Signs of Spring

I'd be the first to agree this is not the best image I have ever taken of the Great Crested Grebes. But for now it has to suffice as the closest I have come to recording the courtship dance for which they are famous.
It will therefore come as no surprise that as Spring starts to appear - I hear a Wheatear was recorded at Portland yesterday - we find ourselves back at the Buddleia Loop trying to improve on previous attempts.
And so it was, last Sunday Rose and I found ourselves heading down there ready to join the queue. I predicted we would have three particular members of the local wildlife paparazzi already in situ and so it proved. It was good to meet up again and exchange the usual banter that has been sadly missing since early Autumn.
Evidently nothing much had happened prior to our arrival, but very shortly the pair moved down the channel towards the visitor centre. And once they had a good screen of reeds between us, so they had a dance. It wouldn't have got good scores on Strictly Grebes Dancing, but we couldn't shoot it either. We hung around expectantly for a couple of hours, but all we got was sleeping, nest building and the odd head shaking session.
Sadly that was it for the day and we all packed up and headed off. But it had been a fun few hours in good company, doing what we love and on a fine, sunny Sunday too.