I headed off, purchased my Sunday paper and then spent little more than half an hour checking out the Burley Fishponds on the North Arm of Rutland Water the a quick nip round to see what was happening at the Visitors Centre feeding station.
Strange how you get used to a mass of wildfowl at the former during the winter months whereas this morning it was plenty of Greylag Geese, many with goslings now swimming out on the water, a good number of Mute Swans and still no shortage of resting Cormorant. Yes, there was also the occasional Great Crested Grebe and resident Coot plus even a handful of Mallard but very little else other than a small number of Black-headed Gulls and a couple of fishing Common Terns.
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| Male Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs |
Driving round to the Visitors Centre I picked up a couple of Carrion Crow and regular Wood Pigeon sightings followed by the resident Jackdaw population once on site. As yesterday, the feeding station was relatively quiet albeit a male Chaffinch was feeding on the ground when I arrived and no sign of a Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis. But there was an individual at the far end and then a Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus at my end. Regular visits from Blue and Great Tits along with House Sparrows and a couple of Robins. A par of male Blackbirds were foraging for dropped food when a couple of Dunnock put in an appearance. Also at the far end the occasional sound and sight of a Rook from the nearby small rookery.
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| Dunnock Prunella modularis |
Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Red Kite, Coot, Black-headed Gull, Common Tern, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch.
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| Blue Tit Parus caeruleus |
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| Great Tit Parus major |
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| Robin Erithacus rubecula |
Check out the accompanying website at http://www.birdingaxarquia.weebly.com for the latest sightings, photographs and additional information
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