After the Hampton Court Flower Show, we stopped for a drink at the Albany pub across the river and sat on a terrace overlooking the Thames. We noticed a coot’s nest under the ferry jetty and there were several baby coots swimming around, being guarded very carefully by Daddy Coot while Mummy Coot sat on the nest. He didn’t mind taking on a swan that happened to get too close to the nest.
Click to enlarge…you can see one of the babies near the nest.
Diane's 365 photo project 
Great shots! Glad I enlarged. Didn’t notice the other chick before.
There were about 6 chicks – the others climbed into the nest with mum and this one couldn’t seem to manage it and just swam around. Very sweet!
We love this! So freaking cute. 🙂 Didn’t know that coots were quite so feisty (that swan is, what?, 10 times the size of the coot?).
He chased off two swans and several ducks in the few minutes we were watching! SO protective – an excellent dad! And yes, he was quite small in comparison to all the other birds. Ma just sat on the nest and let him get on with it 🙂
That must have been hilarious to watch!