Very Coot and Very Protective

A lovely day for rest and relaxation, reading, a good dinner in the campsite restaurant and very little activity apart from hanging around the site and enjoying the sun in the afternoon, though it continues to be on the cool side when not in the sun.  We did, however, need to take a short walk to get some fresh air and we had previously discoverd a small fishing pond at the far end of Koningshof - the campsite and as with most of the Netherlands, with such a lot of water everywhere, there is also an abundance of wildlife, particularly birds.  Little did we imagine we would see as much in this small pond as we first spotted a pair of Coots (thanks LV for the distinguishing feature that sets them apart from Moorhens) who were busy feeding their 6 offspring - obviously very recently born.  These 2 hungry chicks are taking food from the beak of their parent as all of them continued to do so the whole time we were there.  Except for the occasion of the arriving swan, at which point - see extra - both adult Coots made it quite clear the swan was not welcome.  The other behaviour we witnessed involved one of the adult Coots fairly violently grabbing a chick by the neck and running into the nest almost as if it was being given timeout!  Other extra is of the swan back at the nest with the female who was sitting on a nest and looked like she was very close to laying eggs.  Quite a bevvy of avian activity and a very welcome diversion in our lazy day.