Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World
Created | Updated May 7, 2008
A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of salt, but with more than a grain of truth!
From Narrow Boats to Narrow Minds?
Narrow Boats
Have you ever taken a trip on a canal in a narrow boat? Or enjoyed a holiday aboard the many narrow boats now for hire? If not, I would urge you to try it. We live life so much in the fast lane now, at a breakneck speed that is causing stress and associated illnesses to increase rapidly — this could just be the answer. I would not wish to add to that stress, but if you do not have time to read all of this article now, then please scroll to the bit at the end entitled 'So to Narrow Minds'. It matters. It brings a whole new meaning to the colloquial name for a canal, known to many as 'the cut'.
Canals were artificial waterways cut through the landscape to provide access for industry, but all that has changed: just take a pleasure trip as a taster and see for yourself. Many boats are equipped to feed and entertain parties for all sorts of events.
Or come with me on a journey that takes us back to the past — to a life lived at just four miles an hour. Yes, that's what I said, just four miles an hour. See a side of the United Kingdom long forgotten. Get away from the motorways with stalled traffic, noise and pollution and take a holiday guaranteed to bring you down to earth and back to nature. Or just take a stroll along one of the many canal towpaths. Many have been restored and are sound enough and wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and the like.
Imagine waking early one morning in the heart of the countryside. It is a misty morning, but the birds are singing, the last of the nocturnal animals are scurrying home to bed and the sun is coming up. Moored at the side of the canal somewhere in the heart of England, perhaps alongside other boats, the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing stirs the appetite. Mmm! Just thinking about it makes me drool.
Towards the end of the day, imagine cruising along in the late afternoon. The sun is going down and a beautiful sunset fills the sky with glowing colours. The birds are singing their farewells; the bats, owls and badgers are coming out to look for food; foxes are on the prowl. After a long day on the canals, working the locks and building up a thirst and an appetite, thoughts turn to an evening meal and a pint or two, or perhaps something stronger. Along the canals there are beautiful pubs geared to canal traffic, with wonderful food and drink and an ambience found nowhere else. Having eaten and drunk your fill, take a gentle stroll along the towpath to your 'home from home' and watch and listen to the nightlife. Not the drunken cavorting of the nightclub revellers, but the animals and birds that live around the canals, those wonderful, valuable wildlife corridors that help sustain wildlife amongst our human habitats.
Between those two scenarios you will find flights of locks, old iron bridges, lock-keepers' cottages (some occupied) and sundry spooky long tunnels. Many, many attractions to occupy children and adults alike are within easy reach. In the centre of England alone you will find the Black Country Museum and numerous landmarks related to the old industries of nail- and chain-making. Water parks, reservoirs and the canal network stretch in all directions, giving endless opportunities to see wildlife.
Just watching the narrowboats and other craft is a fascinating pastime in itself. Narrowboats decorated beautifully with traditional canal art, old boats or tasteful modern floating palaces small and large: all have one thing in common, the occupiers share a love of the canals and the wildlife and a respect for each other.
The friendliness and camaraderie among boat people and between boat people, walkers, fishermen and cyclists along the towpaths takes us back to a kinder time. There is so much to see and do that a two-week holiday is never enough. People are coming from America and Europe, Australia and New Zealand to experience a different kind of holiday altogether, to see some of England's industrial heritage and learn the history of the canals. There is a nostalgia for 'the old days' once reserved only for steam trains, but tempered with all the modern conveniences which we now take for granted. Boats are kitted out with every modern appliance you can think of and many are becoming first homes and retirement havens. Let's face it, if you don't get on with your neighbour, who wouldn't be glad to up sticks and move on in the dead of night!
