Like so many other workplaces at the moment we have our fair share of sickness among the workforce so I have been covering Thames Lock for a couple of days. It’s the only staffed lock we have and it is where the Navigation joins the river Thames at Weybridge. After the luxury of mostly staffed and automated locks on the Thames it means we can break visitors in gently to our historic and very manual locks here on the Wey
While I was investigating a report of a tree that had come off the worse for wear in yesterday’s blustery conditions, I came across some fairly unusual sights. That’s the great thing about the Navigation, you don’t have to go far, even in the relatively populated areas, to find something interesting.
This group of bachelor mallards had a tufted duck tagging along. I don’t get too many of those on my stretch. All my local tufties prefer the lakes on the golf course so he was nice to see.
Mandarin Ducks are similarly a bit of a rarity at Walsham and provide a bit of colour on the dreariest of days.
I’m not sure how to explain this Egyptian goose perching precariously on a wooden post in the wind yesterday but they were obviously pretty content. Like I say, there is always something interesting to see.
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