Return to Monkland Canal - new paths and water voles!
First visit in 5 months.
Swan on Monkland Canal
Location: Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Location type: Canal
Park (what3words): ///stocks.years.brush (where I normally park) - free parking
Parking charge: none
What to shoot: canal, reflections, wildlife, woodlands & people
When to visit: any time of year.
The night before this walk I was browsing through some old images (I regularly return to old images to re-edit them) when I realised that I hadn’t make a video or photographed the Monkland Canal since October 2021! (5 months ago - where does the time go?!!)
I follow the Friends of Monklands Canal, (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1617646428387665) Facebook Page and knew that there had been lots of work done around the path and the canal over the last few weeks. I also knew from recent posts that water voles had been spotted at several points along the canal, so with a few hours to spare early one morning I couldn’t resist a walk along the new path.
My favourite time to visit the canal is early morning (I’ve still never been for sunset… future video maybe?), so it was just before sunrise when I set off. I arrived just as the sun was clearing the houses to the east of the canal and made my way down the steps to the new path. (If you’re not comfortable with steps, there is a large pathway just a little further south. Beneath the “Captain Coatbridge” archway)
The new path is certainly an improvement on what we had before although if I’m honest I didn’t really have a problem with the old path either, but i understand the desire to upgrade and open the area up to people less able to trudge the old, often muddy, route.
I had the canal to myself for a while and didn’t see another human until I reached the old Drumpellier Bridge and even then it was a quick “good morning” with a dog walker crossing the bridge into Drumpellier Park.
I checked the only cherry blossom tree (that I know of) for signs of blossoms, but, there were none this early in the season, despite the trees in nearby Dunbeth Park being in full bloom, so, slightly disappointed, I continued down the path.
There has clearly been a lot of work done on the path and canal-side. The long grasses and reeds which lined the path have been cleared and this has opened the views up, giving photographers access to images which were difficult to achieve just a year ago.
You will see from the linked video that I spent quite a while snapping images but perhaps not so clear from the video was that I also spent a lot of time simply stopping, either to chat with fellow walkers, or simply to watch the world go by.
I’ve often said that wildlife photography requires, more than anything, an understanding of the wildlife being photographed. Far more than technical camera skills, composition techniques or even “artistic” ability, simply understanding the creatures, their habits and habitats is far more likely to yield great images because you understand what their motivations are, where they are likely to feed, rest, etc.
This morning I was looking for water voles, unsure of what a water vole even looked like… not a great start!
I stopped to chat with several more walkers along the route and before I knew it, more than an hour had passed and the sun was significantly higher in the sky than when I started the walk.
Shortly after one of these conversations I noticed something run across the path in front of me, heading in the direction of the canal. It was small, brown, and looked exactly how I imagined a water vole might look.
reflections, Monkland Canal, Coatbridge
It was too quick for me to grab a photograph (proof I’m no wildlife photographer!) but I did manage to grab a few seconds of the encounter on video. (You’ll see it on the linked YouTube video)
After another (almost 30 minute) chat, I headed back the way I came.
The direction of light had changed during my chats and scenes which were in shadow earlier were now flooded with a warm golden light. So, despite simply retracing my earlier route, the walk back felt like a different path, with new scenes to photograph and a whole different feel to the walk.
Monkland Canal, Coatbridge
I spent a while photographing the area around the Drumpellier Bridge, stopped for another lengthy chat with another walker, then headed back to the car.
All in this was a lovely walk along greatly improved paths. The sight of the water vole (I hope that’s what it was!) was the icing on the cake.
I’ll definitely not be leaving it another five months before I return, and I’d thoroughly recommend a visit to the canal, which can easily be combined with a day at Drumpellier Park, or even the nearby Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life (I really should do a video there) for a great day out. Who knows you may even catch a glimpse of the elusive water voles - or the even more elusive photographer John McKenna on your visit!