BIKING BIRDER I March 22nd 2010 Chew Valley reservoir and The Most Wonderful Family, The Craigs

 On This Day - 2010    Biking Birder I

Sunrise at Chew Valley Reservoir

21^st March 2010

We are Family     Sister Sledge     

                                                                          

              I have met them, the most perfect birding family. A family of wonderful, enthusiastic birders with Mum and Dad, Helena and Chris and a most charmingly brilliant seven year old little girl with a British life list of 350, a British year list for 2009 of 324 for 2009 and notebooks detailing her adventures. Well done, Mya-Rose! You are an absolute angel, a delight to talk to and a privilege to have met. For you to have run Lee Evans so close last year was fabulous. 

Searching Mya-Rose's year list for 2009, I came across this webpage from Surfbirds and each birder shown has a fascinating story of their year's birding for 2009 and it is lovely to see certain British birders that I now know well...

Surfbirds - World Year Listing Review of 2009

Let's go back to the beginning of the day, waking from my comfortable sleeping bag in a bird hide overlooking Chew Valley Reservoir. A lovely encounter with the local sheep after a Crunchy Nut breakfast.

Its not often that one has lambs climb up to get a closer look at one's face!

Meeting birders whilst searching for a reported Ferruginous Duck. Dipped! (Means didn't see the little blighter.)

                I had met Chris at Chew Valley today, whilst spending hours waiting for yesterday's Ferruginous Duck to show - it didn't. (You already said that!)

               Swallow [161] did though with over a hundred Sand Martins tazzing around, and an adult Kittiwake.

               Invited back to Chris' house for a meal and a bed, kindness of strangers, my amazement level was at maximum for the whole evening as Chris, Helena and especially Mya-Rose regaled me with tales from their Big Year, 2009.

               Mya-Rose's notebooks were particularly delightful.

How many British twitchers would love to see a Sandhill Crane in Britain?

Note May-Rose's bird number 317 . . . American Golden Plover. Two of them!!!

The family enthusiastically told of how they had been filmed for a TV programme called Twitchers - A Very British Bird Obsession - BIRDGIRL Cut

In the video, click on the link above, or any of these three photos, to get to it on Youtube, a certain bird is mentioned as having been seen by the seven year old Mya-Rose, which a complaining birder had claimed that Mya-Rose hadn't seen.

 Maybe the emailing doubter should have been present during our meal for I asked Mya-Rose what was her favourite bird.

Robin?        No.

Blue Tit?     No.

Which bird would you imagine that a precocious seven year, old totally obsessed by birds, would like best?

"What's your favourite bird?"

"Black-browed Albatross." stated forcefully.

"Why?"

"Because I saw one!"

The story was told of how a Black-browed Albatross had flown by during a family seawatch at the famous seawatching site at Porthgwarra, Cornwall.

Of course you will all know that I had a Black-browed Albatross cuddly toy, the RSPB's Albert the Albatross, on my bike, sitting with his best buddy, Sid the Rainforest Frog.

So it was that the very first cuddly toy to be given to a child was gone. Poor Sid!

How many hundreds of cuddly toys have I given to other children during my Biking Birder travels? Mya-Rose's albatross was the first.

A truly wonderful family, incredible how a chance meeting at Chew Valley Reservoir led to a fabulous evening with three of the best people.

As for the British Year list rankings for 2009, take a look at BUBO LISTING's list . . . 

Britain Year List 2009

         I will leave the story of why the difference of one bird more seen by Chris that year at the dining room table!

As for Mya-Rose, Birdgirl, now Doctor Mya-Rose Craig having been deservedly given a doctorate by Bristol University for her work in nature conservation, she has now graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Human, Social and Political Sciences and continues to bird.

The author of several marvelous books . . . 

Click on any of the book covers above to go to the relevant Amazon purchase page.

 . .  . a must read is the one where she tells of her story growing up in a bird loving family. 

