Red-necked Grebe at Rutland Water

This bird has been present at Rutland Water for a few days now and has given me the chance to catch up with a bird that I have only ever seen twice before. It was hanging around at the dam end of the reservoir and showing very well amidst the gloom and damp of a fine summer evening. A bird that is more common around the coast where a few hundred overwinter each year.

Showing the difference in size and appearance to the more 'common' Great Crested Grebe.

Pied-billed Grebe at Rutland Water

I received a phone call on Wednesday afternoon from my friend Chris Orders to inform me that a pretty rare bird had been reported from Rutland Water, a 3* mega rarity in the shape of a Pied-billed Grebe, no less! This small bird is a normally found in America, although a couple can turn up over here every year, and I had yet to add it to my life list, a twitch was on the cards!

With the evenings now drawing out that little bit more I was able to finish work, get home and ready in time for Chris to pick me up and by 6.45pm we were enjoying views of this lovely little bird, quite happily swimming around the small bay close to the sailing club. Another tick!

The Pied-billed Grebe is a little larger than 'our' Little Grebe and in breeding plumage has the obvious thick, heavy, pied bill, a giveaway if seen well. In fact, so similar are these two birds that in 1993 an adult Pied-bill paired with a Little Grebe in Cornwall and hatched three young!

Leach`s Storm Petrel

Did you miss me?!

I finally managed to get out and do some birding yesterday, the first time really since June! The bird to get me out was a lifer in the shape of a Leach`s Storm Petrel at Rutland Water, a small sea bird that is fairly scarce inland, indeed, the last time one of these birds was at Rutland was back in 1989!

The bird was seen at distance just `bobbing` around on the water, but then took flight when 2-3 Black-headed Gulls decided to mob it. I am not sure if they were trying to eat the petrel, or just took a dislike to the bird, whatever their reason, it meant that the bird was seen in flight, showing its characteristic `v`- shaped white rump and pale wing-bars.

Not the greatest picture that you will ever see, but this was the first time that I have `aired` my new DSLR, but I have only got a 300mm lens at the moment, pennies are being saved for a better and longer lens!

It was good to get out again with my friend Chris Orders and also see other birders, hopefully it won't be as long before the next trip!

(Just in case you were wondering, the petrel wasn't eaten by the gulls and was still swimming around on the lake when we left!)