BIKING BIRDER I May 28th 2010 Wardrobe to Wildlife WOW - Belfast

 

29^th May 2010

My Heart Will Go On    Celine Dion

Belfast! Clive Staples Lewis and Titanic.

As a young child I read all of the C.S. Lewis books, buying them individually at 1/6d, one shilling and six pence in old money, seven and a half pence now, each. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe being first book bought, the others followed as pocket money allowed. I loved those books and read over and over again. Well, I had known for a long time that the author was born in Belfast but I didn't know that there was a bronze wardrobe with a bronze Mr Lewis opening the bronze door as he holds a bronze chair in Belfast to celebrate the fact and his achievements. I found out about it the usual way these days, Google. I cycled to find it and did so delightfully.

Google also told me that C.S. Lewis died the same day as John F. Kennedy was assassinated; 22nd of November 1963.

As well as all of the Narnia books there is another C.S Lewis book that I read regularly, The Great Divorce. Now those who know me may think that my interest is due to my having unfortunately had two divorces yet the book is about the great divorce between Heaven and Purgatory, the afterlife. The concepts of humanity each chapter contains within the book has always fascinated me. The narrator takes a bus to Heaven and there meets a variety of people each posing a moral challenge to him over who should be accepted into Paradise.

Leaving Mr Lewis behind, I cycled down to the docks; the docks where Titanic had been built from 1909-11. Now Titanic the film, the Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet epic, is a film I cannot watch. How one can get romantically interested in a couple when thousands of people are dead from becoming frozen, bobbing like corks in the Atlantic is beyond me, and I am sure there was room on Kate's plank for one more!

Anyway I cycled straight through the area because birds were on my mind.

In through the gates and security fences that surround the RSPB Reserve, Belfast Lough; one is immediately made welcome inside the visitor's centre with an offer of scones and coffee for free. 

A new warden to meet, the diminutive, denim clad Chris. I hope he will not be offended by my calling him such for he may be small in stature but he had bags of personality and was a truly fabulously brilliant bloke. Although Chris was busy when I arrived, this gave me time to watch the hundreds of terns on the man-made platforms, with remarkably close views of the adults and young through close-circuit TV. Also there were scones and coffee available from some of the lovely RSPB volunteers.

The lough was almost dry but a good number of Black-tailed Godwits, mostly in summer plumage were in the only wet area feeding. Chris was soon free and soon chatting away to me as though we had known each other for years. He is that sort of wonderful man. He puts everyone at ease with his quick laugh and easy manner.

Off we went to look around other areas outside of the fences that surround the reserve, areas looking mostly like derelict land, which I suppose they are, derelict from the ravages of development anyway but areas with great wildlife potential.

I will always have as one of my favourite photographs of the year the one of Chris standing outside his car, its CD player blasting out classic rock music and Chris standing beside it, wearing blue denims and shirt, with a cigarette in his hand and a huge laughing smile on his face.

The diversity of RSPB personal personified.

Chris & I were joined by the lovely Stephanie Sims, a RSPB communications officer for more photos.

Now one of the ladies in the centre had insisted that I stayed the night at her house as a guest of hers and her husband. So after cycling the few miles east of the city I found the house and enjoyed typical Northern Ireland hospitality.

The evening had been arranged for me to meet Stephanie Sims again, the Northern Ireland RSPB media correspondent. 

Another drinking hole location in Central Belfast was found after I had explored the city centre a bit.

I had seen a brilliant cycling parade going around the main streets just before meeting Stephanie. Dozens of people cycling on a wide variety of different bikes, some in fancy dress; the bikes and the riders!

After an hour or so chatting, Stephanie invited me to see the city by going for a ride in her car. It felt strange to be taking carbon transport again and even stranger to see the ghetto-like streets in some of the more notorious areas. Murals and immense walls created to divide Belfast's people. Religious sectarianism was still apparent, disappointingly so. I cannot help but think that the best place for the murals would be in a museum, assigned to history. A community of sharing is stronger.

Tickle My Feathers

 

BIKING BIRDER I May 27th 2010 Ferry to Belfast

 

27^th May 2010

I am sailing   Rod Stewart

Early morning I was up and out to catch the ferry to Belfast. Then, after a relaxing sail over flat calm seas, past large numbers of huge wind turbines and past a few ships, just as the Calf of Man was viewed on the horizon, another text from my 'buddy' Phil . . . WHITE-TAILED PLOVER at . . .  Seaforth Docks!
If I could have swam back, I would have done so. In birding and twitching terminology this counted as a double dip, maybe over the space of a few days but it still hurt. A double dip of mega proportions to be honest with the later bird being so extremely rare in this country.

Instead of bemoaning this I gave thanks to the birds and to life for teaching me that birding is not easy and that double dips of Mega proportions will always teach me a lesson and motivate me to learn new skills. Learn how to swim in the Mersey!

By a strange coincidence, the first ever White-tailed Plover to be found in Britain was found by two good friends, way back in 1975, at an area of gravel pits at Packington, Warwickshire, John Fortey and Eric Phillips. Indeed, Eric Phillips is also a cyclist as well as a brilliant birder and I have the greatest respect for him, his birding and his cycling.
I had stopped crying over the plover by the time the Northern Ireland coastline was viewed and with excellent numbers of sea birds off Copeland Island, I enjoyed watching those, Manx Shearwaters and Auks mostly, together with the beautiful lighthouse being easily viewed from such a short distance.

