BLACK THROATED DIVER, Suffolk Water Park - 28/12/2019

Suffolk Water Park is one of those local patches, the nearest lake to where I live, a fairly quiet place. So it came as a surprise to come across a BLACK THROATED DIVER there on a Saturday afternoon. It was situated sort of in the middle of the lake drifting round, not doing much.
I was talking to some of the fisherman, some who were knowledgeable about birds, and they said the diver had been there for a couple of days. It hadn't been advertised, it had been kept a secret, because fishermen are rarely welcoming to non fisher folk like birders.

This is a really mega sighting for the area, this species of diver is scarce in Suffolk, and being a coastal bird extremely rare inland. I was wondering if this is the first record for the area, ever, but some old timer told me there was a record here a long time ago.

 

 

 

Suffolk Water Park is a large lake, used for fishing and forms part of a golf course. It is tree and reed fringed giving it a natural look, even though its man made. At the moment there are small numbers of GREAT CRESTED GREBE, TUFTED DUCK and COOT present. Occasionally the odd GADWALL turns up and on the 9/11 a male GOLDENEYE was present, so its not really the kind of place you would expect to hold anything special.

 

 

TUFTIES and a GREAT CRESTED GREBE

 

In summer, its a fairly productive place with around five pairs of GREBE nesting, around four pairs of COOT and a pair of SWANS, so its the best lake for breeding water birds in the area.

 

So that's why its important to continuously check your local patch, because occasionally something good might just show up, and it makes all that effort worthwhile.

 

 

 

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