Diver down

Arriving at Hamilton Dock this morning, I heard a splash in front of me, but I couldn't see what it was, as I would have been looking directly into the bright sunlight. Some other birders wandered over saying it was a good thing it had surfaced and shown well. I didn't know what they were talking about, until I wandered away a bit and looked back and saw a sadly oiled Red- throated Diver sitting on the bank barely 15 feet away. It unfortunately some oil around the base of the bill and quite a lot on the belly, too. No doubt, either a victim of the nonsensical oil transfer policy which is conducted off the coast just out of sight of land, or the oil tankers illegally washing their tanks out at sea. The diver looked in a bad way, especially when it rested its head on some rope. But after a while, it appeared to rally and shuffled around looking quite alert. At such close quarters the red eye and upturned bill could be seen clearly. Chris M and later Dale (who I haven't seen for a long while), arrived, with Chris stating he'd seen an interesting warbler in the Arnold's walk, Whilst I was walking through (from Arnold's walk) to the Sparrows Nest in a sunlit tree in front of us and to the left, a Willow Warbler perched out in the open for a few seconds and continued to feed well around the trees and foliage, always on the move. Andrew E, Rob Wil's & Win, Paul & Jane F were also present. A later walk through the long grass of the Denes flushed a Snipe, Song Thrush and 4 Greenfinch. Whilst on the groynes, an adult Kittiwake seen and 3 flying north. Plus a large flock of c50 female Common Scoter also flew north.