Birds And Bikes

Post #3. Birds List for 2005

2005-07-30T22:08:00.000Z

As is fairly common practice among many birdwatchers / birders i keep a personal note or list of the birds i've seen during the year. (though for what reason i have yet to really discover .... It just is....)

So, this is my record of what i've seen this year, by month of the first sighting.

January - Red Throated Diver, Fulmar, Shag, Cormorant. Mediterranean Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Herring Gulls
Gt Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan
Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Egyptian Geese, Pink-footed Geese, Barnacle Geese
Coot, Moorhen, Shelduck, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye
Oystercatcher, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone
Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Magpie, Crow, rook, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Jay, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Skylark, Stonechat, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Snow Bunting, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant,
Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine, Goshawk, Barn Owl
Cettis Warbler
Total ... 90

Feb - Common Scoter, Common Guillemot, Whooper Swan, Bewicks Swan, Kingfisher, Common Crane,
Sanderling, Black Redstart, Marsh Tit, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Sparrowhawk, Short-eared Owl
Total ... 13

March - far too busy in March. Bad month, best forgotten !
Total ... 0

April - Gannet, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Goosander, Cuckoo, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Grasshopper Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, House Martin, Sand Martin, Swallow, Swift, Woodcock
Hen Harrier
Total ... 18

May - Hobby, Osprey, Montagues Harrier, Nightingale, Bittern, Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper
Kittiwake, Little Tern, Wheatear, Spoonbill, Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker, Common Buzzard, Honey Buzzard,
Total ... 14

June - Spotted Flycatcher, Little Owl both on the 2nd June
Total ... 2

... and that was followed by a bit of a lean time as i was off completely for the next 5 weeks after breaking 2 bones in my foot. Which left me having noted 137 species of birds so far this year.

July

Not a good month for being out & about, the main aim this month was to get myself fit again until i made my first real decent outing for ages on the 30th and added ...
Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff, both at Rush Hills.
Total so far of 139 for the year.

August
Pectoral Sandpiper (at Rush Hills).
Caspian Gull, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Little Stint, Temmincks Stint, Little Ringed Plover (all at Cley Marshes nature reserve).
Arctic Skua (Winterton Dunes)
Dartford Warbler (Dunwich Heath)
Green Sandpiper & Little Gull (both at Minsmere RSPB)
Red-necked Grebe (Benacre Broad Nature Reserve)
Black Tern (Breydon Water nature reserve)
Total 13 this month, and 152 for the year.

September
Black-necked Grebe (Flixton gravel pits)
Bearded Tit (Stubb Mill)
154 for the year

October
Brambling (Horsey / Waxham dunes)
Yellow-browed Warbler (Horsey / Waxham dunes)
Hoopoe (Happisburgh)
157 for the year

November
Desert Wheatear (caister beach)
Taiga Bean Geese (Cantley marshes)
White-fronted Geese (Cantley marshes)
160 for the year

December
No more to add, so that's where it ended

Final total of 160 for the year

The End

2006-01-01T17:10:00.000Z

Well not the end totally, just for 2005

So, a few figures for the year :

Cycling
Total Distance ... 6275 miles / 10,097 km
Top speed ... 35.4 mph / 57 kmph (down the hill from Overstrand into Cromer)
Longest Day ... 102 miles / 164 km (down the coast to Dunwich & Minsmere then back via Wenhaston, Ellingham, the Reedham ferry, Acle and Stokesby)
Average Speed ... about 12 - 14 mph

Birds
160 sp (3 better than last year)
"Best" Birds ... a pair of Ospreys at Rockland Broad being mobbed by a Montagues harrier, in May. Or the Desert Wheatear just down at Caister beach a couple weeks ago. Or seeing the first Hobby of the summer. Or the male Hen Harrier at Horsey the other week. Or maybe the Yellow-browed Warbler that we found at Waxham by its call after playing the birdsong CD over & over til we were sick of it the night before

Or maybe it was something else...

www.justanothercyclist.co.uk

To Infinity (well 10,000 km anyway) And Beyond...

2005-12-30T12:16:00.000Z

27th Dec Passed 10,000 km, Yay ! ... and fittingly it was within sight of Horsey mill.

Which may be an odd thing to be pleased about but after having had 6 weeks totally off the bike in the summer with broken bones in my foot it became my way of assessing my progress back to full fitness, so anyway there it is, and i'm happy with it.

Coming shortly after that was one of the most scenic, though not very easy, rides in to work of the year yesterday morning...

www.justanothercyclist.co.uk

Rounding Off

2005-12-09T19:02:00.000Z

Largely thanks to the birding i've been doing this year my mileages have far & away surpassed what i've ever done before so it was really nice to have hit another milestone today. In anticipation i had decided it was a milestone worthy of something a little special rather than a run-of-the-mill ride to work or the shops - however nice a ride to work or the shops might have been !

So on leaving the house this afternoon it was rather unsurprising to end up at Horsey mill even though my intention had been the wintering harrier roost at Stubb Mill - a further 10 miles round the loop - but i'd wholly underestimated the effect the extra weight of birding scope & tripod had on my speed and stamina during these colder months (and to think i'd carted all that gear for 102 miles round the Norfolk & Suffolk countryside in one day, back when the weather was better) and so the extra 10 miles would have meant getting there too late. But nothing wrong with the roost at Horsey - in fact it's the same roost just viewed from a different place - just as good a place to see what i think is quite a spectacle of the harriers gently gliding back in low over the tops of the reedbeds, before maybe flying round once or twice then dropping down for the night.

With no one about and no lock on me (i wouldn't have needed one at Stubb Mill) i decided that pushing my bike round to the viewpoint would be far easier than unloading and carting scope & tripod etc there and back. Taking the opportunity for some atmospheric photography ...

...(well i tried, but some might just say its crap) along the way i slowly walked along the muddy path and through the marshy fields, though occasional shady areas were dry & crunchy where they'd not thawed from last nights frost.

And luck being what it is, as i was rounded a corner and came into a marshy field so a Merlin lifted off a short way ahead and flew off low across the field in front of me & off over the top of the reedbeds giving me a great view of its orangey underparts and facial "moustache" ... what a great start to have an absolutely definite close view of this zippy little falcon.

On and through the reedbeds onto the path beside a dyke ...

...and i settled down to hopefully a good hour or so's birding though at first the mist seemed to be closing right in and i was concerned that the trip had been for nothing, but that soon settled into a low dense cushion of marsh-mist laying for just 3ft off the ground. Above it was fine and clear, with a mostly-blue sky & virtually no wind to speak of everything was absolutely still and at peace, just the right conditions.

Without going through too many descriptives, the following hour and half was pretty darned good with counts of the following -

c.20 Marsh Harriers (and a max of 8 in the air at one time)
2 Hen Harriers (1 ringtail & 1 male, plus possibly a 2nd ringtail which was too far distant to be sure)
1 Merlin (poss the same bird again ? - as it had come from that same direction)
c.9 Common Crane

c.10 overflying Snipe
a mix of ducks & geese (mostly Teal ducks & pinkfeet geese)
flyovers of Lapwings /starlings / Redwing and other thrushes
2 Wrens, 1 Robin and c.5 Bearded Tits pinging away in the reeds

Until 4 o'clock and it was time to scoot off before the area plunged into complete darkness; because of which i was certainly glad of my second headlight during the 7 miles or so back home.

