This morning I visited Great Notley Country Park just outside Braintree in north Essex.
Ordinarily, there would be no reason for me to visit this site but a juvenile Great Northern Diver that had been recorded on the main lake almost daily for around 3 weeks was a particular focus for my visit.
The only breeding location for Great Northern Diver in Europe is Iceland although the species has a large Nearctic breeding population that stretches from the Aleutians across Canada and on to Greenland. I managed to see several Great Northern Divers in their stunning summer plumage during my trip to Iceland in June 2015. Unfortunately, my only photo was a distant record shot at Lake Mývatn in the north east of the country ....
In the UK, the Great Northern Diver is a winter visitor in small numbers typically arriving during October and November although some non-breeding birds remain off the northern coasts of Scotland during the summer months. During the winter months, it is usually found offshore around UK coasts but can sometimes be seen inland on reservoirs, lakes and gravel pits.
The Great Northern Diver is a species that I normally manage to record somewhere during the winter in the UK and I had already added it to my UK 2023 year list earlier in the year. However, the bird at Great Notley Country Park provided exceptionally close views and photography opportunities.
When I arrived at Great Notley Country Park, it took some time for me to locate the lake and then I thought that my visit would be in vain since repeated scanning failed to provide a sighting of the Great Northern Diver.
However, I eventually located the bird and it proved to be surprisingly mobile swimming up and down the lake. It eventually caught a very large fish and, after several efforts, it managed to swallow it. After that, it seemed content to just float around as it digested its meal.
Photo: Great Notley Country Park main lake (the Great Northern Diver is a minute speck in this photo just in front of the far reedbed!)
I did photograph a Great Northern Diver at RSPB Dungeness on 25th November 2023 but the bird at Great Notley Country Park provided even better opportunities and over a period of around 2 hours I managed to get some much better photos ....
Photo: Great Northern Diver
Photo: Great Northern Diver
Photo: Great Northern Diver
Photo: Great Northern Diver
Photo: Great Northern Diver
Photo: Great Northern Diver
Photo: Great Northern Diver
During a visit to RSPB Wallasea Island on 25th November 2023,
I met one of the wildlife photographers that I follow on YouTube: Steve
Hedges and Steve Hedges Photography - YouTube.
This morning, I met another: Neil Phillips and UK wildlife - YouTube. Neil posted a video on his visit to photograph the Great Northern Diver ....
In addition to the Great Northern Diver, I photographed a Grey Heron ....
Other notable sightings during my visit included the following: Mallard (c.20), Mute Swan (3), Coot (4), Moorhen (2), Fieldfare (c.15), Goldcrest (1), Sparrowhawk (1), Grey Squirrel (4)
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