I saw some interesting behavior today… The female coot (who has lost her 2 babies) went a little upstream and unsurprisingly the coot who is there started to attack her as it was in his/her territory. She was chased back downstream until she was passed Cogglesford bend, but still being harrassed by the other coot. The (presumably male) moorhen decided this was a little to close to his family/territory so had a real go at the attacking coot who retreated. Interestingly the moorhen didnt have a go at the female coot who is normally in that territory ? perhaps they are ‘friends’ ?
After watching for some considerable time I am fairly certain that the moorhen family (as in above) now only have 4 babies, what has happened to the other I dont know but he/she is not around anymore. On a more positive note, I am also fairly certain that the other moorhen family still have 7 babies, it can be hard to count all 7 at once as they move about in the reeds etc but I *think* I saw 7 today.
Not sure if this is the ‘chased’ or the ‘chaser’ near Cogglesford bend…
Terry