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

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

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