Were my eyes deceiving me?

 Almost ready to go when there was water movement coming from the lock. A boat was descending, okay what should we do? Be unsporting and push out before him knowing the next two locks would be with us? (a boat had passed earlier) or do we take the more sporty option and wait. We decided to wait but then the boater moved his boat onto the landing, made secure and then headed back up the lock. Ah now it became clear, another boat was waiting to come down. So there you have it...they must be travelling together. Anyway, we didn't hang around pulling the pins after all and, as luck would have it, our timings were perfect as we approached the penultimate lock of the Atherstone flight another boat was just leaving.

Couldn't have timed it better if we had tried.

 Glascote locks with the lovely 'Ode to the Leaky lock' came into view.  I took the next photo way back in 2017 with the poem on laminated paper. Today there is a nice shiny bronze plaque to mark the tale. Needless to say, I should have taken a photo of that one too.

Glascote locks

 The second lock had been taken by a descending single hander but what a gent he was as he lifted a paddle to refill the lock when he saw we were following. Shame we didn't manage to catch him up to thank him.  On leaving the lock and making our way toward the bridge...Wow, what was that?? Something very yellow caught my eye. Whatever it was seemed to be caught on a small branch on the concrete edging near to the water. As we drew level I couldn't believe my eyes. Was that a Budgie??? What was it doing hanging onto the side like that? 

Not one for seeing any animal suffer Ian took the helm, pulled over just before the bridge and I jumped off to see if I could rescue the poor thing.

Off to find somewhere to stop.

 I had to find it first though. Seen without any problem from the waterside, from the towpath it was not so easy. Took life and limb in hand peering over the edge and eventually found it still clinging valiantly onto what little vegetation there was.

Got very muddy knees as I bent down to try and catch it. It squawked and flapped its wings trying to get away and that's when I realised it was actually caught in a very small branch, more like a twig really and one of its feet seemed to be non-functioning. For my troubles, I was seriously pecked and realised it was a hen Budgie (I know it's a hen as the cere part was a pale brown. On the cocks, it is blue.)  Walked back to FS and Ian looked at me in despair. 'What are we going to do with a Budgie?' he asked 'More to the point where are we going to put it?' Ha... I did find a container. Had to tip all Ian's stash out first though!

Left the lid ajar for air to enter and secured it with an elastic band. Placed a small pot of water inside which she promptly sat on and then it was a search on the internet for the nearest vets.

We stopped at Fazeley before the junction but on finding a Pets for You at Companion Care near Tamworth (a 20-minute cruise along the Birmingham and Fazeley canal) we turned right at the junction and headed to Sutton Road Bridge.

Fazeley Junction

 Ventura Business park was where we needed to go and I was dumbfounded that there was a huge shopping complex with Sainsbury, Argos, Poundland, B&Q, PC World etc not a 10-minute walk from that bridge. One to mark on the Nicholsons, methinks. Anyway, we found Pets for You and was greeted by the vet nurse we had spoken to on the phone. A quick look over the budgie and she was pronounced okay. In fact, the vet nurse has already earmarked her for a companion to her male budgie. I think this could be one rescue with a good outcome.

And photos taken on the journey,

And wildlife today,