Date: 29/1/22 Meeting Point: Egleton Visitors Centre (details below) – LE15 8BT Time: 09:30 Lunch: bring packed lunch and drink Transport: Members cars Cost: Adults £6, Concession £5, Children under 16 £3.50, Family £16 Leader: Martin Kaye Numbers Limit: None.
Travelling from Chesterfield (about 1hr 40 min), the best route is probably M1 to Junction 26, A610 to Nottingham ring road (A6514) to meet the A52 near Queens Medical Centre. Then follow signs to Melton Mowbray on the A606 and then on to Oakham. SAT NAVs should take you there.
At this time of year the paths round the reserve can be muddy in places so suggest walking boots. Otherwise the tracks are flat.
Target birds include Gt White Egret, Slavonian, Black-necked and Red-necked Grebes and Smew but all told we can expect a ‘bag’ of 50 species.
Rutland Water is a massive reserve with approx 35 hides, far more than can be covered in one day. At this time of year it is probably best to meet upstairs in the visitors centre which is itself a hide and view lagoon 1 where there’s a good chance of seeing a lot of different species including Gt White Egret. From there, we’ll walk north scanning the fields for winter thrushes and the trees for Siskin, Redpoll and if lucky a Green Woodpecker (link below for reserve map). It’s then always worthwhile visiting the hides overlooking lagoons 4, 3 and finally South Arm 3.
Returning to the visitors’ centre, we would then expect to drive a short distance to the Fishermans’ Car Park overlooking North Arm 1 (link above to map) hoping to see some of the over-wintering Grebes.
This is a suggested itinerary which could change if ‘special birds’ have been sited elsewhere. For those wanting to do their own research, suggested websites include:
Leicester and Rutland Bird News
and on Twitter @Rutlandbirds