More cute chicks...

Having enjoyed watching the coot chicks last Sunday, I went back to Killingworth Lake this morning with my Editor: she wanted to see them as well, and I was interested to see how they were progressing. I'd planned to blip them again, but although they were now all swimming on the water, they'd not otherwise changed much yet. (We counted 7 this morning - last week I only saw 5, so either the other 2 were hiding under Mum's wings all the time I was there, or they'd not hatched by then.)

It was a nice surprise to see that there were more little ones to watch this week. A crested grebe chick was having a long ride on Mum's back: in the main blip she's giving it a feather (?why - I don't know) and in the first extra you can see them again. At one stage she wriggled the chick off, but it soon insisted on climbing back on again! (Who would have kids, eh?!) The swans also have a brood of little cygnets so I've included a shot of them too, in the extras.

They're best viewed large.

I think I may well be back there once a week to chronicle the development of all these little ones.