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Great Spotted Woodpecker
We had a visitor in the garden today. A female Great Spotted Woodpecker was tucking into the peanuts on the bird feeder (hidden behind the seed feeder). It stayed for several minutes, giving me time to get the camera ready. At the same time, the Green Woodpecker mentioned in our previous blog was tucking into ants on the lawn for its Christmas feast. Posted on Tuesday, 25 December 2007 at 22:44 Comments (0)
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It doesn’t seem long since the tree outside the front of our house was covered in golden brown autumn leaves, shining in the sunshine.
Even then the tree to the left had already lost all of its leaves.
Since then the autumn winds and rains have stripped the tree of all its leaves.
Now they both stand bare and the sunshine has a much more winter feel about it, casting longer shadows from lower in the sky.
I wonder how long it will be before I can take the same photo with snow on the branches.
As I look out of the window now I can see one magpie, two blackbirds, one starling and several sparrows just sitting there in the cold.
Perhaps they are sleeping off the large feast they’ve had from the feeders in our back garden.
Waterway Routes DVDs and Walking Booklets of the Canals and Waterways make ideal Christmas Presents. There’s still time to order them for Christmas – but don’t take too long.
We send everything out first class, and the Post Office say the latest posting date for first class is Thursday 20th December.
We will still post out orders received after that but they may not arrive in time for Christmas.
We went to watch the Birmingham Boat Parade yesterday. It takes place between Old Turn Junction and the Mailbox every year in early December.
There are 15-20 boats decorated with Christmas trees, lights, and all sorts of Christmas Decorations. Thousands of people line the towpaths along both sides, braving the cold and the wind, to watch the convoy make its way slowly past.
There are commercial entries and private entries, but whichever they are they’ve all put such large efforts into decorating their boats.
A few are even animated, the bird on Aquarius, the British Waterway’s boat even flapped its wings.
There are several bridges, including a low one under Broad Street so this limits the height of the decorations.
Look out for next year’s parade.
Winter is the time for British Waterways to close sections of the canal for repairs and maintenance work.
Locks 6 and 8 of the Walsall Flight on the Birmingham Canal Network (BCN) are both closed this week for replacement of the top gates.
The photos are of lock 8 (lock 6 being very similar).
The work was nearly finished when I visited. The red crane had already been used to lift the old gate out and to lift the new gate into position.
The security fencing is to deter vandals, while the scaffolding round the edge of the lock is to make the site safe for the workers.
The pound above the lock had been drained so the area around the top gate was (almost) dry for them to work and so they could see and access all the parts normally underwater.
They had the gate moving freely and were just trimming the edge to make a tight fit against the stonework of the lock wall.
They were going to fill the pound in the afternoon to check for leaks before making final adjustments to the gate. Then all that remained was to tidy the site and remove the scaffolding and fencing.
From the Monday morning start to the Friday afternoon finish the locks were closed. With two teams working in parallel the flight would be reopened by Friday afternoon with new top gates on both locks 6 and 8 and the minimum of inconvenience for boaters.
The Cotswold Canals Trust produce a quarterly magazine (The Trow) for over 5,000 members. Four times a year they enlist volunteers to stuff the magazines into envelopes, usually in the evening at the Saul Heritage Centre.
This time they met in the morning. The task was larger than normal as this issue was accompanied by a leaflet about the Santa Special cruises, and by an A4 letter (which had to be folded in half), and by three books of raffle tickets.
This time I took advantage of the daylight to capture a little video footage of everyone working hard. I produced the Cotswold Canals DVD last year and I’m collecting additional material for a supplementary DVD showing recent activities.
Needless to say I spent the rest of the three hours folding, collating, stuffing etc.
It’s a shame that British Waterways charge us for parking in an almost empty car park at the Heritage Centre for activities like this.
We’ve finished the Llangollen Canal DVDs and they are just being copied ready for dispatch which should be by Monday 15th November. You can now place orders on the website.
This time there are two versions, available separately or as a 2 DVD set.
The popular DVD in our usual format follows our boat cruising along the Llangollen Canal from Hurleston Junction to Llangollen and from Frankton Junction along the Montgomery Canal to the limit of the northern section at Maesbury Marsh.
This is the first time we have filmed from our own Waterway Routes boat rather than a hire boat. We also visit the key villages and towns along the route.
The popular DVD also includes a short extract from our “Bowcam” – a forward facing camera recording the whole trip in time-lapse speeded up form.
For a little fun we have also edited the “Bowcam” film to show the whole journey in 61 minutes with the addition of maps, commentary and music.
