Under the Bridgewater!

Just returned from Worsley, outside Manchester, where the Bridgewater canal still flows near Worsley Old Hall where I spent weekends as a child. This canal was dug by hand on the orders of the first Duke (who lived at the hall) to carry coal from his mines to fuel the Industrial Revolution. It flows past the old Courthouse and has now been 'gentrified' as an amenity. In deed, the canal now has waterlilies in spite of littering and attracts birds such as Canada geese (Branta canadensis) and Grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea). Topically, given the fact that I will be returning to Sikkim next month, the alien Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera).