Two first times on Saturday involving three birds!!!!!

[The Essex Spurs]

Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen Saturday was special!!!!
Walking along the towpath on the Chelmer Canal at Heybridge and a man spoke to me and said that there was a Cuckoo at the top of a tree.I had never seen one before and didn't realise how big they were.
Only minutes later I witnessed a right spectacle as in broad daylight two Swans were at it and what a violent affair that is with the male trying his danmdest to drown his poor wife!!!!
Still have never seen a badger alive though so maybe that's next!!!

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen Saturday was special!!!!
Walking along the towpath on the Chelmer Canal at Heybridge and a man spoke to me and said that there was a Cuckoo at the top of a tree.I had never seen one before and didn't realise how big they were.
Only minutes later I witnessed a right spectacle as in broad daylight two Swans were at it and what a violent affair that is with the male trying his danmdest to drown his poor wife!!!!
Still have never seen a badger alive though so maybe that's next!!!

I'd been looking out for a live badger for yonks on my rides out in the countryside. Ended up seeing one round the corner from our house,, middle of a housing estate in Leicester

 

[tribanjules]

Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen Saturday was special!!!!
Walking along the towpath on the Chelmer Canal at Heybridge and a man spoke to me and said that there was a Cuckoo at the top of a tree.I had never seen one before and didn't realise how big they were.
Only minutes later I witnessed a right spectacle as in broad daylight two Swans were at it and what a violent affair that is with the male trying his danmdest to drown his poor wife!!!!
Still have never seen a badger alive though so maybe that's next!!!

 

[The Essex Spurs]

I'd been looking out for a live badger for yonks on my rides out in the countryside. Ended up seeing one round the corner from our house,, middle of a housing estate in Leicester

Oh thanks for that!!!! I'd love to see one.

 

[steveindenmark]

The first time I saw a badger live, I was riding to work very early in the morning on my recumbent trike . At first I thought it was a dog running alongside of me and then realised it was a badger. It followed me for about 50m and then dived back into the bushes.I see a badger at least once aweek on the way to work. Always on the same stretch of road I saw my first badger.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Plenty of badgers around here but they are quick buggers, you only see them for a second.

I originally read the thread title as "Two times on Saturday involving three birds" and thought you'd had a wild Saturday night on the tiles.

 

[nickyboy]

I'm sick of the sight of farking badgers. Always in the garden digging up the lawn. I think 5 is the most I've seen at once

You can have mine if you like. In fact, I'll personally deliver them to you. All I need is a humane badger trap, like those mouse traps, only bigger

 

[nickyboy]

Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen Saturday was special!!!!
Walking along the towpath on the Chelmer Canal at Heybridge and a man spoke to me and said that there was a Cuckoo at the top of a tree.I had never seen one before and didn't realise how big they were.
Only minutes later I witnessed a right spectacle as in broad daylight two Swans were at it and what a violent affair that is with the male trying his danmdest to drown his poor wife!!!!
Still have never seen a badger alive though so maybe that's next!!!

You sure the swans were male and female?

Other than "overenthusiastic" mating it seems a bit unlikely. Two male? Definitely, Mute Swans are highly territorial and males can have extremely violent clashes

 

[ufkacbln]

Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen Saturday was special!!!!
Walking along the towpath on the Chelmer Canal at Heybridge and a man spoke to me and said that there was a Cuckoo at the top of a tree.I had never seen one before and didn't realise how big they were.
Only minutes later I witnessed a right spectacle as in broad daylight two Swans were at it and what a violent affair that is with the male trying his danmdest to drown his poor wife!!!!
Still have never seen a badger alive though so maybe that's next!!!

I used to have an early start (05:30) and cycled along the old Railway Path in Gosport

There used to be an old Badger who would sit by the side of the track, watching the world go by his territory

 

[gbb]

Lovely sights, I've been wondering about cuckoos, not heard any yet this spring.
Last one I saw was not surprisingly near water, lakes surrounded by trees, I suspect perfect habitat for them. As it swooped across in front of me my first thought was sparrowhawk but of course the neck and head is distinctly un hawklike.

Badgers, seen a couple but one surprised me, lumbering along like a small bear across open fields early one morning, for a second I thought what the heck is that !!!

 

[Tin Pot]

I'm sick of the sight of farking badgers.

Not a voyeur then.

 

[raleighnut]

I too had never seen a Badger up close until a few years back, I was returning from a camping trip in Derbyshire with the trailer on the back of the bike and it was starting to get a bit dark so I stopped for a beer in Shepshed (at The Pied Bull if anyone knows it, great pub) to wait for it to get fully dark (as a sufferer of 'Twilight Myopia' myself I know a lot of drivers also struggle to see at dusk)
Anyway, after a couple of beers (or 4) I resumed my ride which is pretty easy from there, just up to Bradgate Park and then a quiet run past Groby Pool and a quick run through Glenfield to home but on Bensfield Rd.one of the big black 'n' white beggars ran straight in front of me, about 2 feet from my front wheel as I'm doing about 25 MPH (there is a downhill bit after the crossroads and before the climb up to the 'Old John' carpark)
I missed it but had to have a bit of a sit down for 10 minutes after that encounter.

 

[Milkfloat]

I have only seen two live badgers, one running down the middle of a residential street in Coventry at about 3am, the other for a fraction of a second as it lept out of a hedge directly into the front of my Sierra 20 odd years ago. Caused quite a bit of damage.

 

[The Essex Spurs]

You sure the swans were male and female?

Other than "overenthusiastic" mating it seems a bit unlikely. Two male? Definitely, Mute Swans are highly territorial and males can have extremely violent clashes

Judging by the way the back one was behaving they must have been gay!!!!!