River Of No Return

Fascinating action on the river this morning when one of Popeye and Penny's daughters returned to the river with a mate. I suspect they were looking for a nesting site, and where better than the place you were born !

Initially Popeye sat beside Penny at the nest and watched the two approaching the bailey bridge. The new male was reluctant to come any further, but the daughter had no inhibitions and headed up towards the island.

Popeye then decided to act, and proceeded to chase his daughter away.

 However she would not be moved so he then focused his attention on her mate and chased him off. Meanwhile the Daughter swam up to the nest site and Penny's wings went up while sitting on the eggs. The daughter walked up beside the nest and then back down to the river. Popeye returned, and walked up to the nest allowing Penny to get off and into the river to chase the daughter off ! 

 So it seems that Popeye was happy to chase away the incoming male, but Penny was given the job of chasing her daughter away ! Incredibly the daughter is Penny's double and has the same markings along the bill line. 

Maybe Popeye was unable to chase away the daughter because of her likeness to Penny ! It was noticeable that Popeye is still up to the task of heavy duty flying and defensive aggression. For the youngsters, it is still the River of no return, Pics show sequence of events.