Illegal angling hook

This post should have appeared two weeks ago, but didn’t due to a technical hitch getting it off my ipad! Apologies….

On Tuesday evening I collected the boys from school, and as eldest had decided that he didn’t want to kayak as usual, we took Bingo for a walk around a lake with a friend and her two schnauzers.

Rounding the lake we spotted a mallard with a broken beak. The poor creature’s bottom beak had split in two and was dangling. It’s top bill was fine and it was trying, unsuccessfully, to scoop food over the broken beak.

Initially, its plumage seemed glossy, but when it got out of the lake it was clear that its wing feathers also looked slightly askew.

We called the RSPCA, but they can’t come out to wildlife unless the animal is confined (trapped, in a box etc) because often the officers turn up and the creatures have gone. The charity just doesn’t have the resources.

So we tried to confine it.

A friendly man from The Carp Shack loaned me a massive net, but the bird was jumpy and although it couldn’t fly anything more than a flutter it wasn’t having any of it. After  an hour I gave up. Without waders and some gloves, I was on hiding to nothing.

The man from The Carp Shack had promised to return this morning and see if he can catch it.. The wretched creature will otherwise be condemned to a slow painful death from starvation and thirst. Unless got by a fox, of course. (Is it my imagination, or are foxes doing well as a species?)

We can only speculate as to how the poor creature to that way? It was unlikely to have been fighting with other ducks – they pull out feathers and drown, not split lips! It’s probably caught its bill on something? I have suspicions that he culprit was one of the illegal angling hooks we were shown last year, which are fearsome looking things – more than capable of ripping a duck’s beak in two.

And today, driving down a country road, some fellow boaters were trying to help a stag out. His head was stuck in railings. This time, the RSPCA did come out, and last thing I saw, the officer was trying to help. I’ve since learned they succeeded. (I’d not seen a male muntjack with antlers before.)

Both accidents were caused because of the way human’s live. Both were distressing to both animal and humans.

The RSPCA performs a vital role: the best I can do is hold out a begging bowl: donations please! RSPCA

Image ‘pinched;’ from deafpagancrossroads.com

I have been revisiting a post I wrote this time last year about May Day and it’s significance: A cultural mayday.

Reading it now, I’m struck by how quickly I moved on from the whole ‘Pagan’ thing, as if it’s a dirty word. I suspect that admitting you’re a Pagan is like admitting (in the UK at least) you’re friends with Amanda Knox – filled with all kinds of preconceptions, not all of them positive.

I remember as a child maypoles – a real Pagan symbol – being brought out onto the playground, and we were all taught to weave in and out of each other to create, at the end, a wonderful patter with the ribbons that could be ravelled and unravelled as many times as we liked to make new patterns. A small change in rythm could create something very different. Aside of being fun and burning off some energy, this exercise gave us principles of patterns, the use of colour, of planning, and more.

It also taught us that working together can sometimes create something more amazing than one person alone – and, indeed, with all of us working together, we were able to create something far more easily than working alone. Imagine the energy, time and concentration that it would have taken one person to weave the maypole ribbons that a few children did unthinkingly and in play.

I’m sorry that the tradition appears to have died away. I’m equally sorry that anyone, anywhere, at the dawn of the 21st Century,still  has to face prejudice on the grounds of their beliefs. But mostly I’m sorry that in a World where teamwork is considered so important for the workplace, we are losing site of the collectivism that working together with the maypole represented.

I was there at the end of the 70′s when the then labour government really messed up. I walked to college in the snow because there was no transport. I sat in the candlelight because there was no power. And yes, it was crap.

But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Today’s ‘workers’ (and I talk about the UK here) have come a long way. Since the introduction of health and safety measures that unions pushed for, deaths on building sites have reduced to a trickle. Women have improving positions in the workplace. We don’t have indentured labour.

In the UK, we take these things for granted, so perhaps,  just perhaps,  we can spare a thought for those who aren’t quite as lucky as we are. Perhaps, rather than looking down on those who march for their rights in other places as a rabble who will put people out of jobs, we can give them a ‘good on you for caring enough to do something about it’ thumbs up. And perhaps - irrespective of political persuasion - today can be a quiet celebration of the rights we have earned by working together. We can, perhaps, make a little extra effort to take time off to be with those we care about on Monday- bank holiday. The holiday was hard won by our forebears.

