Divers and Grebes

Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata

A handful of Red-throated Divers enter the mid and upper Humber each year, usually in late autumn and winter, and there is a scattering of records from the waterfronts of Hull and Saltend. The Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club found an oiled bird on the Humber shoreline at Hull on 21^st January 1963, with two others between 1960 and 1966. Intensive coverage at Saltend and the eastern docks in 1985 gave a better indication of the status of Red-throated Divers in the Hull area; birds were scarce in the first part of the year with singles in January and April while November had one on 10^th, two on 15^th, five on 16^th and two again on 19^th. All of these birds were fly-bys along the Humber, though the 10^th November bird headed off north over Hull. In 1986 singles were seen off the eastern waterfront on single dates in January and February and twice in November, with three at Saltend on 20^th September 1990. Autumn then, anytime between September and November, is the primary season for Red-throated Divers on our stretch of the Humber, with occasional birds being possible throughout the winter until April.

Black-throated Diver Gavia arctica

A much scarcer passage and wintering bird than the Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Divers are consequently recorded with much less frequency in the Hull area. The first record was of an inland bird, found by a wildfowler on the bank of the River Hull at Dunswell on 1^st February 1956. The bird, a first-winter female, was still alive but in a poor condition. The wildfowler took it to H. O. Bunce, the East Riding recorder for the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union at the time, but its fate is unknown. The next record, again of an ailing bird, came on 21^st January 1963 when members of the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club found one on the Humber tideline in east Hull. The intensive coverage of Saltend and the Hull docks by S. L. James and others in the mid 1980s gave the best insight yet into the occurrence of Black-throated Divers on our stretch of the Humber. The first were three flying upstream on 17^th January 1985, with a very obliging bird in St Andrew's Dock from 2^nd to 5^th February. There were no more records until November of that year when one flew upstream on 4^th. Another was circling back and forth on 9^th November and one to four were observed flying past on four more dates to the end of the month. The last of the year was on 27^th December, with just one in 1986 on 27^th February. It is noticeable that virtually all of these Humber records were of birds flying upstream. The timing of Black-throated Diver sightings off Hull and Saltend is pretty much the same as that for Red-throated Divers, with the majority being in November and then the very occasional sighting into late winter.

Great Northern Diver Gavia immer

The Great Northern Diver, as its name suggests, is a species of the far north with several hundred pairs nesting in Iceland, although the main range lies in North America. It is a rare winter visitor to British waters, occasionally inland, and there are just two, possibly three, records from the Hull area. In 1985 S. L. James saw a winter-plumaged Great Northern Diver flying upstream past Saltend on 16^th November before landing on the Humber off Barton. Three days later James saw what may have been the same bird flying downstream past Saltend. The only other sighting concerns an adult watched by B. Richards as it drifted downstream past Saltend on 9^th November 1998. As with many species that occur mainly on the Humber in our area, it is likely that other Great Northern Divers have been missed due to infrequent observation.

White-billed Diver (Yellow-billed Diver) Gavia adamsii

On 18^th February 1953 Messrs Bunting and Stathers, of Paull, were out for a walk along the Humber bank when they discovered an ailing large bird on the tideline at the mouth of Hedon Haven, just downstream of Saltend. The bird was an adult White-billed Diver, an Arctic species that winters off the Scandinavian coast, and it was in a very bad way. Exhausted, slightly oiled and having rather grimy plumage, it was probably incapable of flight and had no doubt sought refuge in the sheltered estuary. Despite its rescue the bird died shortly afterwards and the details of the find appeared in the monthly journal British Birds (Volume XLVI (1953), p. 214-5), with whose kind permission they are reproduced here. This bird was only the 13^th of its kind ever recorded in Britain up until that time and, in light of its extreme rarity, it was preserved as a museum specimen after death. A photograph of the specimen appears in Mather's The Birds of Yorkshire (1986), plate 55.

Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis

The Little Grebe, or Dabchick to give it its old name, is the commonest grebe in the Hull area though it was apparently not always as numerous as it is today. Despite several wintering on East Park Lake during the 1940s there are no early breeding records. A single pair that bred at King George Dock up until 1962 were the only ones recorded within the old city boundary during that decade, though birds were resident and breeding at Thwaite Hall Lake in Cottingham in the 1980s and probably for many years before. Indeed, the presence of calling birds in 2000 suggests that breeding still occurs at Thwaite Hall. Breeding was proved at Saltend Marsh in 1985 when a pair and two young were seen in June and July, with two pairs suspected of breeding the following year. Up to four Little Grebes were regularly visiting the ice-free docks in winter during this time, as they probably still do, while birds also occur along the Holderness Drain in spring and autumn. Counts on the drain include two near the docks in September 1985, seven at Marfleet in November 1988 and two at North Bransholme in November 1993.

