A grey day with Grebes

We headed out to Shikabe this afternoon. A very dull grey day didn't help with photos but at least it wasn't so cold. the snall fishing harbour in Shikabe has produced some interesting birds in the past couple of years (including my only ever firm ID of a Hen Harrier in Japan) and there are usually various Ducks, Grebes and Gulls around. Black Necked Grebes were bird of the day though the overcast weather meant ISO was rather high and most of these pics look rather poor at high resolution (but I'm the only person who ever sees that so who gives a toss).

One or 2 were coming into summer plumage.





The 5 species of Grebe in Japan are exactly the same as in the UK. The 4 larger species usually bob around on the waves way offshore but these ones were pretty close.







They seemed to be gorging on some disgusting looking long worms that prsumably dwell on the bottom of Shikabe Harbour.







We have a small infestation of bristleworms in our small saltwater fishtank. Maybe we should set some Grebes on to them.





Not much else new around. Some Bohemian Waxwing, Redpoll, various common seaducks and Gulls. Here are some shots of some of the commoner species including a ghostly looking adult Glaucous Gull, one of many Black Kites (amongst thousnads of Gulls and Crows) outside a stinky fish processing factory and a female Scaup.







Another win for Liverpool last night. The league table is looking interesting.......we're only 8 points off the top. If we keep winning and beat the top 2............plus Man U/Arsenal have to play each other and both have to play Chelsea......hmmmmmmm........of course it'll probably all end in tears or anticlimax but at least our rivals for 4th place are losing 1-0 at Fulham as I type. Some very big games coming up for all the top 4 anyway and not just in the Premier League either. I'll be home bang in the middle of it all too..looks like I'll possibly be watching the Champions League game against Arsenal in a pub in the Lake District.