A little cracker!

There's been a Black-necked Grebe at Silksworth Lake for a while, so, now that the crowds of unruly birders have died down, I thought I would go along and have a look for it.

The lake was mostly frozen but there was a large area of open water very close to the road and the footpath which goes round the lake.

The Black-necked Grebe (and all of the other birds on the lake, including 3 species of gulls, Tufted Ducks, Mallards, Coots and Moorhens) seemed entirely oblivious of any people or dogs walking round the lake and were coming as close as the very edge of the water.

I've never seen BNG this close before - it was an absolutely gorgeous little thing, actively feeding the whole time I was there. It jumped right out of the water during each dive, the only exception being when it was being hassled by Black-headed Gulls. Then it submerged as fast as possible and re-appeared some distance from the gulls. They followed him for a while but soon gave up.

The light was fantastic so I hope this photo shows up well ...