A blue sky day kayaking on the flashes and thoughts of the seasons ahead

A few weeks ago during a period of no rain with lots of sun and the water on the flashes was getting very low and I had many great days kayaking and there was lots around from  flocks of Lapwings flying over and feeding on the waters edge.

There were young swallows learning how to fly off the canal bridge railings and as the sky was blue it gave a great background from being in a kayak underneath them. Now they are gathering large groups ready to fly off to Africa this got me thinking about what the flashes will be like in the coming months as I have never kayaked in the Autumn and winter on the flashes and after looking through old photographs of the reed beds dying back which will come in handy to build and get the floating rafts in place ready for when the reeds regrow in spring 2012 and then hide them from sight providing water birds from Coots to Swans a safe place to build a nest.

As I have been kayaking around the flashes a few times a week for the past few months we now have a few companions consisting of a Mute Swan and 3 female Mallards which follow behind the kayak forming a very unusual flock but the other day the Mute Swan came right up to my kayak and began calling with its grumbles and luckily I had abit of bread left from the minnow trap and my DSLR with me It felt like it was posing and keeping perfectly still when I had my camera on it and in return I gave them all some bread and since then if there around they soon come over to say hello and get some bread if there lucky.

Staring contest

Regarding the winter kayaking as long as the flashes isnt as frozen as in the video below it should be fine as long the ice is thin.
Thanks for reading


Mike