Other neighbours are more than welcome. Ducks and geese are commonplace; moorhens and coots are often seen; the odd grey heron making its stately way overhead, or perched on the banks. If you are lucky and quiet, the flash of blue that is a kingfisher, or perhaps one catching a fish, might make your day. Waterside plants — iris, bulrushes, water forget-me-not, pondweed, millfoil and many others — conceal fish, insects and other animals. Water spiders, newts and dragonflies abound. There is something magical about those brightly-coloured little helicopters zipping around above the surface of the water. The banks in some areas are homes to a declining population of water voles — Ratty of The Wind in the Willows. Look for rows of holes just above the waterline. Where canals meet up with rivers near such historic places as Stratford upon Avon, you may even see otters. A surprise to many children, too, would be the cows, sheep, horses, humming tractors and farming activity. A chance to explain, perhaps, that milk and meat comes from these animals and not ready-packed off a supermarket shelf.
During the 18th century, canals carried goods from the industrial heartlands of the Black Country to all parts of the country where roads were totally inadequate. The barges and narrowboats were home and livelihood to many. Whole families worked day-in day-out, children too, to scrape a living. Coal, limestone, metals, pottery, glass and many other commodities were transported more quickly and safely by the waterways and hundreds of businesses built premises canalside. The boats were hauled by horses and later powered by steam engines. Now many are powered by diesel or electricity.
In cities, many of the industrial buildings are still there and used for more modern purposes. On a certain canal, you can see an entirely different and much pleasanter view of the aptly-named Spaghetti Junction. Underneath this modern highway are canal junctions and below them flow rivers which also converge, marking much older forms of transport. Sadly, gradually the railways took over heavy haulage and the canal trades declined, becoming almost non-existent by the 1960s.
The nostalgia for canal life was still there, however, and many canals have been restored and reinstated in recent years by dedicated volunteer groups. More are coming 'onstream' as we speak and money often comes from enthusiasts' fundraising and various grants. Canal traffic now supports many pubs and businesses, provides leisure and homes for thousands and has produced a thriving trade in new boat-building, restoration and refurbishing. The wildlife has flourished in these beloved backwaters of British life, with water quality much improved and thriving fish stocks evident, hence the kingfishers and herons. The waterways are now looked after by British Waterways. Facilities for the disabled on boats, space for walkers, cyclists, boaters, canoeists and anglers ensures that these waterways are well-used. Those using the canals take good care of them. Some people, of course, do regard them as convenient 'bins' for supermarket trolleys, car tyres, old baths and a myriad other strange articles, and again volunteers are involved in numerous clean-up operations.
So, to Narrow Minds!
In view of all you have just read, can you explain to me why, when we have a new and thriving leisure and business industry which is growing by the day, our government chooses to do this? In the guise of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA — once MAFF of Foot and Mouth and BSE fame) the Government is planning to reduce British Waterways' annual grant by 15 percent this year! When wildlife corridors, leisure habitats and business opportunities are growing, who with any sense would this year cut funding, resulting in a devastating effect upon our inland waterways? 180 of British Waterways' staff are to lose their jobs and canals are to be closed. At a time when thousands are out of work, every inch of our wildlife habitat is under threat of development and we are trying to present ourselves as a tourist attraction to the rest of the world, where is the sense?
Only those with narrow minds, short-term vision and total ignorance could make such a decision. Already MPs are being lobbied to reverse this decision and I would urge anyone who is at all concerned to write to their MP as soon as possible, asking for their support for this reversal. If your MP has already signed Early Day Motion 2757 to bring this to the attention of Parliament, then please write to them and congratulate them for caring. If not, ask them to sign and keep up the pressure to reinstate the grant and ensure that long-term funding is guaranteed for the upkeep and restoration of canals and waterways.
If you live outside the United Kingdom, then you can still write to DEFRA voicing your objections. Tourists are increasingly the lifeblood of our economy and your opinion matters. You might even like to comment on David Miliband's own blog. I have. Read 'Defra Budget' posted by David Miliband (Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) on 26 October 2006.
If any of you have experienced a holiday on the canals of the UK, I would love to hear from you. In the meantime, dream with me of a slower pace of life at four miles per hour. And a pint. Or two! Take a wander down 'the cut' on a Sunday afternoon, other cuts permitting.
Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World Archive
