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Fox claims another victim HB insists on nesting in the hanging basket Lonely heads back to her nest box Male tufted duck takes a drink Female tufted duck Bumble bee collecting pollen The chases continue Male Pochard arriving for a quick snack Magnolia in bloom 
I wondered why we were seeing Bidou today. It is lovely to see her but sad that she has lost her eggs and nest.

Our coots have not laid eggs yet but are busy still making the nest. They are continuing to mate mate mate tho

11 April 2010 at 11:17 
Yes, it's sad about Bidou, especially as she seems so lonely. She is still calling out every time a mute swan flies overhead and sometimes tries to tag on to a pair of mute swan interlopers that the dominant swan hasn't managed to drive away from his territory.

Re you coots, mating obviously plays a big part in their relationship but do they also have frequent 'domestic' rows? Our coots often squabble but the female also calls to her partner when it's time to mate and then stands on our plank and slaps her large webbed foot on the wet plank in a very insistent manner. It's as if she's ordering him to . . . "get over here right now"!

15 April 2010 at 01:30 
we've seen Bidou visiting the mute swans at Back of the Moon sitting on their nest.
No baby coots yet - think they are now nesting on Ash Island. Saw a female mallard today with 12 - it looks like day old chicks

18 April 2010 at 12:05 
Bidou was busy chasing a pair of mute swans yesterday, her neck stretched up and her feathers all ruffled. She certainly frightened them away! She still hangs around with the dominant male mute but he either ignore her now or drives her away.

Lonely's ducklings should hatch any day now. We're wondering whether she'll continue to use the nestbox after they've hatched.

Yesterday evening we watched a six-sided coot battle and had to laugh at one point when two of the coots had had enough and hauled out onto the bank. The fight was really vicious and I think they had had enough. At one point one of them hid in our garden and when it heard another coot in the water below, it crawled behind a plant and crouched down to hide!

Hope you soon have the pleasure of watching your coots with their young.

20 April 2010 at 01:02