Chilled Cycling to Cotham Flash

Of course, as you know I'm not just active by night, I take in the sights by day as well. But the weather has been cold, my left leg has a calf strain, and I'm always worried about the rattletrap giving out under me after I've cycled ten or more miles out.

But as I left my flat first thing, a strange quavering "tseeeep" caught my ear, not a sound I'm used to hearing on the driveway. A twitching of branches of my sycamore tree revealed the the culprit. A tiny goldcrest was paying me a visit, the first I've ever seen at my home. Normally they prefer to forage on conifers and the like, but this specimen, possibly a female judging by the yellow, rather than golden, mohican on its tiny head, was feeding on the sycamore. Seemingly, it was taking aphids and greenfly from the underneath of the leaves, and I got to watch it for a good ten minutes.

Much heartened by this, I decided to try my luck with a visit to Cotham Flash ponds that afternoon. Kitted out for winter cycling, I took myself the long way there, heading south on the N64, catching sight of goldfinches feeding off teasels, and a rubbish tip almost white with gulls; I've never seen so many there, and there were many circling overhead as well.

Turning through Cotham Village towards Hawton, I was hoping to catch sight of redwing or fieldfare feeding off the abundant haws in the hedgerows, but no luck there. And Cotham Flash itself was quiet. Only a few coots were on the water, and unlike my February visit, there weren't huge flocks of whistling wigeon taking to the skies at my approach.

However, the cycling on a cold day felt pretty exhilarating, and I did get one good sighting. A buzzard was sat on a telegraph wire, keeping an eye on some pigeons further along. It let me get quite close, and was able to pick out its shaggy white necklace around its neck, before it flew off towards a stand of trees with great slow wingbeats.

Busy busy day, and so much to see

Warm day! Wanted to be out and stay out, so I did.

First up, 3pm, ran 8 miles, my Coddington, Beacon Hill reserve route. Lapwings are in the field next to the hill, and a small white fluttered alongside me for a good hundred metres, in and out of the hedge. Hawthorn in bloom everywhere, and a pair of Buzzards were soaring over the hillside leading up to the back of Beacon Hill estate, spiralling on the warm weather thermals.

As I entered Beacon Hill reserve, a large white went past me going the other way, and then as I dropped down through the belt of trees, into the nursery, butterflies were everywhere. In a minute, without me having to move, I saw small white, speckled wood, brimstone, peacock, orange tip and finally a close up view of a slightly second hand looking comma as it settled on a plant. And tthen a falcon soared over the trees...

Home. Drink of coke. Walk for 3 miles, took that nice shot of the bee on the flowers. Enjoyed the sun and life.

Home. Drink of coke. Bicycle to Cotham Flash, where there was only a solitary yellow wagtail in the field next to the paddock, but the whole place was alive with lapwing, on the ground and in the air. I had super view of these handsome, crested irridescent green plovers with their broad raggedy wings as I rested my 10x50s on the gate. And the noise! One particular individual was piping like a mad thing continuously as it flew over the wetlands. A buzzard took off over the road.

It was a lovely evening.

Wheatear Hunting at Cotham Flash

Slightly belated post, as I have had a ton of writing to ctch up on.

Two tea times ago, 25/04/13, intrigued by all the reports of interesting sightings in the horse paddocks at Cotham Flash, I headed off on my bicycle to re-acquaint myself with the yellow wagtails I had seen out running a few days before, and hopefully to see a Wheatear.

(Picture courtesty of Aviceda, wikimedia)

As you can see, the wheatear is an palely beautiful member of the flycatcher family, a summer migrant to UK shores from sub saharan Africa. It likes open country, and the only time I;ve ever seen them before I was about 8 years old, my mother pregnant with my sister and thus on an entirely logical camping trip to Derbyshire. I loved the visit, we walked miles around the hills near Monyash with a birdwatching family friend, and I remember being shown wheatears in binoculars, and marvelling at these pretty birds hopping about on the uplands in the middle of nowhere.

I've never seen a Wheatear since, and I've never been on a camping'n'walking holiday either. So I figured it would be fun to see them on the Flash paddocks as I'd seen reported, but, sadly, I missed them.

I did see 4-5 yellow wagtails once again, occasionally being rather agressively chased by the pied wagtails, and a rather long way off. occasionally popping into view beyond the fence, lapwings were making a heck of a racket towards the wetland, and sand martins were busy feeding in numbers over the pond on the other side of the road.

I decided to move further down to the wetlands to listen to the quacking in the distance, and to watch what I think must have been a tawny owl quartering the scrubby wasteground on the other side of the tip road, large, patterned brown wings, and a pale underside.

Of course, I got hime to find reports of twenty yellow wagtails and several wheatears being in that paddock. But I'm not disappointed. I will just be patient, and hopefully one sunny day, there they will be.