And to cap the end of a relatively short though quite memorable biking / birding trip i passed my 6000th mile of the year, without doubt the furthest i've biked in any single year.

As there won't be too many more outings in the next 3 weeks that's about it i think, though there's a chance i'll make it to 10,000 km (just to completely confuse the unit measurements) with commuting etc, which would be a nice round figure to get to.

But ... 6000 miles (9654 km) ridden with a bird list of 160, that's ok

24th Dec - with a final couple of 30 mile commutes, along the way netting myself a cracking male Hen Harrier (though not a new addition to the list) near Stokesby last week the total is now 9981 km, and still one week left...

10,000 km is now so close i can smell it !

www.justanothercyclist.co.uk

19th Nov. Reminded What Its All About (...so nearly entitled "What A Find")

2005-11-19T12:42:00.000Z

Having a few hours to myself this morning i decided to spend it by clocking up a few miles under a blue early-winter sky up the Horsey road.

But first it was a short way down the road to the beach where my luck came in the shape of a flock of approx 100 Snow Buntings casually flitted about, dropping from the beach into nearby grasses and back out again, i'd imagine this flock would make for excellent digiscoping opportunites for anyone interested in such things. And if the last 3 years are anything to go by these should be around now for a couple of months. Great start.

The sun was still low in the sky and there was the slightest hint of a vaguely northerly breeze as i rode up the main road to my next brief stop, at Winterton where a few Red-throated Divers sat on the sea close enough for identification and a single Turnstone ran round on the beach but with only my bino's i wasn't able to really do myself a lot of justice so didn't stay long.

Horsey Road soon beckoned, along the way there a party of Mistle Thrush flew up from the field into cover of the trees and a nearby Green Woodpecker were easy enough to spot, and once onto the main road a mixed flock of Golden Plover & Lapwing flew overhead while in the distance ...

...over Hickling several large skeins of (Pink-footed ?) Geese were calling away as they flew around and dropped to the floor, nearby next to a dyke channel a Grey Heron stood stately rock still waiting for whatever it is Herons wait for and several Greenfinch, Blue Tits and a Dunnock or 2 sat on the electricity lines and hedges, i also spotted a flock of some c.50 Linnets feeding in a recently ploughed field.

With the weather making it an real gem of a day & absolutely no-one about it seemed a good opportunity to practise some arty type photo's of Horsey Mill...

... while i was so-doing a Marsh Harrier came from over the trees and i even managed to get one or two pictures of that as it circled right above me, which was a first on film for me (ok, so it's actually on digital card ! ).

Another half hours pedalling back home ended an outing that sticks in the mind for all the right reasons.

Not a whole lot of miles (about 15) to bring my total for the year to 5749 miles / 9250 km, and with 157 sp. birds on my list this year i've equalled last year in this country.

[ Edited 10.30 this same evening - it does seem the wording "sticks in the mind for all the right reasons" may have been a little premature. A short while later on someone, with obviously more talent than me for this, picked out a Desert Wheatear on Caister beach. By that time i was at work...]

The Story Continues - Sunday 20th Nov

Well there really was no choice but to get down there again first thing for the Desert Wheatear, especially as Carmen and her little niece had both seen this bird yesterday. And in the gorgeous early morning ....

... what a cracking little bird it was too ...

Following which i added another 42 miles and 2 more new birds (Bean Geese and White-fronted Geese) with a run out to Cantley.

So thats 160 sp. now

Wet Weather & A New Website

2005-11-05T21:53:00.000Z

Not had a lot worthy of an entry on here this last couple of weeks with the weather becoming increasingly wet making for some soggy commuting & the wind more than making up for the lack of hills in Norfolk, but thats to be expected in October & November i guess ... It is unseasonally warm though.

... and no new birds to add to the list so it seems i'm set on not beating last years total of 167, although due to 10 of last years coming from trips to Holland i have now equalled last years total of 157 for the UK which must mean something i suppose. Though i can't actually think what. Hopefully i'll get one or two more in before the year ends.

It is still interesting though (it's always interesting); the wintering Lapwings and plovers have moved in to the coastal fields, along with some large flocks of Woodpigeons & Starlings and plenty of ducks, geese etc around plus one or two regular Marsh Harriers. And with the daylight hours becoming shorter i've ridden along at twilight a few times so i've been lucky and seen a couple of owls recently. And thats got to be good.

Hey-ho ... despite a couple of relatively low mileage weeks things are still chugging along steadily, and it's now standing at 5580 miles / 8978 km this year

And i've been busy on my own website; though this blog site is ok i've decided to move on to own website, so i (probably) shant be continuing this blog beyond the end of the year.

www.justanothercyclist.co.uk

19th Oct ... Happisburgh; harrier haven, late hirundines & a Hoopoe

2005-10-19T20:24:00.000Z

Having postponed some odd-jobs until Friday when the weather is supposed to turn rougher i trundled off the 22 miles to Happisburgh, via Horsey and Sea Palling this morning in the hope of the recently reported Hoopoe still being around.

The ride itself was pretty much uneventful in cycling terms though there was an all-important tailwind and i did spot a fantastic 7 Marsh Harriers on the way through Horsey and toward Sea Palling, dutifully stopping to check each one for a wintering Hen Harrier, but maybe it's still a little early as none were.

Along the way lots of Goldcrest were calling from the trees again following their recent large arrival, also several sizeable flocks of Starlings swirled about the fields, and a single Greater-spotted Woodpecker clung to the top of a conifer tree.

Before heading to the reported site of the Hoopoe i made a small side-trip down to Cart Gap car park and the rough overgrown clifftop trackway to check for any passerines; nothing fantastic but several Robins, thrushes, Blackbirds etc and also a sizeable Greenfinch flock that included a "bunting" that i'd have liked a better look at, or at very least for it to have flown over me instead of directly away. Most surprisingly on my return to the main road i spotted 2 Swallows flitting about over the lane before flying straight over me and away along the coast, October 19th ... this has to be the latest i've ever seen them.

And on to the Hoopoe site which was easy to find as there were a few birders, and a photgrapher with what must the biggest camera lens in recorded history, stood looking at the bird. The bird itself was just as easy to spot being right in the middle a paddock, as the picture above shows and during the next half hour or so i got several photo's of it scootering around the paddock and picking away like a woodpecker in the mud at worms & suchlike, though not the one time it showed it's spiky head feathers off.

If the outward ride was uneventful, the return certainly wasn't. With 22 miles of full-on headwind it was a real slog and at times during the last 12 miles the hard driven rain lashed so hard i barely managed to get above walking speed. Just for good measure there were even had a few peels of thunder thrown in. C'est la vie, eh.

A total of about 47 miles (75 km), and one new bird for the year bringing my total now to 157. As to whether or not i'll reach my target of 167 i've now got my doubts but certainly i would like to make 6215 miles, which equates to nice round 10,000 km and would be the furthest i've ridden in one year. We'll see ...

16th Oct ... A ride to the shops

2005-10-16T21:10:00.000Z

Today, with an east wind having been blowing for a couple of days, ideally i'd have liked to get out & about on the bike along the coast somewhere for a bit of birwatching. But all things being equal, the good lady would have liked us (!) to visit Norwich's new Chapelfield shopping mall.

So the compromise was to bike there.

