Animals seen while cycling
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OK, a pretty frivolous thread, but I've enjoyed seeing various animals while out & about since I
started cycling again.
I'm sure there are plenty of folks here who've been to exotic places & seen very rare animals -
fire away.
As far as in the UK, I've seen rabbits (millions of the suicidal buggers), hares (some HUGE, all
very fast), deer (big one), deer (small one), deer (youngish version of a big one), foxes.
Saw one deer (Hare Warren wood -?- near Wilton, Wiltshire). Beautiful thing - guessing a 'teenage'
deer cos it was a big sod, but was still doing that 'tamping' (?) thing where it kicks its hind
legs out & jumps about, just for the sheer fun of it. Saw me (150m+ away on the bike) & was GONE in
under a second.
Up here in Naaarf*ck last autumn I was going down a narrow lane one night with a car heading towards
me, so I was keeping a close eye on the car. Across my vision went something huge & brilliant-white
(got a fairly bright Cateye rechargeable headlight). Figured it was a barn or tawny owl. Just
unfortunate timing cos oncoming car meant I couldn't follow it with my eyes (whatever it was).
Frivolous thread as I say, but any nice animal-spots in the URC house? In the UK or abroad? Anyone
seen the legendary / mythical 'big cats' in Norfolk or round Bodmin way?
PS: with perfect timing I also saw a bull mounting a female cow as I rode by (Stratford-sub-Castle,
nr. Salisbury). Naturally I shouted him some encouragement :-) Go on my son, etc.
In message <9f261edc.0307251400.7b8a88af@posting.google.com>, Chris Bardell
<tessier-ashpool@usa.net> writes
>
>As far as in the UK, I've seen rabbits (millions of the suicidal buggers), hares (some HUGE, all
>very fast), deer (big one), deer (small one), deer (youngish version of a big one), foxes.
>
You generally see more wildlife on-road, f'rinstance a roe deer that was browsing beside a road in
Scotland, with a really tall red deer fence between it and a plantation. When it saw us it took two
bounds then sprung vertically upwards to clear the fence in style.
Off road you mostly make too much noise and the wildlife's gone, but once I was leading a CTC
beginners ride and a muntjac stood about thirty feet away watching ten or twelve people make heavy
weather of some rooty drops...
--
Sue ];(:)
tessier-ashpool@usa.net (Chris Bardell) wrote: ( OK, a pretty frivolous thread, but I've enjoyed
seeing various animals ) while out & about since I started cycling again.
Oh, you mean /live/ animals. Yes.
The last time I ran my bike into the other cyclist who was touring with me it was because we were
both watching a kestrel hovering over the road about fifteen yards ahead of us and our steering got
worse as the azimuthal angle increased with our approach. It is much safer to watch kites and
buzzards, because they are generally further away. Unfortunately the collision disturbed the
kestrel, or perhaps its prey.
Last time I was coming home with my weekly shop (in broad daylight) there was a barn owl sat with
its back to the road on the edge of a railway bridge. If I had been any closer to the wall my
shoulder would have brushed its tail feathers, but it seemed not to notice me until I dropped the
anchors about twenty yards further on.
It is surprising what people do not see around them. On a tour to Bath last weekend we were stopped
astride our bikes watching a heron on the opposite bank of the Kennet and Avon. While we were there
about ten boats of various lengths went past, disturbing its fishing to a greater or lesser extent,
with nobody on any of them showing any sign of having seen it. Several of them seemed to wonder why
we were apparently watching /them/. Eventually the heron gave up and flew away, over the top of an
open launch with half a dozen entirely oblivious passengers.
Chris Bardell <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote:
>
> Frivolous thread as I say, but any nice animal-spots in the URC house?
Voles, hares, foxes, barn owl, Kestrel...
"Chris Bardell" <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote in message
news:9f261edc.0307251400.7b8a88af@posting.google.com...
> OK, a pretty frivolous thread, but I've enjoyed seeing various animals while out & about since I
> started cycling again.
>
grew up in the forest of dean.....no in bred jokes please....... late 80s to early 90s
mountain bike mad
riding along one day heard "thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud", **** i thought it was an earth
quake, "thud thud thud", then suddenly a heard of deer (roughly 20-25) came our of the woods and
darted accross a clearing......amazing.....kept looking them and rode into a tree
another experience was being chased by 2 badgers hissing at me, well scarey
Taken 2 weeks ago in the Tamworth area:
www.nervouscyclist.org/wildlife.htm
I also saw a badger (fully grown adult male) wandering about at 4pm on a sunny afternoon in the
middle of a road at Whitmoor Haye near lichfield 2 weeks previously. I was so stunned, I never
reached for the camera...
