Families and their Offsprings atTattenhall Marina

------- of the wild kind that is!

I snapped this Canada Goose family with tiny, tiny goslings on our way into the marina

this is the resident family of Mallards with 6 chicks - see below ..mum/chicks a few weeks later ...

... the cheeky mare visits me on most days and knocks on the window if I'm trying to ignore it!

she brings her family with her and they thrash about under the jetty for food, they're growing up now and I don't think it'll be long before they're independant of her

the Canada Goslings are growing and can be seen in the marina most days

a very protective parent!

the family has taken over the spot used by the Mallards near the top of the page

they're packed so tightly you can hardly make out the individual cygnets!

and are always in with the main chance!

and then there's always the new kids on the block!

Round and About

With George out at work all day we only have weekends to get out-and-about .....

we took a long walk on a hot day up the canal towards Chester, along the long, long line of moored boats at Golden Nook and took this picture whilst walking back to the marina on the towpath side   

a slightly different view of Beeston Castle taken from the towpath just outside the marina entrance

one place that is worth lots of visits is the Ice Cream Farm - there are well over 100 different types to choose from - delicious! It is a proper working farm too and children can feed the calves and lambs, visit the small animal area and more.  There is a good cafe here too which serve very good lunches.

the wild march iris's are now in bloom around the edge of the marina

Rock'n'Roll in her mooring

we paid a visit to the Tattenhall village fair - another hot day with plenty going on for all ages;

we were going to attend the village disco in the evening but found out that it had been cancelled due to lack of support - but it was the day of the first England worldcup match!

So we took off in RnR just the hour or so's cruise to moor just above Wharton's Lock, had a great BBQ, late morning and cooked breakfast on Sunday and a gentle cruise back early afternoon.

these two young swans came to greet us as we arrived and kept us entertained for a good 20 minutes or so

trying out my 10x zoom lens - impressive

what a portrait!

this nosy cow watched us cruise under bridge 110 on the way back!

Regal and not-so-regal at Tattenhall

These photos were taken the day we arrived 21st May at just after 9pm

there was one hell of a commotion behind RnR and I grabbed my camera and rushed onto the stern deck to see this swan trying to lift off    ... because ...

he was being intimidated by this one - he was pushing himself through the water in an extrememly aggresive manor with his wings wide and his head tucked into his chest ....

... he very quickly caught him up making him rise in the water with wings flapping trying to get away

... but the agressive one was still on his tail, this went on for quite some time

and has happened a few time since.

 

One of the swans when being chased like this tried to lift off over our pontoon but didn't see the electric/water point, he hit it full on and broke it, the swan was not hurt and a few days later the same thing seemed to be happening again, he appeared to be going to go over the pontoon (in exactly the same place) but changed his mind and actually went under it and it's only about 18inches above the water!!

in contrast ..... these photos were taken at 06:25 on 24th May

the swans were much more regal, it was such a pleasure to watch them gliding on the water. 

Normal Service is Resumed

Blogger Create Post Editor is now fixed so .. better late that never .... normal service is resumed!

(21st May 10) We soon settled into our mooring spot here at Tattenhall Marina.
         These are our current views of the world ...

Reception and facilities building taken from the stern of RnR

Marina entrance from the Shropshire Union Canal

the view from the bow - Beeston Castle is on the mound just to the left of centre

and Peckforton Castle to the right

a closer-up view of Beeston Castle from RnR ...

... and Peckforton Castle

(22nd June)  We've been here now for just over a month; George has just about got used to the alarm going off at 05:30, being out for 6am and arriving back at the marina between 6 and 8 in the evenings - very long days. 

He's my hero, going out to work so that I can join the 'ladies who lunch'!

But you can have too much of a good thing and we will both be pleased when we can once again be continuous cruisers!

Blogger Updated Editor not working

Over the past week or so I have blamed the fact that 'create post' would not load on a poor internet signal, then yesterday I noticed that at the bottom of the window whilst the uploading icon is in view, it says 'Done, but with errors'. It took hours to find help on Blogger but I eventually managed to report the fault; there had been the same problem in April this year but it stated that it had been fixed.

The solution has been to revert to the 'old editor' which I have done, but hey, it is soooo slow having to put the pictures on in reverse order as it such an ordeal to keep moving them up and down this small window. So .... please bear with me, hopefully normal service will resume soon!