Coots

Yesterday we wandered round the lovely reedbed that has been recently planted in the pond in Inverleith Park. A female mallard had five chicks, quite large and lively. There were plenty of swans and an entertaining family of coots. We watched the adult coots taking waterweed and other materials to two nests; they were also feeding and defending three large chicks. Coots are notoriously aggressive birds and it was no surprise to see one of the adults getting angry when a swan got too close to one of the coot chicks. It was a bit surprising though to see the coot viciously attack the swan, which is several times its size! The coot then swam rapidly to one of its nests where it stamped up and down repeatedly on the nest material. In total contrast, a moorhen, closely related to the coot, quietly skulked in the reeds.

We then wandered over to the Tree Festival further into Inverleith Park, but the poor quality of the music and the cold wind drove us away. Last year both the weather and the music were better, you can read about it here.