A singer down on the river bank

I had a meeting of the Canal Forum this morning, which was held for the first time at the Cotswold Canal Trust's original Visitor centre at Saul Junction, a few miles south of Gloucester. The Junction in question is like a cross-roads of canals, with the currently well used and sea-going Sharpness canal crossing over the much older Stroudwater Navigation, which runs up from the River Severn to Stroud and then becomes the Thames and Severn canal .

The Forum is becoming more effective and I had to commit to being on another working group. I must be mad. But it feels important and I'm lucky to be involved in helping to focus developmental change associated with the regeneration of the Thames and Severn canal that I often refer to.

I didn't know the origin of the Stroudwater Navigation and that it was constructed between 1775 and 1789, and finally abandoned in 1954 by Act of Parliament. the meeting today was co-ordinated by our MP who I think likes to be associated with the canal's potential rebirth. What we need to do is focus on the areas where there is likely to be developments of housing, industry and leisure that feels harmonious for our community; not rabid development for money's sake.

It was blowing very hard while we sat in the cabin looking out on the canal as narrowboats pottered up the canal with little dogs running along the top of the boat, as the master, a bearded man in dungarees, moored up to refill his water tanks. I was impressed with the facilities that the Trust has created and the Junction itself certainly deserves being revisited by me for blip purposes, but when the rain and wind are not present.

Instead of staying on after the meeting to explore, I drove towards the River Severn which meanders south-westwards from Gloucester, through the Severn Vale lying between the Cotswolds in the east and the Forest of Dean in the west. It is an interesting area of low-lying farmland bordering the tidal River Severn before it flows out into the estuary to become the Bristol Channel.

The end of the road was my destination where, the Navigation originally joined by locks to the river, is now all silted up and little water flows into the river. Upper Framilode church is right beside the bank on a huge sweeping bend in the river. There was now drizzle rather than torrential rain so I ventured out onto the bank and was delighted by the quiet atmosphere and the huge views across the sand flats which were gradually receding as the tidal waters flowed up-stream.

I took a lot of pictures of wildlife, insects, lichens, leaves, river views, landscapes and various birds. I found that there were some house-martins soaring over the lime trees beside the church, and that they were then returning to feed their young in the mud nest sheltered under the eaves of the belfry.

But the occasional beautiful singing of this bird caught my attention before I could see it. Finally I spotted it flying from one group of tall rushes on the bank of the river to another slightly different species. I chose not to crop this, as I liked the focus on the bird with the foreground and the river in the back ground all out of focus. I don't actually know what bird it is but I suspect it may be a Sedge Warbler.

I will bring Helena back here soon as we both love being beside the water, if not the sea, as it is so peaceful, except perhaps when the Severn Bore is at its peak, because where I was standing is regarded as the best place to observe the bore and its riders.