Tim
--
Sent from Birmingham, UK... Check out www.nervouscyclist.org 'I find sometimes it's easy to be
myself, but sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else.' - Dave Matthews 'So Much To Say' My
'reply to' address is valid, mail to the posting address is dumped
Marc wrote:
> Chris Bardell <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> Frivolous thread as I say, but any nice animal-spots in the URC house?
> Voles, hares, foxes, barn owl, Kestrel...
One ride last Sunday I saw 2 kestrels appear to fight over territory, also saw a heron at the
same spot.
--
Mark Road bike, Mountain bike and I'm getting something special built for me (I hope it will
arrive soon).
I've seen rabbits, hares, foxes, badgers, owls, various birds of prey, a mink, weasels, ferrets (the
weasel is weasely identified whereas the stoat is stoatally different) deer, and I saw Bald Eagles
in Cape Breton Island.
"Sue" <SPAM@blackhole.invalid> wrote in message news:apKDyYakWbI$Ew1f@mashtub.demon.co.uk...
> Off road you mostly make too much noise and the wildlife's gone, but once I was leading a CTC
> beginners ride and a muntjac stood about thirty feet away watching ten or twelve people make heavy
> weather of some rooty drops...
Not on the tamer sections.
I've seen owls, muntjac several times, an adder (or blimmin' big grass snake) basking once, foxes
<1> and all kinds of little furry running things. Oh, and dead badgers aplenty. And this is in well
farmed land barely out of suburbia. Occasionally, as in all good nature programmes, one encounters
(strike out "comes across") homosapiens engaged in procreation.
<1> I'm used to seeing urban foxes walking in our area (in fact we had to get environmental health
out last week to remove a dead one from under next doors car) but am still impressed if I see
one in the countryside.
Pete
Peter B wrote:
>> Off road you mostly make too much noise and the wildlife's gone, but once I was leading a CTC
>> beginners ride and a muntjac stood about thirty feet away watching ten or twelve people make
>> heavy weather of some rooty drops...
>
> Not on the tamer sections.
>
> I've seen owls, muntjac several times, an adder (or blimmin' big grass snake) basking once, foxes
> <1> and all kinds of little furry running things. Oh, and dead badgers aplenty.
<snip>
I've seen some live badgers, several adders (diamond shapes on their backs), and deer etc.
I recently saw two young deer, and the male stopped a couple of meters away from me. A Kodak moment,
if I'd had a camera...
--
StainlessSteelRat "I think you ought to know that I'm feeling very depressed." -- Marvin
"Chris Bardell" <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote in message
news:9f261edc.0307251400.7b8a88af@posting.google.com...
> OK, a pretty frivolous thread, but I've enjoyed seeing various animals while out & about since I
> started cycling again. I'm sure there are plenty of folks here who've been to exotic places & seen
> very rare animals - fire away.
In the doctors surgery one day being treated after yet another fall off the bike he suggested he'd
get me a discount to join his gym where I could spin safely all day with others- with no falls.
I tried to explain that it was the great outdoors which held the thrill. On my first ever outing on
a proper mountainbike I rode around the woods at Blair Atholl then set off up Glen Tilt. I rode
round one bend and faced two deer staring at each other, slowly I stopped but the stopping caught
their attention they looked curiously at me then parted and wandered off up hill. A mile or so on
rounding a bend I faced an eagle tearing at the insides of a rabbit. The doc admitted his noisy
smelly gym couldnt match that!! Mike
"Chris Bardell" <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote in message
news:9f261edc.0307251400.7b8a88af@posting.google.com...
> OK, a pretty frivolous thread, but I've enjoyed seeing various animals while out & about since I
> started cycling again.
>
<snip>
I've seen various, foxes, deer (cannock chase, difficult not to;-), badgers, heron, kestrels,
kites & buzzards, but my high spot was a golden eagle on my E2E ride in March. It was on the
Dumfries to Carlisle road. Just me on this bloody great long road, looked up at some disturbance
that I caught in my peripheral vision to see it trying to land in a tree. Unfortunately it was too
big for the branches it had tried to land on and was leaping from one branch to another as the
branches were bending under its weight and it realised they weren't strong enough to hold it. It
found secure purchase eventually. Certainly made my day and one of the high spots of the trip.....
Oh...and lots of sheep ;-) 4 years ago I went snowboarding in Whistler, Canada. Despite the
notices about bears and wild cats and word coming back that wildcats were eating skiers on the
east coast (not a bad thing ;-), the only wildlife I saw was an American Bald Eagle whilst on the
way back to the airport to come home. A special moment :-) Dave. (Guess I must be daydreaming
looking up in the sky all the time!!)