We’ve annotated the film to show the mileage, bridge and lock numbers so you can always tell where you are.
The Bowcam journey is available as a separate DVD or as a 2 DVD set with the popular DVD in one box at a reduced price for the set.
It’s available to order on our website now and we can supply wholesale to any business, canal society or other organisation if you just contact us. There will be complimentary copies in the post shortly for our proof watchers who made helpful suggestions on the draft to make it even better.
The lawnpecker is back – at least that’s what we call him.
It’s a sign that autumn is arriving when we see the Green Woodpecker on the lawn. One of their favourite foods is ants, and our lawn has plenty of them.
The male is always more adventurous and he appears in the autumn, and can be seen frequently through the autumn and winter until the warm weather arrives next year.
The female is much more timid and we only see her when the weather is very bad and her desire for food overcomes her fear. We know winter has really arrived when we see them both on the lawn.
They aim for the areas where there are ants nests under the lawn and poke their beaks repeatedly down to get the ants. They can be in just one spot for over 10 minutes, occasionally looking up to check for danger – so they must be really stuffing themselves with ants.
We’re slowly heading back towards our home mooring in Birmingham after having some warranty work on our new boat at Fenny Compton, where it was built.
Heading north up the Oxford Canal, past Napton and Braunston junctions, then onto the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction.
I’ve never been on the Ashby Canal before so I finally succumbed to the urge to turn right at Marston Junction and headed up the Ashby Canal.
There are probably some splendid views but in the grey murky weather I’ve had on both the outward and return journeys I’ll just have to assume they are there.
Here’s the photos of the boat at the head of navigation.
There are plans to restore the remaining length, but that will have to wait for another visit.
We’ve almost finished the Llangollen Canal DVD, filmed earlier this year.
We sent it out to family and friends as proof readers (or is it proof watchers) in Thursday’s post and I’m sure they will find any mistakes that have crept in and let me have suggestions about improving the final version.
I’ve already had excellent comments from Ian Hall, and I’m sure other comments will follow soon.
The DVD starts at Hurleston Junction and follows the Llangollen Canal all the way to the River Dee at Llangollen.
We cover the staircase locks at Grindley Brook, the three tunnels and the aqueducts at Chirk and Pontcysyllte.
As a bonus we also cover the navigable northern section of the Montgomery Canal.
This descends through the staircase locks at Frankton Junction, and finishes just beyond Maesbury Marsh.
Assuming the proof readers don’t find anything major the finished version should be available in about 3 weeks time.
One of the first boats to appear in the DVD as we climb the locks at Hurleston Junction is Rose, the Bywater Holiday Cruise hotel boat. I chatted to John and Hanna as we passed and they kindly allowed me to film inside the boat. I was wondering when to tell them they had made it into the final version of the DVD.
Looking out of the front window today I spotted them coming and got the camera out. Just time to shout to Hanna, who looked surprised to be recognised, that they had made it into the DVD.
I have a Google Alert set to email me whenever “Waterway Routes” is mentioned on the web. I get a few false alarms when the map “Waterway routes through France” is mentioned but not too many.
An email today alerted me to the mention of Waterway Routes, including a photo, on the blog for Debdale, a timeshare boat managed by OwnerShips. We had been spotted at Fenny Compton, where it was built, and now returned for some warranty work.
Adam had recognised us as the electric powered boat reviewed in the October 2007 issue of Canal Boat Magazine.
From today, our phone number is 07961 701 702. The old number will continue to work for a little while.
The reason for the change is a little complicated – and rather disappointing.
Back in 1999, when mobile phone reception was erratic, and before you could port (transfer) mobile numbers I obtained a BT Flexinumber. This was just like a mobile number except that there was no real mobile on the end of the line and I could divert the number to any mobile or landline of my choice.
I diverted the number to my regular mobile and when I changed mobile contracts I just re-diverted it to the new mobile number and this gave me the important continuity of a stable business number.
As mobile phone reception was poor at our home/office I could also divert it to our home number when I was there to give a clearer line.
Now phone numbers are being rationalised across the country. The 03xxx and 06xxx series of numbers are going live and some other numbers are being reclassified and the charging structure is changing.
The end result of all this is that it has become more expensive to call our old number and I don’t think that’s fair on callers so we’ve changed to a regular mobile number. This is the same price to call as any other mobile, and it will be covered by the “inclusive” minutes with many price plans.
Now that I can port (transfer) mobile numbers I can keep this number whenever I change mobile contracts and mobile reception at our home/office is good so I don’t need to transfer it to our landline.
Now all I need to do is change the number on the website, business cards, brochures, DVDs, and everywhere else I’ve published the number. At least I don’t have any signs to change like BW would.
