{"id":468399,"date":"2026-02-11T16:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468399\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T16:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:48:11","slug":"birdwatch-rain-water-wings-a-winters-gift-at-cheddar-reservoir-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468399\/","title":{"rendered":"Birdwatch: Rain, water, wings \u2013 a winter\u2019s gift at Cheddar reservoir | Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">After weeks of heavy rain, Cheddar reservoir in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/somerset\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Somerset<\/a> is finally full again \u2013 of water, and of birds. Thousands of coots, hundreds of gulls and ducks, and dozens of great crested grebes crowd the surface, some already moulting into their smart breeding plumage, crests and all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">They feed almost constantly, building up energy reserves for the breeding season. Among the throng are some less familiar visitors: a flock of scaup, the males bulkier than the nearby tufted ducks, with pale grey backs that catch the light. Flocks of goosanders dive frequently for food, the colourful males looking like a cormorant in extravagant drag.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">As I circle the reservoir\u2019s perimeter, I\u2019m on the lookout for a very special bird. The red-necked grebe \u2013 the scarcest member of its family in Britain \u2013 is easily overlooked, superficially resembling a smaller, darker great crested grebe. I experience many false alarms. Several times I think I\u2019ve found it, only for the bird to turn and reveal a bright white neck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Just as I\u2019m about to head home, the red-necked grebe surfaces just offshore, showing off its dark face and neck and a yellow base to the bill, to reveal its true identity. Or does it? Later that day, a friend sends me photos suggesting the bird might belong to the American race, which could one day be split into a species separate from its European cousin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Either way, I\u2019m content simply to watch this attractive and unexpected visitor so close to home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After weeks of heavy rain, Cheddar reservoir in Somerset is finally full again \u2013 of water, and of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-468399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}