Bit of a catch up

Just a brief post to try and return the content of this blog to reflect its title (well, half of it anyway). Here's a couple of pics from this month which I hadn't looked through until now. They're nothing special, but the pic of the darter is of the only dragonfly I've seen this year that has landed. Shame it wasn't a slightly more interesting dragonfly, but there's certainly no embarrassment in blogging it. There's also a couple of pics from some fairly unproductive BHM visits:

Ahh if only that were an Osprey swooping down onto a fish instead of a Cormorant coming in to land. The light would have been ideal! Fingers crossed we get one stay for a bit during the migration Southwards.

Hobby attacks BHM & Snipe return

I didn't see the Hobby as I was at the wrong part of the marsh and my attention was being monopolised by a couple of Snipe, but I did see the resultant terror of some of the other birds caused by the attack. I was reliably informed by a well respected birder that it was a Hobby so I'll go along with that ID. Hobbies have been an abnormally regular sight in Colyton, Seaton and Colyford over the last 4 months. I did get some shots of the Snipe; I wasn't that close to them, but as Snipe viewings go, this one was pretty darned good!

This next part is not wildlife related, so look away now if that's what you're here for!
Now back to cycling. A recent read of a fairly clever but flawed piece of writing got me thinking... true devotion to a hobby certainly is dependent on ones motivation and to an extent, discipline. The Strava app, which can be used to track yourself whilst out for a run or bike ride is increasing in popularity, and at a steadily increasing rate. After all, competition is one of the most potent motivators for anything, especially physical activity, and one of the main marketing points of this app is that it is specifically intended to compare people on a competitive basis (hence the 'Compete' section, and being rewarded with virtual medals for achieving a top 3 finish in a particular segment). Whilst aiming for and achieving your own personal goals can be very rewarding, many people relish the opportunity to try and prove themselves in relation to others. After all, if you aren't in it for the competition (or are a sore loser), there are other popular apps such as Endomondo which allow you to enable or disable the 'competitive' side as you can choose whether you want segments to be timed or not. A vast proportion (but certainly not all) of the riders using Strava use it primarily for the competitive aspect of cycling. This statement is one based from knowledge as opposed to assumption. I'm a competitive person, but not over-competitive. I recently made an observation about environmental influence aiding people with regards to a certain sprint section between Seaton and Axmouth. It seems a lot of people using Strava are significantly more concerned about this issue than I am; the evidence is for all to see on the Strava website, with people complaining in a snide manner to others about taking advantage of favourable winds. I take the hobby fairly seriously but I don't take it to the same sort of extreme as such people, but then again, I ride as my own unit; a lot of the people with half decent performances ride with fierce rivalry in mind, sometimes between friends or family (this is actually a very effective way of motivating yourself to improve and advance). Again, this is a comment based upon knowledge as opposed to assumption. After all, a statement made from initial personal opinion and supported with publicly-available evidence is significantly stronger than a statement in the form of a sweeping generalisation which can be proven incorrect with little tribulation.
Strava revolves (not quite in its entirety) around trying to beat others, not just yourself. To add to the motivation, if someone has managed to post the fastest time for a segment, and proven him/herself to be the fastest, then they are heralded as the King of the Mountain. To further increase motivation, Strava has a KOM (King of the Mountain) count on the main homepage, and it compares one persons KOM count to another's. It is fully intended as a direct competition. After all, professional athletes don't go to the Olympics specifically to improve their PB. Yes, doing so can be very satisfactory, but the primary motivation which drives people in this context is the desire for victory.

A Spotted Redshank...

... which I didn't have time to see, thanks to a 6:00 - 21:00 stint of work.
I did however find time to spend an hour looking along the River Coly over the weekend. There wasn't a lot to see; with one Kingfisher (adult), one Sparrowhawk, multiple Buzzards and a juvenile Cormorant being the most interesting in the way of birdlife.
I also managed to put a few more miles on the bike between Friday and Sunday. I thought I'd have a go at the Seaton to Axmouth Sprint again as I'd been shunted down the timesheets a couple of places. I'll make some excuses now; this was after a draining day at work (this is generally going to be the case, having only 1 day per month entirely to myself if I'm lucky) and I DELIBERATELY waited for a day without a tailwind, UNLIKE a few of the other 'big names' who went out on the 15th when there were approx 40mph tailwinds (I know this because I went out on the mountainbike and figured it'd be an unfair advantage as I could maintain nearly 25mph without pedalling much) not being sour to the others but I'd rather know that I'd earned my position through physical ability rather than through environmental influence. ;) (not intended as a dig, just being honest).

