One of the photos I took at Needham Lake a few weeks ago was a fairly decent one of a Moorhen.
Moorhens are everywhere, any ditch or pond will provide them with food - they are omnivorous - eating almost anything - and somewhere to nest which is often precariously placed on a half submerged waterside tree.
In small spaces they will annoy ducks and drown ducklings being very territorial during the breeding season.
The naturalist, country man and poet John Clare (1793- 1864) wrote a poem 'The Moorhens nest' but I've not been able to find the whole thing online anywhere. JC wrote so many poems over his lifetime including several about various bird's nests.
This is the Moorhen illustration from the book ' A Sparrow's Life's As Sweet as Ours' by Carrie Ackroyd. It has mention of John Clare's poem ' - though danger comes, it dares and tries but cannot reach their nests'
How fascinating. I thought I was looking at a duck, but the beak was wrong and so are his feet. I'm off to have a read about them.
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