Grebes dancing on Linlithgow Loch

Every year at about this time, Crafty Green Boyfriend and I take a train to Linlithgow to see the great crested grebes doing their courtship dance. We saw two pairs of these grebes today and they were dancing, though slightly half-heartedly and they didn't do the full dance, which ends with them giving each other gifts of pond weed. Crafty Green Boyfriend did get these photos though:

It's always lovely to see this beautiful display, though perhaps we should visit a week later next year for a better chance of seeing the full dance!

There were lots of little grebes around today, though they were showing no signs of dancing

The light on the water was wonderful today and made for some lovely effects in some of out photos, like this one of a coot

The light also brought out the irridescence in this male tufted duck's head

I was very impressed by this alder tree

its catkins are at their best at the moment, beautifully patterned

it's always nice to see the male catkins and female cones growing on the same tree too (many tree species have separate male and female trees)

I liked the light again in this photo of the reeds

and this photo shows the black headed gulls at all different stages of getting their summer plumage back! The gull with brown markings in the wings is a youngster.

(Thanks Crafty Green Boyfriend for the photos of the grebes and the tufted duck)