Kicking Coots

A quick walk at Amwell Nature Reserve this afternoon before the weekly shop. I stood for a while at the Bittern Pool viewpoint as I'd seen on Twitter that one has been spotted displaying. I scoured the newly cut 'bittern bays' with my long lens to no avail. All I got was a group of quarreling coots. They lean back and attack each other with their feet.

In the James Hide I watched a moorhen catch a small fish and then it seemed not to know what to do next. It took its catch ashore but that attracted the attention of the other moorhens so it sallied forth across the pool with the fish in its beak. It eventually managed to swallow it. This reminded me of the case reported in the paper today of a fisherman from Bournemouth who, when jokingly pretending to kiss a Dover sole which he had caught, ended up with the 14cm long fish lodged deep in his throat. He went into cardiac arrest and was miraculously saved by paramedics who carried out CPR and fished the creature out of his gullet with special forceps.

Today's poem is Nuage Argente by Selima Hill. I can't find a link to it. It's a rant about being betrayed by her man. I give you this instead. I like the piglet and trough bit. :) https://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/please-can-i-have-man