The moorhen, also known as the marsh hen, is a medium-sized waterbird closely related to the coot. It is a common sight in areas with water, such as lakes, ponds, rivers, and urban parks. In times of food scarcity or to reduce the size of a large brood, moorhens may kill their own chicks by violently shaking them and pushing them underwater to drown.
Breeding birds: 270,000 pairs
Wintering birds: 330,000
Family: Rails, Gallinules, And Coots
The adult moorhen has predominantly blue-black plumage, with the back and upperwings showing a dark brown wash. A distinctive white stripe runs along the flanks, and the lateral undertail coverts are bright white.
On the head, the bill is red with a yellow tip, which extends upwards into a red frontal plate on the forehead. The eyes are dark red, the upper legs are bright orange, and the lower legs and feet are a striking greenish-yellow. Male and female moorhens look similar, although the male is slightly larger.
Juvenile moorhens are browner in appearance, with a paler belly and throat. The streaks on their flanks are dull white, and their bill and legs are darker than those of the adults.
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The moorhen breeds between mid-March and mid-May, sometimes nesting in small colonies and usually producing three to four broods per season. It is mostly monogamous and forms pair bonds for the breeding season. The nest is typically located in shallow water, anchored with vegetation, on floating plant matter, or on the ground in low shrubs. Both male and female contribute to building the nest, which is a wide, shallow cup constructed from dead plant material, twigs, coarse stems, and lined with softer grasses and leaves.
Moorhens lay 6–10 smooth, glossy, greyish-white eggs marked with reddish-brown or olive speckles. Both parents share incubation duties over a period of 18–21 days. Chicks are precocial, hatching covered in black down, with a red bill tipped with black. They are fed by both parents, until they leave the nest at 2–3 days and begin feeding themselves. They fledge 42–49 days after hatching and reach sexual maturity at one year.
Young moorhens from earlier broods often assist their parents in raising subsequent broods.
Moorhens are omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of foods. Their diet includes berries, seeds, grasses, roots, and aquatic plants, which they forage by diving. They also consume snails, worms, crustaceans, grasshoppers, insects, algae, and tadpoles, which they picky from the water’s surface or by dabbling.
Occasionally, they eat the eggs of other birds.
Moorhens can be found by ponds, lake or stream. They live in towns and cities as well as the countryside
They inhabit all of the UK but are scarce in northern Scotland and the uplands of Wales.
Moorhens have long toes that enable them to walk on soft mud and floating vegetation, which can give the impression that they are walking on water.
