Wanstead Great Crested Grebes

With my weekend travels yesterday I wanted to stay local today and not drive anywhere. Wanting to catch up with Hobby on the patch, and perhaps jam a Common Tern, I headed to the Park. In the event I got neither of these things but instead spent most of time photographing a Great Crested Grebe with a chick on its back. This species seems to be doing particularly well this year after several years of it not really working. I figured I had not done a post on this species for about five years when I set down this juvenile effort. Today is far more mature, after all there is a child involved. Mostly photographic I'm afraid, during the time I was there nothing happened whatsoever. No fish were brought, the chick didn't acrobatically dive off, nothing untoward at all. A touching scene though and I will try and get down there with more focal length soon.

Doris and Stanley

Meet Doris. It's not what you think. Doris is my Great Crested Grebe. She lives just next to my office in Canary Wharf, and I have adopted her. The fact that she lives at Canary Wharf might be viewed as slightly masochistic, but it may be a very clever strategy. For Doris has laid an egg. Just one for the moment, but she looks very proud. Stanley, Doris' husband, or perhaps I should say partner, isn't that bothered. For now, his work done, he is just loafing around in the dock, but his time will come.

Doris

I counted an amazing 17 Great Crested Grebes on my patch in Canary Wharf earlier this week. Quite a few of them were pairing up, doing the facing each other thing, but I have no idea where they might nest. Doris and Stanley seem to have stolen a march, and nabbed the best available spot, which is on some floating reed structure, which I have in the past dismissed in an offhand way as "Habitat". "Habitat" seems to be doing the job though, as a pair of Canada Geese were also in situ, as were a pair of Mallard, a pair of Coot, and a pair of Moorhen. That they will all nest in such a confined space seems inconceivable, but I will keep you updated.

Mega

I have a vague recollection of seeing young Great Crested Grebes in this dock before, some time in the dim and distant past. Although it looks very unpreposessing, especially from my point of view which is generally at a desk, it may in fact be rather good. There are no mammal predators for starters, animal lfe is banned in Canary Wharf. The docks are steep sided and very deep, and unlikely to harbour things like Mink, and any rubbish that accumulates is quickly fished out with nets by estate staff in a small skiff. The area is very busy night and day, which probably also keeps things at bay, yet despite this constant traffic, ninety-nine percent of the people here have probably not noticed them, and fewer than that probably even care. And to top it all off the nest is right next to a security hut, so any human trash that might have more than a passing interest in eggs isn't likely to risk it.

I spent a very happy half hour just taking in all that I have just described at lunchtime today. I had the sun on my back, and although I could see my office, all seemed well with the world. A lady saw me photographing the Cormorant - I brought a proper camera today, in case I found a Wheatear on the Flats in the morning (I didn't) - and asked what a bird with long legs that looked like a dinosaur might be outside her house in Sussex. It's been a while since I watched Jurassic Park, but I think I remember the killer Herons. She then asked what the Cormorant was, and so I told her. Sadly I had forgotten my protractor and compass and so was unable to fill her in on the finer details of gular-pouch morphology, but for someone who thinks a Heron looks like a dinosaur, I suspect that simply Cormorant was good enough. It was, I have to say, a particularly fine Cormorant.

Grebe Expectations

Every year, until about mid-December, we have Great Crested Grebes on the patch. As mid-December approaches, the Grebes can be seen consulting calendars and chatting amongst themselves. Every year the local patch-workers can also be found checking dates and chatting amongst themselves - will Great Crested Grebe get onto the January 1st list? The answer is always "no". As the Grebes see us getting ever more excited, they swim ever more nonchalantly around the Basin. And then with about a fortnight to go, they just disappear. And so it happened at the end of 2011, and despite me checking the Basin more or less daily - with excellent other results, it must be said - there has been no sign.

Yesterday was unseasonably warm. It seems ridiculous that less than two weeks ago the whole place was covered in snow and ice, but yesterday I could have walked to work in shirt sleeves. I very nearly did end up walking to work as it happens, but that is another story that would inevitably turn into a rant, so I shall leave it there. Anyway, it was glorious, it felt truly spring-like, and even though I was headed to the salt mines, I had a spring in my step as I did so. Perhaps this abrupt change in the weather caused wintering Great Crested Grebes to seek out their breeding lakes, and today when I checked the Basin on the way back from the school run, what should I see on my scan?

Then again, maybe the weather has nothing to with it. Checking some files I just happen to have lying around, I am able to see that in 2011 Great Crested Grebes first appeared on February 26th, in 2010 on January 21st, in 2009 on March 2nd, and in 2008 on January 26th. I could go on but it might be boring, whereas five years of someone else's patch Grebe arrival history still qualifies as extremely interesting.

Last year two pairs attempted nesting, but neither succeeded; we don't know why. One pair got as far as eggs, but nothing happened, and I'm not sure the second pair even managed that. They gave it a good go though. I'm very much hoping for a repeat performance, but one ending in small humbug-like chicks, which I have a hankering to photograph as they are extremely cute. They have it all to do, and I wish them the best of luck.

Great Crested Grebes still at it.....

I had a pile of important things to do today. Rather than do any of them, I went to Wanstead Park to check how the Great Crested Grebes were doing. At Lakenheath at the weekend, there were quite a few stripey chicks, and I don't want to miss the local ones. No chicks yet, but the two eggs are still in the nest, and the female is still sitting. Any day now I expect. Or perhaps not, as while I was there the Grebes decided to have a quick mating session.

Mrs Grebe: Oi look, there's that bloke with the camera! Come on big boy!
Mr Grebe: Who are you talking to, me or the photographer?
Mrs Grebe: [edited out, was extremely crude]

 
I have no idea whether this indicates that there is a problem with the eggs and they are starting again, though as mentioned the two existing eggs are still there, or if Mrs Grebe is simply a camera-loving nymphomaniac **. Whichever, the nest is ideally positioned to get some cracking shots, although as this is a family-friendly blog I won't be posting any of them. If any kids are reading, Mr and Mrs Grebe love each other very much.




** Rather tragically for Anna Grebe, a professional actress of sorts, if you google "Grebe Porn", the top hit is this blog...