On 29 April I posted this picture of a great crested grebe on her nest on the River Cam:
A week ago, she was still there:
This morning, she had gone:
Having already witnessed a lapwing nest being predated by a crow this morning, I was worried, so a grebe hunt followed. It did not take long to find her:
It's not the best photo, but if you can see the three lumps on her back, they are her chicks, keeping tucked up and safe whilst having a ride. The male was nearby, working hard feeding his mate and their young. It was a lovely sight.
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Thanks for this. One of my fondest memories is of walking down to the River Darwen and seeing a grebe swimming below me with chicks on its back. And yesterday I heard a cuckoo (late, I know, but others have heard it too). It must have been close enough to be yelling into my eardrums, because I am so deaf now. Meanwhile, a greater spotted woodpecker is attacking my neighbour’s nesting box, which has a blue tit family in it.
There was a cuckoo calling just south of me when I took this.
Blackcap, whitethroat, sedge warbler, reed warbler and chiffchaff all around.
Kestrel not far away.
And that bereft lapwing pair, plus greylags and Canada geese, but oddly no march harrier or buzzards today. Maybe I wasn’t looking up. But sand Martin, swift and swallow suggest I must have been.
There was more, but the grebe was just so good.
Definitely worth the travel emissions to see that, cheers.
It’s walkable from home, although I have pulled a muscle so didn’t yesterday
Still, 5k done
Thanks for that Richard. You’ve taken me back to my childhood in Perth, Western Australia, where a bunch of we nature lovers would explore the local Bluegum Swamp and see the Greater Crested Grebe nesting among the myriad of other birds in the swamp.
That was before the authorities prettied it up and converted the swamp into a lake, more suitable for the residential suburbs.
They call it progress.
Indeed
This grebe is by Kingfisher bird reserve, which is farmland returned to nature.
A great, little known place
I saw a cuckoo for the first time today at Kingfisher Bridge. What a wonderful sight. Marsh harriers were about too.
I heard it yesterday but never saw
Marsh harriers around today
Great place…..
Julian Huxley, in 1914, published a seminal paper on the courtship habits of the Great Crested Grebe in the Proc. of Zoological Society of London. He considered this paper to be a contribution to Darwin’s theory of sexual selection, although he later considered his choice of some terminology could have been better.
Thanks
What a lovely site Richard. I’ve not been to Kingfisher Bird Reserve but it’s on my list now. There’s a lovely page about Grebes on the BTO’s site too if you’re something of a birder or interested in how the population is doing generally speaking: https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/great-crested-grebe
BTO is my go to source
I am a member
‘Just got back from a walk into town through my local park which is full of families and saw a tree creeper creeping up one of the huge plane trees that are planted along footway/cycle path. It’s amazing what can be so close by sometimes.
Wow
Very good…..
Our local N London pond with its Canada Geese chicks, swan nest and heron and flowering lily pads can scarcely compete. But the miracle of Richard’s GC Grebe chicks should give us renewed determination to save what some physicists and statisticians have recently suggested could indeed be the only place in the whole universe with this kind of complex life.
Your grebe chicks – should have been given higher salience in the media – than the balmy Bezos billions to be invested in escaping to Mars
Agreed
I am aware of my good fortune in having Kingfisher Bridge Reserve not far from home and Welney WWT not that much further away to the north.
And there are good walks even closer with ample birding
I am not one of those who will ever chase rarities. I am happy with what turns up. Lots does. You just have to look.