Hello All
I hope you have been able to come over and have a look at these spectacular grebes in the last few days.
They have now abandoned the nest site but have not gone too far. After the third egg hatched this morning they spent a lot of time behind the island! Not the most helpful thing to do, but they were occasionally appearing around the right side of the island. As the day progressed they moved away from the island off to the right of the hide and have spent a lot of the afternoon around the reed island. So they are still visible if a bit more distant. We have now lifted all restrictions on viewing from the Gadwall hide.
I wanted to share with you some of the great pictures our volunteers have been able to capture of the these beautiful birds. And to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped out with the nest watch or any other aspect of protecting these grebes while they have been nesting. Rye Meads is a great home for nature thanks to you.
This great picture of the pair was taken in May by Keith Bedford before they settled down to breeding.
Keith also took this picture of the island. Can you spot the nest with the female sitting?
(zoom in and look behind the male mallard)
In the beginning there was plenty more cover for the nest, as this picture by Brian Bishop shows. This photo shows the female admiring its new egg (a lovely white colour before it gets mucky and brown).
Stuart Harrison captured this moment of the pair at the nest, showing off 2 of their eggs (now a nice brown colour).
Stuart also took this lovely shot of the female feeding the first chick on the males back.
And here are two of the chicks on the males back with the female approaching to feed them, taken by Brian Bishop.
And finally this lovely shot of the male looking very fine! by Brian Bishop.
We are really very privileged to get these great birds nesting at Rye Meads and we hope you will all be able to visit and catch a sighting of these birds. It will be around 3 week's before the young are independent of the adults, so still plenty of time to come over and have a look although they are not likely to be as close to the hide.
Thanks
Vicky