British Birds: Moorhens Rebuilding Their Nest

Bird behaviour: Persistently Optimistic Moorhens

a moorhen's nest with adult moorhen and chick

Calling the chicks home to roost in the evening
Adult moorhen on rebuilt nest with chick

It is a privilege to be able to observe at close hand the day to day activities of a pair of mated moorhens. This pair are on the Leeds to Liverpool canal nearMicklethwaite wharf, Bingley, West Yorkshire. They have been obliging enough to build a nest out into the canal several feet, braced on an old rotting wood piling and a stone. Despite the fact it is destroyed several times a day by cattle coming down to drink, the pair continue to build and rebuild this nest to brood their seven young chicks. Using original wildlife photography, this is a typical day in the life of a moorhen nest builder.

Both adult moorhens take responsibility for feeding, protecting and providing a nest for their young. The tasks keep them busy: food has to be collected from all over their territory and hurried back to meet chirping chicks with eager beaks. With seven to care for, the adults quite often (but not always) seem to divide the chicks between them both for feeding and for brooding. On this particular day, a visit in the early evening found the pair with two brooding sites on the go. They had constructed a rough nest with a few twigs on the shore. One adult gathered material and made the nest then brooded five of the chicks.

On the site of the main nest, the other adult was busy pulling back together the displayed straw and twigs. It then started collecting whatever it could find. That included an old bread packet, bigger than the bird itself. It obviously took the bird considerable strength to pull this plastic bag up to the nest, given that it was also waterlogged. Yet it was determined and there was much tugging and pulling to get as much into the nest as possible. They really are the most industrious little birds taking time out from nest building to feed the chicks and chase off jackdaws.

A final couple of pieces of greenery that had floated down the canal put the finishing touches to the nest and she went back to shore to call the remaining two chicks home for the night.

The busy life of adult moorhens

adult moorhen brooding chicks on land

adult moorhen feeding chick

Caught Red-Nosed - Cows destroy moorhen nest

The culprits - cows continually destroy the main moorhen nest

Bird behaviour: 'We have the power to rebuild'

On the site of the main nest, the other adult was busy pulling back together the displayed strawand twigs. It then started collecting whatever it could find. That included an old bread packet, bigger than the bird itself. It obviously took the bird considerable strength to pull this plastic bag up to the nest, given that it was also waterlogged. Yet it was determined and there was much tugging and pulling to get as much into the nest as possible. They really are the most industrious little birds taking time out from nest building to feed the chicks and chase off jackdaws.

A final couple of pieces of greenery that had floated down the canal put the finishing touches to the nest and she went back to shore to call the remaining two chicks home for the night.