Monday 12th October 2009
What a beautiful sunrise we saw as we made our way from Penzance to Helford, but as usual I was in a Hurry to get to Helford and the camera’s were packed in the bag. It was certainly promising to be the anticipated wonderful day, and as we pulled into an empty Helford car park around 7-45am the Sun was beating down, and yet there was a frosty feel to the air as I untied the boat from the van telling us that the clear night had been a colder one.
We Set the boat up ready to go and sat in the morning sun with some fresh tea awaiting the tide filling the creek a little when we finally got the chance to have a brief chat with Ottie from the down by the Riverside cafe in the car park there.. She’s done so much to help us with the launch of the site and we’d spoken to her about leaving all the regatta images with her at the cafe for people to look through who couldn’t get to us on the internet.
We gave her the contact sheets and that was one box ticked from our to do list today so we decided as we’d seen her we may as well launch a little earlier down by the sailing club and make a move out onto the river.
The water was so calm and the sun was already beating down and taking the morning chill from the air.. we sauntered out into the main channel and my first shot of the day was of one of the Blackheaded gulls in his winter plumage making him nearly all white, especially in the bright sun.. unfortunately He’d been ringed.. I know it has to be done for the recording etc and I know also how important that can be for the knowledge we need to help all birds but it does kind of spoil an otherwise perfect specimen for a photographer..

The River was so peaceful this morning with very little activity, but that would change later no doubt with the flooding tide taking us up river I took a moment to drink in the view across the Helford estuary before we left it behind and headed up river.
Buzzards were already out hunting over the river and woods and as usual the crows were already trying their best to harrass them…

We turned into Frenchman’s creek and the water was almost still and the usual eerie silence which makes this one of the most magical creeks on the river was there again, but today something was different.. at first I thought it was a mist overhanging the far end of the creek but it also looked to the naked eye as though something was rising from the water in the mist..
Of course as we got further into the creek we realised it was actually a floating pontoon that had been anchored in the creek which was actually drying out in the heat of the morning sun..

We sailed past resisiting the urge to moor to it and have a walk along it,  and left it behind us to be the latest play thing for the grey wagtails which were darting on and off and across the creek, too fast unfortunately for me to catch on camera this morning.
At the far end of the creek (which was still out of the sun) squirrels played in the Oaks collecting their winter feast no doubt but keeping well hidden from us only peeking out every so often to see if we were still there.. we decided to leave them in peace and head off back up the creek to rejoin the main river.

The Egrets had begun taking to the trees to enjoy the heat in the sun.. always a difficult shot at the best of times to get the definition of the brilliant white of the Egrets feathers surrounded by the Greens and Now autumn browns and reds of the Oak leaves behind, but today made even more difficult with the sheer power of the bright morning sunlight, but the usual characters were there, perhaps we should start to name them but they’re still difficult to recognise them all yet. However if we do I will definately be nicknaming this one gandalf after all it just fits don’t you think? He always seems to be a loner away from the rest of them on his own looking rather majestic and knowledgable.

I turned and took the final view of the creek as we pulled out into the main river flow and headed up towards Bishop’s Quay to meet up with another of our new found river friends Kate & Ben and deliver them their photographic print of the two egrets from one of our previous trips.

Others were already joining us out on the river and we passed and waved to a small riverboat filled with awestruck visitors heading into the creek one of who’m was also smitten with my affliction of having a long lens and camera growing out of one side of his head

Over the last couple of years of coming here I’ve grown to love the river like a second home, and days like this are simply too magickal to relate in a simple blog, much better writers than myself have done and will continue to do much better jobs than I ever could but I’m sure these photographs must warm even the coldest soul to this wonderfully integrated co-existence between Human bird and animal that continues year after year on these banks. At least I sincerely hope they convey some message of the love I feel for life being here on the river.
And with those thoughts in my mind of a great zest and enthusiasm for life and an awe of the beauty of these precious life forms that we co-exist with, I’m suddenly brought back to ground by the screech of the corvids avidly attacking yet another Buzzard peacefully going about his business, and looking up to find them just above me..

and while observing and capturing these moments again the massive shadows of the egrets and herons cover us as they soar over from one side of the river to another..

