I saw a black neck gliding across the water in Swindon. It dived, then popped up again a distance away. Then it walked out of the lake. I only had a slight glimpse and it looked a similar shape to a heron, but smaller and black. There wasn't any orange on its head so not a grebe.
I found a photo on Google and can't see that they are usually in the UK, so I'm thinking this might be very rare?
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
It has just dived where the ripples are, Then it pops up further away. It's like a tiny Loch Ness Monster!
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box