Day 12 - what happened to the rain?

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4 locks, 78 in total.







Shortish day today, past numerous gravel pits and osier beds – very picturesque. We were held up for an hour at Tyle Mill hydraulic road swing bridge when the mechanism jammed – this was after boaters were kept waiting for 4 hours yesterday after a mechanical failure when an engineer had to drive down from Derby!







Now at Sheffield Swing Bridge – lovely moorings and very beautiful. We're moored opposite the large house, grounds and recording studio that used to belong to Kate Bush. The new owners are in the process of landscaping the grounds and have removed trees and scrub from the canal bank, so now we can see Shenfield Mill.







For the last ½ mile or so to this mooring we saw a great many terns flying down to the canal and eating. Later we realised that increasing numbers of mayfly nymphs were rising to the water's surface and the first stage mayfly were emerging and flying off. This has now been going on for 6 hours and the water is littered with nymph cases and bodies of mayfly that couldn't manage to fly. Hundreds have made it through though, particularly where we're moored as the trees deter the terns. How did the terns know about the mayfly – or were they just lucky?

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Photos

Gravel pit
One of many!