So what’s this got to do with living on a boat? You can’t help, living so close to nature, but be awed by what’s happening around you. The drive that creates little fluffy chicks. The cruel death of swan caught by foxes that becomes a meal for many for months. The bare trees bursting into blossom. Which makes us all a little Pagan!

Happy May Day.

Last week the black swans surprised us all.  Despite the cold snap, they turned up with two little ones. For boaters (here at least) this is an excitement – the birds feel like pets. They are our closest neighbours, and when a new arrival comes along, it’s a cause to celebrate. (We celebrate lots!)

Swans nest in the same place each year, and the white swans keep visiting the site of last years flooding disaster. A group of us are considering asking the landowners if we can build a platform for them to help them out.

The mallards are all at it. Their bits have evidently grown back and they are all busy jumping each other. And one’s already revisited Amanda’s plant pots – and abandoned the egg again!

The grebes, somewhat more refined, have been dancing for around a month now.  They are easily as beautiful as swans dancing, and their ‘runs’ across the water are phenomenal. However, since someone pointed out that they look like toilet brushes when their manes are out, I can’t look at them quite the same way.

And the coots are fluffing themselves up to make themselves look big and virile. If they were human’s they’d be pub brawlers. They make a noise like a squeaky toy, which the dog finds irresistible.

The kingfishers appear to have fared better than in last years cold snap, although their numbers are nothing like they were before.

The odd weather has obviously brought in some unusual birds, as the river banks are lined with ‘twitchers’, and I was asked to keep the dog on a lead on our normal runaround ground as there are ground nesting birds due at this time of year. There are so many foxes around that I fear for their success, but naturally we’ll honour the request. The foxes have had a couple of swans lately. Gruesome, but a single swan seems to feed a lot of creatures for a very long time.

It’s an enchanting circle of life. And I’ll miss it.

Eva Luna is currently for sale.

These photos are from the Thames Clandestine Cake Club where decadent bakers disappear into a boat on the Thames with home made cake offerings.

This month we pushed ourselves hard with a ‘torte’ theme. I think we were all delighted with the results, and we had two new bakers on board the beautifully kept NB Drake – which, we learned – is the old English word for Dragon.

Next month’s venue remains a secret (that’s the clandestine bit!) but all will be revealed to those who sign up for next month. Priority is always given to regular bakers, but we love having new bakers along.

The decadent  combination of boat and baking feels somehow very naughty, the ‘clandestine’ bit even naughtier. And scoffing raspberry torte with the family was a joy!

(More here: http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/2013/03/17/terrific-tortes-in-thames/)

Next time we’re baking cakes with a ‘vegetable’ theme. Join us?

Eva Luna, our widebeam river barge, is now up for rehoming: http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=292685

Sadie is a lovely old barge, built in the 1890′s. Her engine was replaced sometime last century with an old 1945 RAF engine (traced back by its registration number). The engine hadn’t worked for around 15 years – until this weekend.

Her engine has been carefully refurbished and repaired, and in a flurry of excitement, Sadie took a short trip to a pumpout pontoon.

The pictures and video aren’t the greatest – they were taken on a mobile and I had the dog in tow – but I can’t help but post it here. It was so exciting to see this boat, which was moved into place last year under barge power, brought back to life.  A stunning piece of boating history, I can’t help but wish owners Mel and Steph every happiness with their lovely boat. (If their grins were anything to go by on her ‘inaugural’ sail, I don’t think it’s really in question.)

Icicles – hung there by fairies?

This morning my walk alongside the Thames was witness, as it has been for the last few days, to small waves, created by the wind, lapping the river bank.

This is pretty, but tiny icicles hanging from lower branches of plants on the bank today were nothing short of stunning. I am so missing my decent camera – this photo does nothing to show you how lovely these were. The sun was catching the tiny waves and reflecting off the little icicles, which glittered in the sunlight. Had a little winged fairy popped out to a tinkly tune  and told me (s)he had been hanging them there, I’d have believed it! It was like a little magical mini World had appeared on these low hanging branches. And best of all, it was only there for those who live on and use the riverbanks – it felt like it was there just for us, only shown to people who care enough to look. (I’ve been reading too many children’s books, you can tell.)

Back in the real World, last night saw a stronger than average wind which must have sprayed up onto the branches. The last couple of days have seen a cold snap coincide with the wind, so I’m guessing that’s why they appeared, but it really was very beautiful.