We carried on up the river towards the edge of Bishops Quay passing more Curlew, redshank ,greenshank , and whimbrel who had singly wandered down river  away from the main masses of wading birds that hang to the beach opposite Bishop’s Quay and apparently squabble (as Kate told us) over the dissappearing beach as the tide rises in the creek..

One little Egret retreated from the waters edge and onto the safety of the bank to stand like a reprimanded child and await our passing before returning to the river to sift the mud looking for food.

And finally we rounded the corner and passed the beach where the waders have taken up residence and today saw Whimbrel Curlew Redshank Greenshank Oyster catchers and at least one common sandpiper ….almost coming to grief in the mud as the engine stopped on us and dug into the mud as we’d travelled a bit too shallow even for our little boat..
We managed to row ourselves out of trouble and back to deeper water and headed back round to follow the channel markers into Bishops Quay where Ben and Kate were waiting with Tea and Exquisite chocolate cake for us which we sat eating whilst baking in the sun  on the Quay, listening to fascinating stories, and exchanging our own, whilst also observing the birdlife on the beach opposite..

Now in truth there are many, but if I were to have to recommend one spot to spend for a fantastic holiday on this river in the single most beautiful part of Cornwall, then Bishop’s Quay would have to be it for so many reasons.
If you have any interest at all in Nature and Birdlife, art, painting  photography or writing, then this spot will bring you so much fulfillment and inspiration, and send you home with a wealth of information and media that will last a lifetime within you.
I’ve sifted this Quay and the Creek only a few times by comparison but I have never been dissappointed in rain Wind or sunshine with this wealth of wildlife which feeds my soul with every visit.. They have it all.. all the waders and small water and land mammals.. larger too so I’m told.. with kingfishers, grey wagtails mallard shelduck and swans all playing among the boats and fallen trees in the creek, and Ben told us of Foxes playing in the fields opposite in the mornings.. and I must also say, that the owners of the Holiday Cottage here on the Quay Kate and Ben are two of the Nicest and friendliest people I have ever  met, and Kate ( an enthralling lady and  photographer herself has albums of photographs from the river and surrounds going back Hundreds of years.. a whole library of fascination that I could happily lose myself in for days were it ever an opportunity. You can find details of the Quay Holiday house on the side border  of this blog should you wish to look further into the holiday of a lifetime here..
Whether you wish to Holiday there or not, be sure to call a hello to them if you venture on the river at all and pass the quay.. I personally look forward to many many more visits.
Hard as it was to leave all this behind, its the truth in the saying that ‘time and tide wait for no man’ that dragged us away and back to our little boat to head back out onto the river, and waving our goodbyes for today we set off back down river with the now outgoing tide.

We knew we had little time this afternoon if we were to bring the boat out of the creek at Helford as the tide would be low in just a few hours and would be very much later if we had to wait for it to return into the creek.
Not having Aidan’s help today meant we realistically couldn’t get out at the sailing club as we would normally do due to my quickly failing strength under pressure, it just wouldn’t be practical to attempt to pull the boat up the slipway.. so we decided we’d pay a brief visit to Polwheveral, where we’d seen the Osprey a couple of times before, and Constantine and then make our way back to helford creek while there was still enough water to get out by the ford.
Kingfishers flew past us and across the river and we finally managed to catch one sitting in the lower branches of  an old Oak tree overhanging the river as we headed down river..

As we rounded the corner into Polwheveral(constantine), we were treated to a procession of a family of mute swans who escorted us into the creek..

Once again dark shadows flew overhead and set the corvids squawking again.. crows and jackdaws everywhere and the we saw him, OZZIE, our majestic Osprey.

He landed at the tip of an old decaying oak tree and surveyed us and the creek…  we turned and headed closer to him

It doesn’t take long before his trust is gone and he’s away over the top of us leaving me spinning round like a bottle top in a sink when the plugs pulled trying to get a focus on him..

