Vivid Art on the Cycle Track

 I'm managed to get in another two hour walk without my ankle giving out, brought on largely by guilt as I had a very lazy weekend avoiding the freezing gales of Storm Arwen, although we did not have any of the snow that fell so plentifully not too far away. 

I took myself through the cemetery and round the lakes, complete with my new cheap monocular, looking for early snowdrops - they've sprouted but nowhere near flowering - and also early goosander which were very much present; 15 of them on the Blue Lake, drakes and ducks earlier than I've ever seen them here and in greater numbers too.

As ever, they were far too far out to be able to photograph them, even if I'd had my bridge camera. 

The good stuff on this walk was actually along the N64 cycle track, and was safely immobile, easy to get close to, and made of brick and paint.

After a few years during which the previous artwork had become faded and graffiti'd over, artists were again commissioned to team up with local schoolchildren to create new environmental and socially conscious designs to be painted on the bridges, which have been tidied up in an attempt to reduce crime levels in the area.

Well good luck with that one, but the designs themselves are absolutely stunning, vivid paint bringing all sorts of animals to life. Hopefully the odd passing family may be inspired to become more aware of what they can see around them, and become more inclined to protect it. 

That would be a result.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 02.12.21

The Magnficent Raleigh Roadster

Actually I have no idea whether it is magnificent, and my titling it as a "Roadster" is just straight out of my head. But I came across it at the same roadside bike man that I bought my Decathlon MTB at, and loving looking at bicycles I thought it was nice to see a proper bike with a proper badge on it, hopefully made in Nottingham.

At £65 it was affordable - alarm bells ring as to its actual condition - but much as I liked it as an aesthetic piece of UK cycling history, I'd never ride such a beast. Too slow. Too in need of maintenance I don't have the hands to give it.

Gosh, not sure what's going on with me. This sentiment about an old bit of metal with round rubber bits at the bottom. I think seeing the wonderful BBC documentary on Raleigh a few weeks ago has awakened by appreciation.

Heaven forebid, I'll probably be buying tweeds and getting an old steel bike I can take to the Eroica!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.04.17

The Kingfisher is Back!

You may remember around a year ago, I wrote occasionally of a kingfisher that had settled in on the Sustrans 64 cycle path last winter, feeding on sticklebacks that live in the drain running alongside London Road pond. I was hoping it was going to be a permanent fixture, but by the spring it had disappeared, presumably looking for richer waters on which to mate and raise a family.

Well yesterday, as I ran along the path just under Clay Lane bridge, there was a flash of neon blue, flying directly away from me as it ever did. The back of what I'm sure must be the very same kingfisher, back on these quiet waters for the winter, bright as a beacon in the gathering twlight.

It settled on the same small tree it used as a perch last year, but amazingly, rather than keeping its distance from me before disappearing into thicker cover, it stayed on its perch, and allowed me to slow, and have a lovely (relatively) long look at its deep red - far deeper than a robin's - breast and long stilletto of a beak.

Wasn't close enough to see any red underside of the bill to indicate whether it might have been a female, however.

Of course, our friend Murphy (the less rude brother of Sod) was busy deploying his law, which meant I didn't have my camera with me. The best I can do for you is a child feeding some clamouring geese on The Blue Lake. But hey, it was dark anyway, and if the kingfisher had seen me getting my big optical snout out, it would have been gone in a blue flash.

I don't have proof, then, for you. But I saw it, and I was cheered to my heart that it was back.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 13.01.16

The Bear Terror of it

I was reading about how the state legislature in Florida had decided to allow a cull of 900 of the local bear population, officially because hungry bears were coming into town and leaping out of the shadows to attack garbage men; unofficially, well, perhaps some maniacs with rifles fancied a new rug or two.

Of course, local environmentalists were up in arms about it, saying that better control of access to food supplies and suppressing the ursine attracting smell of rubbish was the answer. Me, I've no wish to argue either with bears or everglade dwellers with guns, but there was a little bit of advice at the end of this BBC news story that made me chuckle.

"If you are confronted by a bear, the best thing to do is to speak gently and assertively to the bear, while backing slowly away."

How I loved this! How I envisaged some poor tourist saying "Nice bear! Friendly bear!" in a quavering voice, backing away as some grizzly prepares to disembowel them with frying pan sized paws. There's also the idea that a bear could understand that it was being spoken to in the prescribed polite manner, as opposed to "Hey bear! I'm going to rip your eyes out then go and firebomb your den!"

I wonder if there are classes where you can learn how to speak assertively to bears? They aren't like bloody Paddington!

Well, today has been a work day, and I did a good thing. Someone found a ladybird on their desk, and I was delighted to see that it was a native two-spot ladybird, the first I've seen in years. So determined was I to preserve it, I walked miles and miles through the complex at work in order to let it out into fresh air.

Gods of karma, that surely deserves a reward.

