Wonderful views, good birding facilities and pleasant visitor centre. Made for a very enjoyable afternoon
Spent 4 hours here and only managed to visit about half of the hides. Saw birds we haven't seen before. Very well set up. Shame there isn't a café. Very knowledgeable volunteers.
Stunning scenery- would like to visit in the summer. Even in November several people were out sailing.
Helpful staff we spent a day here and felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere it was so peaceful we visited to hides and saw nobody in any of them as it was midweek but saw and identified 41 species and we are not experts!
We were lucky enough to visit on a bright sunny day in December, though cold and windy. We were there on a Monday and the reserve was very quiet - great, hardly any one else in the good and numerous hides. The helpful, friendly woman who greeted us told us most birds were to the north so we followed the pretty path, alongside meadows and woodland. The birds didn't disappoint - teal, shoveler, pintail, pochard, shell duck, tufted duck, gadwell in reasonable numbers, to name but some, as well as a few waders - redshank, godwit, and curlew and snipe in nearby grass. Woodland birds too, including a couple of bull finches. The reserve is really beautiful - unexpected. Lovely landscapes all around, tree tops hills, islands for resting birds, water inlets among reeds. A fabulous day.
A fabulous place to see water birds and a lovely place to visit. We went for a walk all around Rutland water and it was so peaceful and lovely. We will definitely be back!
Visited during the BBWF Birdfair this month great location and excellent area for viewing with both binoculars and spotting scopes has the shop area and optics shop of In Focus. Cafe was ok.
Have spent many hours here - I'm lucky enough to live on the doorstep - birdwatching, walking, cycling and indulging the enthusiastic amateur photographer in me. The volunteer staff are excellent - very knowledgable and helpful and the hides are well appointed and well kept. The ospreys steal the show by the water in spring and summer but there is so much more around the reservoir and away from it - the wide variety of habitats means that there is always something of interest, whatever the weather or the season...
We visited as a couple, one a complete beginner of bird watching and the other more advanced. As a beginner I was happy to look at the waterfowl I recognised whereas my husband was looking for a few more birds for his spotted list which he achieved.The charge for the passes also covered the car parking fee which seemed reasonable. We spent about four hours walking between bird hides and watching the birds at their daily business. I do think that we will return sometime later this year when the osprey is in residence.There is a coffee machine which was very welcome and the loos were very clean, always good to know.
We are novices with all this bird spotting stuff! We turned up on a v wet day, lovely lady was so patient with us and gave us good advice.We loved the hides and pics inside helped us. We will def return in better weather