Grebes at Mere Sands Wood LWT

Following on from my trip for the Crossbills at Birkdale LNR earlier today, I decided to call in at Mere Sands Wood LWT on the way home to get some shots of Great Crested Grebes and Little Grebes which a friend of mine had recently photographed here.

The birds were nesting in front of the Cyril Gibbons Hide, the only hide that I'd never visited before, so it was worth going just to get the lay of the land here. I wasn't disappointed, because within 10 minutes I was taking close-up shots of a Great Crested Grebe fishing only three or four metres away from me.

There were just two birds which were nesting in a small patch of green reeds about 15 metres in front of the hide.  Unfortunately, by this time I was looking almost directly into the sun and so it didn't make for good photographs.

So most of these shots are when the male bird swam away from the nest to fish in the area to the right of the hide, barely three metres away from me at times.

The distinctive calls of the Little Grebes were echoing around the Mere for most of the time I was there and there were at least six birds about (3 pairs).  However, for a long time they didn't come close until near the end of my visit, when I managed to get these shots.  They seemed to be building a nest under the branches of an overhanging bush to the left of the hide. Another 10 minutes and I would have gone and missed them.

Sometimes it's just about having fun!