Black-necked Grebe at Earlswood

Black-necked Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

 Common Tern

Great Crested Grebes

A glorious weekend for cricket but not so good for birding with very little movement in the Midlands. The only report of note from Salford Priors was eight Teal including six drake that were present on Sunday.

For a change on Sunday afternoon we opted to have a walk around Earlswood Lakes as it's a nice circular walk and has plenty to look at. Four Common Tern were around for most of the visit and it was enjoyable to the see the Great Crested Grebes with their broods. A Green Woodpecker was showing well in the horse paddocks but was just out of distance of the camera.

I made a surpising return on Monday as patch birder Matt dropped me a text that a Black-necked Grebe was on the Engine Pool early afternoon. Quickly out of work, I arrived in about 45 minutes and was quickly on the bird. The bird stayed quite distant initally but kindly drifted towards the west bank where it was amazing to see the Grebe in full summer plumage, the red eye & yellow ear tuffs really stood out in the afternoon sunshine. Just a fantastic bird to see on a Monday after a full day at work.