Duck id help please (1 Viewer)

Hi all.
You have helped me in the past & I'm hoping someone might know what I'm trying to describe! I live just outside Bognor Regis and have recently discovered a small but beautiful pond on the edge of farmland to walk my dogs around. There are mallards, moorhens, coots, occasionally a pair of swans, lots of swallows & martins diving the surface & I think I can hear reed warblers chattering in the reeds, so quite a healthy little bit of wetland. I glimpsed a small & very shy duck similar in size to a Moorhen possibly a little smaller on the far side of the water. I tried to get a better look with binoculars & it's dark in colour with rusty red patches only on the cheeks. I've looked online & in my bird books, but nothing looks similar. Has anyone got any ideas please??

Might want to request the thread title is changed Lou

Rich

Could your bird have been a Little Grebe?

I've changed the title for you stamperlou

My first thought when reading your post was Little Grebe too. You can find out more about them HERE in Opus.

They're gorgeous birds, except when you try to photograph them... then they never stop diving!

Oh my God! Yes, that's it!! Thank you so much! When I saw it from a distance, I didn't think it could be a little grebe- are they common?
BTW- what did I actually put as the thread title?? nothing rude, I hope.. if so, it was completely accidental!!

Just a slight trip up with your fingers

No, they're pretty common, but not always obvious to see. It's sometimes easier to know they're around if you hear them. You can listen to their call if you scroll to the bottom of the page on the link I gave you yesterday.

You've some great places to visit round Bognor... unfortunately I don't get there now, since my brother moved away. But loved going to Pagham Harbour and Chichester Gravel pits, amongst many other places!

Thanks!
Now I know what I'm looking for, I can see that there's a pair with a chick. It makes alot of noise for such a small duckling! It's a tiny pond, really- just 20x30 metres at a very rough guess. It's well surrounded by reed mace & it's not visible from the road that runs just a few metres away because it's in quite a deep hollow. I walk the dogs there every evening now. It makes all the stresses of the day melt away, and the ducks now recognise that they're going to get a bag of grain for tea!