Cootling feeding

Back blip.
I've had a busy few days; need to catch up with Blip!
Well, on Thursday I visited the little pond ("Bolingbroke Stock Pond") on Wandsworth Common twice: the first time, the little cootlinglets remained in the nest and the parents hared around fetching food for them. I left when the mother settled down on them leaving only one of their tiny heads emerging from under one of her wings. Very cute.
In the afternoon the coot family was there, but so was a large (beautiful) grey heron... Hmmm. The parents charged at it whenever it moved closer, but it was still a worrying sight. The cootlings seemed unfazed (also worrying), and got much closer to the edge than usual which meant I got some better pictures. I like this one because it shows not only the cootling's tufty mane, but also how the parents tenderly feed their young beak to beak.

A chap appeared with a newspaper and some beer, and threw a load of fish food to the coots (um?!). He noticed my stance (crouched low by the very edge with my lens zoomed in fully), and asked if I liked moorhens; I confirmed that I did like coots, but was worried about the heron making a meal of the chicks... He asked, "Are you guarding them?"; I replied. "No, I'm about to leave; if the heron makes for them and you feel game, please do throw something at it" and he said "Will do!". He he, I left feeling a little bit guilty (conspiring?) but much less concerned for the cootlings; the chap looked like he was settling down for a long afternoon on the bench...