White water dining

After receiving some news this morning that was saddening if not unexpected, I felt a strong need to be out walking, so I headed for the nearest walkable stretch of the Avon, between Bidford and Marlcliff. The tufted ducks of a few days ago have moved on, and I didn't manage to find a kingfisher, but I did see something I've never seen before, which was a couple of moorhens hunting for food in the white water of Marlcliff Weir.

I've always thought that moorhens were rather shy and retiring birds, and maybe even a bit boring, but what this pair was doing took determination and a decent measure of nerve. Admittedly they do have huge, clawed feet, but these rocks were clearly slippery, and there were times when one or the other lost its footing and slid into the fast and turbulent water, scrabbling frantically until it managed to find another purchase. When they wanted to change position they tended to move via a series of jumps from rock to rock, and this seemed to be a more successful strategy than flying, which sometimes caused them to lose their footing on either takeoff or landing.

Moorhens are omnivorous, eating water weed, seeds, berries, worms, snails, insects, and even small fish and the eggs of other birds. The only things I positively saw them taking out of this water today were pieces of weed, but this seems like a lot of work to undertake to acquire such a low-value food, and I would guess that their targets were probably fish and aquatic larvae.

Back at home I helped R to prune the apple tree in the top garden, which took most of the afternoon and involved a great deal more work for him than for me. Nonetheless I'm very tired this evening, and I'm looking forward to a glass of wine followed by an early night.