Tag: bird

#365daysofbiking The quiet city

December 14th – I stuff to do in Lichfield on a Saturday afternoon, so left it late to catch the gathering night.

I wasn’t disappointed.

It took me ages to work out what’s special about Lichfield City Centre after dark: It’s the lack of normal streetlights. The lights there are – on buildings, mainly – are verbally low press ion, very yellow sodium which combine with the often far more intense shop lighting to give an illusion that the streets are darker and more suffused than they are.

I notice that Ye Olde City has again been invaded by those bloody creepy, sinister nutcracker figures again. Enough to give a man nightmares.

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#365daysofbiking The kindness of strangers

December 2nd – Again on the far side of Hortonwood in Telford, I was returning from a meeting using the Silkin Way national Cycle Route 81 that runs along the A518 between Trench and the massive industrial park I had visited.

On a cycleway that I would have thought might have been almost forgotten, and some way from houses or nearby factories, a makeshift bird table at the side of the track, apropos of nothing.

On it, a selection of fruit and seed – all fresh with a nearby audience I’d disturbed of birds and squirrels.

Someone tends this lovingly, regularly. It’s well kept. It’s a thing of dedication, love and kindness for them.

Stranger, I have no idea who you might be, but for looking after a small corner of your world so beautifully, I wish you the very best my friend.

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#365daysofbiking Proud defender

 

 

February 19th – The feisty little robin that a spotted a couple of weeks ago in the treetops near the embankment by Scarborough Road canal bridge in Pleck, Walsall is still singing his heart out and battling for his territory.

I love how determined he is. Nothing stops him singing for long. He’s on a mission.

I hope he finds a mate soon, because he’s certainly earned one!

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#365daysofbiking Rime and reason

January 22nd – This winter has been so mild that I’ve not got used the cold yet, and neither have I yet regained my confidence in my winter tyres.

A morning journey to Telford was chilly and felt precarious, with lots of black ice. I stayed upright, though, and honed my skills for another season – but I must say, I felt sorry for the blackbird on the cycleway at Telford looking for scraps of food. He clearly didn’t want to move!

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July 14th – S sadly hastily snapped picture, but something I do love to see: a young grey heron, on the canal in Brownhills near Anchor Bridge, contentedly fishing, just caught with a fish in it’s bill.

The bird was about half adults size, and I was lucky to see it. So many about at the moment, but hard to get them actually actively hunting.

A great start to a long ride.

June 16th – This poor, out of focus photo shows something I was very surprised and quite lucky to find – a lapwing chick.

There were two of these long-leeged wee birds in the middle of Bullmoor Lane, and my approach scattered them into the margins of the road. The shrieking above alerted me to the presence of the parents, and after a quick phot, I left well alone.

These curious, ground-nesting birds will be fine and it’s hard to believe these lanky, spotty wee balls of fluff grow into the elegant, wheeling aerial acrobats that their parents are.

A treat on a warm summer afternoon.

May18th – Arriving at work today on a sunny, bright but nippy morning in total contrast to the day before – I spotted this wee creature, very much alive on the doorhandles. I guess it can only have got there by a startled bird dropping it when disturbed by a called (I had just missed the post who’s not noted for their gentle approach to their duty).

I was quite concerned it might die, so I popped it in a nearby tree – presumably to be taken again by bluetits or some other creepy crawly eating bird.

Wonder what it would grow into?

May 3rd – Nice to see the herons out and about again. They went a little scarce over the winter and I was concerned we were losing them, but as the spring settled in I started seeing more of these dishevelled, mad looking fishers.

This one, on the canal bank between two scrapyards at Darlaston, was large and healthy-looking and regarded me with interest as I stopped to photograph it.

I love these remarkable and beautiful birds.

January 27th – On a mid-morning errand I spotted this magpie on the cycleway around Wednesbury Parkway. Oddly confident, it hopped and pecked in the frozen grass just a few feet away from me and the bike, his antics charming and fascinating, like any corvid.

Magpies seem to get a bad press, but I quite like them. They’re intelligent, resourceful birds that are actually surprisingly colourful when you catch them in the right light.

February 21st – Today, I saw an old familiar, I thought was lost – the white domestic goose from Chasewater with the bump it’s head. Originally part of a cohort of six kept as guards for the boatyard at Ogley Junction, they were cast into the wild when the yard closed. Living on the canal by the Chemical for a few years, two were lost, presumably to the local fox’s belly. When the Chemical was redeveloped, the geese moved to the main lake at Chasewater, where they lived seemingly contentedly amongst the Canada geese and swans.

One bird was lost to the cold in 2013, and another disappeared last year; for a couple of months now I’ve only seen the one, and assumed this bird was lost, but today I saw it preening by the waterspouts club.

The flock would be probably over ten years old now, and it shows in their eyes – these are venerable birds. Truculent, permanently cross and hostile to anything that didn’t give them food, they were hard to like. But I’ve always loved them. Such pure, white plumage, always tidy birds who knew their mind.

I hope they see another summer, and feel the warm sun on their backs once more.