Stanwick Lakes

As we were down in the Rutland area visiting sister-in-law and staying in Kettering, we had a free day today so headed over to Stanwick Lakes which is in the Nene Valley area of Northamptonshire. The area is geared for all manner of outdoor pursuits for family and walkers and although the one or two bird hides on site are not the best we've ever seen (to put it mildly ! ) it was still an interesting area to explore set amongst old disused gravel pits, now a series of lakes which stretched for miles.    They have had such birds recently as 3 Cattle Egret, Bearded Tits as well as L.Egret, G.Herons and seems to be a popular place for Green Woodpeckers too which we heard and managed to see one at distance.     The day was pretty dull on the whole so not great for photography although it wasn't really the priority as we just wanted to see what this area was like and I'm sure we'd go back if we were in the area again.

Here's a few pics I did manage to take although had to hard crop most of them.

The Visitor Centre with shop and café 

This little beauty was one of several dotting around the trees/bushes....in the less open areas.     As always, very hard to keep up with these fidgety little blighters 

In this same area of the Adventure Trail ……… I also spotted a Chiffchaff as well as "Lollipops" ……….

There must have been dozens of LTT's but most too distant or silhouetted to capture on camera ….   

Grey Herons were also in abundance 

pity about the gloomy grey sky but at least the rain held off 

Great Crested Grebe showed a little better on one of the many lakes ..

Tufted duck, one of half a dozen seen

Ormanental fish sculpture on one of the lakes 

I heard and saw Redwings but once again too distant for photos - this is record shot 

This huge nature reserve area was pretty quiet with visitors on the whole and for much of the time we wandered around not seeing a soul, however, as I'm sure you've all experienced, the minute you see something a bit more special ………….  somebody comes along with mobile to their ear and walks right in the path of what you are trying to capture on camera spooking the bird into flight and away  !!!     oh well,   I did manage to capture a distant shot before it shot off .      Pity really as it had been quite happy foraging and I was slowly edging my way closer at the time to get a much better view and pic.    It didn't move until the lady with mobile was within 3 metres of it

this was before Miss mobile came along   lol       

and as we were almost back at the VC I spotted a "funny wabbit"     looked a bit strange so not sure if it just had bulging cheeks or something was wrong with it.

  • A nice selection Hazel, and definitely something "not quite right" with the wabbit. Still never seen a goldcrest or redwing (as far as I know!), nor had a decent view of a green woodpecker. Glad it stayed dry :o)
  • Nice to see the Goldcrest Hazy, lovely pics and the GCGrebe too. Glad you managed to see the Green Woodpecker, not a bad shot even though it was only a short visit(: The rabbit is poorly, hope it wasn't myxi, hate to see them ill.
  • Nice to see the Goldcrest Hazy, lovely pics and the GCGrebe too. Glad you managed to see the Green Woodpecker, not a bad shot even though it was only a short visit(: The rabbit is poorly, hope it wasn't myxi, hate to see them ill.
  • It does look like a fairly extensive site and good to see there's plenty around, even if you couldn't always get close. You did well to get several shots of the Goldcrest. They always hide behind twigs for me! I even quite like the fish sculpture.
  • thank all, we're already back in Cheshire as we decided due to the miserable weather and gloom not to stop off on way back north. Looks slightly better up north lol
  • Lovely selection Hazel, looks a nice palce with different species too see.
  • Always worth exploring a new location, Hazel. Nice variety of birds but the Goldcrests are the star for me.
  • Another lovely collection, Hazel. Love the Goldcrests. Looks to be an interesting place. As for the bunny, its eye looks clear although its face looks like it has something wrong with it; rabbits with Myxomatosis normally are very sluggish and their eyes are red-rimmed at first and become scabbed around the edges. Two other very nasty diseases which rabbits can get are Rabbit Viral Haemorrhagic Disease 1 and 2. This site below is for owners of domestic and house rabbits which can also die from those diseases (the bunnies, not the owners!) which they can catch from wild rabbits and from carriers like mozzies if they are not vaccinated. They might still die but have no chance if not vaccinated: https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/
  • Thanks for the info Ann, I've seen Myxomatosis before in a wild bunny and as you say it eventually renders the animal blind with the nasty and progressive deterioration and this bunny did have clear eyes and was quite alert. It's nose/mouth area looks deformed or swollen and it appears to have a scar above so whether it is due to disease or maybe infection after a scrap that has got out of control I don't know. Not saying it has been attacked but there are a lot of dogs that use the park. I hadn't realised the rabbit had something wrong with it till I looked at the photos back at base although I certainly wouldn't have been able to rescue it as it sped off at usual rabbit speed ! It looked happy enough and was eating at the time I photographed it but having seen the close ups I fear for this animal's survival :(
    Note to all bunny owners: make sure you get your pet rabbit vaccinated for these nasty and debilitating diseases.
  • Nice set of photos Hazel, and somewhere I need to put on my 'places-to-visit' list, especially as it looks fairly easy to get to for a days jaunt, just down the M1 and along the A45.