@IWRATS I too found myself attempting not to breathe in clouds of flies this morning from around the Calder Road bridge until I left the towpath at Hermiston House Road, at which point I realised that my green top was covered with them. They appeared to be something along the lines of the aphids that Amir was reporting in East Lothian...
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
(7221 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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I came home from a nice cycle on Saturday covered in flies...
Posted 10 years ago # -
We had to move the climbing frame in the garden yesterday to cut the grass. There were several cobwebs on it which were covered with small flies - looked more like greenfly than midges sadly. Good times for the spiders...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Spotted plenty of egrets in east Anglia, lovely birds. Must check them out at aberlady for sure
Posted 10 years ago # -
I came home from the canal this evening covered in flies. Most seemed to be aphids, but when I stopped on the aqueduct, the railings were covered in big flying ants too.
I luckily avoided any in my mouth or nose. Something quite big pinged off my glasses at one point.
Posted 10 years ago # -
On towpath but then went up the WoL path, no flies. Was late and nearly dark. Many, many joggers near town but deserted beyond aqueduct.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I got home last night and promptly joined my family at the dinner table. It was only when I was almost finished eating that several flies appeared on my plate. Further investigation revealed more on my forehead waiting to drop off.
I guess I'll never know how many hid themselves in the rice as I ate.
Posted 10 years ago # -
You're not supposed to eat the wildlife!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Are the flocks of geese still at Aberlady? If so then I will head out there after work this evening. I missed them by a few days last year.
Posted 10 years ago # -
They should be there in large numbers for a few weeks and then the numbers subside as they disperse
Posted 10 years ago # -
Swallowed a fair number of winged insects yesterday and today along the towpath. Hoping for the wind to get up and disperse them!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Don't worry - autumn is on the way
Posted 10 years ago # -
I kept my head down to avoid swallowing the insects, but as a result they did congregate on my bonce under my helmet. I could feel them flailing their little legs around on my sweaty scalp. It was most unpleasant and I long for the horizontal supercooled rain that January will bring.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Had a collision with a wasp on the way home. It wedged itself between my face and the helmet strap, got in a good number of stings before being batted off. All in about 2 seconds.
Last time I got stung by a wasp (c. 14 years ago) it got stuck between the rubber neck of a canoeing jacket and the skin neck of me and again stung multiple times before freeing itself. Perhaps I should give up on activity-specific apparel, it's clearly a sting hazard.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@kaputnik
If you ever get the chance to have an angry wasp trapped inside a full-face motorcycle helmet I suggest that you turn it down.
Madame IWRATS once got the chance to observe me trying to beat such a wasp to death whilst riding on a high-speed dual carriageway. Given that motorcycle helmets are specifically designed not to transmit impacts this is quite difficult to do. She thought I was annoyed at myself for a navigational blunder.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@IWRATS having had the "bee in a cycling helmet" experience, I'll give the "wasp in a motorcycling helmet" one a miss, thank you. Sounds scary.
I came along to report a big flock of noisy birds on Harperigg Reservoir.
(I thought I'd seen a fox last week, while running. It turned out to be a large ginger cat...)
Posted 10 years ago # -
A dead "vole" (actually, let's face it, it was a rat) stretched out across the towpath near Bridge 10A this morning.
It looked pretty plump and fresh, and the highlight of the day was definitely going to be for the crowd of corvids who were gathered around it until I arrived. They were obviously looking forward to a large breakfast...
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Greenroofer
The giant scaly-tailed water vole was still dead and still fresh at 09h10. All game should be hung for a while to get maximum flavour and tenderness and the crows surely know this.
Do you think it's dogs or cyclists that kill the rats?
Posted 10 years ago # -
@IWRATS As I write I'm sure that the evidence for the culprit in this death is disappearing fast, notwithstanding your advice that it be left to hang for a while. All the recent dead 'voles' I've seen have all seemed quite undamaged, suggesting that perhaps they are being poisoned somewhere...
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Greenroofer
I thought I saw blood about its mouth, but I did not linger to investigate. Pretty sure I heard the corvids talking. In behint yon auld fail dyke I wot there lies a new-slain rat...
Death of Rats also doubtless involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(Discworld)#The_Death_of_Rats
Posted 10 years ago # -
I am pretty sure that today's rodent fatality was caused by a cyclist; when I passed it at around 9am it appeared to have a decidedly bicycle tyre width depression in its otherwise quite magnificently vibrant abdomen... SQUEAK.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@jdanielp
I really dislike the idea of having an angry injured rat stuck in my bicycle. Perhaps we should all have a Jack Russell trot ahead of us on the towpath, in the same way that Dalmatians used to run alongside the coaches of noblemen in bandit territory?
Posted 10 years ago # -
@IWRATS hmm, I'm not sure that I like the idea of adding to the number of the animals on the towpath, albeit more working as opposed to leisure dogs, however, the idea seems like a good one; given that rats apparently have a keen sense of smell, perhaps all we each need to have is a bag of pungent Jack Russell hair?
Posted 10 years ago # -
@jdanielp
How about a Harris Hawk on the handlebars? I know a guy who knows a guy who hunts rabbits with one on the bars of his dirt bike. They're naturally sociable and think dead rats are a treat.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@IWRATS sounds ideal, but are they mountable upside-down?
Posted 10 years ago # -
@jdanielp
The prospect of seeing anyone with a gigantic carnivorous Harris Bat hanging from their handlebars is a bit too Island of Doctor Moreau for my tastes.
USD Riser Bar Guy is still refusing twice daily greetings. He doubtless has me down as Upside Down Social Priorities Guy.
Posted 10 years ago # -
More talk of re-introducing Lynx and other big beasties to Scotland.
I think it is a terrible idea. We can't even have a few birds without people murdering them. You would just be giving a death sentence to these poor Lynx. :-(
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Min
It's hard to argue with your pessimism on this subject given the precedents, but there is a glimmer of hope. The eurasian lynx seems to prefer roe deer above all else, and these animals are actually getting to the point where they are a pest on shooting estates. They spend their own money keeping the population down so that the quality of the deer increases for the hunt.
The crofter on whose land I occasionally take rabbits and hares has invited me to acquire a large calibre rifle and clear the roe deer. He'd welcome the lynx, as would the surrounding shooting estate, which is nonetheless well known for shooting anything with a hooked beak.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Does he/she keep sheep? The article says they don't cause much risk to sheep but when did that ever stop anyone?
(I rather like the idea of shooting estates manically shooting deer - so that people can come and shoot deer. Funny old world. Picking off the weak ones via raptor doesn't seem to work with grouse?)
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Min
Sheep...he most certainly does keep sheep.
There seems to be a difference in grouse vs deer in that for grouse you just want numbers and for deer you want quality and also you don't want them eating your crops/flower beds/hanging baskets.
Gamekeepers are mental frankly. They shoot buzzards that would be quite happy stuffing their fat faces with roadkill and earthworms.
Posted 10 years ago #
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