Life On The Slea (LOTS) » 2008

Its a bit of a monstrosity…

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:26:10 +0000

Its a bit of a monstrosity…

…but on a positive note it will make it easier to cross the river, on a negative note it blocks the view (worse from the opposite view of the river to this picture) and makes you feel more closed in. Now we just need someone with a welding kit to make sure it will not open for boats (joke)

Last day of 2008 and I had an excellent view of the Heron right up near the Mill…

…and saw the Dabchick, Stiff Legs and Tube Duck

2008 could have been a good year for the Slea especially as the Dabchicks had 2 broods for the first time that I know off, but I think I will remember 2008 as the saddest year on the Slea because of the ‘pollution’ that caused the Ducks/Dabchicks etc to loose their water proofing (see HERE ) which killed all but 1 of the Dabchicks, some Mallards and Moorhens, we do not know if any of the Tufted Ducks also succumbed The Environmental Agency cannot prove what the problem was but if I am right in thinking I know what caused the problem (I am 99% certain I know) then it was almost certainly an accident and the E.A. has said to me that they will have a word with the likely source of the problem. I cannot say much as I have no actual proof but I doubt whether it will happen again.

Terry

At last its arrived…

admin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:12:29 +0000

At last its arrived, the New ‘New Street’ Bridge that is…

… we waited for quite a while to see it being put in place but they must have been assembling it or something as not much seemed to be happening, so we went on our way.

I saw ‘Stiff Legs’ and ‘Tube Duck’ but did not see the Dabchick, but I have been assured that he was here on Saturday so I think he was just hiding from me.

For the second walk in a row we saw a dead Moorhen floating by, I think it must have been in a fight over territory as the do often fight to the death as 1 moorhen tries to drown the other

Terry

All quiet on the Slea front…

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:09:44 +0000

All quiet on the Slea front… even the New Street Bridge is QUIET because they still have not got the new one in place, I think the organisation of this has been a disaster from the start.

I had another good view of the Kingfisher and also saw the Dabchick, Stiff Legs and Tube Duck

Here is another picture from my travels which shows a Sandhill Crane in flight…

Terry

Another nice view of the…

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:31:55 +0000

Another nice view of the Kingfisher Also saw the Dabchick, Stiff Legs and Tube Duck

Sadly as I was leaving Allan pointed out a dead Moorhen floating by, it looked as though it had only just died and caused probably by a fight over territory with another Moorhen Strangely some people think wildlife on the Slea has it easy.

New Street Bridge still has not been replaced although most of the work seems to have been done, I just hope this is not a real start of trying to get a water taxi from the Hub to the Mill, the Slea is too narrow for the wash not to wash away Moorhen, Coot and Dabchick nests. If the river was wider then it would not be so much of an issue but it is just too narrow as any boat will only be a few feet at most from any nest and they will be washed away when a boat goes by

Another shot from my recent travels showing the sky full of Snow Geese when they all take off together, an amazing experience…

Terry

The Dabchick is…

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:26:29 +0000

The Dabchick is still around but no sign lately of the Swan or Coot. I did also see ‘Stiff Legs’ and ‘Tube Duck’ today and both are fine.

I was past the Mill this morning when the Kingfisher saw me almost opposite and it flew only a few yards downstream and perched on a branch, I stayed still and had a close and long look at him he saw me and kept his eye on me but this is the closest I have been to him for some considerably time

OK this is not pre Sunrise at Cogglesford Mill but pre Sunrise at Bosque Del Apache (New Mexico) where I have been photographing the thousands of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes

Terry

Nothing much happening…

admin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:02:57 +0000

Nothing much happening on the Slea at the moment. THe Dabchick is back in the reeds but the Swan and Coot have not been seen for a few days. Tube Duck is still doing very well and seems to have a mate in tow

This is not ‘our’ Slea Heron but they all look alike …

Terry

Its a week since…

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:21:09 +0000

Its a week since the tube came off ‘tube ducks’ beak, so I kept a close look out for her and found her near the Hub, she looked perfectly ok and had some bread that someone offered her so I think this story has a happy ending

A ‘new’ woman seems to have started to take her dog for a walk along the Slea and she chucks branches into the river (and pond) so that her dog fetches them. I have been told (and also saw for myself today) that one of the places she does this is near to where our Dabchick ‘lives’ – perhaps I might have to saw ‘used to live’ because the Dabchick has not been seen for the last couple of days Coincidence ? I do not think so

The swan was back on Lollycocks pond but no coot.

Terry

The plastic tube was still…

admin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:49:49 +0000

The plastic tube was still on the Ducks beak so I did what I always try and do and that is to break some bread into about 15 very small pieces and throw them in to the ‘tube duck’, she normally gets a small piece of bread if she is lucky but of course the other ducks get the rest. I try and do this as much as possible so she at least gets some food, I was getting near the end of the bread and threw some in, ‘tube duck’ went for the bread along with the rest of them and during the melee that followed Mel shouted ‘ITS OFF’ and the tube had come off ‘tube ducks’ beak I was out of bread now so rushed (ok walked fast) to Iceland (the shop not the country) and bought a brown loaf to make sure that ‘tube duck’ had some more to eat I just hope that her tongue is ok as we do not know if that has been injured or not, but she looked quite normal so hopefully she will be ok

The Swan was on the Slea this morning and the Dabchick was also around, we did not go to the pond but I was told that the Coot was still there the other day

New Street bridge has been removed now…

During the winter I will only update this blog once a week unless anything unusual happens.

Terry

The Duck with the tube…

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:23:30 +0000

The Duck with the tube over its beak has still not been caught, she must be getting very hungry by now. Mel and I tried to catch her again this morning but without any luck, just to be certain the RSPCA have not forgot about her I reported the problem to them again. I just hope someone catches her soon.

Although the Dabchick was AWOL at first this morning, it had returned to the reeds a bit later. The Swan is still on Lollycocks pond and the Coot is back also (I think, but also assume, it is the same coot).

A MIRACLE also happened on the Slea today as they have started work on replacing the New Street bridge. It is now over a month AFTER the previously advertised start date, but perhaps we should not get too excited as we do not know when it will be finished yet ?

Terry

Sadly the duck…

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:07:35 +0000

Sadly the Duck with the plastic tube on its botton beak still has not managed to get it off, she must be very hungry by now. We saw a RSPCA lady who had come to try and catch her but had failed, so we also helped her but we still could not catch the duck. The RSPCA ladt said she would come back this afternoon with a college to try again. The Duck has probably not been able to eat for 3 days but the hungrier she gets the more ‘brave’ she will be in getting near to someone so they can then hopefully capture her and remove the tube.

Everything else was the same as on Friday (the swan was on Lollycocks pond and the Dabchick was in the reeds) except the Coot was nowhere to be seen, it will be interesting to see if it returns.

Last year at this time we saw…

…but from memory they didnt survive
Terry