Great Crested Grebe

I was just checking and discovered that I blipped 33 different birds last year so I will see if I can do better this year. I missed out some fairly obvious ones (swan) so it should be manageable.

I've started off with a great crested grebe which I spotted on the River Weaver while I was out geocaching. There were several of them along the stretch I walked along. 

I seem to have difficulty photographing grebes for some reason. They always seem to be fractionally out of range and I struggle with the focus although I'm sure it would come out fine if it was a mallard the same distance away. I've played with the picture in Lightroom a bit to make it
better.

I've included an extra out of interest. If you wonder where the rock salt comes from to treat the roads during winter the vast majority comes from the Winsford Salt Mine which is the biggest in the UK. 

From the BBC Website:

The mine produces, on average, the equivalent of up to 15,000 tonnes - or 550 full tipper trucks - of salt each day. More than 500,000 tonnes are also stored above ground at the mine. 
To put this in context, British demand in an average winter is about 1.5 million tonnes, although this can double in severe weather.


My extra shows one of these big piles and there is an even bigger one further along.