Walking up onto the reservoir basin, a text was received from Dai saying there was a Black-necked Grebe at the SW corner of F II - of course as far from the car park as it is possible to get! But having already seen and photographed the earlier the BN Grebe in much better light than today, I thought I'd give it a miss and instead headed over the causeway, as per my original plan. Meanwhile everyome else on the walk headed off clockwise round FII. Reaching the far side of the causeway without seeing anything, I headed down to the Pinkhill Hide.
Just as I had opened the shutters, I got a text from Badger (thanks mate!) saying the BN Grebe was actually a Slavonian. This was of much more interest, as it was sure to be in full summer plumage. So I decamped immediately and headed down to the southern end of F II, where the bird was well out from the bank. It then shortly flew off towards the east bank, before returning the pontoons somewhat later. Here it came a bit closer briefly but most of the time it was well out from the bank. After sometime it flew off N towards FI and I decided not to chase it any further.
Slavonian Grebe
Getting back into the car, the weather, which had been very grey and overcast, started to brighten up, so my thoughts immediately turned to dragonflies. Dry Sandford Pit wasn't far off, and in the same general direction as home, so I thought I'd try there to see if any Southern Damselflies had emerged yet. Arriving there, it was good to find a few showing in the still fairly dull conditions. It then brightened up properly and several more emerged - there must have been at least ten present, possibly considerably more.
Southern Damselfly
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