21 While I was investigating a report of a tree that had come off the worse for wear in yesterday’s blustery conditions, I came across some fairly unusual sights. That’s the great thing about the Navigation, you don’t have to go far, even in the relatively populated areas, to find something interesting. A group of bachelor mallards had a tufted duck tagging along. I don’t get too many of those on my stretch. All my local tufties prefer the lakes on the golf course so he was nice to see. May – Waiting for Cygnets and a knock on the door. This year’s local potential swan parents are sitting well and we are hopeful of cygnets soon. Last year they managed to rear 3 to almost adulthood although they lost 2 fairly late and only one made it through to adulthood. Hopefully they have or soon will find a mate of their own. I have recently invested in some floating duck and swan pellets. It’s a little more convenient than defrosting and sharing all my frozen sweetcorn and petits pois. They seem to be a hit. I fed them on the backwater behind the house earlier. A couple of hours later one of them turned up on the towpath at my back gate. It’s the first time I’ve seen them there. They clearly know where I live! When we lived on the boat the local swans knew which residents were the early birds, if you’ll pardon the pun, and knocked on the sides of the boats to request breakfast. My husband always called them the mafia; it did feel like they were demanding food with menaces. The geese and ducks always asked much more politely. With that in mind, I am convinced it won’t be long until they are pecking on the door for a snack. If they train the youngsters I think this might be a good few years worth of trouble I’ve made for us. I don’t think 5 litres of pellets is going to be enough! Well, it’s good to keep in with the neighbours.
Wey and Arun Canal Trust WACT News WRG weekend camp helps upgrade slipway for visiting youth groups Thanks to the efforts of visiting teams from London WRG and KESCRG, along with Wey & Arun Canal Trust volunteers, youth groups using the canal to launch canoes at Drungewick now have much improved facilities.
