7th Oct - cloudy/drizzle early, then cloudy, with westerly freshening pm, rain shower later afternoon, 16C

Willey; mid-morning a Kestrel was on the telegraph pole near the village pond and a Chiffchaff was singing from the trees.

Shawell lagoons/old sand pit; It was Webs count today and as Carl is away I went to count the waterfowl early.  However, there were very few waterfowl present, 35 Teal, 3 Shoveler, 21 Tufted Duck, some Canada Geese and Coot was about it.  As winter progresses numbers and variety should increase.

Rutland Water; This afternoon I decided to see if I could find the American Wigeon again, after failing on my previous attempt.  The odds were better now as 2 drakes have been seen in the last few days on different lagoons.  I spent considerable time searching without success until I meet another birder who told me he had been watching it recently from the Smew hide, he even came back with me to help locate it - decent fellow - we soon found it and had good views of it feeding.

  Plenty of other duck were on lagoon 2, including Pintail, Teal, Shoveler and European Wigeon.

The other bird good to see was the Great Egret, at least 2 were present, with several Grey herons.