On leaving home just after 7.30 the sun was just above the horizon and the temperature unseasonly warm so the cycling jackets lasted about 15 minutes before it was back to standard summer kit of shorts and t-shirt. One of the first things noticeable this morning was the number of Goldcrest that could be heard calling from just about every tree that we passed, not only in our neighbourhood but also for the first 2 or 3 miles heading inland as well. Presumably these are recent arrival migrants that have been brought in on the easterly wind from across the North Sea, the same wind that has brought Redwing streaming over our house for the last 2 nights now.

Heading towards Norwich the lane runs along a ridge of higher ground that overlooks marshland away to the left and crop fields to the right, and on the average early sunday morning like today there is absolutely no-one about so the countryside has a certain freshness to it that nothing has yet had the chance to spoil. The Starlings sit on telephone wires alongside the road, the Chaffinches & Goldfinches pick away in the middle of the road and the Pheasants run round everywhere.

Heading almost due west, through the countryside & the small villages of Runham and Stokesby it is always a nice ride but on a cloudless early morning such as this the feeling of slowly being enveloped in the warmth of the rising sun as it floods around you from behind, oh-so-gradually brightening up everything that lays ahead and turning the dawn into full daylight is really something of a priceless experience. And with a tailwind as well, i guess every day should start like this !

I guess it's just another aspect of that closeness with the environment which cycling allows, that you just don't seem to get with other forms of transport.

After an hour or so, about half way, the route changes direction and heads over Acle Bridge which can be fairly busy though not on a Sunday morning, but the pavement is still a nice place to stop and have 5 minutes breather, and then it continues on through the village of Acle and back into the countryside again via South Burlingham, Lingwood and Brundall to reach Norwich at the Postwick roundabout (for anyone local)

Anyhow between pausing for photo's, several flocks of Redwing passed overhead and various numbers of them, as well as Rooks & Starlings flushed out of trees as we passed underneath, Lapwings seemed quite numerous, also various sized flocks of gulls & Partridges in freshly ploughed fields with occasional Pied Wagtails flitting about.

In one tree sat 2 Egyptian geese, which always puzzles me as i've never seen any other form of geese in trees and somehow it just doesn't seem right. Egyptian geese seem quite happy with the idea though, so presumably standing on the ground in Egypt is fraught with danger for geese (?)

Other notable sightings along the way were a number of Mistle Thrush; maybe some of these are also newly arrived migrants as there seemed to be more of them than there has been for a while now, 2 Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk, total of 8 Jays and 2 Greater-spotted Woodpeckers.

A total of 29 miles / 47 km in a leisurely 3 hours

(As for the new shopping mall - awful place. No recognition of Norwich or anything else local whatsoever. Just shops. And £8 for 2 coffees and 2 bits of chocolate cake. Don't bother.)

7th Oct ... Waxham; a wander and a warbler.

2005-10-08T17:57:00.000Z

After a week which has seen both a major DIY offensive in the house and also a sizeable influx of migrant passerine birds from siberia along our coast, we were both really in need of some time out & about today. And so the word "Horsey" came up yet again; only this time for a change we took a wander along the dunes to Waxham.

After leaving the bikes at "a quiet place" near Horsey Corner car park off we went on what was a fairly warm (~12C according to the tv weathergirl) though quite misty, murky morning with just the faintest of light onshore breezes.

Hardly anyone was about except for the occasional dog-walker on the beach, and it was due to a dog running along the beach that we spotted a Turnstone and 3 Snow Buntings (in the picture below) picking about in the shingle; these being some of the first of what are often flocks of 100+ on this and more often actually on our local beach at caister during the winter months.

After a little while the heavy going of walking in the sand started to take it's toll, the idea of the walk had been fine but neither of us are great walkers, and so a rest was called for about half way to Waxham. Just sitting up there with no-one around we had the place completely to ourselves; we could have been a million miles away, just what we needed after this last week.

With Carmen asleep (!) i took the opportunity of some seawatching, albeit with just binoculars, which in the onshore breeze turned up several Gannets heading south, a flock of about 25 Common Scoter flying round in circles in the mist, 14 Brent Geese going up the coast, 1 Guillemot sitting on the sea just offshore and 1 diver (Red-throated Diver ?) doing the same, while inland there was a noisy flock of Pink-footed Geese

Having woken up again, an hour or so later 2 seals swam slowly past just off the shoreline. I managed to catch a picture of one which i'm told was the younger of the two, both Grey seals, the other one probably being the mum.

By the time we were nearly onto Waxham dunes several roving flocks of 'finches' had come and gone past, as had 2 Redwing, 1 Stonechat, a Kestrel, and a few each of Robins & Blackbirds, and what was possibly a family party of 3 Green Woodpeckers had flushed up from the ground in front of us and flown away, but now things got really interesting; firstly an abrupt croaking call coming from within a flock of Chaffinches suggested that one was not as it appeared and on a closer inspection there perched near the top of the bush sat a Brambling, excellent, and the first one this year. Not long after & not too far away a sharp, high pitched, suu-eet call immediately caught both our attentions; now i guess this is where the usefulness of homework really came in as by keeping an eye on the birdguides website this last week it'd shown a big influx of migrants from siberia arriving on the easterly winds, and looking through the fieldguides it'd become clear that to properly identify one we'd probably need to rely not just on what they look like, as many of them look an awful lot like something else, but also on the calls. And here right in front of us was one of them, one of the calls we'd played over and over until it was virtually imprinted. Well ok it wasn't exactly right in front, but more like buried in an overgrown and unkempt Sycamore & hiding amongst the Goldcrests, but definitely one we'd learnt, and eventually after a bit of patience and stalking we actually also caught a brief sighting of it .... a Yellow-browed Warbler. Wahey ... now that was definitely one of the years better finds !

Re-tracing our steps back along the dunes took the best part of an age and it was certainly a glad sight to see the bikes again, having seen along the way several more loose flocks of pipits, finches etc, a single Marsh Harrier floating low over the fields of Horsey warren and a fair few more Pink-footed geese.

So all in all a relatively short ride of about 15 miles and relatively huge walk of about 6 miles (though it felt more like 60 !) produced 2 more new birds for the year bringing it to 156.

1st Oct ... Horsey Again (& 5000 Up)

2005-10-02T09:24:00.000Z

Set off today with no real aim but as it was likely i'd pass a milestone in my cycling year i thought on doing the situation justice and go somewhere good. And as i can't think of many better places locally than Horsey, that's where i ended up.

The first stop though, after having notable fly-overs of both a Green Woodpecker & Greater-spotted Woodpecker in quick succession near one of the holiday camps, was Winterton Dunes where a few common-enough Pied Wagtails & Meadow Pipits flitted about and a single Mediterranean Gull landed on the beach briefly to raise the interest a little from the otherwise pretty dull display of 'ordinary' Herring & Black-headed Gulls. In the brisk offshore wind looking out to sea with only binoculars was just kidding myself though, and not too unexpectedly i failed to see anything much else. There were a couple other birders up on the dunes with some serious telescopes & the gear scouring the bushes but i decided to forego that in favour of a few miles pedalling.

On the way out of Winterton, quite by chance, i noticed what i'd always thought of as being 2 village signs is actually 2 pictures on reverse sides of the same sign.

