Wootton Bassett (Wednesday 29th January 2020)

My plan to go to Swindon on the bus was thwarted by route diversions due to various road closures, and I fell foul of more of these when I drove in Archie instead. This is why I ended up driving past the entrance to Templars Firs car park and decided to pay a quick visit to the disused Wilts & Berks.

It was a clear bright day and fewer dog walkers than normal. There was a swan grazing on the canal bank at the start of the walk and he followed me on my walk up to the footbridge whose path crosses the canal and leads over the railway line. There is a bench seat there where I sat in the hope of seeing the water voles that have nested in the bank opposite, just this side of the bridge, but there was no sign of them.

I crossed the bridge so I could walk back on an alternative footpath on the other side and got into conversation with a local walking the other way. He told me that he had been seeing the water voles regularly last year but a mink had allegedly been sighted on the canal and since then no-one had seen the voles.

I optimistically hoped that they had been safe in their nest as a mink is too large to get in there, but if they survived it is likely that they got a scare and decided to move house. There have been lots of nests further along the canal but I think none of them have been active for some time. Fingers crossed that they will be seen again.

I decided to leave Swindon for another day and made a few calls on a roundabout return trip.

Looks sharper and bigger in Large.

L.
31.1.2020 (1043 hr)

Blip #3134 (#2884 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #002
Blips/Extras In 2020 #016/265 + #006/100 Extras
Day #3596 (814 gaps from 26.3.2010)
LOTD #2263 (#2104 + 159 in archived blips)

Taken with Pentax K-1 Mark II with Irix IL-11FF-PK 11mm F4 Firefly manual prime full-frame lens

Wildlife series
Wilts and Berks Canal series
Wootton Bassett series
Bridges series
Landscape series
Paths series

Wilts & Berks At Templars Firs, 29 January 2020 (Flickr album of 21 photos)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Avi Buffalo - Skeleton Painting (2020)
A current favourite on Radcliffe-Maconie.

One year ago:
Music While You Work