Twitching a Slavonian Grebe. 09/02/13.

I picked up Tim Gutsell yesterday morning and we travelled to Littlebrook by the Dartford crossing to see if we could get any photos of the Slavonian Grebe that has taken up residence on a small pool by the power station. On our best behaviour as we were on the "West End Boys" M.S, R.S and K.J's local patch, it was arranged that Richard Smith would meet us by the last exit slip road before the Dartford crossing and lead us to the spoils which he expertly did. We found Mick and Kevin there as we arrived on site and the Grebe was sat out in the middle of the small pond which is what it did throughout the first two hours of our stay. The West End boys left us as they wanted to go off to Eastbourne to twitch a Black Headed Gull Bonaparte’s Gull and Tim and I settled down to wait for the Grebe to hopefully come a little closer. Mick has visited this bird on a few occasions over the past two weeks and gave us some advice as to the best places to sit and wait, which paid off, as on a couple of occasions we had the bird down to literally a couple of feet from where we were sat on the bank, in a tree covered corner of the pond. Although the light was not great, it is easily the closest views I have had of this species and was surprised as to how smart a winter plumage Slavonian Grebe is from 2 feet away. It dived a few times in front of my vantage point and remaining motionless, (me not the Grebe) it surfaced right in front of me, completely tolerant of my presence. A great experience and thanks to Mick, Kevin and Richard for starting their day late so they could get us onto the Grebe. A few shots as it sat out in the middle of the pond.

As mentioned, Mick gave us an idea where we needed to be so settling in it was then a waiting game. Here's an image of Tim, trying his hardest to stay awake and mulling over "have I got the exposure right, am I on the right f stop and is my shutter speed sufficient.

The Grebe did exactly as Mick had predicted and we were rewarded on a couple of occasions when it swam into the little channel where we were lying in wait, giving us both great photo opportunities and also fantastic close up views of the bird.

Other birds seen throughout the morning were 2 Tufted Duck, a Male and Female which kept the Grebe company for a large amount of time during our stay, a Sparrow hawk passed low over the pond and flew off over the road in a Southerly direction, 8 Waxwings were in a tree by the Nucleus building where we had parked and a Ring Necked Parakeet noisily flew over. A Song Thrush could be heard and that was about it. We packed up and left at lunch time as the failing light and the drizzle rendered the session over. If the Grebe stays and an opportunity to return in better conditions arise, then we both said we will re visit. I have placed below links to Mick and Richard's blogs and they are well worth a look. Click on their names to enter.

Mick Southcott's blog

Richard Smith's Blog