All aboard

I went out to do some shopping after spending the morning with Rosie, who didn't seem to bear me any ill feelings after yesterday's ordeal. Before walking to the supermarket, I stopped at the other side of the road from the apartment to check whether the Great Crested Grebe was still sitting on its nest (which it was).  While I was there, the baby Coots from Saturday's blip were being fed again by their parents (I thought then that there were only four, but there are actually five of them), a Heron landed at the water's edge but flew off again when someone with a dog walked past, and not only a pair of Egyptian geese swam past me, but also a female Mallard with her 10 ducklings,.

I don't know what made me stop there again on the way back from the supermarket, but when I did so, the Great Crested Grebe had left the nest and was floating on the water. I was wondering why it had abandoned its nest when I noticed a striped head peeking out of its feathers. Quite some time and several photos later, I eventually managed to take the count of little Grebes up to three.

Out of all the photos I've taken this afternoon, the one I've chosen to blip may not be the sharpest one, but it is the shot in which the three Great Crested Grebe chicks can be seen the best. The extras are 4 of the 5 Coot chicks, the Heron, the pair of Egyptian geese and one of the Mallard ducklings (it was impossible to get all 10 of them in one shot).

Today was an often overcast and quite cold day with several true April showers. I hope that the adults can keep all their babies warm enough, especially at night, as more of the same weather is forecast for the next few days.