Bad Birdwatching

Saturday 24 March

Started the day by carefully packing a load of carrier bags into one bag to take to Sainsbury's where they have a recycling bin for them (but not, that we can see, any other recycling facilities). Then got all togged up to cope with the still bitter East wind, and set off to buy my paper. Got about two thirds of the way there before realising I'd left the carrier bags on the bow of the boat..

Had to queue for quite some time at the paper and fags kiosk to buy my Independent - it's Saturday, so lots of people were making an inefficient donation to charity by buying lottery tickets. Back to the boat to find that Sheila had done all the getting ready to leave jobs like rolling the cratch cover. I know the original working boats travelled with the cratch in place, but modern vinyl cratch covers don't cope with being run into a tree the way the old wood and canvas constructions did, and boat handling is just so much easier if you can get on and off the bow without fighting your way out of the cratch.

Went round to the water point at Fazeley following Hyperion, Braidbar number 67. Thought at first she was going to stop at the services point outside Peel's Wharf, but she went on, and we did so instead. Connected the hose up and started a wash load. We often start a wash load whilst watering - it means that the first fill is replaced straight away, and the engine can be left running at the 1100 rpm it needs to be doing to cope with the heating phase of the cycle.

When the tank was full, we set off again, turning right at the junction to head for the foot of Curdworth Locks by Kingsbury Water Park. As we approached Fazeley Mill Marina, here came Hyperion back again - she must have winded in the marina entrance. As they passed, her steerer asked about mooring at Peel's Wharf, and I explained that it was a service point.

Duly arrived at the foot of Curdworth, winded and moored on the towpath a bit below the locks. We were the only one there at the time, but in the course of the day four other boats turned up - it must be a popular weekend jaunt, and suggests that the Dog and Doublet, the pub above the bottom lock, is worth investigating.

We then had a really good session of bird-watching. It should be explained that we are not twitchers, but what Simon Barnes calls bad bird-watchers, ie we don't take it seriously enough to keep records or travel hundreds of miles to see some rarity, but we do it just for the pleasure of the thing, as opportunity offers.

There are several excellent hides at Kingsbury, overlooking the flooded gravel pits, and in a bonanza session we recorded wigeon, tufted duck, teal, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, shelduck, Canada goose, greylag goose, cormorant, common tern, grebe, coot, moorhen and snipe. I was particularly pleased with the snipe - Sheila spotted them first, but I was the one to identify them, and even managed to get a half decent shot of them with the new camera, despite their brilliant camouflage against the browned reeds behind them.

We then retired to the boat for a well earned cuppa, and to upload the photos to the laptop.

Sunday 25 March

The hour went on over night, so it felt like a lie in even though we probably got up slightly earlier than usual. The forecast had been promising an improvement for a couple of days, and it did indeed seem perhaps a little milder, but the wind was still in the east, and heavy coats were still de rigeur. We were the first away from the mooring, and had an uneventful run back to Fazeley, Sheila on the helm and me pottering below.

Stopped on the shopping mooring again, and did yet another trip to Sainsbury's, remembering the carrier bags this time. By the time we'd done that it was lunchtime according to the new tariff, so we ate. Just as we were thinking of setting off, we heard a parp parp from an approaching boat. It proved not to be Mr Toad, but Mr Andrew Dyke at the helm of Lord Toulouse. He was on his way to the Cutweb rally at the Blue Lias pub by the Stockton flight on the Grand Union. We hadn't seen Andrew for over a year, so there was much shouting of greetings and exchange of good wishes before he revved up his mighty Hudson and shot off again.

Setting off ourselves, the weather did indeed slowly improve, until by the time we reached Whittington, where we had decided to stop for the night, it was seriously Spring like.

The moorings at the Fradley end of the village were deserted, and we spent the afternoon basking in the sensation of Spring having made a start at last. Tomorrow, we'll go on to Alrewas, finally finishing the trip that started at Poynton 15 days ago.