It’s called the ‘common’ moorhen and it is.  You will often see it on lakes, ponds or slow rivers or canals and we rarely give it a second glance.  Possibly we overlook them because they are quite secretive and skulk at the edge of dense vegetation and will slip away like a black shadow if you approach them though the bright bill often gives them away.  

I’ve been trying t give our common birds a bit more attention so here are a couple of images taken recently of one moorhen who was willing to come out of the shadows for a few fleeting minutes in the sunlight that gave its dense black plumage some fine definition and who was willing to show off it’s amazing feet that allow it to spread its weight across floating vegetation.