After lockdown restrictions eased myself and my partner were able to move back aboard our 37ft narrowboat which acts as our ‘student house’ whilst we are studying in Nottingham. We bought our boat, constructed in 1986, in spring two years ago, and have since spent a lot of time (and blood, sweat, and tears) ripping her out and remodelling her to create a spacious and functional workspace that we can call home whilst at university.
Last year, in an attempt to make the most of our small space, we created a potted garden on the roof. Alongside an array of flowers we grew an abundance of fruit and veg - carrots, beetroot, radishes, courgettes, potatoes, tomatoes, artichokes, raspberries and - you name it! Neither of us had ever properly gardened before, we had mown lawns and swept patios but this was our first attempt at growing our own! We bought a batch of second-hand terracotta pots and met a local carpenter who made wooden planters using old pallets which we then lined with hessian and filled with soil. We were delighted that we ended up with such a green roof!
Our efforts to create the roof garden last summer paid off, as it looked absolutely beautiful, the crates and pots were overflowing with herbs, vegetables and flowers. We filled old bread bins with lavender, lilac, viola, delphiniums and plenty of other flowers to keep our local bees happy. We also covered the roof in bug hotels, bird boxes, bee bricks and bird seed to make sure all of the marina wildlife could find solitude on our roof. I think we found as much joy from this as they did, with countless people at the marina telling us how much the roof made them smile.
But that was last year, this year…not so much. Over the winter many of our herbs died back, our pots were empty, and our lavender was looking especially sorry for itself. Despite our best efforts to plant some spring bulbs, the budding tulips and daffodils simply drew attention to their not so attractive neighbours! We knew that the garden needed life breathing back into it and had some big plans for the spring but nothing could have prepared us for what happened next!
Early one morning in late March, we were woken up at 6am to the pitter patter of little feet on our roof. This happened again the next day and the day after - as a pair of students I am sure you can imagine we weren't too impressed with the early alarm clock! Much to our surprise we found a big hole dug into one of our crates which was previously nursing some romaine cauliflower plants. Thinking nothing of it, we continued as normal and replanted the cauliflower in another container. We were delighted when we realised that a female mallard duck had chosen our boat, and our crate as the nest she wanted to deliver her eggs into.
Over the past 10 days, she has laid an egg, one by one, into the crate and covered them over with mint leaves, wood shavings and other bits and pieces which she has found. It was incredibly warming to see nature adapting to our surroundings, and we feel very privileged that she has chosen to spend this precious time with us!
It seems the mopther has laid 9 eggs up on the roof so far. Each day she would come and lay one more egg and only nest in the evenings with her eggs. Now that she has laid her entire clutch, she has taken up full residency on our boat roof! We are now being very careful to water our plants and veggies without disturbing her. Whilst we have both tried our best to create an environment where we can live in partnership and harmony with the natural world, we truly never expected this. This will definitely be an incredibly special time which we won’t forget anytime soon. Next on the agenda… thinking of 9 names! Oh and… getting them off the roof?!
P.S. If youd like to see more photos of the duck, the boat and our veggies have a look at my instagram page!