This time of year is wonderful because you can see new life everywhere, as well as so much fresh greenery and lots of new flowers coming into bloom there are all sorts of new critters to be seen.
The ducklings in today's selection were shot on a day out in Barlick (that's what the locals call Barnoldswick) in Lancashire. I had a really lovely walk along the canal and although I didn't get too many pictures there were one or two that really stood out. I absolutely love these little Mallard ducklings and I am particularly pleased with the clarity of the second image and I like the pose too.
This time a year ago I was in Amsterdam at the start of my European road trip with my eldest son, it seems so long ago and so much has happened since then. Anyway I thought it would be fitting to commemorate the anniversary with a few more canal side images, today as with yesterday they are from the Shropshire Union Canal.
The first of the pictures shows a day boat crossing the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. We had first seen them about half a mile before the aqueduct as they crashed into the side of the canal, the opposite bank of the canal, a lifting bridge and just about everything else along the way. The driver of the boat was so uncoordinated it was scary so I was more than a little anxious about being on the aqueduct at the same time. Fortunately they got across without incident, before crashing into the bank at the marina. At one point they were being waved on by the driver of a boat coming in the opposite direction, sensibly they hung back, the driver kept waving them on and I had to warn him that this was a bad idea and in the end he gave up.
I like the shot of the boats in the marina and the other one as it is about to pass beneath the bridge, it has really low headroom so obviously care was needed. There is something appealing about life afloat, but I am not sure I could cope with the lack of space and the the slow pace.
