Spring is with us and love is 
in the air for the local wildlife. When it comes to the most impressive attempts at wooing, Great Crested Grebes are up near the top of the list. These are easily the commonest of the British grebe species and also the largest. They are resident in the Cotswold Water Park so, as the springtime weather starts to warm the air, they are ready to commence their elaborate courtship dance on most of the gravel pits in our area.
Both male and female take part in the display, mirroring each other as they nod heads, puff out their plumage, frantically paddle on the water to raise themselves up and make gifts of beak fulls of aquatic plants. The dance is enhanced by their plumage. Drab, winter colours are replaced by an orange, black and white head pattern, complete with a double crest and ruff. Beautiful.
Their nests comprise of a large floating platform of water plants, woven around a fallen tree branch or the stems of reeds. 4 eggs are usually laid, which will hatch within a month into stripy chicks, which often take shelter on the parents’ backs, hiding under the wings to remain safe from predators.
Grebes are fish eaters, and the Great Crested will dive to catch a wide variety of small species/fry. They have also taken to eating the invasive American Signal Crayfish; which are widespread in the CWP and cause much damage. The grebes can’t swallow them whole, but bring them to the surface and thrash them on the water surface until they disintegrate into snack sized pieces.
They haven’t always been common. Back in Victorian times grebe feathers were very fashionable as a decoration on ladies hats – and the species was almost wiped out. However, grebe feather hats are rather less popular these days; so the courtship dance of the Great Crested Grebes is a regular spectacle.
Kim Milsom, Biodiversity Field Officer, Cotswold Lakes Trust