Wildlife moments

Latest wildlife moments:

Over the Easter weekend I was staying in a bunkhouse near Brecon and
managed to get a bit of cycling in. Shooting along the foot of Pen Y
Fan, I glanced left into the wooded stream to my left to see a buzzard
perched on a branch that far away from me. We looked at each other
and it flew off.


Last night cycling home down a country lane, something caught my eye.
I glanced towards the verge to see a fast bird flying along at nought
feet, hugging the ground profile. I was doing about 25km/h and it was
going faster than me and then it whizzed over a hedge. Dead sure it
was a bird of prey of some sort - either a kestrel or (hopefully) a
sparrow hawk. It wasn't doing the kestrel hovering thing, but I guess
they're not _always_ doing that. Do they do the flying along at nought
feet thing?


And back in the Brecon Beacons, we were cycling along the towpath of
Monmouth and Brecon canal. We met a couple coming the other way. We
moved left, they moved left. She watched the canal rather than the tow
path and was soon a wet victim of target fixation. Wild, too. I didn't
know pretty ladies knew words like that.


Tim

Tim Hall wrote:


Last night cycling home down a country lane, something caught my eye.
I glanced towards the verge to see a fast bird flying along at nought
feet, hugging the ground profile. I was doing about 25km/h and it was
going faster than me and then it whizzed over a hedge. Dead sure it
was a bird of prey of some sort - either a kestrel or (hopefully) a
sparrow hawk. It wasn't doing the kestrel hovering thing, but I guess
they're not _always_ doing that. Do they do the flying along at nought
feet thing?


They're fantastic fliers and can do almost anything in the flying way,
but your description reads much more sparrow-hawkish than kestrelish.

--
Brian G
www.wetwo.co.uk

On 12 Apr, 13:02, Tim Hall wrote:


a fast bird flying along at nought
feet, hugging the ground profile. I was doing about 25km/h and it was
going faster than me and then it whizzed over a hedge. Dead sure it
was a bird of prey of some sort - either a kestrel or (hopefully) a
sparrow hawk.

Sounds like a sparrowhawk. I once followed one along the country lane
for about half a mile; every time I turned a corner, I saw it in the
distance, seemingly flying very low but not that fast; either that, or
every time it went around the corner from me it stopped to let me
catch up a bit.

Buzzards! Surprised one of those the other day as I came around a
corner. It had a similar affect on me.

And a couple of weeks ago I saw what looked like a buzzard, but seemed
to have a blueish grey head with perhaps slightly longer wings. I
wondered about a harrier, but the pictures didn't seem to match. Also
there was no jet noise.

Peter.

Tim Hall wrote:

Latest wildlife moments:

Over the Easter weekend I was staying in a bunkhouse near Brecon and
managed to get a bit of cycling in. Shooting along the foot of Pen Y
Fan, I glanced left into the wooded stream to my left to see a buzzard
perched on a branch that far away from me. We looked at each other
and it flew off.

get kites and peregrine falcons as well.

go though the gap? old pre roman road rides up the valley and though to
nr breacon its a great ride though suspention is wise, me and some mates
did it pre springs, and was hoot but very rought!

Last night cycling home down a country lane, something caught my eye.
I glanced towards the verge to see a fast bird flying along at nought
feet, hugging the ground profile. I was doing about 25km/h and it was
going faster than me and then it whizzed over a hedge. Dead sure it
was a bird of prey of some sort - either a kestrel or (hopefully) a
sparrow hawk. It wasn't doing the kestrel hovering thing, but I guess
they're not _always_ doing that. Do they do the flying along at nought
feet thing?


probably a sparrow hawk, or if your very lucky a merlin, quite small and
very fast and insanly nimble.

And back in the Brecon Beacons, we were cycling along the towpath of
Monmouth and Brecon canal. We met a couple coming the other way. We
moved left, they moved left. She watched the canal rather than the tow
path and was soon a wet victim of target fixation. Wild, too. I didn't
know pretty ladies knew words like that.


heh, waters not so clean either.

