I’ve been chastised, quite rightly, for not updating my Blog since January 4th. My excuse... I’ve had nothing worth posting! That apparently isn’t a good enough excuse for my absence, so here’s the first of this weekend’s updates.
BIRDING
It’s taken me almost two weeks but I finally added another bird to my 2009 “10-Mile List” today. I cut short my usual 6-mile cycle ride to work and instead took a shorter, more direct, ride via Alvaston Lake. The lake is now ice-free for the first time in a number of weeks and, as a result, the birds are starting to return. Most notable of my sightings this morning were 10 Mute Swan (the usual family group), 150 Canada Geese, 14 Pochard, 10 Tufted Duck, 8 Goosander, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Heron, c350 Black-Headed Gull and, new to my list, 2 Green Woodpecker. The Goosander were a particularly pleasing sight as this was the highest number that I’ve recorded on this small, city, lake since Christmas Eve 2007 and was the second highest count I’ve ever had here; Christmas 2007 saw 9 birds present.
The addition of Green Woodpecker takes my “10-Mile List” to 71 species.
Tomorrow I’ll be taking my first birding trip of the year outside of Derbyshire, a coach trip with the Derby RSPB Group to Far Ings and also Blacktoft RSPB reserve. The weather forecast isn’t looking too great at the moment but it is looking better than Sunday! The wind and rain are on their way and I’ll probably be giving the local birding a miss again. At least it looks like I’ll have a valid excuse this weekend - last weekend it was Sunday lunch in the pub that kept me away from my bins and ‘scope!
CYCLING
So far, 2009 has been almost problem free on the cycling front with no punctures, no unexpected mechanical failures and only one day when the heavy rain persuaded me that the car was the better option. As a result I’ve already covered over 116 miles. It’s a fair start but there’s one heck of a lot of peddling to do before I reach my goal of 2,500 miles!
So, there you have it reader, the past two weeks in a nutshell. I told you I had nothing worth posting!
BIRDING
It’s taken me almost two weeks but I finally added another bird to my 2009 “10-Mile List” today. I cut short my usual 6-mile cycle ride to work and instead took a shorter, more direct, ride via Alvaston Lake. The lake is now ice-free for the first time in a number of weeks and, as a result, the birds are starting to return. Most notable of my sightings this morning were 10 Mute Swan (the usual family group), 150 Canada Geese, 14 Pochard, 10 Tufted Duck, 8 Goosander, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Heron, c350 Black-Headed Gull and, new to my list, 2 Green Woodpecker. The Goosander were a particularly pleasing sight as this was the highest number that I’ve recorded on this small, city, lake since Christmas Eve 2007 and was the second highest count I’ve ever had here; Christmas 2007 saw 9 birds present.
The addition of Green Woodpecker takes my “10-Mile List” to 71 species.
Tomorrow I’ll be taking my first birding trip of the year outside of Derbyshire, a coach trip with the Derby RSPB Group to Far Ings and also Blacktoft RSPB reserve. The weather forecast isn’t looking too great at the moment but it is looking better than Sunday! The wind and rain are on their way and I’ll probably be giving the local birding a miss again. At least it looks like I’ll have a valid excuse this weekend - last weekend it was Sunday lunch in the pub that kept me away from my bins and ‘scope!
CYCLING
So far, 2009 has been almost problem free on the cycling front with no punctures, no unexpected mechanical failures and only one day when the heavy rain persuaded me that the car was the better option. As a result I’ve already covered over 116 miles. It’s a fair start but there’s one heck of a lot of peddling to do before I reach my goal of 2,500 miles!
So, there you have it reader, the past two weeks in a nutshell. I told you I had nothing worth posting!
You finally updated then lol! Two Green Woodpecker sounds nice - and you said you had nothing worth posting!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading your Far Ings/Blacktoft blog!