First young of 2016

The Great Crested Grebes on Orrell Water Park have young or perhaps I should say at least one youngster, as one is all I have seen so far. I am not sure when the eggs hatched but I got my first brief glimpse of a chick on the female's back last Sunday. I didn't managed to get any photos of them then and only managed to get some badly lit record shots yesterday.

There could be up to 4 youngsters keeping warm under the parent's wings and the way she is holding them I am sure there is more than one.

This is the earliest I have known them hatch eggs successfully at this particular site and with incubation lasting around a month the eggs must have been laid in the second week of February. While this is an early breeding attempt for this particular site it isn't all that unusual for the species, although the main laying period doesn't usually start before March as a general rule.

Hopefully I'll  find out how many chicks there are in due course and get some better photos in the process.