This morning, I got to see two sides of nature - the dangerous and the scenic.
On the way into work on the mountain bike this morning, I had a VERY close call with a squirrel, so close that it almost fetched me off my bike! The little blighter had been hopping around on the riverside path some way in front of me but as I approached, at a fair old rate of knots, it ran off into the undergrowth.
Then, out of nowhere, it was about a foot in front of me! I hit the brakes that hard that not only did I lock both wheels but actually slide for a short distance with only the front wheel on the ground! I missed the little bugger, but I don’t know how!
Having regained both my composure and my speed I carried on my merry little way and was just starting to enjoy the ride alongside the river when BANG, a stonkin’ great dragonfly hit my smack on the forehead! I’m not certain just what sort of dragonfly it was but from the very brief view I got, in the split second before it hit me, I’d say that it was a Common Darter like the one we saw on Spurn Point. I didn’t stop to exchange insurance details with it but the ‘fly seemed to be none the worse for the impact and was happily buzzing around the side of the river as I looked over my shoulder!
So, with the dangerous side of things out of the way it was time to move on to the scenic part of the morning. At just after 8:45AM I was out in the yard at work, unloading a delivery, when I heard the unmistakable call of Pink-footed Geese. Moments later, as the noise grew louder, a skein of around 200 geese flew high overhead in an almost perfect V formation.
After returning to my desk, my phone rang, it was Lynda. She had just spotted another skein of geese flying over us on Pride Park. By the time I had run back outside the second flock was heading away from Derby, but yet another skein was in hot pursuit of the first two and was directly overhead, calling as they went! In total, I saw approx. 600 geese fly over, no doubt heading for their wintering grounds in Norfolk, but there could well have been a lot more.
Pride Park may not be the most scenic of places but those geese, flying against an almost clear blue autumn sky, certainly made my week!
On the way into work on the mountain bike this morning, I had a VERY close call with a squirrel, so close that it almost fetched me off my bike! The little blighter had been hopping around on the riverside path some way in front of me but as I approached, at a fair old rate of knots, it ran off into the undergrowth.
Then, out of nowhere, it was about a foot in front of me! I hit the brakes that hard that not only did I lock both wheels but actually slide for a short distance with only the front wheel on the ground! I missed the little bugger, but I don’t know how!
Having regained both my composure and my speed I carried on my merry little way and was just starting to enjoy the ride alongside the river when BANG, a stonkin’ great dragonfly hit my smack on the forehead! I’m not certain just what sort of dragonfly it was but from the very brief view I got, in the split second before it hit me, I’d say that it was a Common Darter like the one we saw on Spurn Point. I didn’t stop to exchange insurance details with it but the ‘fly seemed to be none the worse for the impact and was happily buzzing around the side of the river as I looked over my shoulder!
So, with the dangerous side of things out of the way it was time to move on to the scenic part of the morning. At just after 8:45AM I was out in the yard at work, unloading a delivery, when I heard the unmistakable call of Pink-footed Geese. Moments later, as the noise grew louder, a skein of around 200 geese flew high overhead in an almost perfect V formation.
After returning to my desk, my phone rang, it was Lynda. She had just spotted another skein of geese flying over us on Pride Park. By the time I had run back outside the second flock was heading away from Derby, but yet another skein was in hot pursuit of the first two and was directly overhead, calling as they went! In total, I saw approx. 600 geese fly over, no doubt heading for their wintering grounds in Norfolk, but there could well have been a lot more.
Pride Park may not be the most scenic of places but those geese, flying against an almost clear blue autumn sky, certainly made my week!
There's a radio show over here that, from time to time, talks about animals taking over the world and getting back at humans LOL. It's a comedy show and sometimes they have little stories of animals, such as squirrels, doing horrible things like attacking people. They would get a kick out of your squirrel and dragonfly story. They would say you were being ambushed.
ReplyDeleteThe geese, however, I would have loved to see. We only get canadian geese flying overhead. Remind me and I will tell you a story about a horse who had a fear of geese. I still wish I lived over there.
XX~S