counting coots

Yep, that is the view of the shopping trolley Coot nest from Friday.  Empty, no eggs or chicks visible but the adults were still knocking about (as they always are).  The nest really is enormous now, and is likely to last the winter to leave a much better base for earlier success next year. 

I would think that this is the last time that I will set eyes on this (eventually painful) scene for two reasons.  Firstly is that there is little point in going this far up the Wandle if the Coots are not nesting, and secondly the Coots are not nesting.

It has been quite a rollercoaster watching these bloody birds over the last few years, and to a certain extent they have come to represent the the blog itself (although the image that adorned the header for quite some time was from a bird that lives some 8 miles away), although qualifying that statement might be a bit tricky to be honest.  What I do know however, is that the day that I found that they had actually produced young was as high as the day was low when I found that they had all gone to the big shopping trolley in the sky.  Which might tell you something.

Anyway that's enough navel-picking-shoe-gazing-introspective nonsense for one day.  Yes I'll miss them but they bollocked my nut in for most of each year, see ya!