Paul Rule
Tuesday 8th July 2003, 21:34
Spent last Thursday to Sunday on a long (well for me it was) distance bike ride. Although this was not a birding trip (no bins, no scope), it was 4 days in the countryside so a chance to test my id skills using just eyes and ears
The start of this ride was a bit of a disaster cause it should have been 4 men on bikes, 2 from the north (Manchester) and 2 of us southern softies from Cambridge. Wednesday night while packing panniers a call from Manchester to say we were down to 3 due to sickness and unfortunately the drop out was the guy who had planned the route, but man from the north 2 had all the details so we were ok. Thursday morning second call from the north, southern softies are on there own, with no routes, but we do have OS maps, so we set off in the rain with 2 bikes on the roof rack heading for Stratford on Avon YHA not sure how we get to our 2nd and 3rd overnight stops (Slimbridge & Oxford YHA's).
The rain stops around Coventry and we come up with the cunning plan of sticking to circular routes and driving between YHA's.
Day 1 involves a 50 mile ride out from Stratford to Edgehill (including riding up it) and back. The country lanes are I'm pleased to say full of birdsong, mainly Blackbirds, and Yellow Hammers who's cheerful songs accompany us almost ever mile we do over the next 4 days. Also to be heard are Sky Larks, Mistle and Song Thrushes, Blue and Great Tits, Chiffchaffs, Chafinches and the occasional Whitethroat. In the fields the usual mix of Rooks, Crows Magpies, Starlings and House Sparrows, and in the sky plenty of Swifts, House Martins and Swallows
After a fine lunch of Monkfish, washed down with 2 pints of Hook Norton B (: , we got about 5 yards when nasty noises started coming from the vicinity on my chain set, and a pit stop called. 20 minutes later broken chain link fixed and we are riding through park land, when we get bird of the day. A Little Owl flies across our route and lands in a branch hanging over the road. It stays put as we freewheel under and is content to star put while we get a good look at him. The afternoon produces a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and during the evening ride back to the Hostel (after a couple more pints of HN) we get our first Nightingales of the trip.
Day 2 we drive to Slimbridge YHA, ditch the car, get on the bikes head away from the flatlands and some hard riding up onto the Cotswold Hills between Stroud and Wotton under Edge. Once up the views are marvellous and we get our first Buzzards of the ride, also spot Marsh/Willow and Coal Tit. Although we know it means a steep climb out again we descend to the Village of Uley for lunch and to sample the local breweries wonderful Beer. 2 pints of Pigs Ear later B (: and I’m sweating like a pig to get back onto the high ground again. Taking a breather half way up a Green Woodpecker flies into a nearby tree. The only other new bird we see that afternoon is a Kestrel. After tea at Wotton under Edge, we head back to the flat lands and the river Severn, where we ride a few miles along the flood defences. The tide is low, and we can see lots of waders footprints in the mud, but all that can be seen or heard is a number of gulls a couple of Oystercatchers, and Malards and a lone Grey Heron. Butterflies however we have in profusion these are mostly LBJ’s that are difficult to identify, but they are accompanied by quite a few Marbled Whites which I don’t get in my neck of the woods. Slimbridge YHA has a small collection of Wildfowl which I can’t count, but in among the exotics were Coot, Morehen, Potchard and a large number of Jackdaws.
Days 3&4 we drive to Oxford and spend the next 2 days cycling around the Vale of the White Horse and the Ridgeway, but by this time adding new birds to the list was getting difficult, the only birds added on Saturday were Sedge Warbler and a Tawny Owl (heard but not seen) in the evening. Sunday we have the task of getting out of Oxford trying to avoid A roads, so take the Thames Path towards Abingdon, and are immediately rewarded with a Kingfisher near the centre of Oxford. After a few miles the Thames path is reduced to a footpath but at the same point we find National Cycle Route 5 (not on our old maps) which is heading in our general direction so we take it and subsequently add Bullfinch and Cormorant to our list.
