Elton Reservoir

Black-necked grebe

After a lazy morning eating bacon butties and listening to the cricket I decided to bob over to Elton Reservoir to see if the young black-necked grebe that was reported this morning was still about.

The mallards and Canada geese were clustered round the shallows by the car park and small groups of black-headed gulls and coots drifted on the water by the sailing club. A common sandpiper flew in and settled somewhere behind the jetty, I kept looking after it as I walked round the reservoir but I couldn't find where it went.

Ringlet

As I walked around the bank reed buntings and whitethroats sang in the bushes and swifts hawked overhead. Half a dozen sand martins passed by but didn't stop. The grass along the paths was busy with ringlets and meadow browns while common blue damselflies zipped to and fro.

Lesser black-backs, herring gull and common scoter

I scanned the reservoir for any sign of the black-necked grebe. The great crested grebes were obliging enough. The first large gull rafts of Winter drifted across the water, a couple of dozen lesser black-backs of all ages and a handful of herring gulls, mostly adults. Young lesser black-backs with panda eyes hinted at the frustrations of gullwatching to come. A black shape just beyond turned out to be a drake common scoter.

Herring gull, lesser black-backs and great crested grebe

The path into the creek was almost entirely dry and hard, the one puddle circumvented by a diversion that's entirely necessary in the wet season when horses wade knee-deep through the mud. A chiffchaff and a couple of willow warblers sang in the willows with a blackcap and a garden warbler sang in the hawthorn hedgerow. It's always useful to have both these singing at the same time to help the ID of the garden warbler's song with its scratchy rushes and lack of deep bubbly tones.

Walking by the creek

Brown hawkers patrolled low over the vegetation along the almost-invisible creek and commas sunned themselves in the trees.

Common scoter

I had another scan round for the black-necked grebe from the point. The scoter obligingly drifted a little closer, close enough for the yellow at the base of his bill to become obvious. July is usually the start of a dispersed return passage of common scorers through Northwest England, most of them passing over by night but a few will stay and linger a few days if they find themselves a cushy billet. I see one turned up at Pennington Flash this morning, too.

Everyday items from unusual angles, can you spot what they are?

Canada goose

Great crested grebe

I'd almost given up on the black-necked grebe when I noticed something small and dark amongst the Canada geese at the Western end of the reservoir. At first I thought I was looking at a young coot from a funny angle but it drifted round and became definitely a grebe, far too dark for a dabchick and with a definite black cap. Hence I added a juvenile black-necked grebe to the year list. It was an active little bird and I was reminded that this is a grebe that goes in for long, deep dives.

Black-necked grebe

Amphibious bistort

Gadwall

I'm glad I looked twice at a couple of the juvenile mallards lurking under the trees by the bank as they turned out to be gadwalls. I was testing my duck ID skills when one stretched its wing out to show the white and chestnut speculum and took all the dark arts out of the process.

Great crested grebe

At first sight Withins Reservoir was very quiet then I noticed the mixed flock of swifts, house martins and sand martins hawking over the trees on the far side.

Old Hall Farm Lane 

I walked past the fields and paddocks along Old Hall Farm Lane into Radcliffe. Swallows and pied wagtails flitted about the stables and woodpigeons fed in the fields. Oddly there wasn't a single lapwing about. 

As I passed a particularly muddy patch under the gate to one of the fields a swallow flew in with a long strand of horsehair and landed at my feet. It took a quick look at me, decided I was nothing then collected some gobbets of mud before flying off. I stood still and watched, there was no chance of getting a photo of the event at that close range even if I could do it without disturbing the swallow. I'm guessing it was patching up a nest for a second brood rather than starting from scratch this late in the game.

Old Hall Farm Lane 

I got into Radcliffe and headed off home after a very pleasant afternoon's wander.