This island just 0.6 miles long was created when the river
Weaver was canalised to help larger boats reach salt mines in the area. It
wasn’t named on the OS map we had but it is near to Monks well and Vale Royal
Locks.
It was a drizzly sort of day and with a free afternoon we
decided to walk it and see if it was worthy of island status. We parked the car
just off the A556 before the turn off
for Hartford and just after the blue iron bridge. There isn’t much space but
enough room for about 5 cars. A lot of the area here is designated angling area
and private. The one and a half mile walk down the tarmac lane towards the Lock
is flanked by many different species of tree. We were really surprised to see
an ash already fully out with this year’s
abundant seeds. It was certainly
a sheltered spot and there seemed to be no trees down from the storm on the 1st
June. On one side there are rhododendrons and on the other Himalayan balsam.
The birds sang loudly but not enough to cut out the noise of the road or trains
over the viaduct across the Weaver. It did get quieter further down the track
though. A helicopter flew over but the dense trees meant we couldn’t see it.
There was no one about until we reached the end of the tarmac. There are
several routes marked which looked interesting but we focused on the island. We
took a left through a gateway and over a black iron bridge with swallows
whizzing underneath. The iron work was very open making it easy for a child to
slip through. We were on the northern end of Hulses Island.
On the right is a pool with upright branches very suitable
for kingfishers but we have been told people only usually see them flying
overhead at this point so perhaps there aren’t many fish in here. We took a trodden
down path to the left until the grass became too long. We loved the yellow
flags growing along the river bank that will hopefully entice butterflies when
the weather is more settled. The sun did come out which made it hot –for at
least 15 minutes! After retracing our steps we walked toward the Vale Royal
locks. Water cascaded down the weir cum sluice which controls the level of the
water above the lock. It was built in 1791. Not far from this, just ahead is a
stile which we climbed and followed the trodden down grass path left by others.
The lock keeper told us that they don’t mow the grass on the land owned by the
Anglers. There were countless wild grasses and we tried in vain to get a photo
of a beautiful damsel fly, darker blue than I’ve seen before with a black spot
on its wing, when it settled on a blade of grass.
We had to step carefully for geese poo, smelly and in large
quantities covered the “path”. We later counted 16 Canadian geese on the non
canal side of the island swimming in the muddy waters. The water was brown and
we couldn’t see down through it. Near a little concrete marker at the side of
the canal we found the bones of a fish cleanly filleted. Mink have been spotted
further down the Weaver in the past and we wondered if they might do this.
Birds would eat fish whole and this was once a big fish!
The bridge at the southern end was fenced off so we just
retraced our steps. There were mallards, black headed gulls, wagtails but not
the expected heron. We saw rings made by the fish. Bob was getting bitten so
the midges were out. It doesn’t look like many people walk this way and dogs
are not allowed on the length after the stile. Several cyclists took the
towpath over the other side of the canal and further southwards, a bittern had
been sited the previous year. Down at the pool there, are kingfishers but we
are walking or cycling islands so we focused on our task enjoying the 3 mile
walk but feeling a little cheated that the interesting wild life wasn’t in our
patch.
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