Friday 11 April 2014

Pied-billed Grebe

After dashing off to see the Glossy Ibis the other night, it felt rude not to go for the Pied-billed Grebe at Rutland Water. Having seen a few Pied-billed Grebes in the past it took me a while to get into twitching mode, but once I did I was off like a Greyhound. Well like a snail would be more accurate, because someone blocked Rutland Water to me by putting Leicester in the way. It is always frustrating how long it takes to cross Leicester. 

I got to see it yesterday morning and luckily it was one of those easy twitches where the bird is on show immediately. A first for Leicestershire & Rutland and it just casually swam around in front of its admirers. It was a bit too far away for photography, as the crowd was keeping well back. Nevertheless I was able to get a few records shots of it by using my scope as a lens. Not the greatest birding adventure I've ever had, but it was good to get a rare bird at Rutland Water, as they often time their arrivals for when I'm on holiday.


Pied-billed Grebe, Rutland Water, 10/04/14






2 comments:

  1. Pied-billed Grebe and Glossy Ibis in a week - unbelievable. It was never like that when I lived down there! I remember the trips to the east of Leicester though - torture, sounds like things haven't improved then. Glad I got the Swithland Crag Martin and ain't stressing over the Flamborough bird... Happy days.

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  2. Hi Darren, yes this will go down as a memorable week as far as birding in Leicestershire & Rutland is concerned. We have a twitter alert for good county birds and for most of the year that is pretty quiet. Hopefully there's a few more good birds to come this spring and maybe those of us on the west side of the county won't have to negotiate Leicester every time.

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