02 April 2008

Birding by bike...

I managed to cycle to and from work today, for the first time in 5 weeks. Whether it proves to have been a sensible thing to do remains to be seen! So far, my knee isn’t hurting me too much so maybe whatever was wrong with it, and giving me so much pain, a while back has now sorted itself out. I plan on cycling again tomorrow too, if I don’t wake up in the morning crippled that is!

One of the benefits of cycling, other than missing all the rush hour traffic that I hate, was being able to stop off at Alvaston Park on the way to work this morning. Stopping for just a short time to feed the ducks, swans and geese on the lake, and also having a steady ride around the park, was a great way to start the morning, and delay the start of my working day.

This evening I chose to ride an extra long route home, taking the riverside path out of Derby to Elvaston Castle, through the castle grounds and then turning back towards home. By riding at a lot slower pace than I would normally, so as not to stress my knee too much, I was able to see, or hear, some of the birds that I would normally miss whilst cycling. By the time I reached home I’d noted 17 species, of which a pair of Goosander on the river and a journey total of five Chiffchaff were the most notable.

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