Author: David R. White, Naturalist

Moorhen with babies in nest	Moorhen swimming with a fly in beak	Moorhen with babies simming

During a walk one morning, I noticed a large damsel fly hatch which had also been noticed by a moorhen. These were easy to catch insects & the bird was soon taking beak fulls to nearby vegetation. During each delivery I felt sure I could here faint " cheep " type calls. Scouring the dense vegetation from a safe distance with my binoculars, I eventually spotted the nest. I could see several chicks & that one last egg was in the hatching process.

Moorhen with babies	Moorhen on nest

I decided to settle down, well hidden, to watch how events evolved. For about an hour the other adult continued to deliver more of these foods, in the same manner, to his mate at the nest while the last egg hatched. The last chick to hatch then took a further while to dry out its black downy fluff. Once this had dried, mum was out into the water & calling to her chicks to follow. The family swam about 20 feet to the waterside where it was covered with vegetation.

Dad continued to deliver the plentiful supply of food. I felt those newly hatched chicks must probably be very full by now; but neither mum or dad seemed to realise & continued to offer more food!. This continued until the chicks, probably tired from their first swim & eating so much, started to doze off for a well-earned rest. I suspect the chicks also needed some warmth, as they quickly snuggled under mum’s warm body feathers, instinctively knowing that it would be really warm there.

I did wonder if these were new, inexperienced parents, or that they had just been instinctively reacting to a brief, but plentiful, supply of food. At this point I quietly left the moorhen family so that the parents could continue to care for & protect their new family. It was a privilege to share the start of these chicks’ new lives for this brief period.