Last year I went to Rutland Water to see osprey, but the real stars of that day were this pair of great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus, Dansk: toppet lappedykker) performing their courtship ritual.
Many birds have sophisticated courtship displays and the grebe is one of them. They paddled away from each other then turned about and paddled rapidly together:
And when they met they reared up and neck sparred after they had both reached down into the water and plucked a beak full of weed to offer as a gift to their partner.
I’d never seen this display before and paddling furiously to stay high in the water this pair put on a terrific display of mutual weed waggling.
And it seemed to pay off as they were still paired up after all the frenetic courting activity…
The ospreys were magnificent but this humble pair of grebes stole the show!
The Naturephile 
How could anyone resist? Great photos.
How indeed! Thanks for your comment. I was very lucky here as the grebes performed very close to the hide I was in and they just kept going, offering lots of opportunity to snap them.