What they like

Quiet water with reeds. Ponds, lakes, wider ditches, sand pits. Clear stretches for diving, dense reed beds for breeding. Help it: leave reeds standing until late winter. Make a messy bank with bulrush, reeds and some open water in between. In farmland: choose nature-friendly banks and leave a ditchside alone. In a park or garden with a pond: no neat revetment, but gentle slopes and water plants.

Ecological importance

The grebe is a diving fish-eater: sticklebacks, roach, young perch, sometimes aquatic insects. It keeps fish populations in balance and indicates water quality. Its chicks are food for large gulls and sometimes a bird of prey — that’s how the cycle works.

When in the Netherlands

Year-round. In winter often in larger groups on open water.

Status

Common. Locally sensitive: disturbance at the nest and poor water quality hit hard.