22nd March 2011.
Location: Salen Bay, Isle of Mull.
I got to the bay around 8am on the 22nd, I pulled
the car in to scan the water as i had seen a few birds from a distance,
this is when i noticed the 2 grebes close to the shore together. I noticed
one was slightly bigger than the other and had a longer neck, before looking
through the binoculars. So, i quickly set my scope on both the birds, and
realised straight away that it was a pied-billed grebe, i noticed more
features different to the little grebe like the eye-ring, big, thick bill
with black line through the middle. Also, as it was swimming away, i noticed
the bird has no markings on the back of the neck (this was the moment i
got that strange shakey feeling!) after watching the birds and comparing
them, they started to swim further away into the loch, that is when i ran
back to my car to get my digital camera to digi-scope the bird. i continued
to watch the bird for a further 40 minuets before it dissapeared. On getting
back to the lodge i was staying in, i found Alan Spellman's (mull birds
recorder) phone number, I phoned him and arranged to see him the next morning
to show him photographs and the location of the bird. On the morning of
the 23rd, I had to drive past the bay to get to the meeting place and decided
to scan the area, and found the bird straight away, i quickly jumped in
the car to meet Alan and informed him the bird was still in the bay. We
drove to the bay, could not find the bird for about 30 minuits and eventually
it showed in another part of the bay, that is when i left Alan to get some
photos of his own. |