My first ever trip to Staines Reservoir took place on Monday 23rd January. Not ideal weather conditions as it was cloudy with a cold wind, but visibility was good. Gordon and I decided not to travel there via motorway, instead we opted for the less stressful and more picturesque A30 route. The journey was very easy and didn't take long. We parked in the lay-by next to the reservoir and walked the short distance to the basins along the walkway that divides the reservoir into two parts. Primarily we had come to see the GREAT NORTHERN DIVER that had been reported there. After talking to another birder who gave us the general area to look, we spent the next 45 minutes or so looking for it, but it wasn't seen. There were plenty of other birds to look at including an immature SHAG, 2x BLACK NECKED GREBES, 1x SLAVONIAN GREBE, 5x GOLDENEYE, a male SCAUP and a female SMEW. We returned to Diver watching and after a while found the GREAT NORTHERN DIVER on the far side of the basin, quite distant, so the views of it weren't that good. It then dived and disappeared for at least 15 minutes and was then found not far away from us where it was preening, which gave us some great views for 10 minutes or so.
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