Not in the tropics, just our canal

A puncture was a very annoying discovery today. My neighbour pointed it out to me before I drove off with a flat tyre. It didn't take long to find a large flat-headed nail, which at least meant that it might be repairable.

Our local garage is on a small industrial estate close to the mill on a site which was formerly the 'other', or the old Midland railway station, close to the centre of town. I decided to replace two other tyres as well as having the puncture repaired and being informed it would take an hour I decided to walk down to the canal  next to the garage with my camera.

The mechanic saw my camera and told me to look for the pike in the canal, which rather surprised me. I had no idea such big fish were present there. On the towpath a man walking with his two children said that there were lots of fish near the road bridge, and several pike! A hundred yards further up a young couple stopped to chat and said they'd seen two pike in the canal round the corner. 'They were this big', said the young woman, stretching her hands two feet apart!

I did see several baby pike, but only about nine inches long, floating still near the surface, which was a first for me. But no big ones. What was astonishing was the number of large shoals of fish of several types and sizes. I particularly like the colour of the reflected light in this picture but I've no idea what species they are. Any informed suggestions are very welcome.