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.
ReplyDeleteThey have very big feet and seen all over the place where ever there's some water
DeleteSounds a bit like the waterfowl equivalent of a Herring or Black Back Gull to me.
ReplyDeleteThey are very bad for the duck population at hatching time
DeleteMy new warm insulated trousers have arrived... I'm prepared!
ReplyDeleteSounds cosy
DeleteMoorhens amuse me when they're on land - they look so ungainly with their enormous feet.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had Coots around too but we don't seem to have them in this part of the country
DeleteMoorhens, also known as waterhens around here and more commonly so, are regarded as pests by the farmers. They like to graze on wheat and barley.
ReplyDeleteThey are real bullies and eat anything
DeleteI didn’t know that moorhens were killers of other birds and that’s something new learned on a drench Monday in February. Catriona
ReplyDeleteThey are a real nuisance at hatching time - ducks are not good mothers anyway but have no chance if there are Moorhens on the same patch of water
DeleteInteresting! I also like the poems of John Clare. I’ve looked for the whole poem but, strangely, I can only find references to it.
ReplyDeleteI searched for ages on all sorts of websites but couldn't find the whole poem anywhere
DeleteI've just read a report that says more very cold weather and snow could be on the cards soon, and I had the mad thought that we had turned a corner when I saw all the daffodils peeking through the soil. Silly me!!
ReplyDeleteNo sign of spring today - cold and grey after sun yesterday
DeleteI don't remember ever seeing a moorhen.
ReplyDeleteI discovered they are native to UK - but very widespread here.
DeleteVery interesting and not something we see on the east coast of the US. I was wondering why something that looks so duck-ish is called "hen" but then it doesn't have webbed feet or a duck type bill. Always new stuff to learn, eh?
ReplyDeleteCeci
Very common over here but only UK - which I didn't know
DeleteNot sure if this is the poem in its entirety - it is not one I know so unsure if anything has been omitted:
ReplyDeleteI hate the plough that comes to disarray
Her holiday delights—and labours toil
Seems vulgar curses on the sunny soil
And man the only object that distrains
Earths garden into deserts for his gains
Leave him his schemes of gain—tis wealth to me
Wild heaths to trace—and note their broken tree
Which lightening shivered—and which nature tries
To keep alive for poetry to prize
Upon whose mossy roots my leisure sits
To hear the birds pipe o'er their amorous fits.
Online it says this is From " the moorhens nest" so it's not the whole thing and it doesn't include the bit quoted in the book - so the whole poem is still a mystery!
DeleteWhat a strange bird. I am not sure we have any of those here in Canada. I must do some research.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I've never seen a Moorhen. They do sound aggressive toward other ducks which is kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteI find Moorhens really funny. Their feet are huge! Even the baby ones have really big feet. I'm surprised they don't trip over them! Lovely photo
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how dangerous some birds are! A goose can drown a dog, so I never let mine swim anywhere near them.
ReplyDelete