Yesterday morning I made a quick trip to see the much reported Red-necked Grebe in a fishing pond at Weel, near Beverley. I parked my car in Weel and walked the short distance to the small pond where I very quickly saw the grebe. A very handsome bird, coming into summer plumage and this was most certainly the best view I’ve ever had of the species as it came to within about 10 metres of me at times. Every other time I’ve seen this species has been in winter and often at long distance in poor weather, so this was quite a treat. Unfortunately the bird seemsedto be injured. On its right hand side, a number of wing feathers were sticking out at an unusual angle and it was swimming slightly lopsided. When it stretched up to flap its wings it was unable to flap the right hand wing properly.

Lots of Willow Warblers were in evidence and a single Sedge Warbler was singing away and allowed me a brief glimpse. Other birds present were a pair of Reed Buntings, a singing Robin, a male Linnet, 4 Mallard, 4 Tufted Ducks and 7 Coot.

In the past all my visits to Figham Common have been in the winter and it has become a place that I have associated with windy and overcast weather. So, today seeing it in bright sunshine and getting quite hot walking around was quite unusual. Unfortunately I chose the hottest part of the day to go out and birdwatching was not at its best. Still, I managed a few site ticks, which was pretty simple due to the arrival of a number of common migrants.

Most notable was the large number of Willow Warblers, with over 30 heard and 4 seen; a single Chiffchaff was pretty lonely in comparison. Two Swallows were another sign of summer, but other species were tricky to find. A small group of 4 Linnets and a singing male Yellowhammer were nice to see and in a nearby pond a few common species were hanging out – Tufted Duck, Greylag Goose, Coot, Mallard and Moorhen.

Walking alongside the Beverley-Barmston drain revealed a pair of Kingfishers excavating a nest hole in the steep sandy bank – I’ll have to come back at a later date to see if any young fledge.

A number of Pheasants made themselves noisy as I walked back to the car but the real surprise was in the reeds on the river Hull next to the car park – a singing Sedge Warbler. This seemed quite early to me so I listened for around ten minutes to make sure and finally caught a glimpse, but enough to be sure that I’d identified it correctly by song (well, I don’t know what else I thought it might have been!).

A quick look to see what was out on the wet areas revealed that the Ruff was still present along with about 1500 Golden Plovers. Just 2 Redshank present but about 20 Lapwings were busy defending nests and incubating eggs. Also one Snipe seen but I’m sure plenty more were hiding in the grass.