Wildlife

Although it is still very cold and the canal is frozen every morning when we get up, there is a real feel of spring in the air and we have had some lovely bright, fresh days.

I always know we have turned the corner from those dark, depressing winter days when I hear the first song thrush. It's not much of a song at the moment, it's all a bit croaky as he practises his scales ready for a full recital in a couple of months time, but that performance is well worth waiting for!

I took Jack for a walk a few days ago in my ongoing pursuit of wood and the male mallards on the canal are starting to look extremely handsome as their plumage becomes bright and gleaming ready to attract the females. The sap is definitely rising!

We have experienced some amazing wildlife sightings recently, although since we put up the Kingfisher stick there has been no sign of it. However yesterday I was cooking tea and just happened to look out of the kitchen window as an otter surfaced under the jetty and started munching on a fish he had caught. He was no more than 3 feet from me and I shouted to Phil who also managed to see him before he dived and swam away. What was really sensational about it was that the sun was setting and there was a beautiful red light on the canal. The otter was silhouetted  against a really gorgeous backdrop with the sun a ball of red fire in the sky. If I had had the camera handy I think it would probably have been an award winning picture!! As usual though I never seem to have it there when I need it.

Here are some of the stunning sunsets we have had recently:



 I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

There seems to be a lot of tree felling going on at the moment and I often come across wood by chance! Yesterday I was at a house near the power station giving a one off consultation lesson and afterwards Phil and I decided to take the opportunity to have a short bird watching walk while we were there, as the bird life is usually interesting so near the estuary. We came across piles of gorse and willow which had been cut into manageable logs, so having been given the go ahead by the local wildlife ranger to take some home, we threw a few logs into the back of the car and I'm now pleased to say that the wood store is finally full again:

We won't be able to use any of this wood until next year as it will take months to season and dry out, especially the willow which is a very wet wood. We are particularly looking forward to burning the gorse, as it apparently burns very hot so we will get a cracking heat from it.

I have been really busy in the last few weeks and have an exceptionally busy period coming up, with lots of new music to learn because I'm playing the piano for kids who are taking their exams. I'm also working away soon for a couple of weeks, so posts will probably be few and far between, but I will try and post more frequently than I have been, even if it's very short snippets of boating life.

We are rapidly moving towards residential status and there is going to be a lot of work done on the Marina to improve the facilities, so I will be posting about progress on that front. From April we will be paying more for our mooring as a result, but it will be worth it to be legitimate (we are not supposed to live on our boats here).

I will keep you posted ....

Al :)