More Winter Visitors!!!

Immature Great Northern Diver !!

It really struggled to consume this small flounder.Wrong shape I suppose..

Male Red Breasted Merganser....

Drake Goldeneye,a few pair breed in northern Scotland!

Amazing bottle green head and white cheek patch!!

Makes a change when you have some nice light to work with!!

The small marine lakes at Fleetwood were recently on the birding grapevine due to the appearance of an immature Gt Northern Diver.Many bird enthusiasts and photographers took the opportunity to visit and admire this winter visitor at really close quarters.The Diver sometimes came to within a few metres of the side of the lake and didn`t seem at all bothered by the possee of people gathered around.It was a dream to photograph and I even managed one shot of it trying to swallow a small flounder it had caught.It seemed to struggle with its meal, but eventually it managed it .Other birds of note were some Red Breasted Mergansers which continually dived looking for food.They all seemed to hunt together as a team.The males looked nice in their winter plummage and again gave good views.On another visit there, after the Diver had departed, a few Goldeneye took up residence.With the lake almost frozen, they were coralled into a small section of open water.You usually can`t get anywhere near these to photograph, so again I made the most of the opportunitywith the lens and in very good light too.They really are a gorgeous looking bird,dont you think!Just over the ridge was the beach and on a high tide, it pushes small groups of Sanderling close in.I took some lovely images of these arctic waders of which I`ll post about in my next blog...