Pics - July 2010

Having come back to Ilford after being away for ten days and worrying how the Boating Lake Grebe family in Valentines Park were doing, I was delighted to see the chick was still there, sometimes on his mother's back, sometimes sitting beside her and sometimes swimming alone. The surprize was that this indefatigable pair had built another nest- under the same alder tree, just a few feet away from their last nest- and what's more, yet another egg had been laid! While the mother sat on the nest with the nestling, the father was still busy dragging sticks and weeds to the nest to maintain it, and also feeding the baby.

Gillian Ware