Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Not often you see one still, this one on our wall this afternoon looks completely different when in flight you could almost describe this as drab but transforms when flying.

More Tree Bumblebees

I keep coming across Tree Bumblebees wherever I go - this nest is in Alkborough village and I have also seen them in 2 gardens in Ashby and Scunthorpe and of course they are numerous in our Normanby garden.
Down on Alkborough Flats yesterday were 14 Little Egrets,  3 Spoonbills and another 5 Sandwich Terns dropped in but no sign of Friday's reported Great White Egret.  Also in our garden on Friday we had our first Hummingbird Hawkmoth of the season and 3 Long-Eared Bats chasing around the Birch at the bottom of the garden.

New patch tick....

At Alkborough this evening 6 Sandwich Terns sitting out in front of the hide with 5 Little Gulls for company.  Another heavy storm forecast for tonight so could be something good tomorrow......

Mother Shipton's Shawl

A lovely day time flying moth on the Trent bank at Alkborough this morning, also 5 Hairy Dragonflies and 6 Four-Spotted Chasers.  On the birding front very quite other than 4 Little Gulls, 1 Common Tern and a Spoonbill.

Bombus Hypnorum back in the garden

Otherwise known as Tree Bumblebee a small group of these brilliant little creatures were feeding on the Heucheras in the front garden yesterday.  I remember the first time I saw one of these in the garden last year and got very excited so to have a small colony yesterday was unbelievable as they have only been in the UK was a relatively short space of time and are making their way north.

London to Paris on a bike in three and a half days!

Well that’s what Wayne and my brother Mark have just done. The sensible ones ie me, Denise (my brother’s wife) and Charlotte (my niece) did it in a few hours courtesy of Eurostar! 

Monday 26th May 04.30

So from the beginning Wayne and Mark drove down from Lincolnshire with their bikes to Charlottes house in London where they left the car and started on their journey…

The first leg on paper was straight forward, to get to Newhaven to catch the ferry early the next morning to Dieppe - unfortunately it was torrential rain the whole 75 miles and took them the entire day arriving at the Travel Lodge in Newhaven around 9pm. 

A rest on top of the North Downs in a brief respite from the rain

Tuesday 27th May 10.00

Leaving Newhaven harbour on the ferry to Dieppe, still raining…

A view of a typical french chateaux on the Avenue Verte - the Avenue being a long distance cycle route from Dieppe to Paris which follows a disused railway line for part of its route. On the first leg in France they covered 34 miles after leaving Dieppe.

Wednesday 28th May

Our second day in France passed through picturesque rural villages including St Germerde-fly  which was dominated by this large Benedictine Abbey - 50 miles were covered on this day.

 

Thursday 28th May - final leg to Paris covering a further 50 miles and our first view of the River Seine.

Cycle route through forest close to out skirt of Paris

Finally our first view of the Eifel Tower..

Cycling up to the Eifel Tower

So approximately 200 miles later and the journey end at the Eifel Tower, then after a quick photo stop it was back on the bikes heading to the Gare Du Nord station to put the bikes on the Eurostar to be picked up two days later back at Kings Cross in London.  Which coincided with our arrival on the Eurostar for a couple of days in Paris..

The next two days involved a lot of eating and drinking of your typical french fayre….

and interspersed with a little sightseeing…

The Sacre Coeur

The Louvre

A very rare photo of the two of us on the banks of the River Seine

Had to end on a Patisserie Shop, they were everywhere…..

If you are inspired to do the same we recommend getting a copy of Avenue Verte, London to Paris by Bike an invaluable guide.