BIKING BIRDER I May 9th 2010 Black Grouse to Inner Marsh farm RSPB Reserve

 

9^th May 2010 

I'm going Down

Bruce Springsteen

Up at 4:30 a.m. I packed away quickly and soon met Julie, the RSPB guide, who was to prove to be excellent throughout the visit. In order to see Black Grouse one has to book a guided tour with the RSPB. Our guide this morning, Julie took the group, which included a couple from Southampton, a father and two lovely children from Epping Forest and some birders from Stevenage, up to the Black Grouse hide. She was great with exceptionally good ears for the calls, a good manner with beginners and experts alike and good eyes, spotting Whinchat, Siskins and Crossbills quickly.

The Black Grouse [193] males were leking as expected  and not far away too. Satiated with great views and whispered conversation, we all walked back to the cycling centre. There shamefully I was greedy for the breakfast and I still feel embarrassed at what I ate. I cannot list it all as you will see what a pig I was that morning. In fact pig featured a lot on the menu!

A superb downhill stretch was next that seemed to last for miles on my way to an old haunt of mine, the Dee Estuary. Now I love fate. Call it Karma, call it fate [Kismet!] but things do seem to happen which are beyond coincidence. Take this for example.

Lost in Connah's Quay, I could not find the cycle route to the new bridge over the River Dee. I knocked on the last door of a line of three houses just north of the town. I explained what I was looking for and the reply was "you're not the bloke with the Robin on the front of your bike are you?"

Now you know where I got the title for this book from.
“Yes, I am.” Out rushed the gentleman at the door to check that indeed I was. “You are! You're the man with the Robin on his bike.” Satisfied that I was he, I was invited in and after a two hour tour of the garden, being shown around a garden full of aviaries containing a lot of different birds of prey and owls, was given lots of water and squash. That is how I met Steve Dewsnap and his wife, Margaret. Steve had been on the internet the just night before to look up ospreys and had seen my photo at Glaswyn on their blog. Uncanny coincidence or what?

The reason for all the birds in cages was due to the fact that Steve runs a rescue centre for birds of prey. His work is part of an organisation called Raptor Rescue and Steve gives educational talks calling themselves Rockcliffe raptors. A wonderful man with a wonderful family and still a good friend.

Speaking of the Robin though, £63.32 from the Robin on the front of the bike went to the RSPB at Inner marsh later that day. Brilliant. In fact I still need to talk about the fabulous group of people I met at Inner Marsh Farm RSPB reserve. After leaving Steve and Margaret, and having found the bridge I was after, crossing the large, impressive, white cable stay bridge called The Flintshire Bridge.

Now if one wants to see one of the most impressive cable-stay bridges in the world then visit Patras in Greece and take the bridge there to get over to Delphi, the Rion-Antirion. Being the world's largest and longest cable stay bridge, built in 2004, at over two kilometres in length it makes a magnificent view and indeed when I went there in 2011, it saved me a lot of time getting over to the Peloponnese instead of the very long route via Athens.

I found my way to the RSPB reserve via field edges and over pathways whilst trying to cut the corner. Actually I probably went further via all of the toing and froing across farmland than if I had stuck to the country lanes from Queensferry to Burton. Mind you I did enjoy seeing the River Dee and also getting views of my old clock, Shotton Steel Works.

Let me explain.

From 1974 to 1977 I was at Chester College, about ten miles or so from the steelworks. I could however see from my bedroom/study window the steelworks quite well against the backdrop of the Welsh hills. Every twenty minutes a train carrying coal would enter a furnace. What a job that driver had, for no automated trains in those far off days! On leaving the furnace the now burning coal was taken under a tower full of cold water and as the water was released its conversion to steam, as it hit the hot coals, was extremely effective as a huge cloud of water vapour would rise high in the sky; easily visible to me ten miles away. How do I know that this process was going on? Well, a college trip to diversify we poorly educated students included a visit to the steelworks. In fact we had quite regular trips that had nothing to do with the course and I remember this one so much. Massive lengths of flattened steel speeding down conveyor belts before being turned to make immense coils and the blast furnaces with molten iron being poured out. Dante's Hell for all to see.

I finally arrived at the reserve late afternoon, had a look around the western edge of the reserve with its hides and birds, including Yellow Wagtail [194] before setting up the tent on the garden lawn. Peaceful sleep after a long and eventful day, came easily.

Tickle My Feathers