Great Crested Grebe on nest

On Sunday I went for a hot walk in Hyde Park.  As I was walking along near the Long Water, I thought I could see a Great Crested Grebe - one of my favourites - swimming in the distance (where Grebes always are!) in front of the reeds on the other side of the lake.

I must apologise for the quality of the following photographs as the action was all taking place much too far away to get any decent pictures, but I am putting them on this post anyway.

I took a photograph in the hope that something would show up in it.  It did, sort of!  There is a Great Crested Grebe swimming along towards the reed bed - presumably Mr. Grebe.

I walked on a bit further and, through a clear space in the tall plants and shrubs along the edge of the Long Water, I could see something more-or-less directly opposite me at the edge of the reeds.  When I downloaded the photographs onto the computer, it was easy to see the Coot swimming past and a little more difficult to see what was at the water's edge by the reed bed.  It was Mrs Grebe standing on a nest, with some white eggs showing just below her.  I think she is turned them around so that they are evenly warmed by her body when she is sitting on them.

The below photograph shows a little more clearly two eggs on the nest and Mrs. Grebe with a kinked neck.

She is also working on the nest material, probably packing it a little more tightly around herself and the eggs.

Below is a blurry photograph of Mrs. Grebe sitting back down on the nest and keeping the eggs warm.

This is the view of the reed bed taken from the end of the Italian Garden, where Mr. Grebe can once more be seen swimming around.  He has, I think, just passed Mrs. Grebe on the nest, which looks to be in the reeds at about the centre of the photograph.

I know that Great Crested Grebes are very sensible by nesting far away from human sight, but it is very annoying from my point of view as I would very much like to be able to take nice clear close-up photos of them.