Shortly up the road towards Somerton the honking noise of Pink-foooted Geese caught my attention and as i pulled up and stood & waited on the roadside astride my bike so they came and passed directly overhead. Not the massed tens of thousands of the north Norfolk coast but still i'd estimate a good 2000 of them noisily honking away, their waves of broken lines and disjointed V's seemingly marking out a 'crazy paving in the sky'. This is a sight that will probably be fairly common over the next 6 months or so, with these wandering flocks spending the winter touring the coastline and maybe a little way inland.

After passing below the raucous Rooks and crows of Somerton Hall it was onto Horsey road itself but unfortunately this seemed to coincide with the wind simultaneously backing round and getting up, and the weather generally starting to look rather dull & unsettled, but there was a fair bit to look at along the way; a single Grey Heron, few Coots & Moorhens, 11 overflying Teal ducks, some Lapwing, Golden Plovers, a single Marsh Harrier and 2 Kestrels to break the wide open, and by now increasingly grey, sky that is such a feature of this pancake-flat area.

There must have been quite an influx of the newly arriving Pink-footed Geese today; the North Sea is approx half a mile from here and as i sat drinking my cuppa (90p from the National Trust tea shop) so i watched skein after skein arriving, many clearly coming directly over the dunes off the sea and heading inland. The numbers as i said before aren't of the magnitude of north Norfolk but it was still quite a spectacle. And after taking a few more photo's of Horsey windmill as the rain started to fall i spotted a single remaining House Martin, one who's obviously getting full value from his summer visit.

And so with the wind now blowing my way back home i had the bright idea, instead of waiting a little while longer, of outrunning the squally rain which was at times now falling quite hard. What on earth led me to that i'll never know; it's never worked before and it was never going to work this time either. Instead of outrunning it all i managed was to ensure the cloud stayed directly over me all the way back home. But it was a tailwind so hey-ho, and anyhow nothing would dampen my spirits as today would see me passing my personal cycling milestone of riding 5000 miles (8045 km) this year.

Post #2. My bikes

2005-07-29T23:29:00.000Z

I currently have 2 bikes ...

Ridgeback Velocity. Bought about 18 months ago, which i used to tour in Holland last year. Fitted with riser bars and bar ends, wheels are Mavic MA3 rims / DT spokes on Shimano Sora hubs and 700 x 28C Specialized Armadillo tyres which i switched to about 2k miles ago and have so far proved excellent with no flats so far. Pedals are standard double-sided SPD's.

I find it a comfortable upright position which i use for shorter - medium rides but wouldn't use it for much more than about 2.5 hours / 30 miles / 50km due to a continuing problem i've had on it with my right arm going numb.

Dawes Galaxy. My favourite bike and the one i do most miles on. I suppose it's much like something off the front cover of the CTC magazine really, but hey it works for me ....

Steel framed, classic design drop handlebars workhorse bike with my oh-so-comfortable Brooks Champion Flyer saddle & a Carradice saddlebag. A319 rims which, in my opinion, have rather too much wear on them for the 3000 miles they've done, but the DT spokes / Shimano Sora hubs and SPD pedals, and everything else for that matter, is all doing well so far. This bike, like my ridgeback, also runs on Specialized Armadillo 700x28C tyres for the 3k miles (~5k km) its done and again they have proved excellent with only one (slow) flat in the front.

This is a really comfortable bike over whatever distance i'm on and also handles perfectly under load.

Out in my back garden there is another bike, a fairly standard aluminium frame MTB which i inherited from my neighbour when she moved away but forgot to collect after i repaired it for her son (note: 15 yr olds & tools don't mix !). As i've absolutely no idea where they live now i suppose that's mine as well but i keep thinking it needs ''something'' to brighten it up a bit (cos i don't really like MTB's) though i did replace the gearing, fitted new bars & saddle & replaced the nobbly tyres for flat-resistant slicks so all in all it's not a bad bike. Hmmm ....

Sometime in the not too distant future i'd like a slightly sportier machine as well, maybe something like a Specialized Allez or a Decathlon which i won't have to pay silly money for. Unless someone out there has a spare titanium Airborne or Litespeed they'd donate to a good cause ? .....

Other kit

In addition to the all-important bikes, various other bits of kit i use are RSPB 8x42 Binoculars, my old telescope & tripod, and a digital camera. The pictures of birds in this blog are mostly taken by digital camera through my binoculars.
And i've usually got a copy of Collins Bird Guide in my saddlebag, for when i don't know what i'm looking at.

Maps & Books

Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale Landranger map 'OS134 - Norwich & The Broads' covers most of my regular areas in considerable detail, but occasionally 'OS169-Ipswich and The Naze' , 'OS156 - Saxmundham', 'OS133- North East Norfolk' and 'OS132 - North West Norfolk are useful to look at.
Goldeneye (http://www.goldeneyemaps.com) also produce good (2 miles to 1 inch scale) cycling maps for Norfolk & Suffolk - which as well as having plenty of cycling-relevant info, are also laminated.

3 local book recommendations would be ..... Cycle Tours Of Norfolk & Suffolk by nick Cotton which is based on OS maps, The Hidden Places Of East Anglia by Barbara Vesey, and Best Birdwatching Sites In Norfolk by Neil Glenn.

A Tale Of A(nother) Crap Cycle Lane

2005-10-02T09:07:00.000Z

Having previously brought us a number of traffic planning gems such as "The Cycle Lane That Goes Half Way Round The Corner (before you have to get off and walk, or climb over the railings to get back on the road)" and the "Is It A Cycle Lane, A Pavement Or A Car Transporter Parking Space ?", it seems our council has been at it again; i found this newly planted set of signs the other day...

...which appears to show a shared-use (cycle & pedestrian) path heading toward the Town Centre.

So if it is a shared-use path for pedestrians and cyclists, as the sign clearly indicates it is, why does it also say Cyclists Dismount ?

"The Cycle Lane You Can't Cycle On" ....(?) And next to a roundabout that's controlled by traffic lights anyhow, so you can only get onto it when it's clear of traffic and safe to proceed.

If anyone knows the definitive interpretation of this i'd be really interested to hear it. In the meantime i'll just stay on the road

23rd Sep ... Still clinging on to summer

2005-09-23T14:53:00.000Z

Good fortune came from above, quite literally, as the morning sun shone bright and warm between just a few high clouds on my way to the Horsey Road today, and i had a tail wind to boot which made the Blood Hill wind turbines whirr as i sped (yes, unusually for me ...sped) past . With much of my attention focussed on my speed and pedalling like mad i didn't spot too many birds though, just the usual Crows and Woodpigeons etc.

But once along Horsey Road it was time to slow down or i'd miss the whole point of me being here.

At Horsey windmill ...

...a few remaining Swallows clung to the rigging of the sailing boats alongside the staithe and in the trees behind the Chaffinches and Robins were singing away, something i can't remember hearing for a few months now. After a cuppa from the over-priced tea shop i headed off and along the Nelsons Head track where, as per my last visit here, 2 Common Crane were again grazing the field to the east of the track, and a great male Marsh Harrier came really close by. Up onto the dunes and without my scope it was always going to be difficult so i was pleased with the 3 Turnstone on the beach, and passing easy-to-see Gannets, single Red-throated Diver and 3 Common Tern. A steady stream of what appeared to all be Meadow Pipits came past me along the dunes, i guess possibly as many as 100 in an hour, all seemed to be heading south, but despite my best efforts to find any rare vagrants amongst those that landed in the bushes by the rough track i didn't see anything more exciting than 2 Green Woodpeckers which flushed up and flew off away into the far trees. Just thinking about this, and it stands to reason i guess that walking in cleated-bottom cycling shoes over gravel is going to scare off everything within a fair radius but i'm just not sure what i can do about it; maybe to stay on the bike & work this track from the saddle, pedalling slowly, is the answer ...

