Red-necked Grebe at Frodsham Marsh : 17th June 2014

Red-necked Grebe at Frodsham Marsh : 17th June 2014

As it happened we felt that after the birding group had finished at Moore we had time to pop down to Frodsham Marshes where a Red-necked Grebe had been loitering for more than a week. It was only about twenty minutes out of our way so we decided to give it a shot. There had also been a Lesser Scaup seen on tank six lately so that was another possibility.

We drove down the badly potholed path and parked up at the top of the hill. We walked down the path that is at the edge of the field but it was very overgrown with quite a few nettles. It was, at least, dry which is a rare situation there. When we got to the end of the field, the foliage was almost over our heads and we had to walk with our hands above our heads to avoid the nettles which were at least five foot high. As we gained a little height the nettles started to clear and we got a good vantage point for viewing the river. It only took us a few minutes to locate the Red-necked Grebe which was on its own with its head tucked in and drifting along the river. Although it was a bit obscured by this it was still possible to see the red neck and also the yellow base to a light coloured bill; the black cap also made it stand out from the crowd of Little and Great-crested Grebes that were also on the water.
We watched for about half an hour during which time it got its head up three times and gave us a chance to get a good view of it before it went back to sleep. At one point a Great-crested Grebe floated past it and this really showed up the difference between the two, not only in plumage but also in size, the Red-necked Grebe being quite a bit smaller. The fact that there was a Little Grebe present as well gave us a nice comparison of the three birds.
On the water there were also numerous Shelduck and a few Redshank flew over. There were Tufted Ducks as well but the only bird we had eyes for was the Red-necked Grebe – a life tick for us !
We did drive down to the other tanks that we usually visit but only the nearest opening in the bushes overlooked water. The vast majority of the rest of the tank was totally dried out – quite astonishing really. There were some Tufted Ducks and Shelduck and a few Cormorants but I didn’t really have much time to look for the Lesser Scaup so after a brief scan we returned home. It had still been worth the visit though and a little effort got us a new bird.

Bird Sightings : Frodsham Marsh