Oh yes and there's my insomnia problem which had remained dormant for over a year until the beginning of this month. That certainly doesn't help. Maybe it's time to start inducing sleep with drugs yet again (it is not enjoyable I assure you). I don't particularly want to be hit with the Chronic Exhaustion diagnosis again.
Anyway, enough whining. I am considering purchasing a carbon fibre bike. I have many reasons for this. A low end one will be approximately 40% lighter than my current road bike (yes it really is that heavy), and hopefully the new bike would be the right size. My current road bike was the right size when I was 6 or 7 inches shorter than I am now. On the other hand I could save my money and spend it on something that I actually need as opposed to something I desire. Hmm. Unfortunately this is probably what'll happen and the carbon fibre will remain a dream...

Better Wood Sandpiper pics & some healthy competition

Well, I say better, but still not that great! The light was bad (slightly backlit bird for most of the pics; I had to put the camera in full manual mode and play around with ISO and exposure compensation settings until the result looked mildly representative of the bird) and the distance of the bird from me was significantly greater than desired. Stunning birds though! Both were still present by early evening (3rd August). Here's a couple of pics:

Now onto something that's not wildlife related. I think the majority of the readers of my blog also read Gavin Haig's blog, and his recent cycling-orientated posts have inspired me to start using Strava to see how I compare to other cyclists in the area. I thought I'd start out by trying the Seaton-Axmouth segment, where you need to ride as fast as possible from the bridge at the mouth of the Axe, to Coronation Corner. The wind today was easterly so it was blowing from the right. I don't think this was too detrimental to my time, although no wind would have been preferable (or a southerly but that would be cheating in my eyes). I headed out after work to give the sprint a go. Here's the result (first ever attempt at a sprint this long):

5th out of 76, not bad! The interesting bit of info for you here is that not only was this done in heavy clothing (I wasn't embarrassing myself with figure-hugging lycra), but I was riding a MOUNTAIN BIKE. I rode home and swapped over to my road bike (cheap and heavy, Carrera Virtuoso) and achieved this:

3rd. This included having to slow down whilst a car pulled over in front of me. Pretty sure getting to the top of the leaderboard is within reach fairly comfortably :). Sprinting I can do. Hill climb segments?? Hmm, no thank you!

Wood Sandpiper and Little Gull at BHM

It seems as though EVERY patch birder with a camera apart from myself got the Wood Sandpiper up nice and close this morning. Ahh the joys of  not having a single free morning in a week. I popped over in the evening after work and got fairly distant views of the Wood Sandpiper. In fairness, had I not been working, and had time to get decent shots of the Wood Sand in the morning, then I probably wouldn't have gone in the evening and therefore would have missed the Little Gull... (Kindly pointed out by Ian Waite). Again it was distant, but it's something I can add to my all time patch list (yes, really).

If you want to revisit some less rubbish shots, I managed to get some decent ones of Wood Sands last year... there is a wide and varied selection!! click here
Or for a shot of 3:

Wood Sandpiper at BHM, and a Poplar Hawk-moth

A brief break from the holiday-related posts...
A text from Steve informed me of the presence of an adult Wood Sandpiper over at bhm, so naturally I went to have a look. It was there, but distant. Here's a rubbish but vaguely recognisable photo of it (the bird on the right of course):

My evening was spent trying to compose a decent pic of a Poplar Hawk-moth which was found at work today. I quite like a couple of the pics but they're definitely nothing special (I don't put moths in the fridge to make them slow!!).

It's worth clicking on these pics to view them slightly larger (if you like moths, that is). They're quite sharp.

Doorstep wildlife!

Well, on the doorstep of our accomodation on holiday at Center Parcs, Longleat. Here's a few pics. All of them (except the birds on nests, which were only a few paces away) were taken through the window of where we were staying.

And here's some video footage (shot with the Lumix):

The next post will have pics of birds which are far more interesting! But they were also captive/trained. We visited Longleat Zoo and the Hawk Conservancy Trust, so there's going to be a lot to include. There were a few wild birds to photograph too; there was a wild bird feed at the HCT which is meant to attract Grey Herons and Red Kites. Unfortunately none of the latter graced us with their presence...