A new normal for Nature

So as lockdown ended I returned to my favorite passion on the river on my journey with my kayak on my back I found mess and disturbance in wild places where people normally never tread from campfires with rubbish to new biking paths ripped through bluebell forests. 

As the lockdown madness ends hopefully people will leave my local wild places and return to places further afield. The river was quite busy with old and young swimming and sunbathing in the river and on the banks so the nesting water birds are being very secretive.  I always have a rest on the end of my kayaking trip and park up on a sandbank to soak up some sun have a rest and see what birdlife shows up. I've been watching a pair of Little-ringed plovers hopefully breeding and nesting on the low sandbank but with disturnbance to be high on the sunny days and on the wet day's risk of flooding I don't see much but we shall see and I will update in the future.

 Hanky panky on the sand bank

 I had a few wild swims in the river on the hotter days on my walks home from work made the pressures of working in retail melt away in the clear flowing rivers where Mayflies and Dragons dance on the surface and the fish swim below the surface waiting for an easy meal.

 One place that has been keeping me sane is the peak district and we heard and saw a our first Cheshire Cuckoo of the year in a quiet valley away from all the people enjoying being released from there homes and local patches. I never want to leave the secluded valley on the sunny days as the mossy ledges make the perfect sunbathing spots and with water flowing close by its easy enough to cool off after a long walk or a quick nap.

 Next time: Sorrow once more and my need for the sea....

 With regards

Mike

Paddle boarding takes an usual Tern

Summer is nearly here for me well my summer weeks off are just around the courner but at my paid job my hours have been slightly reversed for a couple of weeks from mornings to nights. This change of working hours has enabled me to get out more in the mornings.

One morning I decided to headed to the river and I love to kayak/Paddleboard depending on my energy levels and what the rivers condition is dictates the craft I use. On this day I used my paddle board with no chair to save on carrying to much weight basically the set up above without chair.
On my way down river I spotted many Grebe nests and on branches next to them were Black backed gulls waiting for there chance to feast on the eggs which looked like it had happened as there were a few failed nests including a few flooded out. As I approached the bank where I pack up I heard that sea side sound I only normally hear on the coast in the summer and only noticed when I was right next to them, I jus wish I had my DSLR to photograph them well maybe sometime soon.

Common Terns pair on the river weaver

After doing a test night shift I finished at 6.30am and after 10 hours work I decided not to waste my day sleeping and headed off up into the Macclesfield hills to get some fresh air.

I love warm misty mornings and the new growth coming up by the canal

On my bank holiday walk to work I found a culvert by the canal where I could rest as its about 5 miles from home and on this day I found some Otter spraint which I've not found there before.

A few photographs from my brother at Ryan Mottrams wildlife as he has had a few encounters himself one being one of his friend has a swan nest in there garden every year and the owner has a bench nearby to there nest so mybrothergot some wonderful photographs of them hatching.
One of my favourites

Wild in his friends garden he alsospotted this escapee an Australian ringneck feeding in his seed feeding table. Not a clue where its come from maybe Chester Zoo and my brother is currently looking for the owners.

Stay wild and enjoy as it's the best time of the year for British Wildlife

Mike

The canal with a hole in it? Good or Bad

At the beginning of spring on one of the branches of canals was closed due to over flowing from one of the many lock meaning no boats could get through from half of Cheshire without adding a weeks journey to there trvelling plans. This meant the rest of the canals would be very quiet and the amount of users would be down. The canal is not due to be reopened till the end of the year or even 2019!!
The positive is thanks to this chaos it has been the first time I've seen watervoles on my local patch thanks to the quieter canals and with all this hot weather the river and canal levels are really down.

More information here - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-43432245

 I've spent so much time in the river this year keeping cool and sunbathing on the sandbanks enjoying some really peace spots especially all the new rivers beds that are usually covered up by the flowing river dane have become my areas of peace and relaxation.

Even the Swan family headed to the river to eat the fresh river weed

Bull heads seemed to be lined up on the edge of the canal bank possibly breeding

Bullheads are river fish and only normally survive in clean and healthly enviroments so its a really good sign to see so many breeding individuals. Until today I never new there was any in the canal as I wonder how they got there as the river flows next to the canal but is on a lower level.

Even the Badgers are avoiding the drought and at most of my setts I have only seen one Badger but they seem to be enjoying the fruits on offers as there boudary poo pits are being filled already.
This one seems to be most active and he has a light brown back so is easily identifiable

With the upcoming disgusting Badger hitting Cheshire in more places this year I might be very busy in the Autumn and Winter period. All I can say is I've bought myself a megaphone so I can share my beautiful singing voice or my favourite music with any undesirables I may have the displeasure to meet. I don't work with any groups involved in the anti cull as they have there own way of doing things and I'm more of a leader than a follower when it comes to protecting Nature it's just my way and my rules.

Thanks for reading

Mike

Rain, rain and more rain

Since Thursday night we have had lots of rain non stop for a few days and finally it stopped on Friday afternoon but the rivers began to rise on Friday night. The River Dane burst it's banks, covered public paths and hit the canal Aqueduct at Croxton, Middlewich.

The Aqueduct goes over the river and at 5pm it was getting higher and by 8pm the field next to the Trent and Mersey canal had began to flood as well. On Saturday night we had a hard frost and the water in the field froze and the waters subsided making a nice pool for the local Mallards to rest on.

It looks like there more wet weather to come and Christmas maybe very wet, windy and cold if the last few weeks are anything to go by. Here's something to warm you up on a cold and dark winters day. It's from the Spring and the video explains itself and should leave you feeling all warm inside.

So stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

A few random panoramas and photographs from the past few weeks

Very busy today planning and prepping my kayaking kit for my 2 week trip to Llandudno next month as the weeks have just flown since I was there at the beginning of April. I still have a few posts to publish from my April week on the North Wales coast and hopefully they should be on the blog sometime next week.

Stormy Sunrise on my kayaking trip

Storm approaches the lake

Sand Martin banks on the river

 
Here's two stunning early morning shots while I was out kayak a few weeks ago
Reed bed sunrise with the sun just out of focus

 Kayaking at Dawn

Thanks for visiting

 Mike