Red necked grebe.Grafham water. Jan 2009.

After trekking from one side of the reservoir to the other i finally saw the red necked grebe. It tended to stay a few hundred yards or further out amongst the great crested grebes. But i was glad to of connected with it anyway.



The rest of my time there was spent watching and waiting for any wildfowl that gave the opportunity to photograph.


Just off the car park i encountered a feeding group of wigeon, and what a lovely colour they give off with the sun on them. A single grey wagtail was feeding on the waters edge with a couple of pied's nearby.


A colourful duck seen fairly close in with the tufted ducks were 9/10 Red crested pochard. How glorious were the males head plumage in the sun, contrasting with that red bill. They seemed to split in two groups and were actively diving for weeds, the females acting quite aggressively at times.



After watching for the red necked grebe i noticed that a male smew had mixed in with tufteds and red crested pochards, it was fairly close giving me the chance of some record shots. It actively dived and fed for some time before moving further out to the middle channel. But always lovely to see these winter visitors.