Off To A Good Start

Christmas and New Year were now behind us and I was looking forward to a return to normality. I seemed to have been in hibernation for weeks but a good forecast for Tuesday this week got me going again. Two birds I had not made the effort to see around Christmas were the Red Necked Grebe at Fairhaven Lake and the Iceland Gull at Preston Docks. Tuesday afternoon was looking good as forecast, so after an early lunch I left for Lytham St Annes.
It was indeed a lovely day and the temperature was reaching the dizzy heights of 7 Degrees and it almost felt Springlike as I arrived at Fairhaven Lake. The Red Necked Grebe was soon seen as it swam about at the eastern end of the lake close to the car park. There were three other long lenses trained on the grebe,two photographers from The Wirral and local bird photographer Michael Foley. For the next hour or so we were treated to some very nice views of this rare visitor to Lancashire.The Grebe at one point was fascinated by a swan's feather which it played with for five minutes or more and gave opportunities for some interesting shots. The very strong sunlight did make photography difficult at times when looking into the sun but it was a splendid session and we were all well pleased with the results.
On the way home I called at Preston Docks to look for the Iceland Gull which has spent many weeks at this location. There were no other birders there but I did manage eventually to find the bird out on one of the pontoons.It did later fly to my side of the dock and gave me some nice flight shots in the lovely afternoon sun. Well satisfied with my afternoon's work I returned home to view the results on the computer. A good start to the New Year and hopefully many more good birds will be seen and photographed in the months to follow. A few images of the Red Necked Grebe and a male Shoveler at Fairhaven are shown in and amongst some lovely reflections on the water surface . The Iceland Gull at the Docks also shows off his plumage on what was a very nice and welcome sunny day .