A totem bird

Last month I was giving some training in the Netherlands and staying with friends near Amsterdam. As happens so often there, the weather was changeable but late on the Saturday afternoon there was enough sun for me to grab my camera and 100-400 mm lens and head off looking for Great Crested Grebes - one of my favourites.

They're shy little birds although in Holland they can be found all over the place, along with the ducks and the coots and the herons. The difference is that when people approach, the ducks swim towards them expecting food, the coots swim away, the herons take flight with many a "grawk" and the grebes dive under the water and reappear 10-15 metres away.

Late March must be breeding season for those grebes because they were all getting together and jostling and in their finest feathers. Just right for being photographed.