A nature ramble.

We woke up to sun and a funny noise on the roof. Eventually I dragged myself out and went to see what it was to find an Egyptian Goose sitting there. Ni, I hadn't heard of them either! I took a photo and then went back to make some tea. By the time I was back out it had gone leaving me a good number of piles of memories!! Apparently these geese are now resident after introduction in 18th century. The vast bulk of the population, a few hundreds, are based around Holkham in North Norfolk. There were a pair here on the Witham so maybe with the less severe winters mean they are spreading. They are not unpleasant looking and have been over here quite a while now.

An Egyptian goose of the roof.

A little further on was the Dogdyke Pumping Station that used to control the water levels in the fenlands. It is now a museum and still occasional runs its steam driven beam engine and wooden scoop wheel along with a museum in the keepers old house and a diesel engine and centrifugal pump. It is open next weekend so if we are passing at the right time we will see if we can get to see it.

Dogdyke pumping station with the attendants house on the right.

There are some moorings at Dogdyke where there is the Packet Inn. Just a little bit further on was the entrance of the River Slea into the River Witham. We are hoping to travel up on the way back. As we approached I saw a seal that dived as we approached. Unfortunately by the time it surfaced we were too far a way for a decent photograph but it had caught a huge fish and was making short work of it. The crew of the weed cutting boat had told me that there was one about and it was good to see it looking well. I'm not sure how they cope with living in fresh water rather than there more usual salt.

Dogdyke mooring and the Packet Inn.

After Dogdyke and the River Slea the river becomes almost straight for over four miles. We were overtaken by two narrowboats and there were several cruisers heading back Lincoln way. Although the route was straight and the banks were high we were kept amused by watching some Red Kites soaring above us. We also saw a cuckoo and several cormorants so despite having few revs on the currant moved us along smartly and we arrived at Langrick Bridge soon enough. There was nobody on the moorings there so we stopped. We are hoping to take fuel from Geordie's Chandlery tomorrow. We did have a walk around but there isn't very much here at all. However there is authentic New York Diner just by the moorings but it was closed. The bridge is quite busy but it is single direction working.

Langrick Bridge and moorings.

We had a lazy afternoon and rather than start to rain as I thought it actually became a really nice evening. We sat out and Helen was inspired to give my locks a trim. It is a sure sign that we are approaching civilisation soon.