The water level was lowering all day at both Startops End and Tringford as Bank Holiday’s visitors to the Grand Union Canal gave the Locks a good working over, that meant greater water clearance beneath the moorings, and we were astonished by the appearance of a kingfisher who swooped across the water actually beneath the landing stage, and although at a lesser speed than I had seen it before, being so close, its angular velocity was incredible!
When I arrived it was fairly cold, but was sunny, but as the morning wore on the wind increased and it became mightily chill. The anglers were mostly lucky with their catches, but not everyone. One fisherman actually brought up a good sized crayfish on his anchor, and was looking forward to a very different meal that evening!
The swallows, terns and gulls were very active and one juvenile grebe was fishing very successfully, and for a change was not too far from the shore. There were a few herons flying, but certainly not as many as last autumn. The most striking behaviour from several of the fish was that they spent a considerable time at he surface sometimes with just their tail fins showing, but often much of their bodies visible, and there was a good amount of jumping sometimes twice in quick succession, presumably due to lice, and this was their way of trying to rid themselves of the irritation.
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