It was Christmas Eve and I'd elected to take the day off - no need to rise early. I eased into the day and sent a WhatsApp message to Kevin Heath to see if he had gone to see any of the local rarities or was thinking about it. He was off the have lunch at his son's house and so was doing neither. I pulled myself together and decided that the black redstart found by @Joeparham19 and @John1Coakley at Borough Hill, Daventry a couple of days ago.
The car park at Borough Hill was only about a quarter full and it appeared only people looking to walk their dog. I went past the transmission tower to the eastern side of the station and made my way along to railings - this is where I saw a black redstart a couple of years ago. Nothing doing. The finders had indicated that they had seen the bird loosely associating with stonechat around the concrete blocks and so I went and toured around these, with no success - although did have some distant views of stonechat. I circled round and made another pass of the transmission station when a charm of goldfinches passed over and drew my attention to the corner of the building itself. Atop the roof was the black redstart, pausing only for a few tens of seconds. It then flew down and behind me, landing on the fence. I took a couple of photos, but I was facing directly into the grey sky and towards the light - the bird would be in silhouette - better than nothing.
I circled back, and the bird fed on the other side of the fence where I managed to get a better shot although through the fence itself. The photo would show the bird clearly though. It made its way along to the southern perimeter fence and there I lost it. I waited for a few minutes and eventually picked it out to my left and outside the compound, on a concrete structure. It worked its way along, sometimes pushed by passing dog walkers. I took several photos as it paused on various structures and working further and further away from the transmission station.
I lost it again when I stopped to take a photo of a rather attractive stonechat perched in the scrub - not the smartest move but easily done. I searched but to no avail. I circled back passed the transmission station and saw it again but more distant on the railings again – I edged closer and took some more photos. I decided that I'd got a decent photo (fingers crossed) and made for the car park.
I changed out of my walking boots and hopped into the car. It was around midday, and I wondered how long it would take to get to Furtzon Lake from here - 40 mins the Satnav suggested - I cleared it with her indoors and set off and down the motorway. I arrived at the main car park and had no idea where anything was, or where the Slavonian grebe had been seen earlier that morning. I set off deciding that a nice walk wouldn't do any harm. As is always the case with a 50:50 decision I got it wrong and ended up going the long way round. There was nothing of particular note but eventually I reached a bridge and from here spotted a kingfisher perched on the branch of a tree.
Another birder appeared from the opposite direction (the first I'd seen) and joined me on the bridge - he said he thought I must have seen the Slavonian grebe when he saw me taking pictures but then the kingfisher departed, and he'd realised that was the target of my attention. I was apparently in the right place. Another birder arrived and he appeared to know the first - they got chatting as we scanned the water. After a few minutes I decided to make my way down the grass path away from the main lake and soon spotted a couple on the opposite bank, the chap crouched low - the bird must be over there. I turned back, passed on the information to those on the bridge and set off on the opposite side. I had almost reached the couple when I saw the Slavonian grebe dive to my right - it was working its way back to the bridge, pushed by two great crested grebes. I retreated to the bridge and tried a few shots from there - in no time at all the bird shot off, passed the great crested, and started to fish just in and out of sight. I made my way back down the bank and found the bird working its way away from the other grebes and into the back corner. It continued to fish but seemed to settle here. I watched for a short while but decided to return to the car as the rain started to fall. It had been grey and murky, the light was poor, and it was about to rain, but I loved it. A great few hours out and I'd had a pleasant few miles walk to boot.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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