Diver at Sandwell Valley

At the second attempt we managed brief glimpses of the Juvenile Great Northern Diver at Swan Pool in the Valley. Unfortunately due to work it was a flying (what a nuisance that is... but not for long!) and getting dark, but after searching we found it right in the middle of the pool. It only stayed on the surface for moments at a time, so with the bad light I didn't even get a record shot.

One bonus was a Juvenile Goldeneye on the pool, to add another to our year list, 62 so far so not shabby!

We have a flying visit to the Cairngorms coming up at the end of the month (thank you Groupon!) so hopefully we will add Crested Tit, Snow Bunting, Red Grouse for certain (as we know where to find them) then on the wish list, Dipper, Golden Eagle, Black Grouse and Ptarmigan. We shall see!

Anyway back to Swan Pool, we did the circuit, but it was quite windy, cold and the rain was starting so we didn't hang around too long, we lost sight of the GND and couldn't find it again!
There were plenty of Cormorants and Gulls about:

A single Pochard was amongst the Mallard, Coots, Canada Geese, Mute Swan and Tufted Ducks:

Except he just wouldn't turn and face me!
Quite a few Great Crested Grebe about:

A couple of Jays also flew across in front of us which was nice, so all in all not a bad tally for a 30 minute walk!

TTFN!