Divers are regular visitors to the south coast in the winter, with Great Northern and Red-throated being the more regular of the three common divers seen in the United Kingdom. Black-throated does occur but is either flying past or one day birds. A report of one on the River Itchen in the middle of Southampton was a surprise and even more so it seemed like it was quite happy and had stayed for several days. I endured the heavy morning Southampton traffic and arrived at the Centurion Business park just after nine. The place was a mixture of building site and white vans, and there was no visible access to the river. I then tried a road leading to a set of flats over looking the river, the parking was heavily restricted and I felt I had to find the bird quickly. There was access to the river, but there was no sign of the diver. I then ran to the park where I tried to see through fences, no success. All that was left was to walk across the bridge.
Scanning from the bridge I could see the diver, distant on the meander of the river. It was diving frequently staying under for a fair amount of time.
I then lost it and suspected it had headed up river so headed back to the flats where by standing on a wall I could just see the diver, a little closer.
Lacking the angular head of the great Northern and the upturned bill appearance of the Red-throated it was unmistakeable.
It then disappeared around the bend once more, so I walked back to the bridge but couldn't locate it. I decided to head back to the flats maybe it had turned back to there. However on arrival there wasn't any sign. Fortunately I met a lady who lived in the flats and who let me use her parking space, so I decided to wait and hope the diver would return and show well.
An interesting area but with not much bird life. There were Mallard and Black-headed Gulls on the water. A Redshank flew up river and a Grey Wagtail was on the washed up sea weed. There were also six Black Swans, probably part of the flock that can be seen at the Riverside park. Up close they are really smart birds and no doubt I will see plenty more in February next year.
The tide was now falling, but there was not any sign of the diver. I decided to climb the wall once again and it proved successful, there was the diver just beyond the wall and it was drifting up river and eventually past me.
And as wished it did come closer, a lot.
The last Black-throated Diver I was able to photograph like this was at Blashford some years ago, so this was very nice.
The Black-throated Diver is intermediate in size between the Red-throated and Great Northern, although sizes do overlap.
As mentioned unlike the Great Northern the head is gently, smoothly and evenly rounded, but in some positions can show a forehead which can confuse with Great Northern.
The bill is usually held horizontally and is slender and pointed and straight, with the upper mandible slightly downcurved to the tip. The bill is grey and has cutting edges.
This is an adult bird, the juveniles have pale fringes to the feathers on the back which makes it look quite scaly, the adult is more uniform.
It dived frequently as it moved up river, always "snorkelling" before diving.
The obligatory wing flap.
It then made its way up river and almost as far as the railway bridge.
While it was away the Black Swans entertained, these two showing there beauty in flight.
Eventually it made its way back and showed well once again.
The snake like neck has a clean demarcation between the white and dark of the crown and back of the neck. The colours varied with the change in the light, looking a greyish brown here but at times a dark grey.
The white patch on the flank is another useful identification aid, although some juvenile Red-throated can also show this.
It drifted away to the other side of the river and then back down river. After three hours I was now feeling cold so headed back to the car, but quite satisfied. A big thank you to Di Steadman who was excellent company and allowed me to use her parking space, without which I would not have got today's images.
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