"lbockhed" <a.m.taylor@btinternetNOSPAM.com> wrote
> grew up in the forest of dean.....no in bred jokes please....... late 80s
to
> early 90s mountain bike mad
Hey, I grew up in the Forest of Dean too (Parkend). Still go back there quite a bit and know a few
fine upstanding citizens who have seen large cats out in the woods. And...uh...sheep.
One August I rode in the dark from GlenMore to Forest Lodge and slept in the heather watching the
stars circling. I woke early and rode for hours. On the way back to Aviemore mid morning I saw a
large red squirrel with a bushy white tail, then another and finally a third as I neared Glenmore
Lodge. It couldnt be the same one!
Intrigued I went to the Forest Office to ask. The local ladies thought I was taking the mick, they
lived there and they'd never ever seen a squirrel with a white tail. Finally they phoned a forest
ranger who confirmed that they did have squirrels who grew a white tail as they aged. He thought
that being older and more canny they stayed clear of walkers.
Mike
On my regular commute along the rural section of the Bath-Bristol cyclepath I've seen a few deer,
foxes and small rodents. I also see a lot of bunny rabbits and squirrels. One night I had a badger
running ahead of me for several yards, but the biggest treat was on two occasions after dark seeing
an owl flying along ahead of me.
Geraint's post reminded me that I used to see a lot of herons when cycling on towpaths. But I
regularly see a heron when I look out the pub window on Friday lunchtimes, so that seems pretty
commonplace to me now.
--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny ) Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine
"Danny Colyer" <danny@jugglersafety.net> wrote: ( ... I regularly see a heron when I look out the )
pub window on Friday lunchtimes, so that seems pretty commonplace to me ( now.
We have a heron that patrols our punt harbour in the morning, then Her Indoors sees it in the pond
in the University Parks when she goes for her lunchtime jog, and it comes over the trees at height
on its way home in mid-afternoon. I suppose you /can/ get used to that sort of thing although I am
not sure I have yet. On the other hand we never see muscovy ducks here, so we always think that the
muscovies on the Kennet are pretty exotic, even if they are just ducks. I do not suppose that the
good people of Newbury and Hungerford (oh, go on, there must be some of them...) think of their
urban wildfowl as being all that exotic.
the Mark wrote:
> Marc wrote:
>> Chris Bardell <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Frivolous thread as I say, but any nice animal-spots in the URC house?
>> Voles, hares, foxes, barn owl, Kestrel...
>
> One ride last Sunday I saw 2 kestrels appear to fight over territory, also saw a heron at the
> same spot.
And drifting away from cycling, while on holiday on Skye 2 weeks ago I saw a fish jump in the sea, a
few seconds later at the same spot an otter appeared eating a fish. All this happened about 20 yards
away from the front window of the house we were staying in. An other day while watching the otter
from the shore through binoculars I saw about 5 porpoises swim past.
--
Mark Road bike, Mountain bike and I'm getting something special built for me (I hope it will
arrive soon).
Cycling through or (one and only) National Park in the dead of night, on a new bike with little
light on it yet, I ran into two groups of wild boar. Managed to evade the first group, but had to
make an emergency stop for the second. There I was in a rather dark bit of wood with these animals
all around me, including young wich I've heard they're quite protective about! Happily they where as
startled as I was, and moved on quickly. Since I've had the Baron, I've had several buzzards fly
alongside me for a few minutes; seems it has just the right cruise speed for them to practice their
formation flying skills... And rabbits, squirrels, sheep sleeping on the cycle path (not to be
awakened by any number of cyclists!) and a cow standing across the path that just wouldn't budge;
had to dismount and carry the bike around it.
Mark van Gorkom.
Geraint Jones wrote of seeing herons:
> I suppose you /can/ get used to that sort of thing although I am not sure I have yet.
Although I'm used to it and regard it as commonplace, I never tire of
it.
--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny ) Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine
Chris Bardell <tessier-ashpool@usa.net> wrote ...
> OK, a pretty frivolous thread, but I've enjoyed seeing various animals while out & about since I
> started cycling again.
<snip>
> Frivolous thread as I say, but any nice animal-spots in the URC house? In the UK or abroad? Anyone
> seen the legendary / mythical 'big cats' in Norfolk or round Bodmin way?
>
round here (cotswolds) - Badgers (~8 a year), Foxes, Fallow Deer, Roe Deer, Muntjac, Stoats,
Weasels, Hedgehog, Hares, small critters (shrews/mice/voles), Grass Snake, Barn Owl, Tawny Owl,
Little Owl, Short-eared Owl, Sparrowhawks (sometimes chasing them down the lane), Red Kite....
elsewhere - Otter (Scotland), Red Deer, Bottlenosed Dolphin (Ireland), Bear (New Mexico)
Andrew
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