The classification of birds has changed greatly with the advent of molecular techniques, but Divers and Grebes will always hold a special place for me for being the first two families in my first proper bird books - pages that ended up being well tumbed. A couple of species of each of these two families off Musselburgh today made for a nice winter seawatch. The seawall is a good place to look for grebes in winter and today's flat sea made that job especially easy. No sign of the Red-necked Grebe of a fortnight ago, but the calm conditions brought several Slavonian Grebes close in. On this occasion a Great Crested Grebe sailed by for a handy size comparison.
The day had started with my first Great Northern Diver in Lothian for several years. It drifted past Musselburgh harbour a couple of times fairly close in diving regularly - a frequent sighting on the west coast and the islands but on the east coast they tend to be harder to see in my experience.
The Red-throated Divers have been obvious offshore this month with several good looks again today. Maybe there is some good feeding in-shore at the moment.