Of course the harsh reality for the Wildlife is that it was super-chilly and the water was frozen, and the water that wasn’t frozen was rising in waves that looked tiny to us, but I imagine if you’re a tiny wren or robin look enormous. The Woodland near where we are is still inches thick with water from the flooding earlier this year (doubt we’ll see the bluebells this year) and it has now frozen into a woodland icerink. The animals were beginning to come back. I imagine they’ll vanish off again.

Last nights wind may have been tough for the wildlife, but our newest, smallest crew member also found it disturbing. We normally only hear any metal noise when someone’s embarking, which Bingo always alerts us to (usually shortly before coming to find us and hide). Where we’d left our back end floppy (on the ropes) yesterday, we were knocking the pontoon when the largest gusts of wind came. It was a uniquely boaty problem, but the dog was worrying over the noise – he was convinced someone was coming. I have absolutely no idea why this should worry him – he’s loved all of the people who come to see us. (For those who love dogs and don’t have a problem with it (I do!) he’ll even do tongues given half a chance!)

Which leads me nicely to a nice way to end this post. Becca, a Twitter contact, also has a little rescue dog: https://twitter.com/HedgewitchBecca/status/310407495699005440/photo/1

Compare with our little rescue dog and Bingo! Twins: http://ow.ly/i/1EEVh.

So maybe they’re not little Heinz’s (57 varieties) but a very special breed indeed!

Eva Luna is now up for sale on Apollo Duck: http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=292685

I’d love your feedback on the advert.

Her layout is here: Boat layout

The lovely article about her when she was built is here: Homeward Bound.

Sun setting on our adventure

So we are having to put our beautiful boat, Eva Luna up for occupying by a new owner.

Our adventure is far from over, but life has taken paths we didn’t expect.

She’s a lucky boat and we’ve been happy here. This lifestyle is idyllic – sometimes a little harder than having everything on tap the way you do in a house, but more than made up for by the environment and the people.

There is so  much I haven’t done, including capturing the stories of some boats with real character along the way, from a massive Humber barge to the improbably funny boat owned by the Common Sense Party. And the people, including Fred whose family have always lived on Britain’s waterways, and Chris, who bought the hull of an old oil tanker and is converting it into a home.

Our boat needs her new owners to look after her, to love her, to keep her in top form. She’s been a happy home and we’d like her new owners to care for her her as much as we do – and the family who originally commissioned her did.

I’ll put some specs up this weekend for anyone who wants details. In the meantime, this piece about her was in Canal Boat magazine when she was first built: scanned article about boat.

I suppose I ought to write something about a widebeam liveaboard for sale. But for the moment I can only cope with discussing rehoming. Funny how they get under your skin!

Their care contrasted sharply with the careless coots who seemed to drop their eggs wherever they felt like it, including, amusingly, one that was simply left floating in the water on the tender of a neighbouring barge.

As we come into spring, it will be interesting to see if the swans try again, or if they abandon their once favourite nesting spot. The grebes are already doing their wonderful snakehead dances and the coots are fluffing up and bumping chests, aggressively and noisily. Part of me wants to get out and yell at them not to be fooled, that this mild snap is just that. We always get more snow just before Easter.

The woods here are flooded. As we had badgers, rabbits, hedgehogs and other beasts that live underground, we are fearful for their survival. I doubt very much that the bluebells will come up this year. Of course, nature is such that whilst some lose, others will win, and we have seen a lot of bird life, including what I am reliably informed is a warbler of some sort.

The addition of the dog  - who is now, incidentally, the most gorgeous loving (cheeky) little animal, such a change from the nervous, skinny little boy we gave a home to – means I get off the boat more and walk, making me far more conscious of what a lovely environment we live in. I shall miss it when we leave the boat. This, sadly, is imminent. We don’t want to leave the lovely community that we have found on the water, or the lifestyle that comes with being so close to nature, but sadly, for personal reasons, our adventure on the water is drawing to a close, and we are going to be putting Eva Luna, our much loved home for two and a half years, up for sale.

I will post up some details soon, but if you know a family who who would look after a beautiful British built widebeam home and who would love to live on the water (anywhere in the country), do point them in our direction.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

It’s not huge, but for a little blog about boats that lost its way mid term, created in spare time with no resources, I’d just like to say thank you to anyone and everyone who cared enough to take a peek!