Red-throated Diver photographed at Chouet [CHO] on 5/11/2014 Photo: © Vic Froome (visit site)

Although this is the commonest diver in Britain and the UK with a winter population estimated at 15,000 the species is the rarest of the three in local waters.

In 1878,Smith described this species as a "regular and autumn and winter visitant to the Islands, and rather the most common of the three divers". In recent years the status has changed with only one or two reports mainly from the north and west coast bays. The majority of records involve single birds although three were noted passing west off Jaoneusse on 7th November 1999. A single at the Reservoir from 17th January to 21st March 1997 was almost certainly an injured bird. The species remains rare in Alderney waters with only four records the last being east of the Casquets in April 1989.

Birds are not usually recorded until early December with peak arrival in mid January. There is a second peak towards the end of March which is probably due to birds returning north from the Bay of Biscay. Numbers fluctuate with weather and food supply and significant numbers must pass far offshore.

The origin of the birds in Bailiwick waters is not known although chicks ringed from the Scottish breeding population have been recovered in Finistere and the Vendee.