A bit of a surprise in a field near Waxham was my first sighting for several months of Pink-footed Geese; approx 300 of these newly arrived wintering migrants came over noisily and landed in the stubble field a little way up the road. This is a bit of a warning of colder weather to come and although today was nice & sunny i think it's only a matter of short time before my shorts are traded in for something warmer for the next few months again.

Stubb Mill next, via the near-empty country lanes around Hickling, for a cake-break as much as anything else. But while i leant on the farm gate the 3 Kestrels hovering in mid-air with their tails fanned out, and 2 Marsh Harriers slowly gliding across the fields were all good to look at, and i had a real stroke of luck when through my bino view flew my first 2 Bearded tits of the year before they dropped back down into low vegetation and reeds. Species number 154 for the year, good stuff

Riding back down the Stubb Lane past the Hickling Broad nature reserve entrance a Hobby flew low over the road just ahead of me, low enough in fact to see it's white face & throat markings and streaked underparts before disappearing back over the treeline, i guess the remaining appearance of this species shows that summer is still just about hanging in there for now.

And that was just about it, only the earlier tailwind to repay by some tough leg work through Potter Heigham and Martham into the 15 - 20 mph headwind, on my way home from a really pleasant 42 mile (67 km) morning.

10th Aug ... Rolling the Coaster road

2005-08-16T14:08:00.000Z

Feeling good about the way my foot was behaving after the distance of my previous ride to Rush Hills and the couple of subsequent rides of lesser mileage, i went out on the 10th with the intention of catching sight of a few good birds up at Cley Marshes NWT, a well known nature reserve on the north Norfolk coast. A few early returning waders had been reported the day before on Birdguides so it'd hopefully make a good days biking & a few additions to my list, plus hopefully the chance maybe of finding something rare myself ... (yeah right, dunno about that last bit).

However, the first stop of the day was to be Rush Hills again where another 'goodie' had dropped in since i last visited, for a stop-over on it's way south for the winter. Unfortunately the weather done me no favours early on and i donned my waterproof overshoes & jacket to set off with but after a few miles i wondered why i'd bothered with the overshoes as there was so much spray off the road to contend with in addition to the rain. Even so i made it a slightly faster run to the site than last week, before lifting the bike over the stile and walking to the hide with now-soaking-wet feet.

Pretty much the same line up of birds were in evidence as i scanned through but after a little searching among the varied plumages of the Ruff one bird stood out as interesting and when it eventually turned to face me and showed a clear cut, pointed cutoff-line between it's white underbelly and grey/brown streaked breast it stood out as an adult Pectoral Sandpiper. That's better !

Back in the saddle for a good work out over the roller-coaster of the next 36 increasingly hilly miles along the Norfolk Coastal Road, somewhere along which the sun started shining, past the red & white hooped (and today also rainy, misty grey) landmark Happisburgh lighthouse, Walcott sea front, Mundesley coast guard museum and the military 'Golfball' near Trimingham (big hill, where the granny ring was shamelessly called upon) and into Cromer.

Continuing along the coast road and thoroughly enjoying the downhill stretches of the road the next few miles whizzed past although thanks to the uphill stretches i was relieved to eventually see the appearance of Salthouse, the last village before Cley, as this is where the road becomes slightly more level with the hilly ridge running away to inland. while on the coastal side the width of flat marshland runs away to meet the protective shingle flood bank, which in turn keeps the beach and sea at bay. Hopefully.

And from hereonin this is where the important bird-type stuff happens.

Immediately i spotted a group of figures along the Beach Road hunched over & keenly peering into scopes so figured something was afoot and after trundling over i was duly told by someone clearly very experienced in this subject, as i set my own scope up, that they'd spotted a Caspian Gull. Absolutely no way, even if'd stopped and looked in this particular field on my own, would i ever have picked that out from the any other gull, but i guess that's experience for you. I did spot 2 Snipe probing about in a muddy pool though, which i was quietly pleased with.

Next stop the East Bank / Arnolds Marsh area of Cley nature reserve where firstly a very nice summer plumage Spotted Redshank was close in and easy to see, and then 2 Greenshank somewhat hidden among the more common birds such as Avocets and Common Redshank, terns and gulls. Two (a pair?) Water Rail were calling from within the reedbed but my patience gave way before they showed themselves, as did the same with some Bearded Reedlings and after a short, uneventful stop in Bishops Hide another 3 new birds came within a fairly short space of time round at Dawkes Hide; a Little Stint out on the mud & a Temmincks Stint poking about at the far edge of the muddy island (pic below) were pointed out to me immediately as i entered the hide and a Little Ringed Plover an hour or so later nearby was my own find (yahoo!).

Which gave me time to have a wander outside, up as far as the cafe and back, and watch the family of Marsh Harriers circling over the reedbeds before climbing back on board my bike for the slow and now-really-quite-tired ride back to Sheringham for a train home. Along the way i was given some considerable cheer by the sight of a family (dad, 2 kids age 13 or 14 at a guess) riding this road on their matching MTB's. And riding in quite some style as they pulled an impressive 10 mph up the hill, though to be truthful i aren't entirely sure which hill it was now. A big one, i do know that !

On looking back this was a good ride for me for several reasons; the 61 miles loaded with scope, tripod, binoc's etc, much of it over the hilly Norfolk coastal road was the biggest work out i've done in months and i think proved that my fitness is now much as it was before the accident and my foot is largely fine. The 7 new birds i saw were nice (bringing it to 146 for the year) and i also passed something of a milestone total of 4000 miles ridden so far this year.

Recent Commuting / Birding

2005-09-19T19:41:00.000Z

Being in the middle of a busy spell at work spare time hasn't been easy to find, let alone a days birdwatching or extended cycling; last weeks total of 61 miles was the lowest so far this year, and all of those were commuting, so i guess that just about sums it up really.

Anyhow, just a couple of worthy (in my opinion) quick notes ... firstly, the last Swifts of the year. .... On the 4th September there were 6 circling over Whitlingham Broad (just east of Norwich) as i rode in to work and on the 5th i biked part of the way home from work and saw 4 more Swifts drifting west (towards Whitlingham) as i stood waiting on Lingwood train station. As was the same for the past 3 years these last ones were all in the same area as previous years, and also again they were a good 5 weeks after the coastal birds had left for their return southward migration. What is it about this area that attracts the late stayers, i wonder ?

Secondly, onto subject of seasonal changes, Sunday was interesting (after getting off the train at Cantley and biked the approx. 12 miles / 20km into Norwich via the back lanes of Hassingham, Buckenham and Brundall) although i'd have liked more time to look about.

As well as spotting a couple of Jays, a Greater-spotted Woodpecker, one Marsh Harrier and 2 Kestrels there were also just an odd few Swallows sitting on phone lines and House Martins flitting about, and in their place the first of the incoming wintering thrushes & ducks; 3 flocks (between 10 & 15 birds in each) of Redwing, a couple of Fieldfare and on Buckenham marshes there were probably a couple hundred recently arrived Wigeon whistling ducks.

Hopefully later this week i'll have the chance to get out for a bit longer and have a good look around.