Into Belfast Harbour, Black Guillemots and Eider on the water, I started to feel better. OK, I will not be so melodramatic. I know birding does have moments when a dip or two is inevitable and really, I do not mind that. It would not be the same if one saw every bird. Anyway, a beautiful double rainbow in the sunny rain shower, as we came to the dockside, made me feel even better.

I was actually feeling very chipper as I cycled away from the ferry to find the Shore Road, famous as being an important arterial road into the city. Yet that was to change as I came to the traffic lights that denoted that I had found it. There across the road from me was a large block of flats. Graffiti at its base should have warned me but the sign in front of the flats stated that one was welcomed into Northern Ireland, all well and good and very pleasant. The huge mural though above this on the side of the tower block, of a Northern Ireland balaclava-wearing terrorist, holding a large sub machine gun of some sort, told of other priorities over being nice to everyone. I could only reflect on the juxtaposition of the two images and hope that in the not too distant future (how about tomorrow?) the negative is gone forever and the positive welcome is the way for all Northern Ireland's peoples.

A previous text and phone call, received from one Stephanie Sims from the RSPB, had asked me to meet her at the Errigle Pub on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. So, having cycled through heavy showers along the Shore Road, having cycled through Belfast's fair city centre, I found the necessary road and entered the pub. Well, it was not just Stephanie. There was a large group of RSPB people there. They were saying goodbye to a colleague leaving for Australia. I felt like a gate crasher yet was soon handed my first pint of Irish Guinness. Actually I couldn't have been made more welcome and many, many thanks to all there.
On leaving the pub, and after arranging to meet Stephanie again the next day, I found a B & B not too far away on the suggestion of  one of the RSPB people; Roseleigh Guest House. Superb accommodation and many thanks to James and Donna, not only for the bed and breakfast but also for their gift. I was still a little wet from cycling through Belfast in the rain and my so-called waterproof trousers were anything but waterproof. “No problem,” said Donna and she proceeded to give me John's waterproof trousers!

If this is what I was to expect with three weeks in Northern Ireland ahead of me then I would forgive the violence of the murals and get to understand that, as everywhere, most people in Northern Ireland are wonderful, no matter which side of the wall they live on!
Whilst speaking of wonderful people. A complete stranger had stopped me along the Shore Road and asked who I was and what I was up to. John White was his name and he then gave me a donation, saying that each £5 note, and there were three of them, was to go to each of the charities I was supporting. Kindness to a stranger, the theme of this amazing year.

Tickle My Feathers

BIKING BIRDER I May 26th 2010 Liverpool's Cathedrals

 

26^th May  2010

Ferry cross the Mersey

Gerry & The Pacemakers

I was back in Liverpool for the day; a day to be a tourist and visit both cathedrals, the Catholic 'funnel' and the more traditional looking Protestant, before taking a ferry across the Mersey to a Bed & Breakfast.

First cathedral visited was the Catholic funnel, a modern concrete construction which to me is beautiful inside if rather bland on the outside. Look at the shape outside and it is easy to see why it is called rather disparagingly 'Paddy's Funnel'. Rather a racist term maybe, especially as one side of my family, my Mother's side, are Irish Catholics. Indeed Great Grandmother is reputed to have had twenty three children. “Blimey!” I hear you say. So did she!

Inside I remembered a concert there by a synthesizer group called Tangerine Dream way back in the mid-70s. The group, with their array of synthesizers, were in the middle of the circular church, with maybe a third of the seating area being taken up by hundreds of large candles. The rest of the seating space was taken up by student types, including me resplendent in my Afghan coat and strings of seed necklaces. Long hair down my back completed my Peace, Love and Flowers image. The group played almost motionless with their sounds echoing beautifully within the cavernous space.

Taking the time to explore the crypt, what a contrast to the modern church above ground. Here were vast areas of oppressive Victorian-looking architecture, designed though in the 1930s by Sir Edward Lutyens.

Next a visit to the Anglican Cathedral, vast against the Liverpool skyline on the approach road with a vast interior. The only church I can remember visiting which might be comparable in size is St Peter's in Rome. A modern Cathedral but totally different to the Catholic architecture, being of a more traditional design. I climbed the stairs to get to the top of the central tower and what views of the city and the Mersey greeted me there. Fabulous!

Back inside the main transept I recalled seeing Paul McCartney here, my first ever view of a real Beatle, back in 1991. He was there for a concert performance of one his pieces of music. I was visiting the cathedral with a very dear girlfriend, Diane. If I had £1 for every time my parents said to me, “you should have married that one,” I would be a rich man.

Speaking of the Beatles; many years ago I managed to get a framed gold disc of a Beatles LP album and a smaller one of a single. I cannot remember which ones either were, my memory says Abbey Road for the LP and Please, Please Me for the single but I do remember how I got them. A friend had to leave the country rather too quickly for some reason that I never did find out. I gave him the money he required to do so and a package arrived months later from him. Inside were the framed discs. Now as The Beatles was my, sadly now late wife, Karen's favourite band. She put them up on the wall in the beautiful house we used to live in in Swanage, Dorset. Unfortunately, these were amongst many items stolen when we were burgled!

Down again and out to cycle to the ferry terminal at Albert Dock. Ferry across the Mersey and a comfortable night in a bed and breakfast. In fact the stay was at a wonderful, new Bed & Breakfast, The Liver View Hotel, owned by an enthusiastic young man who spent the evening refurbishing it in places. Newly opened he had got a few rooms up to scratch and was building up a business. He spent a couple of hours telling me his plans for the future. I hoped he would succeed.

Tickle My Feathers