There is a lot of moorhen activity on the nature reserve, especially in the Winterbourne Stream and Leighside Pond in the woodland.
Last year we were able to follow the daily life of a moorhen family through ditch cam we observed them from tiny newly hatched fluffy chicks until they were old enough to look after themselves. Unfortunately, this year, we have not had moorhens nesting near enough to the cameras to see this.
However there have been many nests around the reserve, some that have been successful, others that have been abandoned. Although they have not shown up on the live cams, many schools had the chance to see the moorhen chicks as they explored the reserve in their second visit to us.
Moorhen often nest twice a year and we are seeing very young chicks being cared for by their parents and also much older independent chicks from earlier in the year. The very young moorhen chicks are mainly seen up the far end of the Winterbourne Stream where is more vegetation on the river bank to hide, but I have frequently seen the older chicks venture down to the Winterbourne cam.
The following video clip was recorded by hand held camera and show some highlights of the moorhen families on the nature reserve, from the Leighside Pond, Heart of Reeds and Winterbourne Stream.