7th Sep ... Run of the (Horsey) Mill

2005-09-07T18:41:00.000Z

Feeling like taking a slow-lookabout ride rather loads of miles, and as it's not been ridden in a while, i took my Ridgeback hybrid bike for a change this morning, with it's more upright riding position i find it's better for this type of ride than a drop-bar'd bike.

Heading out well before sunrise i was onto the Horsey Road just as the sun began to rise and cast it's early glow across the marshy fields. Along the road which is both a popular birdwatching area & also part the Sustrans Norfolk Coast Cycle Route ...

... the distinctive piercing song of a Cettis Warbler rung out from bushes near West Somerton green while a Kestrel sat in the otherwise deserted road picking at road-kill carrion and Crows, Jackdaws and a single Grey Heron flew off & away in various directions. A mile or so up the road, with a steady tailwind helping me along, at Horsey windmill there was a roost of some 20-30 Pied Wagtails bobbing about on the roof of the tea-room, a few Goldfinch, an overhead flock of c.80 House Martins and away over the marshy fields a pair of Marsh Harriers glided into and then out of view. Coming from some unseen field beyond the windmill and the far treeline the peculiar calls of 3(i'd guess), or maybe 4 Common Cranes called out which got me thinking that it'd been a while since i last actually saw one of them. But despite pulling up and scouring the field with my binoculars it didn't look like i'd see them today either.

Another mile or so up the road, i turned off at the Nelsons Head pub and headed along the rough track to cross Horsey Warren towards the dunes, but shortly after entering the rough track the call of another Common Crane caught my attention. This one was much closer; in fact these 2 were much closer - in full view grazing in the field next to me. Though somewhat blurry from the early mist and low sun i still considered this a photo opportunity not to be missed !

After a while the rising sun totally obscured the view so no point staying any longer - next stop up on the high vantage of the dunes to see what else was about. Hardly surprising with the steady offshore breeze that nothing much was out to sea, only 2 common Terns and few gulls, but on the inland side there was a little more to see across the Warren (pic below) with a Kestrel chasing after the Stonechats and the crows in turn chasing after the Kestrel and a couple of roving flocks of Goldfinch.

One heartbeat-skipping moment came when i spotted what was obviously a bunting of some sort, but too late as it'd flushed out of the tree and was away before i could get a really good look at it. Guess i'll never know what sort of rarity that was ! There was also a steady stream of Swallows heading northwards along the ridge of sand dunes which seemed a little odd as i thought they'd be heading south now but there you go, what do i know ... c.50 in an hour at a guess.

After a slow ride up to the National Trust car park and back down the Horsey Road i pulled up at West Somerton and took the short walk round to Martham Broad which, in my opinion, is one of the nicest places in the whole of Norfolk. On the broad were c.80 Coots, 4 Great Crested Grebes, a few Pochards & Tufted Ducks and a pair of Mute Swans. And apart from the birds - not a sound.

To put the icing on the cake of quite a nice couple of hours, after having sat at the waters edge for half an hour waiting for something to happen, over in the distance but well within scope range floated the fantastic sight of 14 Common Cranes, all calling out to each other in a line gliding slowly east-west, before circling a few times and slowly one by one dropping down into the fields. Brilliant. On that note i reckoned on it not getting much better so rode a steady 10 mph back home to complete a total of 28 miles (45km), as the morning now became warmer in the almost unbroken sunshine.

1st Sep ... A Hit Down The Pit

2005-09-02T16:07:00.000Z

For this past week or more Birdguides website has had it a couple of Black-necked Grebes have been on Flixton gravel pit, which i thought about taking an extended detour to see on Monday but other things took priority, so with time to spare today i planned out a little country-lane route and rode off early this morning.

Down through Gt Yarmouth and out via the villages of Browston & Ashby, down the dappled shady lane at Herringfleet hills and along the A143 just far enough to cross Haddiscoe Marshes before turning back onto the country lanes again at Thurlton to head for Brundish, Stockton & the single track road over Ellingham mill.

This was great; empty country lanes, sunshine, blue skies and a easterly-ish wind which was for the most part a tailwind took me as far as Bungay, and in a world of my own i pootled along taking in the, albeit somewhat humid distantly-misty, countryside. The B1062 from Bungay to Flixton was a little busier than the lanes had been but in one way that was good as i'd taken so long riding down the lanes i needed to speed up a little and this being a long straight road was ideal in that respect. And it wasn't really that busy. It was warm though, and humid, almost seeming to verge on thundery hot at times. Lots of sweat, lots of fluid intake.

Flixton gravel pits, or rather - the public footpath alongside, came into view but not before i'd taken a wrong turn up a farm track and had a short conversation with a none-too-happy farmer who was driving his tractor round with what looked like a gun limber attached to the back of it ... i have no idea ... and thought it better not to ask !

This is the first time i've been here, probably not the last though as it looks like a good spot for the birds, possibly attracting a few of wintering ducks. It didn't take too long to pick out the right bird (even for me), especially with there being a few other birders / birdwatchers there already to point me the way, and i soon had a few photos of it passing in front of me. Also on the water were several Little Grebes, Coots, Tufted Ducks and a few Mute Swans, a Green Sandpiper on the muddy shore and a flyover flock of some 90-ish Lapwing which is the most i've seen for ages in one flock ... maybe some of these are early migrants ?

In all i spent about 90 minutes before it was time to be on my way again, to Norwich now. This part of my route i do know well and is one of my favourite stretches of countryside riding; with its wide straight lanes and very few hedges to block the view across the fields of freshly cut & baled hay, a couple of combine harvesters, Swallows on the power lines and occasional wooded areas.

There are also some surprisingly good hills, considering this is Norfolk, as you pass through Saxlingham and the Tas river valley towards the old roman town of Venta Icenorum / Caistor St Edmund.

This was the day after i had made a speculative call at Breydon Water in Gt Yarmouth, having been a steady SE wind blowing all day there seemed a chance of something good maybe being about. Initially i thought it was going to be a loss as the tide was way out in the distance but half an hours patience paid off with a Common Sandpiper, 4 Little Egret and (my first of the year) Black Tern.

So after todays ride of 51 miles and another new bird for the year, on what was a particularly slow ride (not that i'm complaining) averaging just 12.3 mph (19.8 km/h)...my total is now 153 ... only 14 more needed to equal last year.

14th Aug ... The Sunday Joint

2005-08-18T13:58:00.000Z

With rain forecasted by dinner time & joined today by my partner Carmen it was an early start in the morning pre-sunrise brightness for a potter round ... a bike ride with no specific intent, make it up as you go along and see what happens.

Winterton Dunes was our first stop, being some 4 miles from home along the deserted country road leading north up the coast, which we rode in no particular time as it was just too nice to be even remotely concerned with speed. On arrival, immediately noticeable since our last visit was the level of cliff erosion that has taken place; indeed the cliff top cafe is now in a seriously precarious position and i'd suggest maybe just a little too cliff-top for comfort!

After an hour or so set up with the scope i'd noted a steady offshore passage of Gannets, a couple of groups (totalling 15) of Common Scoter and my first Arctic Skua of the year which was busily harassing terns just off the shoreline and also just offshore 2 Harbour Porpoises made Carm's morning as they headed north, their backs alternately gently breaking the surface with their small, somewhat dolphin-like, fin. Making my morning was a female Montagues Harier which gently flew its way along the dunes from the north and then off out to sea, presumably on it's end-of-year epic journey south to the warmer shores of Africa. What an amazing feat that is. However not being quite so keen on birdwatching as me it was now decided it was time for us to move off again.

