marshman

This thread now contains so many inaccuracies posted by individuals who just haven't a clue as to what is happening at Hickling, its almost laughable! As to PW's comment about keeping all Broads clear, since when did that EVER happen?? Perhaps we should consider almost every other stretch of open water that is silted up around the margins - are you really saying that every stretch of apparent open water should be dredged or cleared to a depth of say 1M ?? Not even the Port and Haven Commissioners dreamt that up!!!! In fact what little dredging they DID do on Hickling has resulted in tree growth in two specific areas now covered in birch trees where the spoil was just dumped!! I was on the Broad today and despite the alarming article regarding killer weed , IMHO it is no worse than some other years before! As previously there are bad patches but other areas where I suspected weed might be, there was none! As previously! As for dredging piecemeal, that too is utter garbage and perhaps to those who don't know, I will explain if you care to read although I doubt you will, as it suits those individuals concerned to have yet another pop at the BA attempting to reignite foolish conspiracy theories. Over the last two years they have dredged the access channel from the upper end of the channel to the Pleasure Boat and immediately outside the sailing club as access was becoming increasingly difficult. Last winter they continued down the channel a bit southward but a key factor in everything is where to put the spoil - the spoil from the top end was put into the new bunded areas created on the north east corner adjacent to Hill Common where there has been significant erosion and problem with geese for many many years but I suggest to the people who doubt what they do, just get off their b***s and have a look! After that, later last winter they moved to the bottom end of the Broad and began dredging the channel upwards from Deep Go Dyke and the spoil from that dredging was used to infill Churchills Bay again on the North shore but between Catfield Dyke and the sailing club - this has now been filled in and indeed is growing reed as intended. So is that piecemeal?? No to me it seems planned and this year, if they get permission from the appropriate bodies and to those who cannot be bothered to read I will spell it out again! Thats primarily Natural England - the BA cannot act unilaterally whatever they would wish but they need somewhere to dump the stuff!! Point your finger to the landowners and others who have to agree too. For those of you who seem to have very short, often conveniently so , memories, the Clearwater Project at Barton took YEARS to plan and accomplish and that was at huge cost then - now it would be significantly more, way way way in excess of the TOTAL annual budget of the BA. Lot of that was EU money and there is now fat chance of them giving us more now!!! Sorry it is a little too long for some to read but honestly, some of you seem to be posting deliberate misinformation, rather than fact, so I thought I would add a bit of fact, many clearly wished to overlook!!

PW - my first memories of Hickling go back to the early 60's and then Hickling was far worse for weed than it is even now! Cannot even remember who was in charge of navigation then (was it your favourites the P & H Commissioners? ) and they didn't succeed then in closing the Broad and I doubt the BA will do now, especially when this winter I am expecting them to continue the dredging programme, subject the all the surrounding landowners and seemingly every other officious bodies agreeing to it continuing. As you know weed growth is very difficult to predict as it involves many many factors - water temperature, water quality etc etc. The trouble is Hickling is also home to rare water plants and you know as well as I, you cannot even f**t up there without permission from Natural England. I recall all those years ago, the bodies concerned appointed a bod to try and understand what was happening, and no sooner had she ( sorry! ) been appointed, then it all died off and disappeared!! Waterwise it is an odd place, probably due to the saline incursions, and it is always almost up in this area that prymnesium occurs at its worst when it does. Incidentally I probably missed the appropriate thread, but it seems that the UEA after much research seemed to have found something to help in those distressing times - hydrogen peroxide! Not sure where they will get hold of the vast quantities needed (Essex? ) or how they are going to bung it in the Broad but perhaps we will have blonde fish?? Still it is positive news I hope? Perhaps next year we shall have a cold winter, a cold spring and lots of rain, and who knows perhaps another type of weed will then grow in abundance but the article generally is typical of Archants latest offerings!

Easily!