Filled to the brim and overflowing nothing would break my smile when I checked the images as Leanne clung to an anchored fishing boat to steady us..  YES!!! I had the shots.. I was ecstatic.. what a culmination of events.. Today could not have ended better… A Fantastic day, fabulous weather, great company and  an arial display that couldn’t be matched from Ozzie
the crows miffed at being left behind picked on a juvenile Gannet who’d wandered inland to see how good the fishing was.

We headed out of the creek and down river to Helford nlooking back to see Ozzie soaring way up river and hoping he’d stay around at least until wednesday when we’d be back on the river..
We sailed into the Helford creek and managed to get almost all the way up and onto the hard beach where we pulled the boat to the ford.
I got the van from the car park and attached the new home made bracket i’d made for the back bumper over  and dropped the boats paiter eye over the hook.. Leanne checked the road and I drove the van back to the car park and the whole thing went just too easy..
WHAT A DAY!!!

we drank tea and happily chatted as we unpacked the boat in glorious sunshine and loaded it on the van..
We spoke to Aidan who was heading to Marazion and filled with all we were we set off to meet up and tell him all about our fantastic day on the river.. He simply said.. you’ve really enjoyed today haven’t you…
Oh yes   we certainly have, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and sharing our day and images..

Thank you for taking that time out to read..

Mel & Leanne x

It was a hard one, should we make the trip or give it a miss? the tides were all wrong and it would mean launching no later than 8am in order to get out of the creek in Helford..
Lots of humming and aaghin later on the saturday night we decided lets just turn up and see what happens..
5am Start only to find our favourite Cornish Mizzle getting heavier on the way to Helford and becoming actual rain, eventually it stopped just outside Helston and we though everything was going to be fine..
Dawn was just breaking as we pulled through Newtown into Helford and a mist hung over the river and it started to rain again..
we stood by the van under Umbrella’s having a cup of fresh brewed tea waiting and watching the tide slowly dissapearing from the creek.. eventually it stopped.. light broke through the heavy cloud out at sea and we made the decision.. Lets launch while we can and see how it goes.. we can always come back in at the sailing club if the rain gets heavy.. so we loaded up Serendipity (Our inflatable) aptly named as Serene and a little bit Dippy, Leanne being the Serene one and even I admit to being dippy most of the time.. after all here I was 7am on a sunday morning cloudy and damp planning on dragging a few thousand quids worth of camera equipment up the muddy river in search of anything and anyone as dippy as me to be out there.
We certainly missed Aidan on this trip,  he was visiting his  mother in Hospital (Hoping she’s doing a lot better my friend) and he usually helped (more than I realised) to launch us with all the equipment..

I made the decision to push out from the sailing club and dragged the boat off down the road while Leanne visited the ladies room .. Now those who know the slip at the HRSC will know its not best trying to let the boat take you down the slip on your own at a rate of knots wearing a pair of well worn crocs that decide to slide on anything remotely slippy.. but there I was trying to keep my Backside from touching base and hanging onto the dinghy for dear life as we both slid down the last part of the slip on to the rocks.. well pebbles .. below  HOWEVER apart from a slightly oulled muscle in my right chest somewhere we made it intact and in enough time to regain composure and look Cool by the time leanne arrived a few minutes later.
The last few rumpy pumpy rolls over the cobbles and the boat was in the water and we burbled out towards the main river channel..
Looking back to sea was an amazing sight – The Dawn light was dissappearing ina blue haze  out at sea and the brighter light coming in showed a little promise that we may not be completely mad for being out here..

It was so peaceful as we burbled slowly up the river, curlew flying rapidly downstream with the tide and Cormorants already out hunting breakfast.. it was only as we reached the entrance to Frenchman’s creek that we realised there wasn’t going to be enough water to get us to Bishops quay, or indeed into any of the creeks today until much later, the tide does that .. a 6am High tide leaves you high and dry most of the day…so we made the decision to see how far we could get up river and slowly drift back down with the tide to spend a little time around the beaches at the mouth of the Helford.. or whatever the weather decided to change in those plans…
There were a tremendous amount of  Cormorants around this morning so hopefully the fishing may have improved after the red tide of a few weeks back.. here’s a couple resting on one of the fallen trees just past Frenchman’s.

