A Present from Aunty Tina

It was time for our spring washes this week.  After we had sat beside the radiator to dry and put our clean pyjamas on, we remembered that Aunty Tina had delivered a present for us a couple of weeks ago.  

It was a jigsaw puzzle, of narrowboats on a canal, which she thought we would like.

'Let's do our jigsaw puzzle,' I suggested to the other bears.  'We can lay it out on the chess table.'

It was very exciting for us, because we had never done a jigsaw puzzle before.

Aunty Tina had put the edge pieces in a separate bag, so we put them out on the table first.  Hanley Bear suggested we started with the sky, so he and Waverley collected all the pale blue pieces and fitted them together.

I studied the other pieces and found the watery ones, then sorted out those with trees and buildings.  It was quite difficult working out which ones fitted together but we were patient little bears and finally had the frame of the puzzle completed.

'What shall we do next?' asked Endon.  Hanley said it might be best to do the sky first again, as we could collect all the light blue pieces from the bigger bag.  

'Let's put all the pieces in the box and turn them up the right way,' I said.  'There isn't room for them all on the table, so I'll pass out the colours you ask for.' 

Hanley and Endon worked on the sky together, while Waverley started putting together the big brick building to the right of the picture.  When the easier parts of the sky were done, Hanley started working on the side of the warehouse.

I put some of the canal water pieces in place while Endon worked on the trees.  Waverley asked if he could do the bottom right-hand corner, where there were some ducks, so I searched in the box for the pieces he needed.

'Let's leave the boats until last!' said Hanley.  'Then we can all do those together.'

We decided that was an excellent idea.   

Waverley carried on working on his corner, finding all the ducks and the wild flowers along the towpath.  Meanwhile, Endon was busy with the trees, Hanley was collecting pieces with people on and I was sorting out the pieces still in the box and passing them out to my friends.

'Now we need to find the pieces for the horse and cart,' I said.

'You should do that, Sonning!' said Endon.  'Me and Waverley will look for pieces for you and Hanley.'

Hanley put together the pieces with the people watching the boats, using the picture to help him work out exactly where they fitted.

I found all the milk-churn pieces and the horse and cart, and soon there were just the spaces left for the two boats.

Waverley sorted out the remaining pieces, cleverly noticing that the patterns and lettering for the boat by the wharf are smaller.  We let him put the last pieces into the smaller boat. 

Then we set to work on the bigger boat, including the man on the tiller and his little dog on the roof.  We decided to let Waverley put the very last piece in again.

'It's finished!' said Hanley.  'Well done, everybear!'

It was a very pretty picture too, although there is something slightly strange about the big boat; although it's a horse-boat or a butty, without an engine, so would need to be towed, it's moving along on its own!

'I wonder when we'll be back on the canals,' said Hanley Bear.

'I hope it will be soon,' I replied.  'We haven't been able to take Waverley for a trip on Uppie yet.'

We know we must be patient little bears and wait until it is safe for our human guardians to go boating, but we do miss being boat bears and are very much looking forward to having boating adventures again.

Another Loop Line Walk

 Polar and Grizzly are making sure they get out for walks on dry days now spring is here, which means we are getting out and about again too.  Last Wednesday, we all jumped into our Bear Bag ready for another adventure.

Polar and Grizzly took us back to the Birchenwood Country Park, so we could make our way down the old railway line route into Kidsgrove.  

There were bright orange steams running out of the woods!  Hanley Bear explained that this was because there was iron in the ground, just as there is at the Harecastle Tunnel.

'Remember, this was all collieries and iron works not that long ago,' he said.  'We wouldn't have liked it here back then!'

We bears were very careful not to fall in when Polar let us out to do some climbing, in case the rusty water turned our fur orange.  We were surprised to see that some plants managed to grow around the edges of a big pond that the streams fed into.  We couldn't see any fish or frogs, however.

We noticed that the path was sloping downwards fairly steeply (for a railway line, that is), that there were big brick retaining walls on either side of the cutting and a short tunnel ahead.

