I am quite certain that nest building is in it's final stages now. Today, both birds, but mostly the female, and for the two hours that I watched, constantly brought dried beech leaves to the nest. Not once did they bring moss or grasses. As I mentioned yesterday, they seem to be quite accepting of my presence nearby, of course, I have tried to keep disturbance to a minimum and the ideal would be absolutely no disturbance whatsoever but it is impossible to get in to the hide without being seen. Today, as I was uncovering the entrance of the hide and being as quick as I could, both birds landed opposite with beech leaves in their beaks, obviously not perceiving me as a threat. The female went in to the nest as I stood there, not in the least bit concerned that I was visible and just opposite. I climbed in amongst the wood pile and started to watch them. The female, after she had contributed her leaves stayed in the nest, leaving the male resting on the rocks beneath. After several minutes, a much longer period than on previous days, she emerged, flopped in to the water and then joined the male who displayed to her with much wing fluttering and dipping. They both went off in different directions and came back after a short while with more leaves. This pattern was repeated with the male from time to time, taking leaves of his own in to the nest. The highlight of today's session was when the female came to an area just to the right of the woodpile and began gathering leaves. Before she flew back over to the nest she gave an amazing photo opportunity.
It's been interesting to be able to record that both birds have taken an equal share in nest building and again contrary to previous information, both birds have carried leaves to line the nest.