Bascote (Karen found some dingies mating)

Well it’s been a bit quiet on the blog this week but I feel it’s now time to catch up with the last few days.  It’s been a rather nice week now the cold wind has disappeared.  Buddy and I have been to Stockton Cuttings once or twice a day on the search for emerging Grizzled and Dingy skippers.  No joy at all and we also met up with one of the Warwickshire recorders who hadn’t seen any either.

On our visit there on Friday I met a flower girl – actually a lady a lot older than me - who is into wild flowers.  I took the opportunity to find out a few things including the differences between Oxslips and Cowslips, and also the differences between Wild Strawberries and Barren Strawberries.

Oxslips are a hybrid between Primrose and Cowslip and the flowers hang all round the top of the stem

Whereas Cowslip flowers hang one side of the stem

Grizzled Skipper caterpillars feed on Wild and Barren Strawberries and (obvious really), Barren Strawberries don’t bear fruit.  She also explained that the petals are separate on the Barren Strawberry.  It turned out she has lived on a working boat nearly all her life as well as being a botanist.  She and her husband used to have a butty – an engineless boat that used to be towed by the working boat to carry extra freight on a boat journey.  The plan had been to restore the butty and as soon as it was done they would travel the canal system together on both the boats; unfortunately he died just before their great adventure so she has sold the butty but remains living on the working boat.

A lot of butterflies were on the wing during the week and I saw our first female Orange Tip of the year.  Amazing camouflage on the underwings.

Underside of Orange Tip

About ½ mile from where we have been moored is a country store which has a Victorian post box still in use.  I checked on the Waymarking Geocaching site and it was one that hadn’t been recorded before in their list of Queen Victoria letter boxes so I wrote an entry for them and got it accepted.- sad eh?

VR post box in near doorway

On Saturday it was time to move home as we had been in the same spot for 14 days.  We cruised to Stockton and moored outside The Boat Inn.

Boat Inn on left.  We are furthest boat on right in front of a Kiwi couple who also liveaboard

We took the opportunity to visit Stockton Cutting and we were fortunate this time – Karen spotted a Dingy Skipper first and then found this mating pair.

Mating Dingy Skippers - first day of adult lfe as well!

We found seven in all and one Grizzled Skipper.  We couldn’t get a decent picture of the Grizzled.

Karen photographing the copulators whilst Buddy sleeps

 

Freshly emerged Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skipper with outstretched wings

We reported the sightings to the Warwickshire recorder who was really pleased with our finds.

We have noticed that Buddy is finding the heat a bit wearing compared to previous years – maybe he’s just getting older and more sensible and realises that running around just makes him hotter.

We got back from our butterflying and had lunch before setting off down the Stockton flight.  As we were casting off a couple passed us on nb Fullerdreams (their surname is Fuller) and we agreed to lock down together.  They were a pleasant couple who moor in Uxbridge for the winter and cruise for six months of the year.  They kept laughing at Buddy lying down at each lock.

Poor Buddy seems to have forgotten how to cope with heat

We took on water at a water point out in the middle of nowhere near the hamlet of Bascote.  It was so peaceful that we reversed back after filling up and decided to make this our next mooring spot for a while.  It is now less than 10 miles for Karen to drive to work which is good too.

Looking south from our mooring for the next week or so

These are the ten locks we went down today.

Tomlow (longest grass snake I’ve seen)

I used to work for the Forestry Commission many years ago and as such have seen many grass snakes but on Tuesday I came across the largest I have ever seen.  I know people tend to exaggerate but this one must have been about 3’ 6” long.  Trouble is she moved away before I could take a picture.  I say she because it’s the females that grow the largest.  She was sunning herself  in some warm grass and the look on Buddy’s face when he saw her slithering away was a picture.  The only other time I can recall him seeing a snake was on a bridge at Kingswood Junction but I think Buddy was more scared then and backed away as the snake slithered off.

Our cruising lifestyle has completely changed since Karen started working again on 26 February this year.  We have only covered 58 miles and been through 20 locks (an average of 6 miles and two locks a week).  This is still well within the spirit of our continuous cruisers licence.  As a contrast the previous 12 months we covered 1,132 miles through 1,079 locks at an average of 22 miles and 21 locks a week.  Karen works just outside Leamington Spa so you can see we have been getting ever closer over the last 10 weeks.

In the last 10 weeks we have only moved from Lichfield down to near Napton-on-the-Hill

 

The draft winter stoppages were published this week and as Karen will probably still be working in the winter I have had a look to see what impact they may have on us.  Selfishly (or fortunately) no stoppages are planned that will hinder our movement around this area over the five month winter period around Christmas.

