Springtime in the Marina is a lovely time of year, new leaves budding on the trees and bushes so that everything starts to 'green up' so to speak. As the sap starts to rise in the foliage, so too does the urge to procreate in the waterfowl world. Ducks get frisky, well the male ones do anyway, the females just start acting coy, and pretty soon it becomes a general free for all orgy!
The pair of resident swans are a little more discreet in their mating. Well I suppose as they've been together for some years now they're like an old married couple.
The Canada geese on the other hand are a different ball game completely! Aggressive, vociferous, and sex mad! They're like a bunch of hooligans out on the pull after 10 pints and a few shots! All they seem to want to do is fight every other bird in sight, and having had their wicked way they then are intent on defending their territory. Which generaly means lots of loud honking noises from the early hours onwards! As for having a lay in, forget it!
At the stern of Bracken there is a hazel bush that I hang bird feeders from so I have a steady stream of visitors from the bird world who seem to be quite appreciative of my donations. (well as they don't poo on Brackens roof I assume they're appreciative)
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| Blue-tit, one of the regular visitors. |
There is also a resident Moor-hen that finds the bird-feeders irresistible.
Moorhens are waterfowl, ie they swim, and nest in rushes in the canal / river bank. Similar to a Coot but with a red lump above their beak, generaly they cant fly but make semi-controlled landings from high spots.
Well this Moorhen climbs the tree to get at the birdfeeder!
Most amusing to watch as she is obviously not a natural tree climber.
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| Nearly got it, just a little further to stretch! |
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| Mmm seed is good! |
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| These cygnets were only a couple of days old and didn't know what to do with the food pellets. Mum and dad did tho! |
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| TEN babies! now I know why geese are so noisy during egg laying! |
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| These are regular visitors now, and all are nearly as big as mum. |
This pair of ducks I call 'The Odd Couple'. The brown duck is the female and to be honest she is more trouble than she's worth. The drake follows her around like a lovestruck teenager, and is forever getting into fights as you can see by the missing feathers on his chest!
Its her! - loose women doesn't come anywhere near describing her! She's always wandering off with other Drakes whilst her poor 'husband' spends all his time looking for her and quacking in a most distressing way, and when I'm feeding them he always lets her have the food first so i always give him a bit extra.
One of the other jobs I've done is to paint the ceiling throughout the boat. Its made a big difference inside, and has made it much lighter and airier.
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| As it was. (photo taken in January) |
Much better now, and lighter curtains too.
It took me 3 days to do the ceiling, a coat of paint each day. I'm glad its done now but it was hard going trying to tilt my head back against neck muscles that are not very supple now.
I'm still having monthly review checks with my Consultant oncologist, so far, so good.
Couldn't resist taking this next picture, my next door neighbour Ann, kindly gave me a bowl of chocolate sponge with cream and custard. Deeelicious! No wonder I've gone from 64 kilos to 76 kilos in the last 6 months!!
More on next post.
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