Bird feeding and breaking ice

We have found this site in Atherstone locks to be wonderful for birdlife. The above photo was taken the past few days out of the window of the boat capturing a Bullfinch.


In another showering of heavy snow overnight we had 3 inches of snow covering the boat. Delia was the first to make her prints in the pristine snow, every step a deep sinking in as she made her way across the frozen canal into the wild hedgerow and disappeared.


In all this cold weather, we have been working hard to ensure the birds are kept well fed. So as our scattering of seeds from the past few days had been covered in snow...


...a new operation needed to take place.

Lets call this Operation Robin.
Take one bamboo steamer lid and some string or left over curtain header tape. Tie the tape to the lid. Fill with bird food, black sunflower seeds, insects and corn bits and using a very long barge pole push out over the ice and snow.




And here we have, the eager Robin!


And after a tussle, the Wagtail took over territory of the bird food.


The Bluetits, with all their speed, managed to get in, pick a bit and flitter off again to the bushes.



We stepped back to admire our good deed for the day and whilst relaxing there thundered an almighty crack sounding out through the hull. I though we were going under! I rushed to the stern and looked all around to see other boaters further down doing exactly the same. What on earth was going on?! Noticing at the lock further down, there were some folks in hi-visibility jackets with windlasses. This did not seem like the best time to be maneuvering a boat through the canal. As the duo wandered up the towpath our boat and the level of the ice had sunk by about 1 foot, so I asked 'What's going on then?' It was BW. 'Nothing to worry about love, the lower pond needs a top up of water.' I did explain that the 4inch thick ice was attached to our hull but they didn't seem fussed in the slightest and wondered off to the next lock with their windlasses swinging in time.


After more cracking we noticed a line appear across the canal and water spilling out.


Fortunately our boat rose as the water level came back up and since this there has been no further thunderous cracks. Here is an idea of how thick the ice was as it broke away...