Nature on Your Doorstep Community

A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.

Sign In or Register to join the conversation

Moorhen In the Garden!

The most bizarre bird entered my garden yesterday, a Moorhen!

There are two small ponds in the garden but it was paying no attention to them (OK they were covered in snow and ice) and was more interested in the shed roof and sitting in the poplar tree.

I have never ever seen a water borne bird in the garden before, so why could have been there? Was it lost? Or was it desperate for food?

Anyone else had any incongruous birds in their garden?

Alex

  • Hi ilovebirds,

    I know this is off topic, but I have to say I am so envious of the location of your home!!!!!

    Cheers, Linda.

    See my photos on Flickr

  • Me too!

    The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.

    The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!

  • We really love the positon of our garden, it is great for watching wildlife ! wish we had a better camera though to take close up shots of birds.  Think will have to get the ology on cameras, any sugestions for a small camera that takes good pic's of birds would be really helpful.

    What a wonderful world :))

  • Sounds great!.

    Strangely I noticed a moorhen across my local green wadeing in the snow but the weird thing is, is that the closest water source is over 2 miles away, how and why was it there???

    I had never ever seen a moorhen here before or even anywhere near here.

    I think the snow is making birds desperate for food......

    and I agree maybe the ice is a contributing factor.

  • noticed your post about your moorhen........we've had one in the garden too; has stayed for three days during the thaw and made itself very much at home, even chasing after our resident grey squirrels.. We do have a drainage ditch with a small amount of water in just behind the house but it runs along the perimeter of a coppice and is largely hidden. Hardly the habitat for a moorhen. The nearest moorhens in a more normal environment are about  500 metres away.

    I expect it has wandered far and wide looking for food when its normal water froze over. 

    By far our strangest garden visitor though.....I've got some good photos of it.

    dave

  • S B said:

    any sugestions for a small camera that takes good pic's of birds would be really helpful.

    Don't know if it will be quite small enough but I can highly recommend the Olympus SP590! Had mine since last April and LOVE it!!!

    "All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)

    My photos on Flickr