Will's bird blog: A bit of winter birding

I had to take my scooter in to be serviced, dad met me in Scarborough and we went birding. The first place we went was Peasholm Park, a small lake surrounded by woodland close to the sea. There had been a Red-Throated Diver there for a few days and, although I see them regularly, this gave me a chance to see one very close. The bird had been active and feeding on small fish. When we got there we walked around the lake, it then shot past us at about eye level and we saw it land on the other side of the lake. We walked in that direction. Once we got to where the bird was it swam towards us. It gracefully went past us, within only a couple of metres, an amazing experience.
After some lunch we then went on to Scalby mills rocks (outside the sealife centre), this was because there was a gull roost there. We looked through the gulls but could only produce Herring, Black-Headed and Great Black-Backed Gulls. Also present were some rather smart Wigeon, Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatcher.
The both of us then decided we would go to the harbour to try and see the Black-Necked Grebe and Great Northern Diver. En route we stopped briefly to look for a Black Redstart in the rock armour but had no luck, but we did see another Red-Throated Diver in the bay. At the Harbour we picked up the Black-Necked Grebe and Great Northern Diver quite quickly. The tide was out so they were confined to the main part of the harbour. Eventually both came close to the harbour mouth where they gave good views. Also running around our feet were Turnstones, although the Purple Sandpiper roost was empty due to it being low tide. This was a great day with a good range of species.