The book's honesty over Mya-Rose's Mum, Helena's health crisis is incredibly humbling. Been there, got the t-shirt!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mya-Rose_Craig

            Mya-Rose and her family now also have a charity dedicated to helping BAME children access nature. 

            Called Black2Nature, this fabulous charity organises camps at all times of year for children to go to.

            Please support Black2Nature by following the links . . .

https://black2nature.org/

Please give a donation to help Mya-Rose's wonderful charity.

Tickle My Feathers!

BIKING BIRDER I March 21st 2010 Cheddar Gorge and Up & Over to Chew Valley Reservoir

 On This Day - 2010    Biking Birder I

March 21st 2010

Shapwick NNR to Chew Valley Reservoir.

Highway Star            Deep Purple

            A day spent cycling the flat lands of the Avalon Marshes heading north, before the push up the winding road of Cheddar Gorge.

           Amazes me that such a small gorge is celebrated so much, small that is in comparison to other limestone gorges I have seen elsewhere, especially in France; the Ardeche for example and various gorges in La Corbiere, not to forget the immense Gorge du Tarn!

Ardeche 2007

          Back in the late Nineties my late and much missed wife, Karen, I and her two daughters, Claire and Sarah, had had a holiday at Brean Sands Pontins!

          One of our days out was spent exploring the caves at both Wookey Hole and Cheddar Gorge.

          The pseudo-Victorian photograph, taken at Wookey Hole, where we dressed up in suitably Victorian clothes and posed with strict instructions that no smiles were allowed and no movement either, remains a favourite.

My overnight accommodation was salubrious! Plenty of time to remember happy days when Karen wasn't as ill as she was later to become.

21.5 miles 

1066 feet up    869 feet down

Tickle Your Feathers!

BIKING BIRDER I March 20th 2010 Ham Wall RSPB Reserve and Shapwick Heath NNR

 On This Day - 2010    Biking Birder I

20th March 2010

Bullfrog Blues        Rory Gallagher

          The only guest at Street Youth Hostel, breakfast was had quickly and just as quickly I was on my bike careering down the steep hill towards the Avalon Marshes.

          A cycle path from the Glastonbury end, the eastern end, of the marshes was superb and with a cool, misty start and only a light breeze, progress was easy and pleasurable.

Ham Wall RSPB Reserve

Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve

 

Prehistoric pathway reconstruction

            Despite a wet afternoon, I managed to see a fair number of Sand Martins [bird number 157], the long-staying Long-tailed Duck, [bird number 158], a female Smew, three Glossy Ibis, [bird number 159], two Great White Egrets, a Bittern, with more individuals booming hidden in the large reedbeds and eight Whooper Swans, with a Black Swan thrown in for good luck but of course not countable.             

            Actually although most of these birds were seen on Shapwick nature reserve, one Great White Egret was at Sharpham. So another RSPB reserve seen and memories of last year's Little Bittern, a T.I.T.S. twitched bird when with great friends Ian Crutchley and Steve Allcott, seen so well and heard even better. Woof.

     I did have a scare whilst walking back from the far hide after finding the Smew. I suddenly had vision as though my eyes had turned into watery insect eyes, a fly-like view of the world with multi images. I stopped walking and just rested against a tree and maybe fifteen minutes or so it faded back to normal.

Now this had happened to me a couple of years before when I was teaching a class at Rigby Hall Special School, whilst standing in front of an interactive whiteboard. The ceiling-mounted projector light had been directly shining me at me as I talked to the children. Suddenly my vision went as described and I said to Sue Wilkes, the superb teaching assistant, that I could not see. As before, the problem went away after about ten minutes or so and as there was no pain, I put it down to being in front of the projector light too long and was careful to avoid it.

This time I had no idea what could have brought it on and once again, as soon as my normal excellent, better than 20:20 vision had come back I forgot about it as the day progressed. It has since been diagnosed as Painless Migraine. 

Around the corner from where this occurred, I came across a reconstruction of a prehistoric pathway.

6.9 miles cycled

mostly flat!