The Lake

A few weeks ago a pair of Great Crested Grebes raised three chicks. Today I went to see how they were getting on and was delighted to see there was an adult with one chick. At some distance I could see that the adult had caught a huge fish which it was having difficulty in swallowing. Eventually it was successful while the accompanying chick showed little interest in the fish.

One huge fish took a while to be swallowed.

Within the hour I saw an adult with two chicks! Although the chicks had a go at diving they were reliant on the adult for fish! A considerable noise accompanied the adult returning to the surface. When the adult had been successful in catching a fish, both chicks gave chase to the adult swimming away from them until the nearer chick got the food. There was no way of knowing whether the same chick was getting all the fish or whether the adult had a way of ensuring each had a feed.