Cycling: Mud, buzzards and a 1-11!

[speedbird591]

As the countryside shuts down for the winter there's not much worth taking photos of. But as the bike was newly washed, I couldn't resist skidding to a halt and grabbing a quick snap before we started to get dirty And another one at the end of a very long, muddy climb where the back wheel scrabbled for grip all the way up. I was very pleased to get to the top. I flushed a couple of buzzards out of a wood and they were so annoyed they spent the next 15 minutes circling low over a large flock of fieldfares so they couldn't settle. So I messed up everybody's day.

As I came out of a wood at the top of a hill there was a tremendous roar so I jumped off the bike and looked up to see the ETPS 1-11 from Boscombe Down coming over my head at about 1500ft with full climb power on. How glorious and unexpected was that? It spent the next half hour flying in very slow and noisy circles at about 5000ft. I suppose it's what test pilots need to learn to do in the Empire I can't imagine the wildlife approved of that, either!




Ian

[Garry Russell]

Funny how a potentially mudane day this time of year throw up an unexpected lifetimke memory

Nice one

I quite like the look of nature on hold and the raw lights and amazing cloudscapes this sort of weather throws up.

Garry

[DaveB]

Yeh.. memorable for not showing us a shot of the 1-11 (or Buzzards for that matter)

Cheers Ian

ATB

DaveB

[speedbird591]

[DaveB]

E X C E L L E N T (in my best Monty Burns voice)

ATB

DaveB

[speedbird591]

Thank you, sir (in my best Smithers voice)

Actually I did get one of the 1-11 as it was circling ... or maybe it was a buzzard ...



Now you know why I didn't post it

Ian

[DaveB]

Head for that star cluster over there.. Warp 6.. engage


Thing is mate, if you take every bit of kit you might need.. one thing you'd definitely need is a trailer for that bike The number of times I've been out with the camera on a mission to get a decent shot of a Red Kite (we're toppers with em here).. well, it's never happened.. the decent shot that is. All the good views I've seen (it's as if they know) are when I'm camera-less

The noise of those Speys will have made up for any shoddy picture I'm using my imagination now and the fuzziness is caused by tears in my eyes

ATB

DaveB

[Garry Russell]

I can hear it now

Those fuzzy pics make better memories

Garry

[511Flyer]

When I lived in Hereford, there were plenty of Buzzards around. If you wanted to see a Red Kite, you headed off into mid Wales, and even then you might not find one.

Since moving back to Surrey 2 years ago, I've seen Buzzards on an almost daily basis, and Red Kites on many occasions.

By the way. How do you tell a Crow from a Rook? If you see a Rook on its own .. it's a Crow, and if you see more than two Crows together .. they're Rooks.

[FlyTexas]

Great pics, Ian. I don't envy you having to wash all of that mud off your bicycle.

Brian