A few miles under our belts, so to speak, and still there was hardly a soul about; what a great time of day to be out & about.

As it'd been Carm's decision to leave here, i got to decide where to go to ... 12 miles away & 3 miles south of Yarmouth is the site of an old roman shore fort at Burgh Castle. This being one of the few places locally where there's anything resembling a hill, is not just simply a nice place to visit but also good for a spot of birdwatching as the elevated position affords a good view across the Halvergate marshes.

Another hour or so later with the sun now well on the way up I'd spotted a Hobby, the small falcon which although didn't do much today i've sometimes seen performing feats of quite some aerobatic agility to catch dragonflies in mid-air or even chase House Martins & Swallows. Also across the marshes were 7 Little Egrets and also a group of 10 Grey Herons that had drifted in on the still air and slowly dropped down one by one which was interesting as i've rarely seen that many together before. Away on the mud-flats to the right of the old ruins were a good few Redshank, approximately 20 (maybe more) Curlews, 3 Avocets, several gulls and 2 Common Tern.

Just as we were setting off again for a few more miles, along the track past the church & vicarage, Carmen struck lucky with 3 really good sightings in quick succession - firstly a Green Woodpecker and then within 50 metres a Greater-spotted Woodpecker and 2 Kestrels. Now, which one of us claims not to be very interested in birds ...

The following ride of about 15 miles round the lanes past Somerleyton Hall & through Blundeston Green Lane & Lound was really good, along quiet country roads and deserted lanes, under the clear blue sky with Yellowhammers singing from the power lines and at one point a flock of 15 Goldfinch flying alongside the hedgerow next to us.

If one thing stands out about this ride it is the sheer 'niceness' of it ... Some rides are long, some fast, some easy, some tough ... this was just Nice. With 39 miles that included 1 new bird for the year, sunshine, shorts & shades .... i'd say it was the ideal way to start any day.

30th July ... Rush to the Hills.

2005-07-31T22:47:00.000Z

After building up my mileages again following my accident i made my first decent ride for 7 weeks up to Rush Hill scrape near Potter Heigham on the 30th of July. On the southern edge of Hickling Broad NWT nature reserve it is a well known site, good for migrating & maybe winter waders. (And it has to be one of the most imaginitively named places in Norfolk as there isn't a single hill anywhere for miles around)

Before leaving i'd taken the decision to re-fit my SPD pedals and wear cycling specific shoes again, which I'd un-fitted in order to start my post-accident riding, to the shops etc, a few weeks previously. Luckily this proved a good move as my cycling shoes gave my foot far more support than trainers on ordinary flat pedals would have done over such a distance. So with well supported feet i gingerly made the journey of about 15 miles in approx 1 and half hours, plus another 15 minutes walk to the hide.

Also prior to leaving i'd taken the time to look up Birdguides online service 'BirdNews Extra' so i knew at least there had been some good birds here the day before, though of course whether or not they were still there was another matter. Well yes they were ...out on the mudflat were 2 new additions to my list, namely the flock of c.35 Ruff (all in different plumage variations which was a bit of a challenge to identify) and one single Curlew Sandpiper in amongst the small flock of Dunlin.

Further out in the shallow water at scope distance was an unusually active Spoonbill (i say 'unusually active' as when i've seen them before they always seem to be asleep) which was a photo opportunity not to be missed, plus a few Ringed Plover running about, 4 Avocet and some 70-ish Lapwing. Later on i firstly heard, and then saw, 4 Common Crane flying over plus one Hobby zipping about.

The ride home was slow and with a by-now aching foot, so i guess i'd pushed the distance about as far as i could. But still, i was out and about again therefore i was happy.

31 miles ridden and 2 new birds seen

Post #1. Birds & Bikes - A guide

2005-07-28T22:44:00.000Z

Well ok, it's a guide written in my terms & not an in depth study on anything !

Cycling - Personally i can't think of a better way to escape the everyday work stress & bustle (and the ex-Mrs) than getting on a bike and pedalling off for a few miles into town, or round the sights of the city or out into the countryside or just ... somewhere-anywhere. It's my way of unwinding; look about, enjoy the fresh air, see what's around and forget about time.

A note: I personally do not (and nor do most recreational cyclists i know of) consider those who do wheelies up the precinct on their mountain bike without lights / brakes etc to be anything remotely linked to cycling - that's just unsociable behaviour.

Birdwatching - Norfolk & Suffolk is arguably (so i'm told by those who know more about this than me) one of the best areas of the UK for birdwatching. Otherwise known as birding (why ? ... er .. it just is), as far as i'm concerned it's just the hobby of watching birds in whatever place you choose and for whatever individual reason you have. For relaxing it's second only to cycling in my opinion, and another excellent way to unwind.

'Twitching' is a word that often appears in the media for one reason or another (and in my opinion cunjures up all the wrong impressions - but thats just the media i guess) to describe birdwatching. Though in practice a twitcher is someone who will travel to see a specific bird or birds, with the intention of gathering as big a list of birds seen throughout a year as is possible. It can be the cause of some competition between rival twitchers, often travelling 100's or even 1000's of miles over the course of a year in the pursuit of twitching.

Personally i find it relaxing just to see what's about and though i wouldn't really call myself a twitcher i do sometimes go and see something interesting or rare if it turns up somewhere in eastern England.

Birdwatching On A Bicycle ... well that's just the best of both worlds !

29th Aug ... Back to the summer

2005-08-29T15:51:00.000Z

After the cold drenching i received the other evening it was back to the summer today on an absolutely gorgeous day, with the slight SW breeze bringing in fresh warm air and not a cloud in the sky. Sadly all the local Swifts have almost certainly left us now for another 8 months although there were about 15 circling high over Whitlingham Broad, near Norwich, yesterday as i rode past. Presumably these were a group passing through having spent the summer further north.

This morning i left off early for Benacre Broad again, firstly because the Birdguides website had it a Red-necked Grebe was there and secondly because it's right on the coastline it's just a really good place to go and ''see what's turned up''.

The 33 km (about 20 miles) ride through the winding country lanes of north Suffolk i done in some 90 minutes or so before pulling off the road at Covehithe and across the cifftops, into the nature reserve and down to the hide where the sound of the crickets clicking away in the undergrowth could be plainly heard.
Having been a headwind for much of the way i was ready for the sit down !

Anyhow, what's about ...a reasonable mix of waders; Dunlin, Lapwing, Ringed Plovers, Redshank, one Greenshank, one Sanderling (or was it a Little Stint ? - too far away & too quick a view to be confident of that one) ... some Teal and other ducks in pretty drab eclipse plumage; on the change from summer to winter feathers ... fair few gulls ... Cormorants with their wings outstretched sunning themselves ...couple of Little Egret, 2 Sandwich Terns .. Great Crested Grebe ... and there sat on the water in front of the hide were actually 2 Red-necked Grebes.

