Winter Thrushes on the Bicycle

I'm writing this while listening to "Starless"  by King Crimson which is an awesome piece of music...

So after an exhausted day of nothing yesterday - My Black Friday duties totally wiped me out - I decided I needed to make a good go at today, cold or not.

So in the morning I made my way to  the park for a cup of tea on my trusty Rockrider, and then in the afternoon managed to get out for a sunset 25km ride, with a gentle breeze it seemed like a bloody nice thing  to  do.

And I worry I'll get very fat indeed if I don't do it.

So out I went along the cycle path with the low sun lighting up the turbines of the wind farm and reflecting off the solar panel plant. It even made the rubbish tip glow in gold. Rather oddly I thought, the gulls and crows feasting  off the rubbish were flushed by my presence from about 100 metres away, silly feathery things!

It was on this cycle path that I saw my first winter thrushes of the year, flushed from the berry laden hawthorns alongside. Trouble is, with the sun behind them they just looked like black shapes, until they flew past me and I caught a glimpse of pale bellies and grey rumps; fieldfares.

Odd that I should see fieldfare before redwing. Normally the latter are easier to come across just outside of  town in early winter.

So I kept on riding as the sun set, and re-murmarised a flock of about 50 starling who thought they were going to have a peaceful roost in a tree next to the road to Thorpe village.

It was a good ride, and I took a bit of pride in myself for  doing it.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 24.11.18

OK, Let's go for a Ride

So, buggered heels and blistered feet aren't affected by cycling, so I decided more or less on the spare of the moment to go out on my clunky old mountain bike, on the old favourite Cotham - Elston - Thorpe route, a hack of about 23km.

Took me just over an hour, and was highly enjoyable. I was looking for winter thrushes and didn't see a single one, but there were some nice flocks of chaffinch ransacking the berries in the hedgerows.

In the ploughed fields herring and black backed gulls hulked about, looking for whatever pickings they may. No buzzards or owls - thought I might see an early owl on the move as the light was fading.

So nothing major seen, but I was glad to be riding again.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.11.18