I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time in boats in the past few weeks. If you are a regular reader of these blogs you will know I had a sojourn out to Ramsey and Grassholm recently. Last week I was back on the water, this time across the border in Cambridgeshire. We had booked a couple of days in a canal barge for my father-in-laws birthday.
The starting point was the village of March, which is a few miles east of Peterborough. The hope was that as well as having a jolly good time pootling along the rivers and canals that we would see some pretty good wildlife along the river banks. We weren’t disappointed.
We “set sail” on the Wednesday morning, and even before we had left the village we were swamped by dragonflies. There appeared to be two predominant species, Emperor and Broad Bodied Chasers. They seemed to be attracted to the wake the barge was making, I can only assume we were disturbing insects from the surface of the water which they were then catching and feeding on. Dotted here and there amongst these behemoths of the dragonfly world were dainty and flighty Banded Damselflies, and Common Blue Damselflies. Breeding season was well underway judging by the amount of egg laying we witnessed on the stems of the reeds and lily pads that adorned the canal surfaces and banks.
Soon we left the tarmac and walled surroundings of March and were in the countryside proper. There was nothing either side of us other than fields. The local farmers were indeed making hay whilst the sun was shining! Once again, nature’s ability to exploit our disturbances to their own gain was evident. Sat on top of a telegraph pole in the middle of the field the farmer was working in was the most beautiful female Kestrel. Her eyes focused on the edges of the cornfield, clearly looking for an easy meal as any field mice tried to get away from the commotion going on in its surroundings. A short distance along, a small group of Cormorants were sunbathing, wings in that classic cruciform shape, upon another telegraph pole. We watched one of them fishing ahead of us the next day; it allowed us to draw quite close before deciding that it would rather be a safe distance away.
The river and canal also had all the usual suspects along the way. We encountered two large Mute Swan families, both with at least five signets. There were Moorhens with very young chicks, possibly another indication of how poor the breeding season was this year that they were having broods this late into summer. Occasionally a Coot would dash out from the reed beds across the river in front of us. The reed beds were alive with Reed Warblers and Cetti Warblers, enjoying a last burst of summer before they consider their return migration. We came upon a Great Crested Grebe family with two young chicks. Their Everton Mint colouring on their heads always seems in sharp contrast to the stunning plumage they will adorn later in life. Swallows swooped from the sky to take a drink or too catch some prey; this is another bird that will be leaving us in the coming weeks. The first signs of summer is on the wane are upon us I am afraid.
Breakfast on the second day served up a special treat when a Common Sandpiper landed on the jetty close to where we moored up for the night. They are about to start their autumnal passage, and it is a good time of year to keep an eye on freshwater estuaries for these birds. Their habit of bobbing whilst walking or standing is a good indicator for identification. Another bird renowned for its bobbing action, the Yellow Wagtail was another nice year tick I picked up early on the second morning. Wales is on the Western edge of their territories, and you will have to travel to the border to try and get a glimpse of this graceful member of the Wagtail family before it too returns to Africa for the winter. Be careful not to mistake them for the Grey Wagtail which is resident in Wales, but as the name suggest has a grey upper parts and yellow breast, unlike the Yellow Wagtail which has olive coloured upper parts.
It was a remarkable couple of days being fully immersed in nature, away from the hub-bub of modern life, and the confines of those all-important nature reserves. This was nature watching how it should be done! With a cup of tea in one hand, binoculars around your neck, the sun playing on the water’s surface, and nothing but the gentle chug-a-lug of the boats engine!
I am returning to the Peterborough area this week for my first visit to Bird Fair, I will report how that went in my next blog!
© All Images Anthony Walton