Monday 21 July 2008

Poule d'eau



About 3 years ago we were lucky enough to have a pair of poule d'eau or as we know them moorhens take up residence on the pond in the back garden, next to the potager.

Each year they have produced offspring which are always cute to watch as they learn to swim and grow at an alarmimg rate.

This year however there were no baby moorhens in June although the adult birds were still coming to the back door every morning to be fed.

Imagine my delight therefore on Saturday evening, as I watered the vegetables, to discover the very proud male moorhen strutting around the potager squawking away to announce the arrival of his chicks.

Mama was sitting proudly on the far bank as tiny little balls of black fluff scurried hither and yon, testing the water, before rushing back to safety and burrowing beneath her wing.

Taking a photograph to share has not been easy, they're still camera shy, even papa went under the surface as I snapped but I did manage to capture one fluff ball for you to see.

1 comment:

Thanks for stopping by, your visit just made my day!