Wildlife On The Chesterfield Canal There's more to see than chugging boats on The Chesterfield Canal. by Rod Auton, Publicity Officer. Terrapin by Gary Hutchinson.
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or most people, boats are the first things that spring to mind when thinking about canals. Yet there are not that many boats about, even on the busiest canals. There are however plenty of other natural wonders. The Giant’s Staircase refers to the Turnerwood and Thorpe flights of locks that rise from Shireoaks up to Kiveton Park. At one point there are twenty locks in a mile, the most on any operating canal in the country. This part of the canal gets rave reviews, not least from Andrew Denny, the Assistant Editor of Waterways World, who wrote: “The last couple of miles uphill from Shireoaks, up the Turnerwood and Thorpe canal flights are, to my mind, the most exquisite passage in Britain.” This is a very popular area for walking, but it is quite common to cover it and not see a boat at all. However there are lots of other things to see. In Spring, the woods are carpets of blue and white with wood anemones, bluebells and wild garlic. At Thorpe Top Treble Locks you may well see a bird with a yellow chest bobbing about in the bywash. This little beauty will be a Grey Wagtail and demonstrates one of the unsung marvels of our canal – its wildlife.
Mink by Roger Bunting.
Wherever you go along the canal, you are likely to see birds. Most common are ducks, especially Mallards, swans and geese. It is not uncommon to see a Grey Heron. These large birds can be three feet tall with a six foot wingspan. You are most likely to see them in flight, flapping their wings very slowly. They are easy to miss when they are hunting. They stand stock still in the water looking for unsuspecting fish or frogs. They then whip their long beaks into the water to catch their prey. They have long necks but they can fold them up so that their head appears to be attached directly to their back. If you see a flash of iridescent red/blue/green shooting up the canal, it will be a Kingfisher. These magnificent birds are really difficult to spot when they are perched on a branch. Surprisingly they are very small, only about six inches tall. You will almost certainly need a very powerful lens on your camera to take a decent photo, because they fly off before you can get anywhere near them.
Common Darter by Simon Edge. Kingfisher at Wiseton by Jan Warsop.
Another bird that looks very exotic is the Great Crested Grebe. As you can tell from the name, they have crests of feathers on their heads. In the Spring they can be seen performing amazing courtship dances. If you are really lucky, you might see their chicks which have zebra-like stripes on their necks. There are plenty of other interesting water birds to be seen such as the Coot, Moorhen, Goosander, Cormorant and Widgeon. You are also quite likely to see birds of prey, including the Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Buzzard. There are Red Kites at Kiveton and Staveley. All this bird life has to feed on something and it is often insects. There is a very wide range of butterflies and moths. Frequently their caterpillars are very spectacular and obviously can’t fly away quickly, so they can be watched closely as they munch their way through the foliage. As you would expect, the summer sees an explosion of dragonflies and damselflies. There is a very wide range of species living by the canal. It is a delight to see them darting about from twig to twig, only settling for a second or two at a time. Some of the blue ones can be surprisingly big.
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Of course there is plenty of life actually in the water, though this is often more difficult to spot. The best way to see fish is when an angler has caught one, but there are sections of the canal where the water is remarkably clear and you can see the fish easily. Chubb, Roach, Tench,
