Thursday 10 May 2012

Nature. Red by tooth and claw.

As usual, I awoke early and left Ali having a little sleep in. We may well have a few locks on the horizon today, weather dependant of course. The heavy overnight rain had passed, replaced by a fine drizzle. After making a coffee, I retired to the rear deck and opened the rear flap on the hood. It was approaching 0630 hours. The bywash from the nearby lock was flowing well, but no wind disturbed the waters. All was calm and still.

Just got my vape going when there was a splash from a clump of grasses about 10 metres from the rear of the boat on the none towpath side. A male duck entered the water, followed by a louder splash and a disturbance within the grasses. Suddenly I could see the cause. A fox, it's coat dark due to the water on it's fur, moved into the field holding in its mouth an adult female duck. The fox moved to the hedge then followed this up the field.

What surprised me was the silence. After the initial disturbance, all was quiet for a few minutes. The surviving duck then seemed to realise his loss, and then flew around the area obviously in some distress, this setting off others.

Murder on the Caldon. Whatever next ! As per usual, no camera to hand.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments