Went for a shake down ride this evening. Saw two barns owl, multiple badgers, a hedgehog () and had a (far too) close encounter with a large deer.

Loads of red kites as I rode round Wales this weekend - happily circling above me when I stopped to look. Will try and edit some pics later.

Yeah lots of red kites (barcud in Welsh) on the BB200, always a lovely elegant bird.

Heading back home I was pulling into Chester services when there was a mahoosive skein of geese fly past, we’ll over 5000 birds- I thought it was a flock of starlings at first as they were in the distance and I couldn’t make out the species. About twenty minutes later there was another skein go past. Even the “Ugg, if it’s not a car or a PlayStation I’m not interested ” crowd were looking up at them.

We've had a colourful Jay come through the garden. It cheered up a grey morning.....

A Mouse…



This little feller woke me at 02:30 on one of my Spanish bivvies last month. He’d found a packet of biscuits that I’d left out, with four biscuits left. He’d had the lot by morning, greedy beggar.

Good luck to him!

"Last month". You back now then Lu? I've lost track.

RIP wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:41 pm Good luck to him!

Good luck to him indeed. “Nature Tax” my daughter calls it.

RIP wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:41 pm
"Last month". You back now then Lu? I've lost track.

I’m back. Flew back in on 11th Oct. 'T was a long Ride (740 miles - 19 days riding) and made longer by my losing my down hoodie and cycling back 26 miles each way to get it. Didn’t work - it wasn’t there - so that day I rode 63 miles (a record for me) to advance a mere 13 along the Camino. Serves me right, I s’pose for not being careful with my stuff. In all, on the ride, I lost reading glasses, cycling glasses, sun glasses, (I found these on the trail, they weren’t mine), two eye masks, my Bearbones light backpack, a stainless water bottle and the aforementioned hoodie.

Best described as type 2 fun because of the heat, distance and climbing. Going OTB and landing on my shoulder blade and riding the last 60 miles in pain didn’t help, but I’d do it again without hesitation. I doubt I could get Mrs Frog to let me out again though.

A Spanish deer..



The only wildlife shot I got because they were all too quick. I saw a few, including a trio including a big horny stag that dashed across the trail and leapt a 6 ft fence. Saw some wild pigs too, but again…

Good to have you back safe and sound! Seriously impressed with that escapade. Especially At Your Age, he says patronisingly .

Not the least surprised about all the glasses - we never did find those on the Winter Event last year did we? You need to attach long tails of brightly coloured gaffer tape to everything like I do - easy to spot then.

Best moment?

Worst moment (apart from the hoodie)?

Most interesting person met?

Best revelatory moment?

Probably ought to be in a different thread though...

Blimey Lu, sounds epic. Glad you're back safe and sound.

Keep losing your glasses as often as you do and eventually you'll start finding them again.
("Blimmin' pensioners, coming over here, leaving their spectacles lying around all over the place...grumble grumble")

Toad. In the lounge.

The latest laminate flooring is really convincing!

He’s a big 'un…



You’d know if this Spanish bad boy was on yer face in the night. The SAK is for scale and it’s not one of the small ones.

frogatthefarriers wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2023 4:45 am He’s a big 'un…



You’d know if this Spanish bad boy was on yer face in the night. The SAK is for scale and it’s not one of the small ones.

I'm glad you departed inscathed
Wellard, tooled-up slug
Tooled -up cos I couldnt spell 'Knife wielding', too stressed out

Yesterday under coverbof the low light due to the rain/mist there was what appeared to be a robin shaped bird. Only it was the size of a buzzard or slightly smaller. Sat on a fencepost next to the field up at Clifton.

Jumped right off and flew low into the distance as soon as I got anywhere near proper visibility distance (maybe 10m away when it went). Could it havw been a kestrel (looked a bit fat for that!).

A couple of sightings from a week away...

This little guy in the bedroom. He was about 1&1/2" long



This little guy in the kitchen. He was about 4-5 inches long.



But best of all ..this big guy in the port. We saw quite a few of these at the same spot over a few days.

Ooof, bit more exotic than slugs....
Seems to be bunny world round here at the mo - I actually nearly mowed one down earlier - it just sort of looked at me and then ran right under my wheel - fortunately it misjudged it an missed!

Red Kite ~500 metres from my house. Ten a penny when I lived down south I've seen perhaps 6 or 7 here in the south of Cumbria over the past 5 years. There's been one (the same one?) that I've spotted perhaps 10km and 5km away over the past few months and then today realised that it was no Buzzard circling above me as I walked the dog.

This little guy in the bedroom. He was about 1&1/2" long

gecko76 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 5:43 pm

This little guy in the bedroom. He was about 1&1/2" long

I knew I knew him from somewhere!

A glorious blue sky low sun I could hear them but not see them. A directly over head 'ma-hous-ive' skein of Geese going off for winter. Fubble fingers with the phone camera then they were almost gone..

Apologies not the best of pictures, top right.

Had a sparrowhawk fly past me this afternoon whilst I was working over at my brother's. No photo as I wasn't expecting it and it was a dot in the distance by the time I'd have got the phone out.

A badger, a fox, and lots of sheep this evening.

Out for a spot of geocaching and dog walking with the family in the New Forest at the weekend. Always take my bins with me on any walk

Spotting something unusual in the middle of the field nearby and the bins confirmed it was unusual. White tailed eagle. They're resident in this area but I've never seen one, had my eyes out since we moved down South in early 2021

Amazing. And enormous. The whole family got to see it as well. Flew off before I had the chance to find my phone, plus I couldn't remember which jacket pocket I'd put it in

I was watching one of the neighbour's cats trying to catch a couple of magpies in a tree. The magpies were obviously running rings round it and it was clear that they were doing it on purpose, getting as close to the cat as they could and then flying just out of reach. Quite amusing.