Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena

Local status: Rare winter visitor and passage migrant

The appearance of this grebe in the York area is mainly associated with periods of severe weather on the continent. Twelve of the records have appeared between December and February with multiple occurrences occurring in 1979 (four), 1985 (two) and 1996 (three). Smaller numbers have been found on autumn and spring migration. The Lower Derwent Valley is the most favoured area with birds being seen on the Pocklington Canal and the River Derwent, presumably because they remain ice-free at times when the flooded ings are frozen. Likewise, the River Ouse at Fulford and Poppleton seem popular, but this is presumably more linked to observer coverage than any particular features of these stretches of river

Records:
2019: Wheldrake Ings, 22nd March, adult bird in summer plumage
2019: Castle Howard Lake, 5th to 21st January. 1st-winter

2010: Ellerton and North Duffield Carrs, 3rd and 4th March.
2009: North Duffield Carrs – Bubwith Bridge, 1st December.
2004: Wheldrake Ings, 28th January.
2001: Bubwith and Thorganby, 4th to 6th January.
1997: Low Catton Ings (River Derwent), 22nd December and Bubwith, 23rd December.
1997: Wheldrake Ings, 28th August.
1996: Bubwith and Thorganby, 25th February to March (date unspecified). Two.
1996: Poppleton, 1st February.
1995: Poppleton, 3rd January.
1994: Wheldrake Ings, 18th November.
1994: North Duffield Carrs, 12th to 14th January.
1993: Lower Derwent Valley, 30th November.
1987: Wheldrake Ings, 5th to 7th February.
1985: River Derwent at East Cottingwith, 10th to 17th February.
1985: River Ouse at Fulford, then Poppleton, 26th to 28th January.
1981: Castle Howard, 29th November to 1st December.
1979: Ellerton, 8th to 10th April.
1979: Pocklington Canal, 25th March.
1979: Wheldrake Ings, 24th to 25th February.
1979: Fulford, 22nd to 24th February.
1978: Wheldrake Ings, 19th March.


Unsubstantiated records:
1997: Wheldrake Ings, 20th April