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16 October 2014

Hermit Life


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Moorhens and Geese

I have a family of wild moorhens in the garden. There`s always a bundle of them, every year, and in winter they come in to join in with the geese, hens and ducks as we chuck the barley down for them to eat.
Their numbers increase each year..the first year I noticed them there were around half a dozen...this year, there`s eleven!
The come into the garden from the surrounding fields, and as I`m usually up early I watch their arrival, though it`s getting harder to see with the darker mornings.
Down one side of the garden there`s a stone dyke, a wall for non Scots, which stretches down the track a bit and faces the pond.
And they nest down that way overnight...so that in the morning you can watch them, like roadrunners, dash across the track and in among the iris rushes to get to the water.
Then after their morning ablutions they dash back across the track...and follow the same path each time, as if it`s laid out like any double tracked tarmac road, only invisible to us two-foots...and they follow the curve of the stone dyke and cut through the wire fence and run through the rose hedge, now bare and dry-twigged, into the garden.
So there they are, this family of moorhens, wee black birds with red beaks and struts like hens, in my garden, a couple of feet away from the window, looking up at me when I stand there and give them a wee wave...as y`do..well, as I do...
and they don`t run away now like they did when they first started coming in to steal the barley..
and the geese don`t chase them away any more because I watched this happen one day, you see, and they have their own tactics for dealing with it...
My geese are well organised...there`s the big gander, the boss, like the Godfather of the Mafia he is, and keeps tight control over the other gander and the females.
And they take turns to stand guard, one of them will stay awake whilst the others nap or feed...usually the ones at the bottom of the pecking order do the most guard duty.
So one day they`d chased they moorhens out of the garden away from the grain...they try to do this too with the hens and ducks but just get ignored, you see....they just run just out of reach then sneak back in behind the geese...
but the moorhens got chased off that day, and I watched them hover around just outside the field fence, watching...
and the geese, fed and happy, settled down to sleep, with the one goose standing guard....
except, she didn`t, and dozed off, standing on one leg, head drooping in the sunshine...
so in snuck the moorhens agains, quick and quiet, and set to with the remains of the grain, and the duty goose woke, saw them and dashed toward them to drive them off.
Only they didn`t..they`d obviously been watching the hens and ducks...so dashed just out of her reach, and then as she turned back toward the grain, eating it possessively even though she was full already, they just strutted in close behind her and picked up what she missed.
And since then, they`ve been here every day.
They share the grain of my domestic birds, they share their drinking water, and they even sleep alongside the geese and hens now....

They are comical wee birds and I could spend hours watching them, if I didn`t have to work!
And the geese seem to have become, over time, more tolerant, either that or lazier....

Posted on Hermit Life at 11:10

Comments

Did you know that the moorhen was one of the jacobite names given to Bonnie Prince Charlie in the days when even the mention of him could have you in trouble with the authorities?

Hyper-Borean from Over the Water


Is there a goosey 'head of the harem' as well as a Head Gander, Hermit? Or is this a properly traditional family...where the man reigns supreme...I know I'm going to be made to regret this...

Flying Cat from sailing close to wind


You are so lucky! We get the ocassional moorhen but the cats terrorize the poor things.

Michelle Therese from Mooo!


Now I shall have to go look moorhens up in my bird book, because I've never seen them before ...! I *love* watching the pecking order in action wherever possible - I get hooded crows and flocks of pigeons interacting with my duck family, and I think, in time, they just get *lazier*, not more tolerant ...! IMHO FC, in the Water Fowl world, the male seems to reign supreme, due to virtue of being bigger, pecking harder, making more noise and generally making his presence felt more than everyone else, would you agree Hermit? ...!

soaplady from observes pecking order whenever time permits ...


Aye, there`s a goose matriarch, we had, a few years back, a wild grey goose join the flock..just went out one morning to feed them and there she was..been here ever since. But the poor thing is bottom of the pecking order so does the most guard duty and eggsits at nesting time whilst the `real` mums get off to feed. She`s working her way up the line tho ;-) And ye ken fine that women are the REAL rulers of the family FC....we just LET the men think they are...;-)

Hermit from Sanday


I really enjoyed the blog about the moorhens and the geese. It was not until you started to describe the moorhen that I realized that you were describing what we call a watterhen in Orkney. A moorhen, or meurhen, is a "grouse" in English. Whatever the bird, it is interesting to see how wild birds will do to ensure a regular supply of food.

Intrigued from Ower the Watter i' the Aist


Great blog, Hermit. Moorhens have surprisingly long legs and big feet, don't they? You don't notice them when they are in the water.

Jill from EK


Parental units had a bizarre moment in a National Park downunder, when a very ordinary homely-like moorhen strutted accross the path in front of them. The things we imported to the colonies!

Flying Cat from a matriarchy (she likes to think!)


I never heard of louder nonsense than FC's suggestion that in the family the man reigns supreme. Is that what happens with your bipeds, old cat? In my family, I am bossed around by females (bipeds, quadrupeds and, who knows, perhaps even centipedes). I blame it all on Adam: why on earth did he not keep his ribs to himself? In return what did he get? An apple, a sour Granny Smith, doubtless! - serves him right too.

mjc from NM,USA


Adam? Adam who? Might`ve kenned it wid be a man`s fault....

hermit from sanday


We do have Moorhens in England - grouse are something different. Moorhens are the ones that look a bit like coots but have the red bit on their beaks.

alix from west midlands


I obviously did not make myself clear on the dialectic difference of the English Moorhen and the Orcadian Moorhen (pronounced Muirhen, or Meurhen). In Orkney, a Grouse is called a Meurhen. In Orkney, a Moorhen is called a Watterhen. A minor point really, as the dialect words for flora and fauna have all but vanished. To be realistic, the old dialect will be completely gone within a generation. A strange thing for me, coming home from abroad, and hardly anyone in Orkney can understand what I say!

Misunderstood from Ower the Watter i' the Aist


intrigued: ok i'm no longer living in bonnie scotland but a moorhen is not a"grouse" even i know that!! talking of "game" i had two beautiful pheasants in the garden yesterday,but he time i opened the french 'ha ha no pun intended) with the camera in hans they just flew off!s**s

carol from terrified by the high winds


I think misunderstood is still suffering. His/her point is not that moorhens are moorhens or not but that the Orkney dialect name is Waterhen and equally the dialect name for the grouse is Meurhen. I agree that it is sad that dialect names are dying out. Long live Maalies, Scutie Alans, Tammie Norries, Tysties and all the rest.

Hyper-Borean from Understanding


Thank you, Hyper-Borean.

Releived from Ower the Watter i' the Aist




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