Disappointment for birders as rare grebe performs Cleethorpes country park vanishing act

There was disappointment today for birders who had hoped to glimpse a rare Slavonian grebe that spent yesterday on the lake in of the country park in Cleethorpes. Unless it was hidden among the reeds, the bird had moved on, probably  overnight. A cold weather visitor from Greenland (or Russia), this member of the grebe family has vivid orange head feathers in its summer breeding season plumage, but in winter it is more sombre looking - a blend of black, grey and white. However, it retains a very bright pink eye, sometimes of jewel-like intensity. This bird was probably  one of only five or so that were known to be present yesterday in the whole of Britain. The species is threatened with extinction  with a 30 per cent decline in its global population over the past three decades.