Both pictures are the same bird, the other one stayed asleep all the while i was there

After a while sat having a look about and taking some, albeit rather ropey, photos someone in the hide called out a Hobby that was making it's way across the top of the far treeline. I always like to see these birds as there's always the possibility of a show of fast dynamic feats of insect catching or Swallow-chasing and being summer visitors they will also leave us shortly. It wasn't long before a second Hobby came into view, this one being pursued by a Kestrel and for the next few minutes i had a show of these 3 birds of prey in what can only be called a bit of a scrap; the 2 Hobby being mobbed and chased away by the Kestrel. Presumably the Kestrel has young nearby and these potential attackers were just way too close for comfort. In the photo below (you get a bigger one by clicking on it) it is possible to see the 3 dots, which probably aren't identifiable as birds, (you'll have to take my word on what they were), but it possibly gives a feeling for the situation.

An hour or so later and the temperature across the broad had risen and caused the appearance of a heat haze when looking at the distance, so it was time to be on my way. Outside the hide my attention was drawn by the number of dragonflies which were busily zipping about in the open area between the hide and the trees; mostly small hawker-type dragonflies which on closer inspection proved to be a mix of a couple of Southern Hawker, a single darter (though i couldn't get close enough to tell which one), a single Brown Hawker but mostly they were some 20 or so Migrant Hawkers ... this i was really pleased with as i've not properly identified these on my own before. Also around the area were various individual whites, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell & Speckled Wood butterflies.

The return trip was done with the sun at my back and a tailwind ... What in life could be a better combination of things ? .. and during the ride back (helped by the tailwind) i clocked up this weeks highest speed of 50km/h (or 31.1 mph)

This was a good 'all-round' nature outing, in my opinion this type of thing is one of the delights of an english summer.

Todays distance was 67.9 km (or 42 miles) and brought my Bird List to 151 for the year.

24th Aug ... Autumn !

2005-08-24T15:43:00.000Z

Well i guess it must have been happening - the nightimes drawing in & the temperatures getting ever so slightly cooler over the last couple of weeks - but i just didn't really notice it. Until today.

I often use the 29 mile ride home as a wind-down; a couple of hours biking on mostly low-traffic country lanes, with just one section (of about 1 mile) on a main road, to have a think and generally forget about work before i'm home.

Todays ride home was a bit of a changing-of-season-eye-opener though and altogether too much like hard work !

Gentle rain this afternoon prompted me to don my waterproof (? ... yeah right) overshoes, and jacket before leaving, but wasn't long before it turned a little sour as the clouds darkened & billowed, the wind got up, the rain lashed it down and the trees shed the first of their now-browning leaves and various bits of sticks to coat the lanes in an all too Autumnal layer of mixed tree debris, mud and puddles.

If that made it appear Autumnal then the birds proved it; just the odd few remaining Swallows & House Martins flitted about and there was a total lack of any Swifts to scream overhead in tight circles, the Starling flock of some 250 - 300 was by far the biggest i've seen this side of summer which is generally one of the sure signs of turning season as they made their way over the lane i rode along, in a long twisting streamer coming off the marshes and into the high treetop roost. As i passed it by a waterlogged Green Woodpecker looked up from it's digging for ants and it must have wondered what sort of crackpot cyclist goes out on a day like this. Yeah good question !

PS. Fortunately that did prove a little too early for the complete end of summer; as i rode back in on Sunday morning i spotted a fair number (about 15) Common Swifts all circling high just east of Norwich at Whitlingham Broad. And the sun is back out for the Bank Holiday ... Yay

17th Aug ... Mileages, Smileages

2005-08-19T21:42:00.000Z

Hmmm ... it's my rest day, Carmen's at work, the sun's shining, there are lots of interesting reports from various nature reserves and i'm itching for a good long ride ... all the right ingredients for a days cycle-birding by my reckoning !

Leaving home at 5.30 am while daylight was just thinking about breaking into the lowest reaches of the eastern sky but while the western sky was still starry-black, i had the roads all to myself and having been a warm, still night mist had formed across the fields which was now blown on a very slight breeze into wispy hanging layers of cool air; the change in air temperature noticeable as i rode in & out of the thin haze.

About 90 minutes relaxed pedalling and just south of Lowestoft, Covehithe cliffs & Benacre Broad were to be my first stop. The churchyard at Covehithe is, i think, an interesting place with the newer church having been built inside the ruined walls of the old one. One of these days i will have a proper look around and find out what happened to the old original building, from the size of the ruin walls it looks to have been an impressive place.

From here the road leads to the cliff edge ...

... which is a nice spot to stop and look for any seabirds that might be passing (today i only saw a few Gannets & a Fulmar offshore and several Sand Martins were flitting about in the nearby fields). And then it's only a short way the to Benacre Broad nature reserve, arriving there around 7.30 am. (a broad, by the way, is like a lake). From the hide several wading birds could be seen picking about in the muddy shoreline opposite; several Redshank and Dunlin, 2 Little Egrets, a single Red Knot, 3 Greenshank and some Ringed Plovers. As i sat there in the hide a Kingfisher gave itself away with it's high pitched call as it flashed fast & low across the broad and came to perch on the nearby reeds.

Also at home on the broad were several Common Terns and about 5 Sandwich Terns, busily doing nothing really except, no doubt, saving their energy for the forthcoming migration back south. Interestingly, as it was the first one i've seen this year, a single Little Gull sat at one edge of a muddy pool.

After an hour or so it was time to be off again, this time to Dunwich heath to look for a species of bird that has so far eluded me every time i've looked for them. The Dartford Warbler is a bit of a speciality bird of the local heathland here, and as far as i'm aware it doesn't have any other regular breeding patch in the east of England, they are also quite elusive little things. But feeling like a good ride round i took a slightly longer route than absolutely necessary, going by the ruined 13th century Dunwich priory ...

...and finally the heath just after 10am. Elusive isn't the word for these birds ! Well to cut a long story short it was about to end, as before, in complete failure and was actually pedalling off again when lo-and-behold guess what pops up. No ... make that two of them !
At Last ... At Long Last.

Minsmere RSPB nature reserve next, and some food. Followed by a wander round the reserve. Always a great place for a spot of birdwatching and today was no exception; there were plenty of waders to look at including the Avocets, Dunlins, 8 Spotted Redshanks, some Black-tailed Godwits, Common Redshank, a Common Sandpiper, 3 Snipe ... and as i sat in a hide my first Green Sandpiper of the year just happened to drop down into the pool right out front.

Feeling rather happy now i had a bit of a think. And another visit to the cafe. The logic went something like this - I've seen the Dartford Warblers, the sun is shining, there is hardly any wind at all ... so this is a good day. And good days are deserving of a good ride. I've done 42 miles already and Yes there more in the tank. Lets see what i can do.

And so the miles passed; through narrow winding country lanes, past pig farms, cow fields, horses and paddocks, past acre upon acre of cereal crops glowing in the afternoon sun waiting for the combine harvester, past Mettingham castle and Benstead old mill, and Ellingham, through Loddon village and across Norton Marshes (pausing a minute or two to watch a Hobby hawking for insects over the marshlands). Onto Reedham chainlink ferry, the only crossing over the river for miles around ...

...and Acle, and Stokesby and Runham and ... er it's getting late now !

With the clock just on 8 pm i rolled up to my house, and so completed my longest ride ever. After a great day having had 3 new birds so bringing my total to a nice round 150 for the year, and some excellent cycling it was topped off by the fact i'd beaten a century.

102 miles.

Or 164.31 km, in a Riding Time of 7hr:38mins:05sec (though Actual Time was nearer 14 hours) .. which by my calculations make it an average speed of about 22.5km/h or 13mph