Thursday 24th September 2009.
It promised to be a good day so we planned another trip only we pledged to take things a little easier and try a little more shore work as my RA was playing up and leanne was awaiting and MRI scan for a suspected prolapsed disc in her back.
The tide was good so we arrived at Helford village around 9-30am and our good friend Aidan had offered to join us and help with launching the boat and then accompany us in his Kayak to help us get the boat back to the van afterwards…and of course provide the barby for lunch…
Thanks to him we launched without a hitch and headed out of the Helford creek to make our way towards Frenchman’s for a peek at the Kingfishers if they were showing..
I kind of felt the great relief of just being back on the water as we joined the main river, the intense pain of rheumatoid arthritis can be best dealt with by diverting the mind elsewhere and this was definately the best mind diversion I could find by far…
We travelled up the main river towards the entrance to frenchmans creek alongside a small yaucht ‘Ursa major’ and received the usual welcome smile and wave from them and other River users..

Something we often do for amusement as we saunter upstream is to look at the various boats and see what our preferences would be if we were in the position to own anything bigger than our 10ft dinghy .. today we both spotted this lovely old wooden boat that would have suited us right down to the ground, and strangely enough we both said at the same time… now that would suit us.. The Sea Gypsy from Falmouth..

We approached the entrance to Frenchman’s and Ursa spun around and started the journey back down the Helford..

For us we rounded into Frenchman’s Creek and into the sun kissed water out of the wind.. we were happily entertained by the Egrets once again adorning the trees like white candy floss characters wearing yellow marigold gloves… the wonderful contrasts of the black beaks and legs with the bright yellow feet against the white plumage looking so bright in the morning sun. As you cvan probably tell these are one of my favourite waders and I can sit in fascination of the skill of these fishers for hour after hour.

Beneath the mighty Oaks in the edges of the Creek we came across two swans, one lazily cleaning itself  while basking in the sunshine, I thought it made the perfect picture…

We ambled slowly down the Creek, Mallards swam away slowly in front of us warning the wildlife of our approach, redshanks and curlew crossing from side to side in front but today alas no sign of a kingfisher.

Upon turning in the far reaches of the creek we realised the swan who had watched us pass had slowly followed us down.  I think they are becoming more used to us now and realise we’ll quite often stop for lunch on the bank and there may be the odd treat for them.. this became more confirmed whe we saw the mallards ducking in and out of the shade of the fallen and overhanging trees, also travelling down the creek towards us..

Although the morning sun glared down into the middle of the creeks giving fantastic light to enable the creation of these images, and making it feel like the middle of an indian summer, there was more movement than usual amongst the trees today, which is distracting to the eye of a naturalist as movement often signifies life and a photo opportunity… but today the movement was different.. slower.. and descending rather than ascending through the trees… it was the falling leaves spiralling their way earthwards telling us Autumn was definately fast approaching.. nothing was more significant than when the sun moved slightly over the treetops and suddenly lit up the naked branches of one of the old trees which brought a startling reminder of a frosty morning back in my birth place of yorkshire…

Out past the Egrets again who were still adorning the trees at the mouth of the Creek and into the main river where the view across to constantine was breathtaking and would have lit the senses of any artist painter or photographer with the lines and curves of the fresh mown grass in the field opposite, the gold of the hay meeting the turquoise and white skies which reflected into the river in her outward flow.. absolutely breathtakingly Magical..

Inspired by this and feeling the pinch of crouching on the side of the Dinghy holding camera’s and lenses, we decided to head across the river to Constantine and find a nice spot for a bit of  lunch and a nice cup of tea..
There’s a beautiful section of the helford river just where it joins constantine creek but unfortunately its always a little dark there to get good clear images of the waders that often gather there on the corner, however in that darker area the white of this black headed gull still in summer plumage just shone out reflecting the sunlight as he swam alongside us…

Buzzards soared above us as we went into constantine, sometimes challenging each other for space.. and I wondered if we may have the privelege of seeing the Osprey again that we’d seen on a previous visit.. but if he was around he wasn’t showing us his whereabouts just yet..

We settled on the quay on the left side of the creek just past the fork, and leanne fed us with freshly made ham and cheese sandwiches and piping hot tea.. unable to rest I crept over the shore line and spied this young Greenshank down by the edge of the water hidden behind the bank… needless to say he soon spotted me and was away across the creek…

Well after lunch with a bit of a breeze coming in we decided to head down river and find a nice spot by durgan or the helford passage  somewhere as the tide was leaving our access to Bishops Quay a little dicy.
I managed to catch this young Heron just on the point as we left Constantine before heading downstream..
The swan finally gave up on getting a free lunch from us and realised he might as well head off back up towards Bishops Quay before the mud left him High and Dry..

Heading down the river to the estuary meant probably a lot less wildlife would be around as there’s much more activity around the Helford passage etc.. more boats heading in and out of the river and the ferrymen transporting visitors and locals between Helford Village, the Helford passage Durgan and Trevarno gardens.
The river also opens up into a wider area for Yachting sailing Dinghies and general fun, but the scenery is still as breathtaking and the sun warmed our hearts as we rested on the quiet part of the beach beyond Durgan,  Here’s a few of the images…

All in all we had a very pleasant afternoon awaiting the return of the tide.. many boats flowed in and out  some towing water skiers and donuts with riders having oodles of fun, young and old alike joined us on the beach and Aidan had probably his last swim of the season to quote his words…  and he was looking rather pleased with himself for doing so..

