After a quick bit of research on the Internet I was able to locate a working gravel pits that are meant to have a regular flock of Red Crested Pochard so a slight detour on the way home towards Baston and Langtoft pits and heading towards the Gull pit where they has last been reported. Pulled up by Gull pit and sure enough there they were Red Crested Pochard, in total I counted 45! This was a much appreciated bird to get back on my Dad who managed to get the brief pair at Bartley Reservoir and I thought that they may turn into a bit of a blocker but luckily not! Quite a few Wigeon and Tufted Duck were also on the pit.
With still plenty of daylight hours left and the fact that we would be driving practically straight past Rutland Water we decided to stop off and see what could be seen. Not long later we were pulling up in the car park and made our way towards the visitor centre brought our permits and decided that although we could remember such birds as GNDiver and Scaup reported recently we decided that it was the regular roost of Long Eared Owl behind the Fieldfare hide that we most wanted to see.
From the visitor centre I counted around 15 Goosander and 30+ Chaffinch around the feeders. We started walking towards the Fieldfare hide and on the way a couple of guys said that there were 2 Owls that could be seen from the path one showing really well apparently. So we quick end our pace and soon were in the area that they were meant to be. A Jay flew over and a single Lesser Redpoll was in a Silver Birch and we by now were saying ''trip tick'' far too much! Walking down the path my Dad started getting annoyed thinking that we were in the wrong area and that the owls would be impossible to find! We then walked a little further and he went ''Oh actually look there'' and sure enough 2 Long Eared Owls were perched one in full view and the other obscured only about 15yards from the path! WOW both had their ear tufts raised and you could see the lovely orange eyes. Couple of photos taken and we then went into the Fieldfare hide were lots of Coot were as well as several Goldeneye, Wigeon and Gadwall.
Walking back round the other side in an attempt to get Smew on Lagoon 3 failed but we did see a rather plastic Ruddy Shelduck asleep there! Now my Dad has ticked it just because he thinks it could be gen and that he's already seen one at Upton! I have chosen to not lower my self to such desperate bird ticking and it will just be noted in my note book as plastic and will not feature on my list... I may eat my words if I find one at Upton though!
All in all 93 different species of bird seen, not including the Ruddy Shelduck or a possible Bittern that my Dad had fly over the M42 in the dark on the way home when I was asleep!
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