More moorhens

I’ve had a few cycles along the canal (route 75) recently, and as always, there are moorhens alongside you all the way. One dashed across the towpath in front of my bike, and again I was impressed with the size of their feet - my favourite bird book ‘Birds by Character’ attributes them with ‘toes long but refined’ as well as being ‘elegant and high-stepping’. Their red and yellow beak, according to folklore, comes either from a firefight with an emu, or being burnt in the process of introducing humankind to fire – while the white flashes on their sides are said to seem ‘dashed off by an artist in a hurry’ by a Birdwatch article in the Guardian. I’m no artist, but I spent a few minutes stitching a moorhen when I got home – part of an inkling of an idea I have for the Share element of my Award which is taking much longer to do than I’d thought! But which the moorhens have put slowly back in motion… :)