Great Crested Grebe

Getting a frame-filling image of a Great Crested Grebe is never easy, they tend not to like people approaching too closely. However, there is a trick, which I managed to successfully employ for this shot.

Grebes dive under the surface of the water for up to 60 secs at a time in search of fish. I spotted this one during a visit to Lakeside Country Park near Southampton, but stayed a fair way back on the bank so I didn’t spook it. There was a jetty nearby which allowed me to get much closer so I waited until the bird dived, sprinted for the jetty, commando-crawled the last few metres and was in just the right position to get the shot as it surfaced!