The Lincolnshire Bird Club

At 5pm today on the lake at Cleethorpes country park, a pair of great crested grebes managed to see off an opportunistic b-h gull that was trying to snatch their two chicks.

While fired up, they also had a pop at an innocent coot that came too close. It didn't hang around

The action was close to the bank where a magpie was watching.

For a few days yet, the adult grebes will need to remain vigilant - and feisty.

In recent days, there have also been a couple of lbb gulls in proximity, but the two chicks continue to survive.

The two chicks still doing well. They've bulked up but are still being fed by parents.

I haven't seen the older of the two chicks for a couple of weeks so it seems likely that it has perished.

However, another pair on the lake has produced one chick which is still at the back-riding stage.

It is the first time I have known there two be two nesting pairs at this relatively small site. Inevitably, there have been frequent skirmishes between the competing adults.