Life On The Slea (LOTS)

It was nice to see one of these today on the Slea…

… a vole. The Coot is still on the nest and the single baby Moorhen near the Mill is still doing ok. The 3 baby Moorhens a little upstream are also ok as are the 5 near the LC bridge, but I only saw 2 of 5-6 near the hub, but hopefully some of these were hiding somewhere.

I was watching the 5 babies near the LC bridge when all of a sudden the adult with them sprinted downstream about 30-40 yards. Looking closer I saw the other adult in a fight with a Coot, so this adult saw her mate in danger and went to help – I think Moorhens make amazing parents and mates as they always defend their family – the fight lasted a little while but eventually stoped and it looked like none were injured. Coots (and Moorhens) can be really vicious so lets hope that it was all sorted out and doesnt happen again.

Terry

COMMENT
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Hi Terry, finally got around to loging on to your site. For your information I am sure we now have 4 coots – I saw one on the pond late this afternoon and I believe I saw the other 3 in their normal areas unless my memory is lapsing. Additionally, I am convinced I saw a baby coot in the nest with it’s parent up by the Mill yesterday evening – I looked again this afternoon but no sign of any chicks but the parent was moving around quite a bit on the nest. I also saw quite a large eel by the small bridge adjacent to Sainsbury’s car park a few days back – it buried itself under some vegetation at the bottom of the river when a Mallard disturbed it.
Regards Graham

Hi Graham, thanks for registering and your update.  I have not been down this week yet but think I will get down on Thursday ? I will try and keep my eye out for the Coots and any little ones that you mentioned
Terry