Great Crested Grebe

Having a stretch

1/1600 @ f5.6. ISO 400, 380mm
Canon 7d, EF 100 - 400mm L series Lens

Great Crested Grebe

Anyone for suchi?

1/2000 @ f6.3, ISO 400, 400mm

Great Crested Grebe

They dont get to look so smart without a lot of preening.

1/1328 @ f5.6, ISO400, 380mm

A Couple of Charmers

A pair of Dabchicks or Little Grebe

1/32 @ f5.6, ISO 400, 400mm
I hesitated to list the settings for this one, it came out better than it should for a 32nd
but this was the only chance I had, a coot chased them off before I could reset.

I'll have the fish

Has he bit off more than he can chew?

1/1600 @ f6.3, ISO 400, 400mm

Love is

Grebe Dance

1/640 @ f7.1, ISO 400, 400mm

Have a little fishy - Thornton 13 May 2015

This is an interesting sequence that played out in front of me as stopped for a rest by a bench. I was hoping for some Dabchicks, but this Great Crested Grebe was worth seeing. I think the other Grebe was hoping for a share but was disappointed.

1/1328 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/800 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/800 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/1000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2656 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/1600 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/1600 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/1600 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/1600 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/1600 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2656 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm

All taken on Canon EOS 7d, EF 100 - 400mm L series lens

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A fishy story - 26 September 2013

We went for a walk around Watermead South yesterday, me in my chair and Maja struggling to push me.

All the way round we saw nothing to photograph. at one point we heard a group of Canada geese honking as they flew towards the lake. I readied my camera and sat poised, but they crossed the path too far ahead for any pictures of them in flight (they did the same as we were leaving).

As we were returning to the car park Maja exclaimed there's a grebe with a fish. I turned in time to get this sequence, it's not the best light but you have to take these opportunities when you can.

All taken at
1/2000 @ 6.3, iso 400, 400mm.

All pictures taken on a

Canon EOS 7d, EF 100 - 400mm L series lens.

High Speed Chick - 8 August 2013

An interesting afternoon at Thornton, as soon as we arrived we heard there was a rare visitor that seemed to have settled at the waterside. A Night Heron, we don't get many of them in Britain, but this one was shy and I couldn't get a picture of him. I did manage to see him through a twitchers scope, but as they are active mostly at night I couldn't wonder that he wouldn't show himself.

1/1600 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

Back at the car park this Great Crested Grebe chick provided us with some entertainment.

1/1600 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

The mother seemed to want to cut the apron strings, but this young un was having none of it and the speed he could travel through the water was amazing.

1/1328 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

She would dive and come up great distances away, the chick would be searching all round for and screaming for her.

1/1328 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

When he spotted her he would swim at amazing speed, he looked like one of those bath time wind up toys as it sped through the water.

1/1328 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

When he found her, she would often dive again and he would be left looking around and screaming

1/1600 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

Eventually he caught her and tried demanding food from her, despite being able to dive and feed himself.

1/1328 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

These birds turned up and the nearest to identifying them I can get is they might be Scaup, but they are a bit dark.

1/1328 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

If you have any suggestions please put it in the comments.

1/1328 @ f5.6, iso 400, 400mm

All taken on

Canon EOS7d with EF 100 - 400mm L series Lens

The Dance of Love - 6 April 2013

Over the weekend we went to Watermead park again. Fortunately my back was hurting and I was forced to sit on a park bench at the end of one of the lakes.

I say fortunately because at some distance down the lake, in an area that is inaccessible to people, I saw some movement in the reeds at the edge of the water. I wasn't sure what it was, but at that distance it looked like something big, so I took the camera out and focussed on the movement.

What I saw was not something big but two Great Crested Grebe neck dancing. I've seen that many times, but I kept the camera on them in the hope that it would turn into the mating dance.

Then the male started to swim away with his neck stretched out as though he was chasing something under water. Soon I realised that the female was coming towards him from further out in the lake, she must have swum out under water and that was what he had been chasing.

Then something I've never seen live and always wanted to photograph started - the mating dance. It doesn't last long and I kept my finger on the shutter getting the whole thing in camera.

I have to apologise for the quality of the pictures this all happened at the extreme end of the lens range, to give an idea these pics are actually around on sixteenth of the total picture area, without the camera I could only see movement - not what was making it.

All taken on 

Canon EOS 7d, with EF 100-400mm L Lens

1/640 @ f7.1, iso 400, 400mm, 4 fps