Village newcomers uncover a wildlife mystery

A LYMM couple have spent several weeks watching a pair of Great Crested Grebes as they made their nest, laid four eggs and then sat on them keeping warm their precious potential next generation.
With the temperature sub-zero some nights, Roy and Jean Merrifield say they have been tempted to take the hardy birds an electric blanket!
They themselves have resorted to insulated cushions and hand warmers to ward off the cold as Roy has taken several hundred photographs.
Roy and Jean are relatively new residents of Lymm but have quickly fallen in love with the village, not just the cafes, restaurants, shops and pubs but village life in general.
They love the canal, the Pennine Way, The Dam and all the other beauty spots.
But in particular they have enjoyed watching the Grebes.
Then one morning Roy visited the nest site and was heartbroken to see the female Grebe was no longer sitting on the next – and that all the eggs had gone.
Two days previously they had all been there.
Roy said: “I understand that the main predator for such eggs are Eurasian Coots – but for all four eggs to have gone so quickly?
“I just hope that there has been no malicious human intervention, and if so, that in the future we can do something to prevent a recurrence.”