Found by Dick Reader.
FIELD NOTES
On the evening of Thursday 24th October 1996 while walking past the small jetty
at New Passage, I saw a small, basically 'black & white' grebe about 150 yards
out on the river, drifting upstream on the incoming tide. Realising that this
Black-necked Grebe was a first for Severnside, and with Brian Lancastle on
Scilly’s for 'teachers week' I tried to phone Paul Bowerman, but all I kept
getting was his voice mail service (he was at a fun fair at Cribbs Causeway
apparently, and could not hear his phone ringing !!) after leaving several
'impolite' messages, I phoned the news to 'Flick Dilby’s' pager service hoping
that Paul would hear, or feel, his pager going off! That did the trick and a few
minutes later he arrived at New Passage, looking a bit shaky on his feet, and
sporting some extremely baggy tracksuit bottoms, the legacy of a rather painful
'man's operation' from the day before! Unfortunately for Paul the bird had
continued to drift upstream past Northwick Warth and towards Aust Warth, and was
becoming distant from New Passage. So we went to Old Passage and relocated the
bird near the old Severn Bridge where we watched it until dusk.
DESCRIPTION
Body:
Short, with 'blunt' rear end and when preening, or just resting on the surface,
having a 'fluffy, puffed up' appearance similar to that of Little Grebe. Breast
white, upper body greyish-black, flanks, and rear white, mottled with
blackish-grey.
Head:
In profile – a steeply rising forehead to the crown, crown then curving
uniformly rearwards and down to meet the nape. Crown black, black extending down
to below eye level, and onto the ear coverts. Cheeks and chin white.
Neck:
White at lower front and sides, some blackish-grey extending from the nape onto
the upper neck sides, fading downwards into white on the lower sides of the
neck. Rear of neck black, extending from crown to upper body in a narrow central
band.
Bill:
Blackish with the lower mandible curving upwards to the bill tip, creating the
impression of having an 'up-turned' bill.
Eyes:
Red.
Size:
Difficult to judge in isolation, but was approximately three quarters the size
of Eurasian Teal, as the bird drifted past a small raft of them on the water.
Dick Reader - October 1996.