Great Northern Diver

Above: Great Northern Diver (winter plumage).
Below: Red-throated Diver (winter plumage).

Great northern divers visit UK coasts, marine lakes and inland freshwater lakes in the winter. They seldom breed in the UK preferring more northern places such as Iceland. They have bread in the north of Scotland and a few individuals can be found in summer in these northern outposts of the UK. However, we are never likely to photograph them in their handsome summer outfits in north west of England. You may get one in transition from summer to winter plumage in late Autumn, but most likely you'll find them in their less colourful winter plumage. They are mostly found at sea around the coast and so decent photo opportunities will be rare, but most winters one or two individuals do visit marine lakes and inland fresh water lakes and these are the best places to go to take photographs.

In winter plumage, the great northern diver has a brown back with paler brown edges to the feathers creating a wavy pattern across the back. The tail, back of the neck and crown are plain brown. The throat, chin and cheeks are white. The belly and front of neck are also white. The beak is heavy and a sort of metallic pale grey. The legs and feet (not that you're likely to see them) are short and black and the eye a deep red.

By contrast the black throated diver in winter is smaller and has a prominent white flank patch towards the rear. The back, back of the neck and crown are darker and totally plain without the pale feather edges.

The red throated diver in winter (shown below left for comparison) has pale streaks or flecks on the crown and back of the neck. It has more prominent white feather edges on it's back, making it easy to distinguish.

My experience with the great Northern Diver is fairly limited, but like other divers, I have found them to be largely unconcerned by any human presence. This means that they have been fairly easy to approach, which in turn means fairly easy to photograph.

As with other rare visitors, there are no sites I can suggest where they are guaranteed to turn up. I simply watch the sightings posted on the Birdguides web site, or on other similar sites, to see when they are reported in the North West. If they are at sea I won't bother going as they will not likely be close enough in shore for a decent photograph. I will only go when they are reported on a Marine Lake or inland fresh water lake. In recent times they have been reported at places such as West Kirby Marine Lake, Budworth Mere at Marbury Country Park and Audenshaw Reservoir in East Manchester.

I prefer to take a chance with sightings on the smaller marine lakes, that have all round easy access as these tend to offer the best chances for good photographs. Inland fresh water lakes can also be good, but you often have to hope that they are close to the sides with access, since all round access is not always available with inland bodies of water. Small lakes, with all round access, allow you to get close and, hopefully, position the sun between you and the bird and as such give you the best photo opportunities in my opinion. These birds often stay for a few days on such lakes, or even a few months and occasionally, the whole winter. So once here, you're definitely likely to find them, even if you don't get a good photo opportunity.