I was happily in the middle of my daydream when the helmsman of a boat coming the other way through the bridge signalled to slow down.
My first reaction was that this was a helpful signal indicating there was, perhaps, another boat following.
Then the voice, that seemed rather familiar, saying “it’s Paul, isn’t it?”
“Yes” I said, “It’s Chris isn’t it” as I realised who was coming the other way.
Chris is the man behind Video Active, the other organisation making Canal DVDs and I’ve heard his voice on sound-tracks of their DVDs.
He was cruising with Angela on their boat, Morgan Le Fey, having been filming for one of their DVDs.
We stopped for a quick chat and photo of the boats together, and of Chris trying to get the best photo of them together. I hope we have time for a proper chat next time we meet.
The Birmingham Canal Navigations left me with a parting gift yesterday. Approaching Cuckoo Wharf, just half a mile from Salford Junction and the end of the BCN the engine stopped dead.
A second or two of silence, then the beep beep noise from the ignition. Time to steer for the bank I thought, and find out what’s happened. Then I found the rudder wouldn’t move and I was coasting towards Cuckoo Wharf. Fortunately I managed to leap ashore and stop the boat with the centre rope before meeting the moored boats.
It was a carpet; neatly fitted all around the propeller and the rudder. Much cursing and heaving and it was hauled through the weed hatch. I remembered the BCN as I headed out towards Curdworth.
Three locks at Minworth last night, then the Curdworth flight today. I was following another boat so all the locks were against me, except when I passed another boat and they left the gates open as they left.
Lock 10 was a bonus as two British Waterways staff were working adjacent to the lock and opened the top gate as I approached then, on realising I was single handed, told me to stay on board and they worked the lock for me.
There were flower beds at every lock along the flight. Simple, but effective and it brightened things up, including Kingsbury Swivel Bridge.
Moored at Atherstone, heading south.
We headed up the Garrison Locks yesterday and turned right at Bordersley Junction.
This would take us through the former stop lock at Warwick Bar where two different canals used to meet. Originally they were not connected so neither company could steal water from the other.
Goods had to be transhipped between boats moored each side of a narrow strip of land – the “bar”. Later these were knocked through, often with gates to stop water flow if necessary.
Worcester Bar, at Gas Street Basin is another example, and that’s how Perry Bar got its name.
Warwick Bar gates are always chained open but the vandals had removed one set and the far end gate was shut. There was over 1.5 inches difference in water levels so we couldn’t open it.
We couldn’t shut the gate at the other end and use it as a lock as that was chained open. We called British Waterways who said help would be there within 30 minutes – and it was.
By then we had opened the paddle – despite being unable to turn the windlass all the way round because of the poor gate design and the ratchet pawl being seized up as its never used.
We were lowering the pound above, including Typhoo Basin. With the water nearer level and help from two passers by we opened the gate.
Eugene, who had helped at Smethwick last week, and Mark arrived just afterwards and padlocked the gates open yet again.
Today was the day for the Tame Valley Canal.
Setting off from Tame Valley Junction we headed East, initially retracing our cruise from yesterday afternoon.
We were filming again, all the way along the Tame Valley Canal, capturing everything going east.
The canal consists of long straight sections connected by the occasional bend. It was one of the latest canals to be built to avoid the bottleneck of the Farmers Bridge 13 locks.
Built with towpaths on both sides, and almost straight it must have seemed like a motorway to the early canal users.
There are 13 locks at Perry Bar, sometimes known as the new 13, the old 13 being at Farmers Bridge.
We had trouble with the water levels in some of the pounds being too low and having to let water down from above. Look how low we are in the lock, and the top gate is open so that’s how low the pound was.
I was amused to see all the bollards at this lock – sometimes you can’t find one when you need one, then 11 come along at once. They were really there to keep road vehicles away from the lock, so it wasn’t British Waterways being extra helpful.
We’re moored at Star City. tomorrow we head up the Garrison Locks, visit Typhoo (Digbeth) Basin, then up the Ashted Locks on a circular cruise, after our curly and straight days.
We left Anglesey Basin a little later than expected this morning as there was a light drizzle, rather than the forecast sunshine and we needed better light for filming.
Ogley Junction signpost shows two examples of good thinking. The route to Huddlesford Junction is being restored and the word “Being” appears to have been stuck on so it can simply be removed when the restoration is completed and you can cruise all the way.
Look carefully at how the three fingers have serrated tops and bottoms allowing them to be set at the right angle on the post, but stopping the vandals rotating them to random directions.
