They've hatched!

Three weeks ago I blipped a coot on her nest at Killingworth Lake, and I hoped that there would soon be a patter (or should I say, "Spashing"!) of tiny feet.

Today I went on my bliphunt walk there and yes! - the proud parents have 5 cute little chicks! I watched them for half an hour, they were being quite a pest to Mum but it didn't seem to bother her. One or more of them kept disappearing under her wings. As usual in such circumstances, I took far too many photos (that's the trouble with rapid fire, isn't it?!).

Choosing my blip was tricky but we liked this one, especially with the chick peeping out and looking straight at the camera. I'll upload 4 more as extras, though. On the first one you can see Mum, Dad and a chick sharing a tasty morsel (not sure what the gooey stuff connecting them all was, though!): poor Dad was having a very busy time heading off around the lake over & over again and returning with bits of weed, bugs, etc.

The second extra shows one of the chicks looking lovingly up at Dad, hoping for its share of the snacks. The third shows Mum sharing a tasty piece of pondweed with one of the juniors, and finally the fourth shows four of the little ones all snuggled in.

They look best large.

PS. I took a video of one of the chicks which had spent some time swimming near the nest. I think it got too cold, as it then scrambled up the side of the nest and pressed itself under Mum's wing - the video is now on Youtube, here:

https://youtu.be/ZwqFvaQcJ-E