Tim

roger

Roger Merriman wrote:

Tim Hall wrote:

Latest wildlife moments:

Over the Easter weekend I was staying in a bunkhouse near Brecon and
managed to get a bit of cycling in. Shooting along the foot of Pen Y
Fan, I glanced left into the wooded stream to my left to see a buzzard
perched on a branch that far away from me. We looked at each other
and it flew off.

Last night cycling home down a country lane, something caught my eye.
I glanced towards the verge to see a fast bird flying along at nought
feet, hugging the ground profile.

probably a sparrow hawk, or if your very lucky a merlin, quite small and
very fast and insanly nimble.

Yeah, I'd go with the spuggie hawk. They hunt in open woodland and
have the agility and manouverability to the zero feet thing. I once
looked up from battling a headwind to see one on a fencepost as I
passed. I've escorted a cuckoo down Glen Strathfarrar in Scotland, it
flew from post to post to branch for some distance as I cycled down
the glen after closing time. [1] Also on that ride was the red deer
running alongside and across the road, pretty scary when you are
clattering downhill.

[1] GS is a private road and they lock the gate to bar motorised
access outwith the working day.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

In ,
Tim Hall tweaked the Babbage-Engine to
tell us:

Over the Easter weekend I was staying in a bunkhouse near Brecon and
managed to get a bit of cycling in. Shooting along the foot of Pen Y
Fan, I glanced left into the wooded stream to my left to see a buzzard
perched on a branch that far away from me. We looked at each other
and it flew off.

Unbuzzardly behaviour, that! They're supposed to /eat/ cyclists, or at
least their hats...

--
Dave Larrington
http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
Ernesto, give me that Kit-Kat, or I will kill you.

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:13:07 +0100, "Dave Larrington"
wrote:

In ,
Tim Hall tweaked the Babbage-Engine to
tell us:

Over the Easter weekend I was staying in a bunkhouse near Brecon and
managed to get a bit of cycling in. Shooting along the foot of Pen Y
Fan, I glanced left into the wooded stream to my left to see a buzzard
perched on a branch that far away from me. We looked at each other
and it flew off.

Unbuzzardly behaviour, that! They're supposed to /eat/ cyclists, or at
least their hats...


These were buzzards of a tarty nature, spending their time showing
off, gliding around, or playing with Red Kites.


Either that or it wasn't interested because I didn't have a hat on.
How does one get a Stetson to stay on while whizzing down the A470 on
a magenta bicycle?



Tim

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:35:16 +0100, (Roger
Merriman) wrote:

Brecon Beacons

go though the gap? old pre roman road rides up the valley and though to
nr breacon its a great ride though suspention is wise, me and some mates
did it pre springs, and was hoot but very rought!


No, I'm generally on road, give or take the compulsory bridleway on a
Tandem Club ride. We were a mixed bunch (28 people, ages 2 - 62),
doing mixed things (walking, horsing, cycling, drinking). My wife,
son and two others of varying fitness drove to the top of the pass
above Tal y Bont reservoir, then cycled down through the forest,
across the dam, along the canal and home. I persuaded one of the
other guys we should ride up to pick up the motors. Except my cycling
shoes and bottle cage were in the car we were cycling to go and
retrieve. Cycling up a 20% hill (that's what the sign said, map had
just the one chevron) in trainers with toes clenched was, umm,
intersting.



Tim

in message , Tim Hall
') wrote:

Last night cycling home down a country lane, something caught my eye.
I glanced towards the verge to see a fast bird flying along at nought
feet, hugging the ground profile. I was doing about 25km/h and it was
going faster than me and then it whizzed over a hedge. Dead sure it
was a bird of prey of some sort - either a kestrel or (hopefully) a
sparrow hawk. It wasn't doing the kestrel hovering thing, but I guess
they're not _always_ doing that. Do they do the flying along at nought
feet thing?

No, but sparrow hawks frequently do. I don't think kestrels normally fly
fast in powered flight, either - so I'd put that one down as a sparrow
hawk.


--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Diplomacy, American: see Intelligence, Military