Coots on the Kennet

For the past few weeks the coots on the River Kennet have been building the piles of sticks in the river that form their nests. In particular  the coot nesting under the footbridge over Gunter's Brook (near the Queen's Road multi-story car park) has been sitting on its nest every time I have walked past in the last week, and my guess is that it is already sitting on eggs which will hatch out soon.

This morning I noticed a particularly large pile of sticks, with a swan asleep on it, in the Kennet branch near Home Base.  A coot carefully climbed up the side of the nest, presumably with the intention of stealing some sticks for its own nest, but the swan woke, poked its beak at the coot, and the latter retreated back into the water.