Sensible time to do something silly

By any standards it has been a weird summer. I managed to fracture my ankle and have been away from the river for much of the most extreme weather but I’m back now.

If I had to choose a time to be out of commission, a heatwave is as good a time as I could plan. The growth rate of all the vegetation has slowed to a crawl and the weirs are as quiet as I’ve known them in over 11 years. That’s not to say there hasn’t been anything to do, as my number one volunteer and colleagues who have been taking up my slack will attest.

Even the moles have been kind. Following a (largely) successful banishment they have been deterred from the lock sides in favour of the scrub at the edge of the golf course. They waited for me to be nearly back on my feet for their most recent incursion so I only have a few days of their work to tidy up.

Just to prove I am back on my 2 feet

If the forecasts are anything to go by it might be a good thing I have had time to rest and put my feet up for a few weeks. Either way, now I’m back there are plenty of jobs with my name on.

Moths in a box

We used to run our moth box pretty regularly to see what was visiting the garden and the towpath but I must admit we’ve got a little out of the habit. With this weekend being part of the annual moth night surveys we dusted off the trap and it was well worth it. Not a record haul but a couple of species we hadn’t caught here before and sone dramatic visitors.

Blood vein hiding in the grass

White Ermine, 1 of 10 to visit

Poplar Hawk Moth, despite its dramatic size and looks they are pretty good at disappearing in the underside of tree leaves

All in all we we logged 46 individual macro moths if 18 different species this morning to add our bit of data to the national records and thousands of participants over the last few nights.

No mow May and go mow May

It’s been the perfect weather for growing. Everything seems to be doing its absolute best to grow, flower and take over the river if it can. While the aims of no mow May might be very admirable, in order to keep the towpaths wide enough for bikes, walkers and dogs to share and places for boats to moor, we don’t have the luxury of a month off.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy trying to keep up. I have had some mechanical issues that have slowed me down further but not keeping up is not an option. That doesn’t mean we can’t do our bit and leave some of the areas for wild flowers. I would never have the heart to cut down these bluebells on my mooring line. I personally love the traditional name of Cuckoos Boots. As you can see, there is still plenty of room for everybody to get to their boats, they just have something prettier to look at on the way.

The lock sides may need to be kept tidy but there is always room for a bit of wild. The damselflies in particular seem to like the hemlock water dropwort to sun themselves around the lock at Walsham. I am more than happy to oblige.

Waiting for some cygnets and a knock on the door

This year’s local potential swan parents are sitting well and we are hopeful of cygnets soon. Last year they managed to rear 3 to almost adulthood although they lost 2 fairly late and only one made it through to adulthood. Hopefully they have or soon will find a mate of their own.

I have recently invested in some floating duck and swan pellets. It’s a little more convenient than defrosting and sharing all my frozen sweetcorn and petits pois. They seem to be a hit.

I fed them on the backwater behind the house earlier. A couple of hours later one of them turned up on the towpath at my back gate. It’s the first time I’ve seen them there. They clearly know where I live!

When we lived on the boat the local swans knew which residents were the early birds, if you’ll pardon the pun, and knocked on the sides of the boats in order requesting breakfast. My husband always called them the mafia, it did feel like they were demanding food with menaces. The geese and ducks always asked much more politely. With that in mind, I am convinced it won’t be long until they are pecking on the door for a snack. If they train the youngsters I think this might be a good few years worth of trouble I’ve made for us. I don’t thing 5 litres of pellets is going to be enough! Well, it’s good to keep in with the neighbours.

Interesting feathery faces

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

Thames Lock looking smart in its new pre-Easter paint

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.

(Almost) Mole-free mowing

I was determined that by the time I was mowing in earnest I would have done everything I could to persuade the moles to stop peppering my lock sides with molehills every day. Today was that day. I am very, very glad to report that on the whole, my efforts have been rewarded. After some completely non-scientific trial and error and some internet research I landed on what has so far been a successful mixture. The castor oil, water, washing up liquid and peppermint oil recipe seems to have done the trick. The peppermint soaked cotton wool balls in the holes seem to have helped too.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of moles. They are much maligned but stunningly beautiful up close and I never wanted to eradicate the beasties. But thankfully they seem to have been persuaded that there are better places to eat, live and dig. Woohoo. Those who were happily patrolling the offside bank have found respite in the brambles and so far have stayed there where their digging doesn’t bother anyone.