As the tide filled the river a little we headed off back up towards constantine for a final look for Ozzie our elusive Osprey.. all the while praying for that one shot of him plucking a fish from the river, but just to see him would be a fine end to fine day….
Aidan found the perfect place to dry his shorts as we headed off up river…

Local Fishermen passed us by feeding fish guts and entrails to a flock of seagulls which afforded me some great shots of the Herring gulls

By the time we reached Constantine again the light was dropping rapidly and with the boat movement it was getting harder and harder to get a decent shot without motion blurr.. Then I thought we’d spotted Ozzie!!! but alas it was yet another Buzzard sat in his tree…

The sun was setting fast behind the trees and even on High Iso settings I knew images would be fairly futile now.. I caught this last Curlew heading out of the creek as the sun caught him…

 We turned round in the Creek and headed out towards Helford… and then it happened… the dark elusive shape soared over us and into the creek and we ultimately knew it was ozzie.. our Osprey..
We swung the boat round and I was desperately trying to find some setting any setting that might give me enough light should he descend on his supper… he turned into one of the creek offshoots and we lost sight of  him..
Then in a Haze of the final rays of the setting sun he rose up out of the creek above us complete with Fish.. I was gutted.. I’d missed the shot I so longed for… I fired off every frame I could as he soared above us and out of the creek and we followed desperately unable to get close.. But as Aidan retorted…. we saw Him.. we saw him with his supper even if we didn’t see him catch it…. but would anyone believe us… I spent hours later that night with dozens of blurred black shapes trying all my photshop skills to drag something from the embers of those last shots.. and finally…

Even without those two poor but evident shots, we’d had another fantastic day without injury (unlike last time) on the Helford River and we pulled out of the creek in the twilight to head back to Helford and end our adventure for another day… Turning back to look up river magic re-appeared..

And Finally !!!

For those who have taken time to read and look through my images, I thank you and hope sincerely that they have been enjoyable to you.. I’m always pleased to hear from our viewers so please feel free to leave comments..  Don’t forget also that these are but a few select images there are many more in the Site Gallery by clicking the link..

Until next time… thank you and Goodnight!!!

What can I say, it started out looking like a fantastic day with an Early start from Penzance at 7-30am.
We arrived at Helford village around 8-30 and sorted out the boat.
The moon was still visible through the trees and the sun poured down warming my soul.

 Little was I to know at that time that the day was fated to be filled with stupid accidents which would probably leave as many scars on the day as it did on me… HOWEVER!

We set off on a High and headed down frenchmans… lots of Egrets in the trees and the light was fantastic for photographing them…

Never Ceases to amaze me how individual the Egrets can look…

Could probably have spent hours in the creek photographing these birds , but we wandered into the far reaches of Frenchmans Creek to see what else the morning held.
I’m fairly sure, like ourselves many had planned to take advantage of the good weather and late Summer but it seemed an awful lot chose to take advantage in the exact same way at the same time as we did.. consequently there wasn’t as much (animal)  life about in the creek as we’d hoped.. however we did startle this young fellow who was hanging in the lower branches of an Oak trying to get himself a stock of acorns..

On our way out of the creek we saw many more Egrets, fishing or just generally soaking up the sun from the tree tops..
A cormorant popped up right in front of us and led us out of the creek and back into the main river.. which was fast becoming a hive of activity,  This young couple seemed to be having fun on their Dinghy…

The cormorant at this point decided to leave us as there were more than enough boats around for his liking…

It was round about this point where my luck began to turn.. as we ran out of petrol due to the fact I hadn’t filled up the tank, I had to fill midstream in the wind chop of the river…somehwo the anchor rope worked its way over the boat side and looped beneath us..
Not knowing this I restarted the engine and put it into gear only to find it ground to a sudden stop having wrapped the rope around the prop..
Hanging over the back of the boat trying to get thye rope free meant I’d had to drop the up and over wheels into the river which were happily beating my arm causing and almighty bruise the length of my forearm.

Eventually I got the rope free and due to the pain and swelling we decided to moor up for lunch and take a break…

I stood the tripod on the bank to climb up and thankfully I’d taken the canera off as it weighed considerably more than the carbon fibre tripod with heavy alloy Gimble head which sudde3nly crashed down onto my arm and hands taking half of my skin and flesh with it…
Now being I’m undergoing Chemotherapy treatment for my aggressive rheumatoid arthritis, I’d had steroids with the infusion which of course weakens the skin and due to the blood thinning drugs etc after my heart attack ther was blood from here to eternity looking like a chainsaw massacre I clambered up the bank in more than a little pain and wandered off into the woods to take time to pacify myself before returning and allowing my loving wife to adorn me with bandages and cream..
Well after a long spell in the sunshine awaiting the tide and a brief thought of giving up for the day I laughed climbed back in the boat and we set off to go with the incoming tide up to gweek.

we literally floated up river and when the tide was slower catching up we climbed out of the boat and walked up the channel pulling the boat along behind..
Well they say it comes in threes and sure as mud is mud I found the soft bit and sank knee deep only to lose my balance fall arse over tip stick my other foot into the deep mud and lose both of my crocs under 2 foot of mud.
Much fishing about in the mud finally saw both crocs float to the surface.. one escaping towards the edge (over lots of soft mud) which Aidan skillfully recovered using fishing rod and jelly sand eel.
Could this be the final event of the day.. Please!!
thankfully it was and we  slowly floated up the rest of the way to gweek enjoying the wildlife.. licking my wounds and feeling extremely wet and stupid..