Four Little Grebes were seen at the Bransholme Sewage Works in late September 1976 but there were no more records from that site until the 1990s, when numbers increased as the decade progressed. Up to three were present in 1992, rising to a maximum of six the following year and 16 in the late summer and autumn of 2000. Recent years have seen the highest numbers tending to occur here in August and September, with a few birds often present from June to December and others occasionally dropping by in late winter and spring. A pair attempted to breed on the Bransholme Sewage Works reservoir in June 1992, building a precarious nest on a floating mat of algae. Strong winds a week into incubation washed the nest away though a pair was successful in 2000 and a brood of five young was seen in August.

Oddly perhaps, Little Grebes are quite scarce on East Park Lake with only one to three occasionally being present during autumn or winter. So, while any sizeable freshwater may attract a bird or two, particularly in autumn and winter, the key sites for the species in the Hull area are clearly the Bransholme Sewage Works reservoir and Thwaite Hall Lake.

Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus

With its slender neck and body, extravagant summer head plumes and beautiful courtship displays the Great Crested Grebe is one of Hull's most elegant birds. It is also surprisingly scarce in the area and breeds at only one site, East Park Lake. Exactly when Great Crested Grebes began nesting in East Park is not clear but they were certainly unknown before the 1980s. In 1994 a pair reared a single chick in the park, though they had probably been breeding here for several years by then. In 1997 a bumper summer saw no less than four pairs hatching six broods between them but only five of the 19 young reached maturity. Just a single pair returned to breed the following year, 1998, and four stripey chicks were seen in April. The survival rate was low once more, however, and only one chick survived the summer. At least one or two pairs have bred since then and the several well-grown young present in the autumn of 2000 suggests that they might be having more luck these days.

Great Crested Grebes can be seen virtually all year round at East Park, with up to six on the lake in winter, and the incredible courtship can be observed at close quarters from February onwards. During the highly ritualised display the breeding pair spend much of their time 'dancing' face-to-face, copying head movements and fanning their glorious head plumes at each other. One or both birds will occasionally bring some pondweed to the surface and use this in the dance; the birds rear up out of the water, breast to breast with the weed in their bill, and shake their heads ecstatically. The courtship is performed for hours on end all through the spring and is well worth a special visit to East Park just to witness it. Once mating is over the birds build a floating raft of twigs on which to lay their eggs, this being anchored to one of the islands via overhanging branches. When the young hatch, often in April, they can frequently be seen riding on their parents' backs and will usually remain on the lake until early winter. Great Crested Grebes are quite rare in the Hull area away from East Park although occurrences have increased. Just one bird was seen in the city during the 1960s, in one of the docks. By the mid 1980s up to six could be found around Alexandra Dock and the eastern waterfront in the early months of the year. Regular watching would no doubt reveal this to still be the case. It is now also possible to find an occasional Great-crested Grebe at the Bransholme Sewage Works during spring or summer, with a pair in June 2001, and perhaps others in Pickering Park too. A confiding bird was on the Bransholme Fishing Pond in July 2001.

Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena

The Red-necked Grebe is a very scarce winter visitor to the Hull area with most records coming from the Humber. The earliest documented record I have comes from 1891 when one was killed near Waghen, the old name for Wawne. The next was not until 1976 when one was spotted on the Bransholme Sewage Works reservoir on 23^rd September. Red-necked Grebes were annual on the Humber during the mid 1980s. One was off Saltend on 18^th January 1985, a single was there again on 6^th February 1986 and another was at King George Dock on 30^th January 1987. The absence of Humber records since then probably reflects a lack of coverage rather than a lack of birds, as the species is seen elsewhere along the estuary in most winters.

On 21^st November 2000 I was walking through East Park when I saw a winter-plumaged Red-necked Grebe on the lake near the ornamental bridge. Just a few feet from the bank, the bird allowed close approach between periodic dives. It was still present the following day though it had by now become quite shy and kept well out near the central islands. Over the course of the following week, however, it was regularly seen near the duck feeding area off Hawkesbury Street. It was last reported on 29^th November and by 2^nd December, when it was last looked for, there was no sign of it.

Slavonian Grebe Podiceps auritus

The first record of the Slavonian Grebe for the Hull area comes from December 1893 when one was shot on a pond in a former brick pit on the western outskirts of Hull. The hapless grebe joined a Bittern that was shot nearby around the same time, ending up as a stuffed specimen in the collection of a Hull naturalist. The next Slavonian Grebe was a confiding bird on East Park Lake on 5^th February 1939, followed by another there between 26^th February and 1^st March 1954. There have been no documented records in the area since then. Several have probably gone unnoticed on the Humber in autumn and winter, as the species is recorded annually on Yorkshire coasts and wetlands.

Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis

There is only one documented record of the Black-necked Grebe in Hull, with a female 'Eared Grebe' being shot on the Humber near the town on 20^th February 1864. The specimen went to W. W. Boulton's collection before passing into the hands of T. Boynton of Beverley after Boulton's death. Boynton's collection was later purchased by Hull Museums in the early 1900s. Other Black-necked Grebes must surely have occurred around Hull on the Humber, the docks or the ponds and lakes, as they are not exceptionally rare in Yorkshire. Unfortunately, any such birds either went unseen or unrecorded.