Tag Archives: moorhen

Baby Moorhens at Falmer

April 8, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted, a combination of circumstances, poor weather and very few decent photos. Still, a break is like a punctuation and so it was good to have something new to photograph. New as in ‘new born’.

I’ve been watching the Falmer moorhens nesting for the past few weeks. A nice secure spot, largely hidden by overhanging branches. I looked again today and the place was buzzing… with tiny little moorhen chicks. I counted 6 or 7, but as they were already up and about, there may actually be more than that. Here are a few of the photos of what I still think are possibly the ugliest baby birds on the planet… but certainly among the cutest!

Moorhen chick paddling

Paddling in the shallow water

Moorhen chicks

The lookout gang!

Moorhen chicks

On the nest

Moorhen chicks

Proud mum and chicks

Moorhen chicks

Feeding time!

Moorhen chicks

There you go!

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in water birds Also tagged |

Water Birds at Falmer Pond

March 20, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

More portraits of the bird life down at Falmer Pond, though this time I’ve focused on the species that tend to live in rather than around the water.

I can’t do a post like this without including a mallard duck, so here’s one standing on a submerged rock in the morning light.

Mallard duck

We have two species of rail at the pond: the moorhen, which is by far the most numerous:

Moorhen

And the coot, which is quite a bit larger. I’ve seen three at Falmer this year, a slight improvement on numbers over 2013.

Coot

I’ve posted plenty of pictures of the local greylags recently, but here’s one more: Greylag among the Daffodils.

Greylag goose and daffodils

Closing picture? Another mallard.

Mallard duck

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in hoverfly, water birds Also tagged , , |

Geese and other birds at Falmer Pond

March 17, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

After the brief hiatus of the weekend, it’s a new week and new photos from Falmer Pond. No rats today (I promise), but the greylags did themselves proud so get featured a fair bit. The scene first thing this morning was perfect. Sunny, but not too bright, and calm. No sign of the recent fog, thankfully.

Falmer Pond in early morning sunshine

The No Fishing sign was deserted. Not even a gull to disturb the peace.

No Fishing sign

The greylags were gathered around the edge of the pond. I suspect they were waiting to be fed, but they are out of luck with me.

Greylag geese at the edge of Falmer Pond

Greylag geese at the edge of Falmer Pond

Thing s became a little more active later in the day.

greylag geese chasing

greylag goose

But mainly it was quiet. This duck is a relative newcomer to the pond. It was sheltering under some trees close to the water’s edge.

Hybrid duck at Falmer

To close, another peaceful photo: a moorhen sitting on her nest.

moorhen on nest

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Landscape, water birds Also tagged , |