Grab a grebe

Already this year when sea watching some of the scarcer grebes have cropped up. Usually, they are just a fly-past. If we’re having a lucky day they’ll be sat on the water and if we are even luckier it’ll be windless with a nice flat sea and they’ll not be ducking in and out of the troughs and waves like a fairground target. Invariably though they are distant and difficult to see. So, when one of these grebes ends up dropping in on an inland body of water, they are worth going to see.

At the beginning of the year a Red Necked Grebe was reported on Ormsby Broad so Tania and I thought we’d pay it a visit.

On arrival it had a number of admirers and was pretty distant and it never did come much closer … but at least it wasn’t constantly disappearing in a swell.

Retreating with the tide

Red necked Grebes in Norfolk are normally seen at some range as they bob about on distant waves. This one came in close last week. It patrolled up and down in the harbour as it made shallow dives for fish. As the tide receded so did the bird; gradually making its way towards the harbour mouth.