Catshill Junction has its own finger sign, but opposite it this unusual sculpture.
We continued south along the Dawn End Branch of the Wyrley & Essington (Curly Wurly).
Further on was this unusual bridge sign – self explanatory really.
At Longwood Junction we met the end of the Rushall Canal – a modern canal built with long straight sections – quite the opposite to the Curly Wurly.
A right turn at Rushall Junction took us to Tame Valley Junction where we are safely moored overnight.
Tomorrow we will head back to cover the whole length of the Tame Valley Canal.
East from Sneyd Junction we continued to follow the Wyrley & Essington Canal until Pelsall Junction.
A left turn took us onto the Cannock Extension Canal which runs straight from end to end. I can’t think of any others that are entirely straight, except the Wardle Canal and that’s less than 100 yards long so it hardly counts. You can look down under the line of bridges.
There’s a picture of the end when we reached it.
Near the end a new bridge is being built to replace an old one. The canal is open and the route through the worksite is carefully marked with cones, some hung from the old bridge on string.
It’s just like going through a slalom course. Inevitably we met the only other boat of the day while we were moving and let them through first. Their helmsman shouted "you’re the electric narrow boat in Canal Boat Magazine aren’t you". So we’d been spotted just the day after publication at the furthest reaches of the BCN.
Then along the Curly Wurly and the Anglesey Branch to Anglesey Basin, the most northerly point of the BCN.
We moored up mid afternoon and walked up to see the Chasewater reservoir.
Soon afterwards, having seen only one other moving boat all day, two turn up at once. We welcomed Rhapsody in Blue and Smudge and we’re all squeezed nicely into the visitor moorings designed for two boats.
When I said, yesterday, that today would be a curly wurly day I didn’t realise it would involve a snake.
We set off from Sneyd Junction this morning, to travel to Wolverhampton, to reach the start of the Wyrley and Essington Canal (and to buy a copy of Canal Boat Magazine – see previous Blog). A contour canal with many twists and turns and known to some as the Curly Wurly.
It was a slow journey with many visits down the weed hatch to clear the plastic bags from the propeller.
It was on one of these occasions that the snake popped its head up as I opened the weed hatch. It swayed there looking at me, its head about 12 inches out of the hatch, while I wondered what to do next.
Then great relief as I realised it was a length of plastic tubing, rather like a vacuum cleaner hose. Several feet of it were wrapped in a complicated knot around the propeller and the loose end must have been just under the hatch waiting to spring out.
After some time with a hacksaw I began to think a snake would have been easier to deal with.
Although there was lots of weed along the canal it could easily be shaken off the propeller with a brief burst in reverse. The dozen trips down the weed hatch were all to remove man-made rubbish, like plastic bags, carpets and net curtains.
Most of the rubbish we saw looked quite new, it’s not old stuff from years ago which hadn’t been cleaned up, but new stuff still being dumped.
We’re back at Sneyd Junction now, ready to head in the opposite direction for a Wurly Curly day tomorrow.
Look our for the October 2007 issue of Canal Boat Magazine – on sale from Thursday 6 September.
Waterway Routes is reviewed inside. See the pictures and read the story.
Down the Gower Branch this morning, with the only staircase lock on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN).
The right at Albion Junction and left at Pudding Green Junction and heading for our route along the Walsall Canal.
Down the eight locks of the Ryder’s Green flight from the Birmingham Level to the Walsall level. The locks are all in easy walking distance of each other and have single gates top and bottom.
Then a rather uninspiring cruise along the Walsall Canal, the biggest excitement being several visits to the weed hatch to remove debris from the propeller.
On our only previous visit to the Walsall Canal we had set our record catch with a tent wrapped around the propeller, complete with stays.
This time we managed half a sleeping bag at almost exactly the same place – perhaps there’s still another half sleeping bag for next time.
Up the Walsall flight of locks to the Wolverhampton level. Once again made easier by having only single top and bottom gates, except lock 6 which had double bottom gates for some reason.
The flight was made even easier by two boys who helped with the gates and followed us up the flight shutting the top gate of each lock after we left. Thank you.
We’re moored at Sneyd Junction. Tomorrow will be a Curly Wurly day.
We winded (turned) at Wolverhampton and headed back, visiting the North End of Dudley Tunnel today.
Then along the Old Main Line to Oldbury Junction where we climbed the Oldbury Locks. These are rarely used and lead to the highest level of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN).
One unusual feature of the locks is that they line up with the towpath. As you ascend the right hand wall of the locks and the towpath are all in a straight line.
