Across the road from the scene of the incident

January 2, 2026January 3, 2026 fishyfisharcade6 Comments

I went to the cinema to see Avatar:Fire and Ash today. The film was entertaining in the same wat the other two have been, although I could do without the bladder-straining three-hour-plus running time, and the 4k high-framerate visuals in the screening I attended at times made it look like a videogame cutscene.

The cinema I visited was The Arc in Rotherham. After the film ended I went for a short walk around the area to try and finish a partly used roll of film I had in my Olympus Trip. The light was lovely and I hopefully got some nice pictures (although it’s an expired roll of slide film, so we’ll have to wait and see…).

However, one thing I wasn’t expecting to see was an altercation between a rat and a crow!

I fully understand that there are rats lurking in busy town centres – us messy humans give them a ready supply of food and shelter – but it’s quite unusual to witness them on the pavement, especially on a bright afternoon. What is even more unusual is to see them in some sort of life-and-death struggle with a crow! As I approached the scene, I saw the rat being harrassed by the bird, which kept grabbing its tail in its beak and pulling it backwards towards the road. When a passerby approached the crow would hop or fly out of the vicinity until it felt safe to return and resume it’s actions.

The rat was alive, but was moving slowly with a limp, perhaps due to the crow’s attacks, or maybe some previous injury, and there was no place for it to flee apart from beneath a car parked on the pavement, but I’m pretty certain the crow would have gotten under there without trouble. I felt bad for the rat and wondered if I should attempt a rescue, but I had nothing to grab it with and didn’t fancy getting bitten and contracting some nasty disease, so I decided against it.

Crows are intelligent creatures and I had a distinct sense that it was attempting to pull the injured rat to the road where it would be run over and thus provide a tasty meal. Or maybe it thought the rat’s tail was a juicy worm?

It was a fascinating, yet horrible thing to witness.

The picture below is of Rotherham railway station which is across the road from where it all occurred.

Minolta X-300 & Minolta 50mm f/1.7 MD on Ilford Type-517. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 14.5mins @ 20°.

Taken on 25 October 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Ode to a highwayman

May 6, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

On a wall beside the canal towpath, not far from Victoria Quays, is painted this piece of artwork. I though it would make a good photograph, but didn’t know what it represented.

Googling the words revealed them to be part of a folk song about a highwayman named Spence Broughton. In February 1791 Broughton, and his accomplice John Oxley, robbed the Sheffield to Rotherham mail coach as it travelled across Attercliffe Common. Suposedly the only item of value they were able to get away with was a French bill of exchange with a value of £123, which they had difficulty in attempting to fence. Oxley was later arrested for his part in another robbery and, fearing for his freedom, in October of that year Broughton sought help from another criminal, Thomas Shaw, in London. Unfortunately for Broughton, he was recognised and arrested by the police and Oxley and Shaw both gave testimony against him, although Oxley was later able to break loose and make his escape.

Spence Broughton was found guilty in York assizes and sentenced to be hanged. The following April, after the execution, the body of Broughton was transported back to the scene of the crime on Attercliffe Common and placed in a gibbet. This attracted large crowds – supposedly 40,000 people – and the landlord of the nearby Arrow pub claimed that he was able to make a fortune from the passing trade. Broughton’s boy was to ramain in the gibbet for the next 36 years!

Nearby Broughton Lane is alleged to be named after the criminal, although this is disputed by historians.

It’s fascinating what a walk along the canal can reveal.