As a final bonus, here are some pictures of the autumnal cycle path, where everything, including sciatic me, has gone to seed.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 26.10.15

Not sure what has left these behind

These remind me of alder cones!

Suddenly a buddleia has reflowered in odd colours. Cream...

...and orange

Gorse

Weather front over the sugar factory

What was a rich brownfield nature habitat now being built on

Sunset flares

Life on the Railway Line

Well not on the railway line, rather by it, as I trotted slowly along the Sustrans 64 cycle path, snuffling all the while like a hedgehog, throwing in the odd cough like a moose. I really am a silly boy sometimes, but I get cross if I can't get out there.

You'd think everything would be as dead as doornails along there this time of year, unless you were a fan of berries, but there was a surprising amount of wildflowers in recent bloom, as well as a fair few buddleias hanging on in.

It was noticeable that the buddleias seemed to have lost of their cloying scent, however. They were a godsend for a few vigorously fluttering red admirals, however the peacocks you'd expect to see were not evident at all. They have really had a dreadful year, especially in the second flight.

There seems to be a lot of toadflax around this year, a species I've not really noticed along here before with its bright yellow snapdragon flowers. Ox eye daisies are still in bloom, and bizarrely there was some bramble blossom out in places. Heaven knows why. Certainly the brambles were a major problem today, I twice got my leg ripped as I went butterfly stalking off the track.

I'm examining the 6 inch long scratch now.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 20.09.15

I got my legs ripped for this rubbish shot

Thick fluff

Horse tails

Ox eye daisies. A pleasure.

Hoverfly on ragwort

Blackberries in the fence

Red admiral

Took a while for it to open its wings

Toadflax

Newark Northgate station

Who Turned Autumn On?

Today was a bitter day, with the familiar weather theme of 2015, the chilly north-westerly, much in evidence as I limped along in my running shorts. My legs were so covered in goosebumps even the geese were afraid of me.

But if you aren't out there, you aren't going to see anything, so with any long distance adventures postponed due to pain, I just trotted around the two lakes and the castle. 

The best thing I saw was a glorious bright yellow orb spider, its bulging abdomen the colour of a lemon. Sadly, the camera refused to focus on it; even the compact on macro setting can't handle small things hanging in mid air. Luckily, the shield bug near by was a much easier target. 

It was cold for nature today. Everything was hiding!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.09.15

In bloom on London Road

Geese on the water

Geese on land

Some kind of trefoil, or a yellow vetch?

The only duckling I've seen this year. And so late too

Off for a swim

Like the runner, going to seed

Colour by the river

Cruising in formation

White berries

Carder bee, the dominant bumble on view at the moment

Beautiful shield bug. Not sure which species.

Am I a Fake or Not?

I was reading up on some tips for nature bloggers today, and one of the things that was stressed by a UK nature writer in a piece for The Guardian, was the importance of not faking anything about your experiences in the environment.

I felt this was certainly a very good point, and one that made me rather paranoid. Have I ever faked my emotions about what I've seen, or perhaps exaggerated for literary effect? And if so, has it been spotted by my readers?

I was so worried, as I did a 23km cycle this evening, I found myself asking the wildlife I encountered en route whether they thought I was nothing but a big faker.

"CACKLE" cried the crows circling over the sweetly putrescent rubbish tip.

"Prrreeeep" said the swallows softly as they escaped my bicycle along the Sustrans 64.

"CHEEEEESE!!!!" yelled a sulphurous yellowhammer on a telegraph wire.

"Crrreeeaaaaak" groaned my bike as I tried to do a Wiggins and pour on the power.

None of this was terribly helpful to me. I can only leave you with a few pictures, and a reassurance that my intent is, mainly, honourable.

Si

All images and text copyright CreamCrackeredNature 06.06.15

There was a busy worker early bumble in the garden

Not sure what we have here

The long legged writer

Sun soaked poppies

Kingfisher Territory Pictorial

I walked this morning, rather than ran. Somehow, I felt I needed a more relaxed start to the day, although in what felt like spring temperatures, I had soon worked up a sweat merely by employing shanks' pony.

I was down on the cycle path, thinking that a slow plod rather than a run would give me the best chance to see our new resident kingfisher. However, of neon blue flashes above the water there were none. Instead, I contented myself with watching the antics of a great crested grebe, still a handsome bird out of breeding plumage, and the comedy footed coots and moorhens spindling about the undergrowth at the water's edge.

Past the Clay Lane bridge, a flock of greenfinches crashed through the trees, while wrens and dunnocks operated at ground level. The sun made feeble attempts to peek through the humid cloud, failing every time. The wind funnelled down the track, making the bright yellow gorse flowers tremble.

All seemed good with the world.

London Road bridge. This is where I'm seeing the kingfisher at the moment

Reverse view from same spot

The lakeside drain

Owl box. Nobody home

Don't let your dog dive in the lake.

Female blackbird

Coot on land

Coot on water

Algae

The secret pond, under Beacon Hill bridge

Gorse in flower

At the marina, man angles not for swans

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