Foxton Locks is a landmark location on England's waterways, noted not only for its famous flight of locks but also as the site of the Foxton Inclined Plane - A boat lift opened at the start of the 20th century in an aid to speed up boat traffic, when you look at the locks which takes around 45 minutes to navigate, from top to bottom is 75 feet, you can understand the need for a lift.
Foxton Locks
No longer a working boat yard it has now become a major tourist attraction, during the weekends in Summer it is packed with folk enjoying the wonderful views, walks, museum, and pub. Having retired early we can visit mid-week which we did today, and enjoyed a swift half in the newly refurbished Foxton Locks.Images at Foxton Locks
On leaving the locks Jackie spotted a Kestrel perched high in a young tree, obviously when you stop the car, get out, aim your camera, prepare to press the shutter, yeah, you guessed it, it buggers off. Working on the theory that this must be his territory we waited a while, sure enough he returned and perched in a different tree this time, moving the car into position (the car is a good hide as the birds get used to seeing them) pointed my lens out of the window, and off it shot again, landing in another tree further down the road. This time i decided to crouch down, not easy with my knee's and used my stalking skills, Jak indicated i was level with the Kes, I slowly raised my camera to my eye and over the hedge, there he was in all his glory, a young male by the look of it, i managed a couple of shot before he realised the noise he heard was the shutter on my camera, i wish Canon would sort this, most Canon DSLR's have a noisy shutter.
A lovely Falcon
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Leaving Kes behind we had a ride around a few of the villages close by, mainly to see what bird life was around, we came across the usual Swallows, House Martins and Swifts but it is noticeable they appear reduced in numbers this year, in fact it is worrying the lack of these three species, in Norfolk at a pub on the river we frequent, a few years ago there were 70/100 House Martins nests this year there is around a dozen. But back to today, we arrive in Langton a little Hamlet, we admired some of the properties there and spoke about which one we will buy when we win the lottery, as we were about to leave Langton i noticed a bird on the grass verge but was unable to asses what it was, i wish i had because as we got closer it became evident it was a male Sparrow Hawk with a freshly killed Blue tit, unfortunately he never gave us time to get a good look at him. One thing i did find interesting was the walls around the small church, they appeared to be covered in a sandy mortar mix but the strange thing was the fact that the top of the walls were thatched, i don't think i have seen that before.
Thatched Wall Topping
Heading back towards home we stopped off in Gumley another village where my Sister used to live before moving to London. There is an area there with adjacent woodland i frequent from time to time to watch the Buzzards and Green Woodpeckers who always let you know that you are trespassing with their aggressive cackle call. The Buzzards were gliding about 300 feet above us on the lookout for an unsuspecting rabbit but it was disappointing not to hear or see the Green Woody's, i mentioned to Jak that i hoped they survived the Winter, the staple diet being ants, i just wonder if there was enough around to sustain the pecker population.
As we walked and commented how lovely it was to be out in such a beautiful area and have it to ourselves i heard what i thought was a Fox bark, we sat down against a tree and watched a while but saw nothing, i just happened to have my Fox caller in my pocket, well you would wouldn't you and started to squeak the Fox, within seconds we were confronted by two very inquisitive Fox cubs, at first they just looked at us, staring intently and then showed us there displeasure at our presence by barking like mad before returning to the woodland making one hell of a noise. A great site to see up close, i was pleased i managed to get a pic of them before they scurried away.
Like peas in a pod
Its easy to not to make an effort to get out and enjoy the surroundings, but when we do make an effort the rewards can be great, we had a wonderful day that cost us less than a gallon of fuel and a pint in the pub, we saw some stunning views and enjoyed nature in the raw, might just do it again tomorrow.
