Hedgerow Jottings: Kingfisher at Boggs Lock

My first Kingfisher photo - at last!

Morning All

It's been a race against the weather this week, chugging along under lowering skies and mooring up when we feel the first spit of rain. We've been sitting out the worst of the showers with a good book and a mug of tea and although it's June, Carl the Fire-starter has lived up to his name and kept us warm during the chilly evenings.

We do like an early start in the summertime, especially when the sun is shining and we have the water to ourselves – well, just us and the ducks! We slip along past the holiday boats, inspecting their slapdash mooring lines and trying not to disturb their still slumbering crews. We're heading for the Shroppie and we know this route well – from the sharp bend as you leave Rugeley, the aqueduct over the river Trent, the spot where we tried to turn once and got stuck, the busy junction at Great Hayward and the splendid views across Tixall Wide - we never get bored with travelling through familiar places and it's been a joy to slip along past Acton Trussell and by the Stafford Boat Club to moor once again in Penkridge for the Wednesday market and the delights of Jasper's Bakery.

The day we left Penkridge, we found a queue of four boats ahead of us at Otherton Lock - unusual so early in the day. I went up with my windlass to lend a hand and had a very sociable time chatting to the other lock-wheelers and being introduced to their dogs. Tricky mooched around at my heels, ignoring the overtures of an elderly one-eyed Labrador and hardly blinking when a large brown rat ran across the grass, jumped into the water and swam away. Considering that we spend so much time on the water, we rarely see rats and certainly not one doing the backstroke and thumbing his nose at our two dogs. Really Tricky - you're supposed to be a ratting dog!!

We only got through three locks, arriving at Bogs Lock just as most people were setting off. The sunny spot was empty, so we moored up and Carl donned his 'Painting' trousers again – Carl has found more rust and it must be banished! The forecast was good, breezy but dry so the Battle of the Gas Locker commenced. For those of you who are not familiar with boating terminology - the gas locker is situated in the very front of the boat, in the pointy bit, and is accessed through a square hatch that is just large enough for a 13kg gas bottle to fit through. Luckily, Carl isn't much wider than a gas cylinder and can squeeze himself right inside – very handy for doing the preparation work. Any boater will tell you that its completely against the rules to keep anything in the gas locker, except the gas bottles, so it didn't take Carl long to clear everything out and make a start. (I will insert a 'long-nosed Pinocchio' emoji and a 'raised eyebrow emoji' here and leave you to draw you own conclusions) I knew the rust was bad when I saw him going in with a hammer and chisel and much thundering and clanging rang through the boat. Carl finally emerged with a carrier bag full of bits of old iron that used to be the gas locker floor. Apparently, some boaters have hit water during this operation but Carl reassures me that ours is nowhere near that bad. I sat out on the tow-path later, crocheting in the sunshine and wishing I could have a cup of tea but the gas bottles were disconnected and it didn't look like they were going back in anytime soon. It was late afternoon before Carl was ready to put the paint on and just as he took the lid off the paint pot, in rolled the clouds and big fat raindrops splashed down. How very annoying! Being English, we thought we'd do what any self respecting Brit does in a crisis and brew up. We struck up the engine and used the electric kettle – now why didn't I think of that before! The work is complete, the gas bottles are back in their locker and that's another job ticked off Captain Carl's long list of 'Boaty Jobs'.

It has long been my ambition to capture my very own kingfisher photograph and I've tried several times over the years but not yet managed it. They fly so fast that I've only managed a blurry blob or a picture of the place it just left. We've seen several Kingfishers this week; the usual streak of brilliant blue flashing across the water and gone before I could even think 'Camera' never mind take a picture. Then I got lucky! Carl was still busy with the gas locker and the rain had cleared so I set off with Tricky and my camera, to see what I could find to photograph. I saw a blackbird sitting on a metal gate and clicked a shot- it wasn't very good. Then I framed a pretty scenic shot of the water with the lock gates in the foreground - not bad. A flash of blue caught my eye and I saw a Kingfisher alight on a branch and stay still for long enough for me to get my camera up and press the shutter. I walked along, clicking and zooming, getting closer and closer until I was just across the width of the canal from it. I stopped clicking and just stood watching until he zipped off and was lost to me. I ran back to the boat to download the photos and gloat over my very first Kingfisher photo. It's never going to make the Springwatch calendar but I'm very happy with it.

Take your waterproofs if you're going out this week, I think it's going to be really wet. We're heading for the Shroppie and the delights of Audlem and Nantwich. I'm looking forward to that.

Love from
The Floating Chandlers

Ps We managed to capture 3 'birds' of a very different kind today - a Hurricane and two Spitfires circled us several times as they practiced their formation flying. It brought everyone out of their boats, to stare up into the sky in wonder . What a spectacle!