Last Saturday we had photos of a Great crested grebe feeding its youngster. Today I spent a delightful 20 minutes watching a Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) catch and feed fish to its offspring. Here are some photos …

The adult Little grebe, on the left, is still in its summer/breeding plumage. I’m not sure if it’s a male or female as, from various websites I’ve checked, their plumage appears to be the same, and both parents share the incubation and care of their young. The little one was constantly peeping at its parent for food so the adult was diving in search of the small fish and aquatic invertebrates they like to eat.

This is looking hopeful.

A not-so-small fish!

The youngster waits not-so-patiently for its parent to subdue the fish.

The handover.

Waiting to see if the young one can/will swallow the fish or drop it.

Still waiting …

The little one is struggling with the size of the fish but, at this point, the parent has given up waiting and dived down to find more.

One more big gulp and it’s down! I wonder how many fish it eats in a day.