Red-necked & Slavonian Grebes in summer finery

On Sunday I couldn't resist heading off to the Broads primarily to see the summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe at Ormesby Little Broad.  I've seen plenty of Red-necked Grebes before of course, but rarely in summer plumage.  Indeed the last time I saw one well in full breeding plumage was over 2 decades ago in 1995 when I saw a displaying pair in Scotland.

I rolled up at Ormesby Little Broad, had a very quick peek from the road before heading down to the viewing platform where most recent reports had come from.  It wasn't there and hadn't been for at least half an hour.  There were 4 Goldeneye, but that wasn't what I came for.  I gave it a while before heading back to the road to view from there.  I picked up the Red-necked Grebe across the water on the left hand side.  It was swimming towards me and in no time it was so close that it had disappeared behind the reeds just in front of me.  It came in and out of view often enough, and views were excellent when it was in view - but the reeds in the way made for difficult photography.  Interesting to see how a dark throat patch within the white cheeks appeared and disappeared as the bird's angle changed.

Red-necked Grebe, Ormesby Little Broad, 3rd April

At Rollesby Broad the Yellow-billed (Speckled) Teal x Marbled Duck hybrid is still present and a Bar-headed Goose was also there.

Yellow-billed Teal x Marbled Duck hybrid, Rollesby Broad, 3rd April

Bar-headed Goose, Rollesby Broad, 3rd April

I moved on to West Somerton from where I walked to Martham Broad.  Another 5 Goldeneye were on the Broad but on my first few scans I couldn't see the Slavonian Grebe.  It was diving a lot and I was just unlucky - it was there, at the back but easy enough to see most of the time.  Another beautiful breeding plumaged (more-or-less) grebe.

Slavonian Grebe, Martham Broad, 3rd April

Great Crested Grebe, Martham Broad, 3rd April

Plenty of Marsh Harriers here including a food-passing pair.

Marsh Harriers, Martham Broad, 3rd April

It was a beautiful sunny evening so I had a wander along the footpath along to the river.  A Willow Warbler was singing at the corner and a bit further on I disturbed a Grass Snake.  As a teenager I used to see Grass Snakes occasionally at Bough Beech Reservoir (Kent) but believe it or not this was my first ever in Norfolk and my first anywhere for 26 years!

Along the road north of West Somerton I paused to look at 2 Cranes.

Cranes, West Somerton - Horsey, 3rd April

I continued up the track through Sea Palling.  Not birding properly as it was late and I didn't have enough time, but thought I'd just go that way to see if I could see any obvious birds like Black Redstarts.  Turned out I could - one Black Redstart anyway.

A quick stop at Wroxham Broad on my way home, an excuse to stop and change out of my boots more than anything as it was starting to get dark and my dinner was going to be on the table soon.  A Common Tern appeared from behind the sailing club and disappeared back down the broad again almost before I'd managed to lift my bins up to my eyes.

On Monday I popped in to the patch on the way home, only for a very brief look.  Highlight was a pair of Avocets at a new site, though whether they remain to breed remains to be seen.  Also Little Ringed Plover displaying.

Marbled Duck hybrid in the Broads

As you probably know if you've been reading my diary for long, I can't resist a good hybrid.  I like learning about bird identification, and hybrids provide a fascinating insight into that topic, but one that has been much ignored by birders for decades.  In some ways wild naturally-occurring hybrids are more interesting than captive or escaped ones, but the insights gleaned from studying captive birds can be applied to wild birds and there's more opportunity to study non-wild birds, so it pays not to ignore even the obvious escapees.  And that's what this one was, a bird photographed by Tony Stride and Murray Smith during the last week at Rollesby Broad.  Said by some observers to be an escaped Speckled Teal (which now comprises two species, Yellow-billed Teal and Andean Teal, only the former having yellow on the bill) but showing some clear anomalies for that ID.  It was clear to me that this was a hybrid involving a Marbled Duck (Marbled Teal), and that immediately made it interesting for any hybrids involving Marbled Ducks are rather unusual.

Based on Tony's photos I identified it as Marbled Duck x Yellow-billed Teal hybrid, but after seeing Murray's photos I started to wonder if it was in fact Marbled Duck x Yellow-billed Pintail.  On Sunday I went to see the bird in the flesh and this reinforced my belief that it involved Yellow-billed Pintail.  After some further discussion with the likes of Joern Lehmhus, perhaps the world's foremost expert on hybrid ducks, I now think I was right the first time, that it was Marbled Duck x Yellow-billed Teal.  I won't go into detail here as I've already done so elsewhere, but here is the bird.

probable Yellow-billed (Speckled) Teal x Marbled Duck hybrid, Rollesby Broad, 24th January

I couldn't find much else here, or across the road at Ormesby Broad

 Check out the variation in leg colour of these Coots...

Coots, Rollesby Broad, 24th January

I headed round to the Filby side where I failed to find anything of interest at Ormesby Little Broad - just a couple of Water Rails and a Treecreeper heard calling.  Across the road at Filby Broad I couldn't find the Mandarin that had been seen a few minutes earlier, just a couple of Goldeneye.

Stopped to check a Pink-footed Goose flock near Clippesby on the way home.  Couldn't pick out anything other than a leucistic Pink-foot.

Not much to report from my lunch breaks last week - a flock of c. 180 Fieldfare at Houghton, a Grey Wagtail over Flitcham and 3 Sparrowhawks. Also a Barn Owl on the way to work at Tattersett.