Common Moorhen
Common Moorhen / gallinula chloropus. Derbyshire. 29/03/19.
‘THROWING CAUTION TO THE WIND.’
I think this crazy Moorhen was planning to nest on the towpath side of a narrow, disused canal. If I’d knelt down, I could have reached out and touched her easily. I hope she had made a wise choice, but have my doubts.
At the time I found her, there was no nest as such. She was just treading down some scant, dead Reed Mace leaves, then squatting on them and shuffling about, establishing a sort of nesting platform. It stood out like a sore thumb in the thick green soup of duckweed floating on the water surface.
Another Moorhen, (I assume her mate), was looking on from the other side of the canal. Ironically he was standing at the edge of a much wider, denser bed of dead reeds that would have made a safer, more secluded nesting site.
Common Moorhen
Common Moorhen / gallinula chloropus. Derbyshire. 29/03/19.
‘THROWING CAUTION TO THE WIND.’
I think this crazy Moorhen was planning to nest on the towpath side of a narrow, disused canal. If I’d knelt down, I could have reached out and touched her easily. I hope she had made a wise choice, but have my doubts.
At the time I found her, there was no nest as such. She was just treading down some scant, dead Reed Mace leaves, then squatting on them and shuffling about, establishing a sort of nesting platform. It stood out like a sore thumb in the thick green soup of duckweed floating on the water surface.
Another Moorhen, (I assume her mate), was looking on from the other side of the canal. Ironically he was standing at the edge of a much wider, denser bed of dead reeds that would have made a safer, more secluded nesting site.