Here’s the best bits:-

Finally we arrived just as the sun went down on Gweek… time for a cup of tea before loading up the boat and flying back off down river in  an amazing sunset.. where the Osprey flew right over our heads into the setting sun…

The dark crept upon us and as we came into Helford village it was all we could do to see our way slowly to the sailing club..

Finally we arrived back at the van 13 hrs after leaving it.. filled to the brim with the experience and quite some painful throbbing in my case.. but all in all I have to say it was worth it.. another fabulous day in the magic of the Helford River…

Mel

Been at the hospital in Truro and decided I needed to de-stress after a stress filled morning. Having the boat on the roof and the engine in the van I decided to go to Gweek and see how things turned out… once there I set up the boat, loaded my stuff and set off out of the creek into the main river..

Minutes after leaving Gweek, the wind started blowing up some mizzle, which for those uninitiated is cornish drizzle in the mist.. but somehow it didn’t matter.. I was already breath8ing the damp salty air and the hum of the 4 stroke yamaha was gentky massaging my mind and I was feeling relaxed again.
As I passed the seal sanctuary I spotted a great Bird heading up the river..kind of instinctively I knew, I could feel the presence and as he got nearer I could verify it was the Osprey we’d seen at the weekend in constantine creek..
He soared over me and veered off into the creek opposite the Seal Sanctuary.. unfortunately at the stage of the tide I wasn’t able to follow him so I carried on down the river following the channel markers as the tide flowed in.
There were a flock of Redshanks and curlews on the next corner and I set up the camera to get a few shots, it was then that I realised the light was actually way too low in the misty mizzly weather and I’d forgotten to pack my Flash.
I radio’d back to the van and said as soon as there was plenty of water for me to get into the far creek I’d call back at the van and get the flash.. Leanne said there was already enough water so I spun the boat round and headed back up river towards Gweek Boatyard.
Approaching the creek where the Osprey had gone I found I couldn’t resist a brief look, so I cagily headed into the creek.. churning the odd bit of mud as I did, but by raising the engine a little I was able to make my way into the channel of the creek.
Sure enough there he was, sitting proudly on a jinned branch of one of the old oaks at the far end of the creek… I set the camera as best as I could get for the light and fired off a few shots.. too far away and too shaky for the light I realised I wasn’t going to get much from there so I edged my way closer.. he wasn’t having any of that and dropped from his perch towrds the water and me and soared over my head looking down at me as if to say No Way José.. he looked so majestic in the half light but he flew straight on and down the river, so I had to make do with what I’d got but the experience of seeing him fly warmed my soul.

I called back at the vaqn picked up the flash and beamer and set off again back down river in search of the Osprey or anything else of interest.
I checked back in the creek but no sign of him, however 2 Kingfishers went past me, too fast to catch as an image but again a great experience seeing the bright blue and orange fly past you.

Headed down towards Bishops Quay and got a couple of Canada geese on the corner along with a grey heron up a tree.. unfortunately even with the flash I’d left it too late and I was fighting a battle to get any kind of decent image now in this half light.

Curlews lined the grass bank on the corner of the creek but flew as soon as I got near enough to shoot but a solitary Greenshank lingered long enough for me to switch off the engine steady the boat and get a few shots of him.

I carried on to the end of the creek and saw another 2 Kingfishers flying by and the light was dropping fast when about 6 or 7 grey wagtails flew past me and landed on a log in the edge of the creek…
I set up the camera knowing I’d only get a couple of shots at the most if I used the beamer  and carefully lined up the shot…
Bugger!! I’d forgotten to shift the flash position to Backlight which means it shoots at the end of the shot rather than the beginning and stops shots like this happening.. howeve in its own way I liked the image so here it is.

Well the mizzle had now turned to light rain so I figured it was around High tide and probably a good time to return to Gweek Quay>
It was probably the right decision as it happened, as I pulled out of the creek and looked towards Helford, I could see a heavy mist moving up the river behind me.

I called quickly in the top creek again to check on our Osprey but the light just faded away so I turned round and headed out to the seal sanctuary.
I was passed by the last boat up the river and a friendly wave as I rounded th corner into the Quay Creek where my good lady was waiting with a nice cup of tea.

 We got the boat out of the water and loaded onto the van just in time as the rain got heavier.. even so there’s some kind of magic surrounding this river and we sat on the wall watching the rain droplets in the water under the brolly whilst having a nice cup of tea… a Perfect end!

Mel