The family on the bank closest to the cottage have been more persistent. The geography here is less forgiving and their favourite place on the little promontory has few escape routes. The only place they really have to go is my garden, where they are obviously very welcome. Consequently I had a few molehills to clear on this side before I got the mower out but it is still dramatically better than it has been. I am confident that in time they will all relocate and cause chaos, havoc and mess in my garden. Here’s hoping.

Hellos and goodbyes

Every year I track the changes in the seasons by filling in a bio time log diary. Yesterday I spotted my 1st cuckoo flower (trampled, possibly by me) and 2nd, thankfully not trampled. That marks a joint earliest with my spot in 2014 on the same day. There were also plenty of brimstones on the wing. The first butterflies of the year of my youth are now beaten out of the gate by those who are able to survive the winter and emerge from hibernation but it doesn’t feel like spring to me before they get here.

My favourite bird has been the lapwing for as long as I can remember. Another sign of my age is that I grew up when large flocks in the winter and spring arable fields were a very common sight. Their decline was dramatic but I am happy to say they seem to have been doing better over the last few years. I have been desperate to have them on my patch since I started here nearly 11 years ago and yesterday I got my wish. It was only a pair but I know we have good numbers in pockets along the navigation so perhaps more of them will choose to make Walsham home over the coming season and I may have my 1st Walsham born chicks for many years.

On a sad note we lost one of my favourite trees to time and gravity. It has been on the lean as long as I’ve known it and I’m sure some years before we met but has until now has managed to stay upright enough to just require the odd limb trimming. To keep things safe for those navigating it had to go. I was pleased that due to the width on the bend we were able to keep a duck perch and an upright and still open up the navigation so part of it at least has a little longer yet.

I know it doesn’t look like it from this angle but even when it was down boats could get through

Easier now with the help of Laura and Chris

Spring is in the air

I’ve been keeping an eye and ear open for the signs of the changing seasons and the snowdrops and catkins have not disappointed. This unassuming little lesser celandine might be a little forlorn but it’s one of the first ones to break ground this year and a sign of warmer things to come.

Many of the most familiar species that herald spring are becoming less frequent and I’m hoping to hear a male cuckoo calling soon. That would mean, if a female is impressed by his song, there could be another generation on the way soon and a new clutch of eggs sneaked into the nests of unsuspecting surrogate parents.

It was a busy winter down by the river and spring has not offered any let up. Just as the grass really starts to take off there are lock beams and lock sides to paint to prepare for the expected Easter increase in boat traffic. It’s unfortunate that the best weather for painting outdoors in the best weather for messing about on boats. We do our best to avoid painting at the most inconvenient times but if the spring only gives us a small window of opportunity to get things done, we have to take it. Some years I’m painting in shorts, some years in a woolly hat. Either way, busy as it is, it’s one of my favourite parts of the year. Not so much the scraping and sanding but more the feeling you get carrying out a task you know has been done for hundreds of years before me and hopefully will for many generations after I’ve hung up my paintbrushes. 

New Year, new resolve

I’d resigned myself to another year of the viscous circle of clearing up after moles, cutting grass and tidying up after moles again. I decided to spend a little time looking up ways to, hopefully, persuade them they might like to look elsewhere for their worm-chasing tunnelling needs.

The most common repellent methods that look simple enough to make seem to include castor oil, water and washing up liquid. I decided to give it a go and today I deployed the concoction for the first time. I added some peppermint oil for good measure as that was another recommendation. Now my lock sides at Walsham are molehill free (for now), grass seeded and minty fresh.

I do it far more in hope than expectation but at this point I’m willing to give it a go. Cross your fingers for me.

Merry Christmas

Wherever you are we wish you a very merry Christmas. I just thought I’d share my Christmassy view with you. No wildlife this time just a little festive cheer and weirdness. That pretty sums up the season for me.