Brueeeuk! Puk-puk-puk

Or, she's done it! This morning we saw Myrtle the moorhen, back on her favourite flag iris bed with at least two newly hatched chicks. This is a definite case of the triumph of hope over adversity. There's no sign of a resident male - she must just have used her gentleman friend as a sperm donor. He probably came from a neighbouring territory where he had a mate of his own. That explains his somewhat shifty look as he sidled away. Myrtle appears to be a single parent by choice. That won't get her a council flat.

She has modified the ruins of the old nest to create a nursery platform on which she was brooding the chicks. As chicks will, they were shooting off in all directions, and she was rounding them up. Many of the iris leaves are arched over, and she has woven them together forming a bower in which she can hide them if she wants to.  In this picture, the yellow horizontal stems are part of the platform.

Myrtle's nursery

Unfortunately the growth of vegetation has made it almost impossible to photograph the little family, but we hope to bring you better pictures soon. Meanwhile...

Myrtle is behind the left hand teasel, and I'm sure that's the red head and yellow beak of a chick