LWVGPs & Farmoor: 29 March

Dix Pit was my first destination today where I was trying to find the Black-necked Grebe and Redpolls reported by others recently. Along the north shore I didn't find any sign of either of these so I drove round to the small car park by the recycling centre. The views here are now very restricted but, by following the footpath that runs further round the pit in a counterclockwise direction, I soon came to a spot which gave a pretty much uninterrupted views of the pit. This must be one of the viewing areas that have been created recently.

From here, with the assistance of my 'scope, and with the sun at my back, I managed to pick out the Black-necked Grebe right out in the middle.

My next stop was the Langley Lane Hide of nearby Pit 60. The water here was very windswept, and there was nothing in photo range. A couple of Oystercatchers were hunkered down on the far (southern) side and I had a brief view of two Sand Martins hawking over the water.

With nothing doing so far on the photo front, and the weather briefly improving, I decided it was time to try for the Red-necked Grebe again at Farmoor which was exactly where I expected it to be - in the SW corner. I managed to get a few shots with the sun more or less shining before it clouded over and I called in day, being mindful of the heavy rain forecast for later in the afternoon.

Red-necked Grebe

Click here for a larger image of upper photo