Gosling-free blip*

Prettier in large (just press "L"!)

A family member has suggested that I ought to try to blip goslings slightly less. "What will you do when they become independent and leave the pond? You ought to wean yourself off them..."

Fine: here! A 100% gosling-free photo*.
Just a simple portrait of a moorhen; no hidden or subtle references to goslings.

Moorhens are beautiful little things, and cute; they're so ridiculously shy and skittish (hence their nickname "skitty-coots"). I particularly like the way that despite being so shy, they make a variety of loud and very sudden noises that make them hard to ignore; I tell myself that it is unintentional and something that they fear and resent, like an avian form of the vocal tics of some of those with Tourette's ("I so hope that I don't make a loud noise: "BLAH!")...
There is a moorhen on Eagle Pond that has its leg(s) bound tightly in fishing line (...); it won't put any weight on the more tightly bound foot which is sad to see. I'm not quite sure how one would go about helping a moorhen though; they typically won't let people get within about 5m of them on land... I suppose a long-handled net and quick reflexes might make it possible. Here it is: poor creature.

I'm drafting a letter to the wildlife officer for Lambeth about the problems that (some of) the fishers are causing by not following the rules.

*see Ts & Cs.