Many fallen leaves floated on top of the river today showing massive signs that autumn was well and truly with us… The oak forests that line the Helford river were turning Golden through reds and browns and made the most amazing mosaic of colours.. another Cormorant flew past us giving us the amazing green eye as if to say who you taking pics of then?

We decided to settle for an hour at the edge of Polpenwith Creek (I hope I got that right) just before bishops quay as it was getting difficult to get any further, we had a quick look first at the Dory moored at the end of the creek as its something I’ve thought would be a lot easier and better bet for us to use for the river trips if we could find somewhere to moor it on the river, and of course if I manage to sell any photographs along the way to finance that idea lol…  It would certainly give us a lot more room than we currently have in the inflatable.. ah well!!  maybe in some other dimension somewhere.
We camped by the bench on the path that leads down to tremayne Quay to have a bit of lunch and for me to take a few more stable images of the river and surrounds.. such as the Autumn colours in the forest opposite.. I heard tell this was one of the 14 oldest forests in Europe.. its certainly quite magickal walking through it..the amazing twisting boughs of the oaks.

Meanwhile a watchful Buzzard soared above us checking out the larder below probably wondering what was for his lunch today.. we thought we saw the Osprey again but he was too far over Constantine (Polwheveral)  creek to be able to tell for sure..

Things were definately working out for us as we sat having lunch realising that we’d definately made the right decision to come out today.. all around were storm clouds and yet we sat here in a pocket of sunshine drinking in the beauty that most only dream about…
I wandered down and checked the river and realised if we were going to move at all for the next few hours then we’d best move now or we were going to be fast running out of water as we approached low tide.
Curlew watched as we dragged the boat off the mud back to the river before flying off upstream to the mud banks freshly exposed with the low tide.

We trundled off down the river again once again observing the massive amount of Cormorants fishing in the wide part of the river between constantine and frenchmans creek

and the Old guys watching on…

We sailed on down through helford to find a nice quiet beach to sit out the Low tide and enjoy a little afternoon sun..
Meanwhile life on the river was awakening more down here, with sunday morning boat repairs taking advantage of the low tide and Cockle collecting from the beaches..

We settled ourselves down on the beach by the mouth of the river overlooking Mawnan and watched the life travel up and down the river… Boats were starting to move with the tide in and out and we were happy to be sitting in this pocket of Glorious sunshine while all around the storm clouds and rain was visible…
I turned a little green with envy as a super Dory passed us and remember distinctly calling to Leanne.. probably a little too loudly.. I WANT ONE OF THEM!!!   if anyone has one for sale or any Dory (preferably Dell Quay) for not too many Mola id be interested to hear

I spent the next hour or so humming dock of the bay by Otis redding and watching little boats medium boats and great big boats moving about on the river while reflecting on my lil’ old serendipity dragged on the beach..

And so it was that the afternoon passed us by as we sat enjoying the sunsine before setting sail back up with the tide to try to get into Frenchmans and hopefully find some more wildlife..
As we wandered upstream we realised all the sailing Dinghies were heading out of the club and heading in our general direction so we moved off to one side to allow them passage.. and of course shot a few as they passed

Well we finally wandered down into Frenchmans creek and sadly the light was changing and the grey that had surrounded the helford all day threatening finally descended making any real wildlife photography virtually impossible in the lowlight.. however we did discover these wonderful fungii growing on one of the tree’s as we walked together through the woods..

Back out into the main river we found another watchful Buzzard sitting atop one of the trees..catching the last glinting rays of the setting sun..

how rapidly the days go on these trips, but here we were fast approcahing the 12th hour since we set off for todays trip and Leanne was looking decidedly weary.. but once again no mishaps or accidents so the day had been another eventful success.. hopefully you’ll enjoy some of the images.

As always don’t forget these are just a selection of the days images and many more reside in our ongoing Galleries… HERE 

Out into the main river flow we found the light had moved up river and as the sun dropped behind us it left us once again with some amazing scenery to take home with us…

And finally I moved midstream to line up this wonderful boat Wanda in the setting sun

And on that Note good people of the Helford river I’ll leave you until the next time I’m able to glide upon these wonderful waters in search of inspiration and fulfillment…
Thanks for taking the time to look…

Mel x