There are dozens of pairs of nesting Moorhens at Martinmere and watching them nest building is totally fascinating. Moorhens are both totally dedicated to rearing their brood and they take equal roles in nest building, incubating eggs and in feeding the young. Nest designs and structures can be varied. As in the first photo they can be elaborate structures, intricately woven, or at the other extreme they can be basic, shallow twiggy nests, barely lined.

Nesting sites can vary enormously too. Their favoured place is on a floating raft on water but they also nest on tree stumps and in reed beds. At Martinmere they can also nest in very unsuitable places such as next to a path or on a main bridge where they are in danger from being stood on. Clutch sizes can be as large as 16 but are usually between 4 and 6. Incubation lasts for approx 22 days.