PW - now you're talking!! And with a boat like that you could "bare away" with impunity as you would be very important!!! But would that alone spare you from prosecution for a lewd act, even if you had had one or two over the top? Indeed would the police even bother to chase you or call the lifeboat out, given that the police would have to doff their caps to one of such seniority! ( Please note the clever inerlinking of various topics to confuse everyone, just in case the Mods notice! )

Evening Rascal - thats a great website link for saddos - even I have bookmarked it!!!!!!!!!

I see PW is trying to compete with the stag parties and such ilk as he quotes "..bare away.." !! A sight not to be forgotten easily methinks!!

That is what they did on CrossRail - the trouble is that the size of the "squishing" bit was huge!! Would you suggest an application to the Lottery to fund it? Or just the Navigation budget?

Kingfisher - the use of chains was in reality for unpowered craft. These days with modern technology and the more accepted use of engines, it is just something we do not do any more. I think some of our older skippers would like us to employ the old methods all of the time but we live in a real world, and if a more convenient, easier, method is available it will be used. If wherrymen had had motors, no one would ever have dreamed up the method of going backwards with chains! I guess WYC may still use them on Hathor but to be honest, when we transit GY you are always considering risk, and generally at this time of year, the outboard and careful planning enable us to transit without much difficulty, given neap tides!

The other way! Used to hang chains usually from the bow so they would steer in reverse!! We still carry chains so this can be done, but tend not to even have them out for passages through Yarmouth these days but even a few years ago we used to range them out on the foredeck in an orderly fashion with a fishermans on the end. Bung over the fisherman's and then stand very well clear - I am sure several of the old boys would have gone over this way and it would not have been pleasant I guess. I guess getting them back in would have been more difficult - you might even had to have used the winch!!

In all my years of boating I don't think I have ever had an engine stall. Conditions that make cars stall don't really exist on the water but I suppose its just possible. For whatever thats worth!!

But the hire companies cannot prosecute - do we really want BA staff to spend all day in court over speeding tickets? Historically fines amount to not a lot and awards for costs, if paid, do not meet the total costs involved. Any shortfall has to to met from somewhere and once again it will be you and me! Do we really want that for every transgression??

Vaughan - when we have to move that big black thing, we nearly always do away with the fore spring, and then just fiddle around with the rest until its right. Interestingly it is helped as we have a pretty big rudder (!), so we steer with that and just set the mobo up with a little toe in, set the power and away we go - however increase the revs and you often have to reset the lines a bit. Neither the forrard or the stern lines ever carry much weight but virtually the whole load goes on to the stern spring. A couple of rubber tyres help keep them apart but we always carry a very large round plastic fender for keeping the spray down over Breydon as it is known to get a bit damp for the helmsman out in the open at the back!!

Sorry PW - reread your post but surely you are not saying that just because it is not navigable by bigger boats, the BA should never spend money on it? The Broads is NOT just about navigable waters - if its within their boundary, which it is, then thats how it is.

PW - you are wrong for once I believe. I think the BA boundary goes up to the bridge in Bungay unless it has been changed recently. I wouldn't bother to do your FOI until you are absolutely sure!!! The BA area is NOT just limited to navigable waters but in some cases extends to other bits

Wroxham needs something like this to cater for the masses - me, I will go further afield to just pass it by this time of the year! I might pop in in quieter times - if you have young kids around Zaks in Norwich is generally a winner and that no doubt, is just the market they were aiming at!

The number is restricted to the number shown after the regn no e.g A123 - 6

Vaughan - you will be pleased to know you are almost correct!!! The old DOT had control about years ago but these days passenger boats come under the Small Passenger Boat Code which has been adopted and is controlled by the BA on the rivers Your old boat (you know the old black one! ) is licensed to carry 12 persons, all adults but infants count as one of these, and up to 5 crew - 17 in total! Believe it or not we even had to carry out stability tests - load of 'ol squit if you ask me!!! You could have had 40 big 'ol blokes standing on the side without noticing much!!

No such thing as bad publicity Clive!!

I wonder, if journalists actually get paid at all, given the quality of reporting!! Archant ones clearly get paid the worst, probably in peanuts!!

