Red necked Grebe

A quite disappointing day despite all efforts. We bagged the Red necked Grebe at Tophill Low but the Black necked grebe was not there. Also saw Grey Partridge, Red legged Partridge and a pair of Kingfishers. First singing Chiffchaff of the year too

Red Necked Grebe

Got over to Pennington Flash this afternoon to see the summer plumage Red necked grebe. Got a record shot digiscoped but screwed up the settings on the DSLR doh! Nice looking bird only the second one I've ever seen the first being a winter plumage one on Anglesey

Anglesey Trip

Rather than having a lie in on Sunday I went over to North Wales and Anglesey on Sunday 20th. November with David Evans for some birding. After a foggy start we arrived at Llandullas in beautiful sunshine and blue skies and went sea watching for the velvet scoters that were seen yesterday. Sadly the birds were far out in the bay and there appeared little chance of picking ou velvets amongst the thousands of Common Scoters that could be seen. We did see Red Throated Divers and Goosanders.
We then went to Anglesey in search of the Glossy Ibis seen on Malltraeth Marsh. No show but saw Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese, loads of Ravens and plenty of chipping Snipe. Then onto Llyn Penrhyn for some excellent views of the long staying Red Necked Grebe. We then went to the Alaw Estuary where we looked for the Lesser Yellowlegs. After a failed first attempt on which several birders, myself included tried to convince ourselves that a Greenshank was the said bird, we finally nailed it after a quick visit to South stack to watch the Choughs. We finished off the day at Llyn Coron and saw White Fronted Geese, Tundra Bean Geese but no Siberian Chiffchaff that was reported from there earlier in the day.
In all, an excellent day smashing our day list record with 68 species!