Tag Archives: Hebden Water

Duck-pigeon War: new developments (with optional postscript)

Wednesday 17th May 2023, 2.55pm (day 4,283)

Duck-pigeon war developments, 17/5/23

“Ssshhh. They’re asleep, I think. We can sneak in….”

“I feel scared. The water….”

POSTSCRIPT (feel free to ignore): You should have had a picture from London today. Specifically, I was going to go inside the Houses of Parliament for the first time in my life. However, thanks to an exquisitely timed cancelled train today — eradicated 10 minutes too late for me to get an earlier one — I couldn’t make it to King’s Cross in time for the event. So there was no point going. So Northern fuck up my day, and I get to just suck it up.

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The weir

Monday 6th February 2023, 11.10am (day 4,183)

Hebden weir, 6/2/23

Pleasant weather today, which was probably a good thing bearing in mind my need to reacclimatise. The Hebden Water was spilling rather gently over its weir near the centre of town. This is the usual heron-spotting location, but there were none here today.

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The Christmas Day Walk

Sunday 25th December 2022, 12.55pm (day 4,140)

Xmas Day walk, 25/12/22

The family’s annual concession of a bit of exercise, alongside the eating and drinking that is also to come. We were only about another fifteen minutes from the pub at this point. Happy Christmas to you all.

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Waiting by the weir

Thursday 16th December 2021, 11.30am (day 3,766)

Heron, 16/12/21

The weir is where the herons work, in town. Maybe I return to this subject quite a lot — this particular heron might have been on the blog several times by now — but it’s sometimes a relief to see one, as on days like today (spent 95% inside, marking), there isn’t very much else to see. May they continue to fish happily away.

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Hunting heron (the return of Humph?)

Monday 27th September 2021, 3.15pm (day 3,686)

Hunting heron, 27/9/21

Is this the return of the much-seen Hebden Water heron that I call “Humph” (e.g., this shot)? Maybe, maybe not, but either way this was a much-needed piece of interest in another dull day.

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More Friday night duckwatching

Friday 26th February 2021, 4.55pm (day 3,473)

Evening ducks, 26/2/21

Media rhetoric suggests we should all be grateful that Our Glorious Leaders have announced a ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown but none of that changes the fact that for now, and for weeks yet, there’s nothing to do. The ducks continue to have a far better social life than us, At least the evenings are getting lighter, the days (a little) warmer.

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Has it stopped raining yet?

Wednesday 20th January 2021, 3.25pm (day 3,436)

Very high water, 20/1/21

Two days of more-or-less constant rain and the Hebden Water looked like this in mid-afternoon. The general approach to flood defence here still seems to be, essentially, just cross your fingers and hope.

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Bernard joins us for a drink

Friday 20th November 2020, 5.30pm (day 3,375)

Ginge by the river, 20/11/20

To stop the walls closing in any more than they already are I’ve been making a point of sitting out in a spot by the river in the early evenings, when the weather allows. Just to take some air, watch the ducks (my post of a few days ago was taken from this same point), have a couple of beers. Feel human. Clare joined me for this one and so, for 15 minutes or so, did fellow ex-Railway habituĂ© Bernard, who happened to be passing with a bottle of his own. We talked. As much as anything, we just enjoyed the fact we could see someone else’s face, for real.

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Duckwatching

Friday 13th November 2020, 3.25pm (day 3,368)

Ducks, 13/11/20

As government policy and public fear continue to ravage our lives and economies, I speculate as to what kind of future awaits, and ahead there’s an old-man version of me that just wanders through our empty town each afternoon to spend time watching the ducks. They are peaceful, good-looking creatures, they clearly have some basic society, with obvious couples, occasional spats and arguments, and an ability to understand and make use of the dynamics of water flow for their own personal edification. This duck seems proud of her own drake and watches the other two parade past in much the same way as might a haughty woman sat outside a cafĂ©. To my eyes, anyway. There is little else to look at right now.

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Craggy island?

Saturday 30th May 2020, 1.35pm (day 3,201)

Rock in Hebden Water, 30/5/20

There continues to just about be enough visual interest around my locality to keep this all going. Who knows how long it will be before Authority deigns to say that we can not just travel to other places, but stay there, and explore. Until then, let’s fake it. The thing I like about this shot is that there’s little sense of scale. This could be a substantial island just off the coast, with cliffs behind that are hundreds of feet high. Or, just a little rock in a stream, well lit. You decide.

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