They all have single gates at top and bottom so it’s a little easier working with just two people. When going up the helmsman can leave the boat steering itself gently forwards along the line of the towpath while stepping off to shut the top gate behind the boat and stepping back on a few yards later. The helmsman can’t normally shut the top gate behind them without stopping the boat.
In the locks were these small snail like creatures and wonder what they are. Anybody know what they are?
We went as far as we could on the Titford Canal – half way along the Causeway Green Branch before grounding and backing out, and to the lake at the end of the Portway Branch. Titford Pools were inaccessible.
The former pump house at the top of the Oldbury Locks is home to the BCN society. As we descended the locks we met Simon Walker and John Edmonds from the Society who were full of helpful and knowledgeable suggestions.
We left Windmill End Junction in slightly better weather this morning, heading for Hawne Basin. The long range views across the West Midlands were rather unexpected.
We also passed through Gosty Hill Tunnel. It’s a single bore tunnel with no towpath. It starts quite high and roomy, then once inside there are sections where the roof is so low you have to duck so you don’t bang your head on the roof. There’s just one air shaft and it comes out in somebody’s garden on the surface.
We retraced our route to Windmill End Junction, then through the nice wide Netherton Tunnel. I tried it on electric power and it was wonderfully quiet. You could hear the voices of all the ghosts and ghouls that live in the tunnel as they chatted to themselves.
The along the new main line and up Tipton Locks. We were following a British Waterways Boat up the locks and the paused in the middle lock to load some fencing that had been used to protect some works.
The to Wolverhampton via the Wednesbury Oak Loop – which is now a dead end branch. It’s the first time we’ve been down there and we knew from Nicholson’s guide that we had to be there by 17:00 to be able to wind in the BW workshops at the end.
At the last regular winding hole there was a sign saying we had to be there by 16:00 (an hour earlier than Nicholson’s) but that was no problem as it was 15:15 and we only had a mile to go.
That was before we found all the weed and, despite pushing on as hard as we could it was 16:01 when we reached the end. Fortunately there was still room to wind a boat of our length. The BW man who came out to check the unusual sounds was surprised to find it was a boat – they are a very rare sight here.
We winded (turned) the boat at Leys Junction and headed back the way we came.
We stopped at Merry Hill shopping Centre as we passed by, to top up with a few provisions from Sainsbury’s which we had spied close to the canal on our outward journey yesterday.
We weren’t filming much today, as we’d filmed going outwards yesterday. Just the opportunity to capture a few extra shots at Delph Locks. I had to make sure the boat didn’t appear in any of them so I can edit them into a complete sequence and nobody will know they are different days.
We reached Windmill End Junction by mid afternoon and were planning to reach Hawne Basin at the end of the Dudley No 2 Canal but it was very grey and starting to rain.
We moored up at Windmill End Junction and we’ll finish the canal tomorrow morning when better weather is forecast (for us and the filming).
I’d never been to Windmill End before (apart from passing through yesterday) but I’d seen photos of the old pump house. I knew it was there, just above the canal, with the chimney attached to the corner.
The weather improved briefly and I walked up to the pump house to see if there was enough light for filming and was surprised to the the chimney wasn’t attached, but definitely free standing. It was vertical like the building – it’s just the wide angle lens that makes it looked tilted.
The other classic views, including the bridges are also disappearing as the trees and vegetation grows. Don’t leave it too long if you want to capture these views yourself.
South through Netherton Tunnel this morning, then past Windmill End and onto the Dudley No 2 Canal, passing such interesting names as the Boshboil Branch and Bumblehole Branch. These used to be connected at the far end and were the original route of the canal. Modernisation straightened the route and left the ends of the loop as separate branches.
Then the wriggly route following the contours to reach Blower’s Green Junction where the Dudley No 2 canal meets the Dudley No 1 canal.
Up the three Parkhead Locks with the lovely lock keeper’s house, almost disappearing under the green climbers.
We reached the southern portal of Dudley Tunnel. The tunnel has two restrictions – you must be electrically powered and fit under the restricted height profile.
We are almost uniquely qualified in being electrically powered so we could propel ourselves through the tunnel. while others have to be towed through by the Dudley Canal Trust’s electric tug.
We checked our profile against the height gauge at the mouth of the tunnel but were just too high.
Afterwards I realised that the water tank in the bows was nearly empty, so if that had been full I wonder if we would have made it.
Then south along the Dudley No 1 canal through the “Nine Locks” at Delph, numbered 1 to 8. There were 9 originally, but the middle 7 locks were rebuilt as 6 locks on a different alignment, with the 9th lock being renumbered as 8.
The “Tenth Lock” pub now stands at the bottom leaving visitors to wonder why.
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