Peacock house

macroft1 · September 16, 2015

Between the bridges at Potter there is some free moorings and a grassed area with picnic benches - a nice place to moor if you can get under the bridge.

The wife and I were there on Saturday moored opposite a nice house with peacocks in the garden. I was fishing off the boat and her indoors was spending our hard earned cash at Lathams on stuff neither of us needed.

All was great. The weather was nice, the fish were biting - sometimes! - and I was stood on the stern of my pride and joy.

The swans were a bit of a pain but kept away when they saw my inquisitive Jack Russell.

Two of the swans had angel wing which is a deformed joint and causes the wing to stick out the side. They can't fly and are doomed to die if left outside over the colder months. It's a sorry sight to see and could be caused by too much white bread in their diets - you can read about it on various websites. If this is true then people need to be aware so they can choose to feed them alternatives.

Anyways, whilst I thinking about these swans and watching my float an old man came out of the garden where the peacocks were and headed towards the old bridge carrying a black sack full of white bread. He emptied half of it in the river next to the bridge and then walked back towards me and emptied the rest a foot away from my stern which attracted every bird in the area. There was only me and one other boat on the moorings so I assume he did it out of spite as there was loads of free space well away from me. I said "excuse me. I'm fishing here" He replied "well you can fish some other time" and scurried back to his bolt hole.

If he hadn't have been so old I could have easily lost my temper.

Watch out for him if you're there. Not only is he potentially causing damage to the birds with his large amounts of bread, he clearly objects to boats and fishing.

Mark.