Life is full of surprises!

So we are getting prepared to go cruising. We have been told that we can stay put for 14 days after the 23rd May on our lockdown moorings.. We can move if its essential, but have been asked not to use locks..
We did have a surprise when Maxine and Graham turned up after a business visit to Leicester. They had driven from Kent and had brought a pizza and some nibbles with a bottle of wine and London Pride beer, a real treat..

It was a lovely evening, socially distancing on the grass, and then they left for the journey home.. We have also been enjoying our quizzes with friends and families on video chats and also our chats with other local boaters...
We have really enjoyed staying here and have got very attached to the wildlife.. The swans are still doing well and we have six cygnets, but with more people around they are so much on edge and don't stay with us as long now as the water is safer..

As the for Blue tits, well it turned out that there were two chicks in the nest in the wall and we could see the Mum and Dad didn't have room anymore to get in the hole due to the size of them..

We then got a head poking out of the hole and he took the leap of faith and managed to just make it on the other side of the canal, and landed in the stinging nettles and then managed to get up into the trees.. He was then fed by the Dad and sat there until he had the strength to search for his own insects.. the second one found it a bit more difficult..

He fled the nest and had trouble with his wings, and was obviously weaker. He managed to just stop himself going into the canal and landed on the towpath.

Del rushed round in case he tried to fly again over the canal, as he was never going to make it.. We ushered him into some bushes by the wall, under the nest, where there was some insects and he could build up his strength.

We left it alone, as that is always the best thing to do, because the Mum and Dad were watching.. sure enough, they came down after hearing his cry's of help and fed him, and you could see giving advice..  He tried to fly again and landed on a fence, and the next thing was we heard a splashing sound and he had fallen in the water . Del rushed round with the net and he had managed to find a small ledge in the brickwork on the water line..

We could see the Mum and Dad trying to help and they did manage to feed him, but it was difficult to get to.. We had no choice, but to let them get on with it, but if the water line came up just an inch it would drown the little fella..  The Mum even showed him how to get up but he was just too weak from the swimming lesson he had..  We went to bed and hoped he would recover..