In the green Black Country

MANY will know what it’s like to have a hulking teenager always under your feet, making everywhere a mess and eating you out of house and home, so spare some sympathy for this Coot (Fulica atra) with its chick.

The nest in West Smethwick Park was snapped by Bugle reader Dave Hanson, who says, “It looks quite big for a chick! There were two of them sitting under a weeping willow tree branches keeping cool, and out of sight.”

Coots lay between six and ten eggs in their bulky nests, which they tend to hide in vegetation. The eggs hatch after 21-24 days and the chicks are relatively mature and soon leave the nest.the broods are then often split in two between the mother and father, who continue to care for them. Many chicks die within the first 10 days, depending on the availability of food and the parents will often kill off the weakest. The chicks can generally feed themselves after 30 days and fledge around 60 days. The RSPB estimate there are 31,000 breeding pairs in the UK.