Moorhens building a brooding nest

Yesterday I popped in my local park and I watched three just hatched moorhen chicks with an adult. This pair of moorhens usually nests high in a willow tree, in the main fork of the trunk. I have seen one of the adults several times up the tree in the last few months, but I failed to find the nest. Today I went to the park again to check on the moorhens. I was surprised to find the female brooding the chicks on a new nest by the island (top shot), which wasn't there yesterday. The male was busy bringing her sticks and leaves. He would find a stick or leaf on the ground, run to the shore and swim as fast as he could to the nest and pass the material to her partner. The female was fluffed up and looked double the size of her partner. She was sheltering the young under her wings.
 If I hadn't seen the chicks yesterday I would have assumed the moorhens were nesting anew. Once the chicks leave the nest in the tree for the first time, presumably jumping to the ground or the water, they can't climb up the tree again. These adults are being very resourceful by building a second brooding nest for the chicks to shelter when they are still small and cannot thermoregulate properly.

One of the moorhens with chick yesterday.

The moorhen sits and the chicks get in to be brooded one after another. She pulled a few small twigs towards her as she was brooding them (photo from yesterday).

Male coming in with a stick.

A rotten leaf will do as nest material too.

The moorhen family

Since I first saw the moorhen chicks for the first time, I have only seen one adult with them. The adult apparently decided to build another nest by the island, as the chicks couldn't return to the tree nest. It left the chicks on their own for periods of frantic nest building. The nest is now pretty much done and attracting much attention from the new pair of coots in the park (previous post). I've never seen the chicks on the nest. The number of chicks went from three to two on the 1st of May, but the two left are growing.

One of the chicks had a good look at me.

The young rush to meet their parent for some food.

New moorhen chicks

This morning, a moorhen was on the island with three very young chicks. They were tiny and a bit clumsy, and had some trouble following the adult about. There was only one adult with them, so I wonder if its partner is still incubating, or brooding other chicks on their tree nest. These tiny chicks either jumped from their nest, or climbed down the tree unharmed. They peeped and flapped their tiny wings comically, stretching out to their parent, who will occasionally give them tiny morsels of food, one at a time.
 After a while the parent brooded them on the ground, a bit restless trying to get itself comfortable. The following time I saw them, the adult was trying to arrange some nesting material on a branch by the water, maybe not happy with brooding the chicks on the ground? There were a number of large gulls about, and with just one parent around, I wonder what the future of these chicks holds.

Parent finding food.

Chick begging

Brooding time