Polar carried us through the tunnel in the Bear Bag, as she was worried we might get too close to the sides and get sooty.  Grizzly explained that the railway was three tracks wide at this point, with the two tracks of the 'Potteries Loop Line' and a siding to the works all going through the tunnel together.

We were almost into Kidsgrove and at the furthest extent of our walk soon afterwards.  Hanley showed us where Kidsgrove Town station used to be, before we started back towards the car.

Hanley and Waverley couldn't resist looking in these little holes in the big retaining wall to see if there were any mice or voles to talk to, but they didn't see any.  Because the cutting is dark and shady, lots of moss grows on the walls.

I noticed that someone had planted some primulas near the south end of the tunnel, so went to have a closer look at them.  The huge retaining wall here looks like part of a lost city, like Machu Picchu!

We saw some steps made from railway sleepers leading up out of the cutting so went to see where they led.  At the top was a recreation ground and a slope leading up to the building where Polar and Grizzly had received their Covid-19 vaccinations.

We did some more climbing on a pile of mossy logs before it was time to get back in the Bear Bag for the walk back up the slope to where we had left the car, passing the orange stream again.

If it stays dry, Polar says we'll have a walk around the big fishing pond at the top next time.

'Or we might see about going for a walk somewhere else, not too far from home,' she said.

But first, it's time for our spring wash and a change of clothes!

Oatcakes for Waverley

 

Last Friday, when the sun came out, Polar and Grizzly decided we should all go for a walk around Westport Lake.

This is one of our favourite places for a walk.  There are always interesting nature things to observe - especially the great crested grebes - and because the canal runs close by, we often see Mrs Kay there, making her famous oatcakes.  Hanley was the first out of the Bear Bag and wanted to go and see Mrs Kay straight away, but Polar said we were going for our walk first.

As we were getting out of the car, we saw a lady with muddy boats and a spade coming back to the car next to us.  From a safe distance, she told us that she was one of the volunteers from the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust who helps to look after the site.  

 

They had been making more hedges for birds and small mammals to nest in, and clearing more overgrown wetland to make ponds between the big lake and the railway line. 

This was marvellous news, because the hedges are super for small bears to climb on, and we know lots of wild creatures love the ponds.

Polar and Grizzly took us to see where the work had been going on, along some quiet paths where not too many people go.  This makes it a nice area for small bears, as there are always lots of people walking their dogs on the main path, which is scary when you are small and some of the dogs are grumpy or fierce.

Soon we were all climbing the hedges and having lots of fun looking for spring shoots and small creatures.  I watched little Waverley, to make sure he stayed away from the ponds, as we don't think he can swim.

Then we did some proper wild bear-style tree climbing!

Near the railway fence, we found the bug hotels that had been made to look like trains.  Little Waverley thought these were great fun!

 

You can just see a real train in the background of the left-hand picture above!  Unfortunately, this part of the park is very noisy because there is a busy main road - the A500 - on the other side of the railway line, but it is still a good place to watch trains and do climbing.

 

While we were playing, the sky had darkened and, suddenly, there was a heavy shower.  Polar gathered us all back into the Bear bag.

 

'It must be time to go for an oatcake!' she said.  Hanley Bear cheered loudly.

On the way to Mrs Kay's boat, the sun came out again and we saw coots and lots of tufted ducks, and a lovely bright clump of daffodils.

There was quite a long queue for oatcakes, but we were pleased, because that meant Mrs Kay would be earning lots of money and could afford to buy treats for our friend Doris the dog.

Mrs Kay has a new friend helping her on the boat.  He is Freddy the singing frog, who does a little song and dance to keep human cubs amused while their oatcakes are being cooked, and collects money for charity.  Hanley went to say hello and found they were both very keen Stoke City supporters.

Polar and Grizzly took our oatcakes back to the car and shared them with us.  Waverley was very confused when he saw the oatcakes, because they were not at all what he expected.

'Where I come from, oatcakes are round, crunchy biscuits,' he explained.

'These are proper Staffordshire oatcakes,' said Hanley.  'They've got cheese and mushrooms in them, and they are the best food in the whole world for hungry small bears!'

Of course Hanley thinks everything made in the Potteries is the best in the world, but he might just be right about Mrs Kay's oatcakes!