Distant Dance

It was the guttural calls that caught my attention. A pair of great crested grebes was way out in Seventy Acres Lake. I could see through my long lens that they were bobbing their heads and mirroring one another. They swam off together and we kept them in sight from the bank. Eventually they came very slightly closer. I was telling a woman about the 'penguin dance' when they swam apart and dived simultaneously. Up they came synchronised, each with a piece of weed in its bill. They paddled furiously upright towards each other where they danced together for a while.

What a thrill! I've seen and photographed this behaviour before at closer quarters on my own but have never shared it with others. A group of people had gathered and were grateful to me for pointing it out.