Cootling: doting parents

This picture is all about the ripples...

This cootling has no siblings: its two parents race around fetching food and chasing away ducks, geese, swans, herons, dogs, and sometimes even humans. I cannot tire of it: their singular devotion is mesmeric. The cootling is always chaperoned; it scoots about screaming to itself (like they do...) and flitting from one parent to the other.
Coots are such funny creatures: they are so unfeasibly aggressive (especially if you happen to be a moorhen) and yet are so wonderfully caring. Oh, and of course their feet are beyond ridiculous...