PS to last post… when I mentioned the Hanging Gardens of Lock 6, I wasn’t kidding. Here is another of the same species:

There’s a wide variety of flora and fauna about the canals. I can’t pretend to recognise even a tenth of it. But I do know these charming birds!

We had swan neighbours ‘upon-Trent’, and passed several flotillas since. At our current mooring in Sandiacre, we have a large family just up the cut. The parents like to take their six (as far as I can count) cygnets not only a-swimming,  but a-foraging, and a-sunbathing on the towpath. Woe betide any passers-by who come too close or even look askance! There have been frequent eruptions of hissing following by panicked screams as the potential passers flee.

Swans are special birds, and we have been very upset to hear of some perishing on canals, mainly through accident. One of the saddest, though, was a swan and cygnet crushed in a lock down near Bath, presumably through ignorance or carelessness from the boaters. Imagine my horror, in the short trip up from Long Eaton, when the largest swan family we’d seen to date followed us into a lock, merrily pecking at the algae round the gates. Much shrieking ensued, as I tried to shoo them out. Much splashing from Shelden, wielding a boat pole with vigour (at a safe distance). Much arm waving from our locking companion Peter, striding sternly along beside the lock. To our great relief, the parents eventually ushered out their flock and we were able to close the gates. Even so, I kept scanning frantically all the way through, just in case any had got left behind.

There are many duck families too, cruising along smoothly. If they get close enough, you can even see their legs going for it under the surface. They also like to sunbathe,  and invariably find the best spots.

Not clear in this photo, but in great profusion all around, are the bright yellow waterlilies  that I believe (thank you Sir David Attenborough) are called Brandy Bottle lilies. Every time I see them, I can hear his commentary: “their alcoholic scent attracts many insects”…

Can’t speak to the scent, but insects there are a plenty.  I love to watch the bright blue and violet damselflies, swooping and hovering almost too fast to see (and way too fast for my very basic camera skills). Mayflies come and go, moths and butterflies. And our boat has been blessed with numerous small spiders – which to my amazement, don’t alarm me nearly as much as the aussie arachnids I loathe. (Mind you, these are probably a tenth the size of a huntsman, at most).

The most delightful discovery I made, though, was yesterday.  Noticing a moorhen waddling down the opposite bank, I was amused that it carried a large, dead leaf. With great determination it manoeuvred it down and into the water, keeping it aloft and paddling it down several yards. My suspicions were proved correct when it popped up, nudging the leaf carefully into place, on a pile of vegetation I hadn’t even noticed before, screened by weeds and low shrubs. Nesting time is still ticking! Maybe,  before we have to move on,  we just might see the tiny fluffy moorchicks venturing out for their first swim…