And there was me thinking it referred to the width so you could not fall out when it was rough, let alone get in the damned thing!!

Almost certainly but like many yards, they may prefer to fund that by selling some of their old stock.

You naughty man, Mr Waller!!

Like the landscape - no trees!!!!

Someplace forrard of that sticky thing holding up a the white flappy wwhatnot??

Do I get a special prize for having my name in highlights?? I cannot really answer this question as I have no accurate data to relate to but all I can do is to recount my own personal experiences - I am no different really to anyone else but perhaps am more aware of the natural scene than some. Equally I do not ever recall saying that ducks were or were not in decline, just that overall I did not think that birdlife generally was declining! Its raining this afternoon so lets look at them in a bit more detail but always bearing in mind one important fact and that is that Donald Trump or not, climate is changing. We may not see or heed this but i think wildlife do and move accordingly. Geese generally are a complete nuisance - both greylag and Canada do untold damage to the reed fringes early in the year and there have been some half hearted efforts to control them - these need redoubling but of course the issue will be that any real effort will be met by a flood of complaints about the whole issue. Egyptian geese ( shelduck really!) too but that will be difficult since they do not seem to have a brain and they breed anywhere and at any time! Swans fine with plenty about - the black ones were I think sorted out by the mutes!! Grebes as you say are in fine fettle - S Walsham some weeks ago had some 10 pairs on the Inner Broad alone and Blackhorse is another hotspot. Come the autumn I have no doubt we shall see Little Grebe about in numbers. As Vaughan said, kingfishers this year are down in numbers but they suffer from good and bad years due in particular to breeding burrows being flooded - did we have a lot of higher tides earlier , I cannot remember specifically? Not sure about coot and moorhen to be honest. When I was young, possibly even before Vaughans era (surely not? ) I seem to recall more but even then it was quite variable but yes there were more in the rivers - was this because farmers kept dykes clearer then or do the moorhens now prefer the more overgrown dykes for more peace and quiet? Coots seem to vary a lot from year to year and I would suggest that other factors may be in play. Winters on the near Continent used to be harsher with ice skating common in the Low Countries and France - not now so why move to the Broads for the winter?? I do recall seeing a flock of over 500 on Hickling this winter when it was really chilly earlier but they clearly all went back home somewhere. Funny you should comment on ducks but I say loads on last Monday in the Fleet Dyke / S Walsham area - at least 3/4 lots of tiny babies and plenty bigger afloat on the Broad - I think the jury is out on those!! It could be just that at the moment they are sitting on their 2/3rd brood?? Vaughan - I am not convinced the otters are an issue to anyone. Otters have clearly defined territories and just do not tolerate overcrowding. When the little pups grow up they are dispatched elsewhere in no uncertain terms - they do not stay locally and overcrowd the parents stretch. Vaughan may recall Philip Wayre who had the Otter Trust at Earsham - he closed that down some years before he died as he had nowhere to release the new ones he bred in this locality. The Broads were "full" of otters, 10 plus years ago and whilst they do take some baby birds but why bother when the rivers are actually heaving with fish? Climate change - what we are definitely seeing is birds adapting to higher temperatures and changing their ranges. Who would have thought the Broads would have seen breeding avocets? This year I have seen more bittern than ever as indeed have others. Marsh Harriers too and lots of Little Egret with occasional spoonbills. Anecdotally I did happen to spend some 12 hours afloat on that very very cold weekend earlier in the year. I guess the dykes were frozen solid, but the rivers were quite literally heaving with birds on the way to Yarmouth - I have never seen so many with every reach home to literally hundreds! I am sure we are seeing changes in distribution of some species, but is there any really firm long term evidence? It would be hard to prove but what we can say is that the range of birds we once never saw , is increasing due in part to greater conservation care by those dreaded bodies, and indeed I suspect, by farmers and the trend away from cereal growing on our marshes back to more marshland. Lets hope that trend continues. Its now stopped raining - off outside to feed the birds!!!!!