Leaving the cycle route around Didcot, we head up to the Ridgeway which we will ride to The Ridgeway YHA, where we left the car the previous day. No new Birds until the last mile, when we get the “Bird of the Trip” a Red Kite. Finally reach the car and after just over 200 miles I wonder how many birds I missed because I failed to recognise the song or because my attention was on where the front wheel was going rather than what was flying about. I’m sure I have also forgotten quite a few as I was not taking notes
The start of this ride was a bit of a disaster cause it should have been 4 men on bikes, 2 from the north (Manchester) and 2 of us southern softies from Cambridge. Wednesday night while packing panniers a call from Manchester to say we were down to 3 due to sickness and unfortunately the drop out was the guy who had planned the route, but man from the north 2 had all the details so we were ok. Thursday morning second call from the north, southern softies are on there own, with no routes, but we do have OS maps, so we set off in the rain with 2 bikes on the roof rack heading for Stratford on Avon YHA not sure how we get to our 2nd and 3rd overnight stops (Slimbridge & Oxford YHA's).
The rain stops around Coventry and we come up with the cunning plan of sticking to circular routes and driving between YHA's.
Day 1 involves a 50 mile ride out from Stratford to Edgehill (including riding up it) and back. The country lanes are I'm pleased to say full of birdsong, mainly Blackbirds, and Yellow Hammers who's cheerful songs accompany us almost ever mile we do over the next 4 days. Also to be heard are Sky Larks, Mistle and Song Thrushes, Blue and Great Tits, Chiffchaffs, Chafinches and the occasional Whitethroat. In the fields the usual mix of Rooks, Crows Magpies, Starlings and House Sparrows, and in the sky plenty of Swifts, House Martins and Swallows
After a fine lunch of Monkfish, washed down with 2 pints of Hook Norton B (: , we got about 5 yards when nasty noises started coming from the vicinity on my chain set, and a pit stop called. 20 minutes later broken chain link fixed and we are riding through park land, when we get bird of the day. A Little Owl flies across our route and lands in a branch hanging over the road. It stays put as we freewheel under and is content to star put while we get a good look at him. The afternoon produces a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and during the evening ride back to the Hostel (after a couple more pints of HN) we get our first Nightingales of the trip.
Day 2 we drive to Slimbridge YHA, ditch the car, get on the bikes head away from the flatlands and some hard riding up onto the Cotswold Hills between Stroud and Wotton under Edge. Once up the views are marvellous and we get our first Buzzards of the ride, also spot Marsh/Willow and Coal Tit. Although we know it means a steep climb out again we descend to the Village of Uley for lunch and to sample the local breweries wonderful Beer. 2 pints of Pigs Ear later B (: and I’m sweating like a pig to get back onto the high ground again. Taking a breather half way up a Green Woodpecker flies into a nearby tree. The only other new bird we see that afternoon is a Kestrel. After tea at Wotton under Edge, we head back to the flat lands and the river Severn, where we ride a few miles along the flood defences. The tide is low, and we can see lots of waders footprints in the mud, but all that can be seen or heard is a number of gulls a couple of Oystercatchers, and Malards and a lone Grey Heron. Butterflies however we have in profusion these are mostly LBJ’s that are difficult to identify, but they are accompanied by quite a few Marbled Whites which I don’t get in my neck of the woods. Slimbridge YHA has a small collection of Wildfowl which I can’t count, but in among the exotics were Coot, Morehen, Potchard and a large number of Jackdaws.
Days 3&4 we drive to Oxford and spend the next 2 days cycling around the Vale of the White Horse and the Ridgeway, but by this time adding new birds to the list was getting difficult, the only birds added on Saturday were Sedge Warbler and a Tawny Owl (heard but not seen) in the evening. Sunday we have the task of getting out of Oxford trying to avoid A roads, so take the Thames Path towards Abingdon, and are immediately rewarded with a Kingfisher near the centre of Oxford. After a few miles the Thames path is reduced to a footpath but at the same point we find National Cycle Route 5 (not on our old maps) which is heading in our general direction so we take it and subsequently add Bullfinch and Cormorant to our list.
Leaving the cycle route around Didcot, we head up to the Ridgeway which we will ride to The Ridgeway YHA, where we left the car the previous day. No new Birds until the last mile, when we get the “Bird of the Trip” a Red Kite. Finally reach the car and after just over 200 miles I wonder how many birds I missed because I failed to recognise the song or because my attention was on where the front wheel was going rather than what was flying about. I’m sure I have also forgotten quite a few as I was not taking notes