I think we all must be pretty fed up of the weather at the moment, it’s just terrible. Wet and windy but thankfully not too cold. So with the afternoon free I just had to go out between yet another set of showers to try and get a decent shot of the Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus) which as I have mentioned is living (that’s the right word), just off Cockwood in the Exe Estuary. I travelled on the trusty Chinese Bike, now a whole year old, and made my way under the tunnel bridge and on the the foreshore. My target species was not just the Slavonian Grebe but a good picture of the Oystercatchers would be good as well. The weather got worse but I persevered. My spirits were lifted when I saw my little friend out in the estuary mixing with a ‘raft” of mallard ducks. It’s the first time I have seen him with other species, perhaps he is getting lonely at last! So the weather gave me it’s worst, but by now I was in my chair hide and pretty much sheltered from the drops. The grebe and his new mates drifted in with tide and eventually, were carried down river towards the little stream that runs in to the Estuary at the top end of the harbour. I have found this is a magnet for lots of birds. They like to bathe and drink in the fresh water. It has occurred to me that this freshwater source is pretty much keeping this Grebe alive. He must need to drink fresh water like any other creature apart from the ‘Tube-nose” species, Albatross and Fulmers etc who have got a way of exuding the salt.
I spotted a couple of bird watchers a way down river. I guessed they were looking for the Grebe and I decided to make my way to them, thinking that they knew something that I didn’t. The Grebe was drifting in their direction anyway. I climbed on the bike and went back on to the road and around the harbour. As I passed by the second tunnel I stopped the bike because I could see our bird clearly in the bit of water visible under the bridge. I leapt from the bike and then carefully crept under the bridge and, guess what? The SUN came out casting a bright lovely light on the grebe and giving me the best vies and shots of him in two years of trying! He was still a bit too far away for that really special shot but I was getting somewhere near it when………. the battery went on the camera.
I went back to the bike to find the birdwatchers to tell them where they could get a good look at the bird. I was pleased when I met them to discover that they had come all the way from Cornwall after seeing my story about the Grebe the day before yesterday. It also turned out that it was Trevor from Bay Watch in St Austell, a blog that I like to look at. It was lovely to meet him and Angie. I was very pleased that they got some great shots of the grebe when we went back but my battery was well and truly dead by now!