June 23rd 2010
So after an evening of enjoying Pied and Spotted Flycatchers and an England victory in the real sport of cricket, a gratefully received Cumberland sausage and lovely chat with Rex and Irene; got up the next morning early and after tidying up, saw the tree nursery with Dave Shackleton, the warden of Haweswater RSPB reserve.
A fabulous tree nursery tended by a superb man. It was great to see the hundreds of Juniper and Oak trees and know that Dave and his team would be planting them in the area. In the evening I remembered a book about an old French man, who spent his final years sowing thousands of Acorns. Called The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono.
and by the end of the book he is changed the local climate from desert to forest. A lovely book and I feel that Dave is the English equivalent.
Cycled
down to the south end of Haweswater, after meeting a couple who were editors
for a large magazine about the lakes and having my photo taken by them. I chained
Sid, my bike, not the WWT frog, up and walked around to the RSPB viewpoint for
the Golden Eagle. A Red Squirrel came close running along the top of a dry
stone wall, a male Common Redpoll did similar after washing in the nearby lake,
it preened nearby and a family of Wheatear were also very close.
Met two lovely police ladies from Essex at the viewpoint and Rex and Irene from
the warden's house came and joined me. Together we watched for over an hour
before through Irene’s scope I saw a Raven coming over the ridge near to where
the Golden Eagle was known to roost. "Keep on the Raven," was the
instruction from Irene who knew a lot of the eagle's habits and I did as it
dived down the cliff face to join another obviously mobbing something on the
cliff. There it was a huge Golden Eagle (207]. It flew, landed and
continued to be mobbed for some time. After a while, the Ravens left and the Golden
Eagle took off again and did a superb glide down over behind a stone brick wall,
away to somewhere we could not see.
After
a little difficulty with a gentleman, who wanted access down into the valley; explaining
to him that, quite correctly that access was to be denied to him as this was a strongly
protected, schedule 1 bird and the only one in England, Rex, Irene and I walked
back to the car park and I cycled back to watch the England football match on
the TV in the bungalow so kindly offered to me by Dave. Should I have bothered
watching the match? The England team were awful!
Later,
I met Spike and other volunteers, who were on their way to the pub but watched
the 1 - 0 win with Rex. I had intended to join Spike and the rest at the pub
but I got a bit lost and ended up at a different pub to where they all were.
Compensation over missing an evening with the RSPB staff came in the form of meeting
a great couple, Graham and his partner talked about going to Mont Blanc next
year.
Outside
the front of the pub, I played the game of ‘Nail the Nail.’ One had to hit the
nail with an axe using the sharp edge. I was hopeless at it, despite a local
boy showing how it should be done. After my abject failure and a quick pint of
shandy, I then cycled towards Ullswater.
Had a fabulous thing happen whilst cycling along a small lane. Some Jackdaws were causing a fuss and all of a sudden, in a split second a Sparrowhawk, almost hitting my helmet as it whooshed past. So amazingly close and an absolute thrill, image the headlines : "Biking Birder knocked over by a Sprog!" Brilliant.
I
slept in a field beside Ullswater, beside an Oak woodland, hidden from the
nearby road and a bit of overnight rain was heard.
And so off once more, stopping at a pub for a pint and sport . . .
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