Situated just south of Glen Road, Plympton, and to the north of the Ridgeway we find a group of late-sixties, early seventies streets nominally themed around bird names; like the estuary-inhabiting Tern, Swan, Mallard and Grebe – the last two being commemorated as Closes.
Of the Grebes there are only two species of these water birds that could be considered commonplace on the region’s lakes and waterways and they are quite different in appearance. The Great Crested Grebe is a slender, graceful creature, given to extravagant courtship displays, with very distinctive head plumage (which was responsible for its plunge towards extinction during the nineteenth century at the hands of the millinery trade).
While the Little Grebe or Dabchick, is a much smaller and inconspicuous species which spends its time hiding in the reeds at the edge of its habitat, and disappears below the surface at the slightest disturbance.
