Canal Activities

I've been swimming every day this week at DL's outdoor pool and passing the canal en route - the reason for the frequent canal blips. Today I arrived to see for the first time the canal dredger arriving at Netherton clearing the excess dead vegetation to keep the canal navigable. Also, although the weather has broken the cyclists were out in force this morning on the towpath, and I captured this cheerful trio as they whizzed past.

I was hovering around as I knew some common moorhens were in the rushes but they are timid. I was delighted to capture this little beauty. Can you see one hiding in the rushes to the left? It's interesting that the female moorhens fight furiously with each other over the fat males at the mating season. Fat must be beautiful in moorhens' eyes! Stranger than fiction.