As Wednesday was such a warm day I spent most of it at Stockton Cuttings searching for emerging Grizzled Skippers.  Although I spent nearly three hours there I was unsuccessful.  I met a couple who are on the committee of Warwickshire Butterfly Conservation and they told me that none had been seen yet this year – it has been a very wet winter and spring butterflies seem to be delayed in the Midlands.

Wild Strawberry (much smaller and sweeter than domestic strawberries) - a foodplant of Grizzled Skipper caterpillars

I get quite jealous each day as I hear of yet another new species for the year being found in places like Sussex and Hampshire.  At least I saw our first Small White of 2016 – 20 days later than in 2015, another sign that this spring is later than last year.

On Tuesday evening we were sitting in the cratch and this pair of swans came for their regular evening feast alongside the boat.  They nibble all the growth under the waterline and it makes quite a racket inside the boat – Buddy always gets a bit unnerved and sits up from his sleep.

A pair of swans on their nightly feed form our hull under the water line

When I had my fruit salad on Wednesday the swans were back and were taking a rather close look at the fruit.

Cheeky swan after my fruit salad

When Buddy and I went for our afternoon walk on Wednesday I went on the bike.  It's been pretty good round here for bikes as I haven't had a puncture for two weeks.  We arrived at some woods and locked the bike up whilst we had a wander around.  As luck would have it the back tyre was flat when we returned - still, at least we were less than two miles from the boat so not too far to push it.

It was when we got back home that I remembered that I had used my last inner tube patch that morning, to mend a puncture in the trolley - oh well, no more biking until we can find a place that sells puncture repair kits.

Tomlow (getting cross about contractors)

The plants in Karen’s ‘greenhouse’ are coming on nicely and most will be strong enough to be outside in a few weeks.

Karen using the cratch as a makeshift greenhouse for her seeds and cuttings

We have had yet another few days of weather extremes.  When Karen finished work on Friday we took a walk to Stockton for a drink in a canal side pub imaginatively called The Boat.  Fortunately we took coats as it started hailing before we got there.

Just after a hailstorm on our Friday evening walk

What a contrast when we got home! This is looking down our patch from the back of the boat.

Back on board later on Friday evening - what a difference in the weather

We have been moored on this stretch for just over a week now and cannot believe how few people we see - maybe a maximum of four people a day walking past the boat. Karen finds the same on the roads; coming from the South we are used to villages being busy with cars especially during the rush hour.  Here, in rural Warwickshire, the villages and country roads are empty at all times of the day – it all adds to the tranquillity of our life at present.  Maybe it changes in the summer when the tourist season starts; it’ll be interesting to see.

Each day this weekend we visited the local butterfly reserve at Stockton at least once but we have yet to be lucky enough to see anything interesting.  The wind has still been a bit too cold even when the sun is out.  We did see our first Green Veined White and Large White of the year and also get a shot of a male Brimstone.

Freshly emerged Green Veined White

Male Brimstone on Dandelion

Last week contractors came through and mowed the towpath.  They mowed from the edge of the canal right up to the hedge and this has made me really cross.  The food plants for the Orange Tip butterflies were growing all along the towpath and have now been decimated so not much chance for the poor caterpillars to find anything to eat.  This patch on the bank could easily have been left.  Our concerns have been raised with the appropriate authorities and we await a response.  We also brought it up on a boaters’ forum and were quite surprised by the support we got from fellow boaters.

So unnecessary mowing this bank

On Monday we went in search of Ransom (wild garlic leaves) as we haven’t seen or smelt any so far this year let alone used it for cooking.  We haven’t really been in the right environments – dark, shady woodland is the ideal habitat but the canals we have been on have been in open countryside recently.  We took a walk to Birdingbury as the River Leam runs through some woods there.  First of all we walked along the old Lias Line starting at Birdingbury station, now a private house.

Birdingbury station - it was open from 1851 to 1959.  Both platforms are still intact

When the railway crossed the river we dropped down to see if we could find any Ransom.

Me thinking, this is the sort of spot we are looking for but it's a bit impenetrable

Buddy agreeing with me

We were out of luck and turned back after a while.  In the winter the river must have flooded the surrounding fields judging by the flotsam caught on the fences at the side.

River Leam looking quiet unlike a few weeks ago when it was flooding the surrounding fields

Walking back home we passed this log pile and thought the owner of this patch of land must have a wood store to keep him going for life.

We will probably stay here for another few days and then move on as we will need to fill up with water and will reach our 14 day limit next Sunday.