Storms and floods

I arrived back from the antipodes just before Christmas to unprecedented bad weather. Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank had already wreaked terrible damage on homes near to us. One village was completely cut off for several days, after the river which flowed through it burst its banks and flooded all access roads. Our village was without power for two days and the city centre was inaccessible. There was some shortage food because the Supermarkets near us were either closed, due to being flooded, or because they had run out of food and supplies couldn't get through.

We felt so sorry for those people who have temporarily lost their homes. We realise how lucky we are, since living on a boat is probably the best place to be at the moment. As the canal has risen all we have had to do is to slacken the mooring ropes, to prevent the boat from tilting. We were also not really affected by the loss of electricity, as we lived off our batteries for a few days and recharged them by running the engine.

However, not all boat owners were unscathed by the situation. We are reasonably safe in the Marina because we are moored to solid jetties, but those on the towpath were not so fortunate, as the force of the water pulled out their mooring pins and when the water went down, this was the scene in a number of places along the canal network:

I feel so sorry for this boat owner whose boat was completely submerged

I was also shocked to see pictures of our city centre. Here is a street that I often drive down, completely submerged.

I was saddened to go into town last weekend in the aftermath of the floods to see so many shops near to the river, shut due to flood damage.

I just hope that 2016 is a better year weather wise and that these devastating scenes do not reappear next Christmas.

On to more positive matters now. The Otter is a regular visiter around the boats, usually early evening and in the early hours of the morning. I have had to take the wild life camera down, due to rising water levels threatening to swamp it and high winds which could have damaged it. However, I have a new tactic. I was talking to a fisherman who was fishing on the canal side when I went for a walk the other day and he told me where the Otter's Holt is. I am planning to take a chair down and sit opposite it for as many hours as are neccessary, in the hope of getting a picture. I plan to do that over the next few days, so watch this space.

We have some Goosander who are feeding on the canal and I did manage to get some pictures of them, but because they are wild ducks, they never let me near enough to get a decent picture before taking flight. I have also seen a Kingfisher fishing regularly up by our locks, but again I can never get close enough. I plan to go and sit quietly up there one day to see if I can catch a picture. I have decided that that really is the only way to do it.

While I was overseas I managed to get a few serendipitous pictures of some lovely birds which I thought I would share. Here they are:

White Throated Kingfisher

Bell Bird

Red Billed Gull

Kereru

Tui

Variable Oyster Catcher

I now have a break from work, until I get my schedule for the coming year (if I get any work!). I am self employed so rely on being invited to undertake work by the company I am contracted to, but there are no guarantees.

Until I get any work I will at least have the time to post more frequently.

It just leaves me to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Al :)