First night ride last night (epic fun by the way – I’m converted). No sooner had I hit the woods than there was a badger running in front of me like a dolphin on a bow wave. I slowed down and he just stopped near me and just checked me out for a while before waddling off calmly. Cool experience. Got me thinking, what’s your best encounter with the natural world while out riding? (not sure if skinny dipping counts, but let’s not rule it out just yet).

Riding down Glen Strathfarrar after bagging four munros, I came round a corner and startled a herd of red deer. They started running in the same direction I was, parallel to the road, on both sides of it. It was like being caught in a stampede and the ground was literally shaking as we thundered along.

Watching eagles soaring above us during a lunch break riding on Harris is probably the most memorable. On the same trip we also rode miles along a deserted beach on South Uist. Wind at our backs, bright blue sky, seals and loads of birdlife all around when we stopped to make a brew. Magical.

Closer to home I had a very near miss with an airborne squirrel flitting across the trail the other day!

Out night riding locally on my tod, a fox ran out of the hedge next to me (a big bugger it was too!), ran alongside me for about twenty yards then disappeared off again.

I’ve also had an owl (another big bugger) swoop down over my shoulder.

There are all manner of unatural acts I’ve stumbled on in dark tracks through the woods at night. But I’d rather not talk about them

I ran over a squirrel on Sat in the woods…stupid thing just ran right under the front wheel. It ran off again though so i guess it was ok??

A few years ago, I was riding with some guys. They had a puncture, so being a bit slow, I thought I’d carry on and they’d soon catch up.

Then out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. There were 2 stoats running around a feeding trough. I calmly and quietly put down my bike and watched. Suddenly out of the old stone wall at the side of the trail ran 3 baby stoats. They ran all over the place and one even ran over my bike and played through the frame as it lay on the ground.

There was no one else to witness this and I had no camera,or even time to get one out.
Its always stayed as a special wildlife memory in my mind seeing the whole family playing.

Tearing down that fast bridleway that runs down into stonor at the weekend (40mph on the gps) a deer ran between me an my mate who was only 3 or 4 meters ahead.

Oh – that was close.

Two Badgers in Richmond park on the same night. One ran along side me as I rode along the track and I had to stop for the other as it was on the track. It didn’t seem to notice me at first even though my light was on it, after a few minutes it turned and looked at me and wandered off into the undergrowth.

First time I had seen live badgers.

Got chased by some pigs around my local trails last year in the dark, frightened the cr*p out of me at the time as all I heard was the squeling and noise – a deliverance momemt 😯 😯

I nearly hit a badger when i was out just now. But better still tonight a yorkshire terrier on the loose outside someone’s place bit me on the ankle: saved by ankly bits on specialized defroster boots. 😀

I was staying at a cottage at Inverinate and shortly after arriving went down to Eilean Donan Castle, late evening in late June. There were a couple of young otters playing on the shoreline – darting about, jumping over each other in very close proximity for several minutes. It was as good as anything I’ve ever seen on a wildlife film and led me to believe that this was a common occurrence. Since then I’ve only ever had short, distant glimpses. It’s always special to see an otter.
The only live badger I’ve seen was at Glentress, at the point that the blue route meets itself in it’s figure of eight. It was a very quick sighting and it seemed (contrary to my perception of languid badger nature) that it jumped across the track without touching it – much like a racehorse over a jump.
Once, popping out onto on a ridge on Skye, I exchanged glances at close quarters with a golden eagle. So much more satisfying than the hundreds of occasions of weighing up whether that vaguely large bird so far in the distance is an eagle or buzzard.

Wow, that wasn’t the post that that I thought I was going to make here tonight.

Seeing an otter for the first and only time this summer. Just in the sealoch we were walking alongside. Thats probably the most amazing

Found a big adder in the lammermuirs once – that was special

Watching sea eagles on Mull – very impressive

greasystain – Member
Tearing down that fast bridleway that runs down into stonor at the weekend (40mph on the gps) a deer ran between me an my mate who was only 3 or 4 meters ahead.

if thats the one from maidensgrove, then yes the world turned orange with white spots on a solo nightride when a Fallow dear jumped across the path at head height 😀

Not riding, but walking, in the Pyrenees.

Me and a friend took a wrong turning and ended up with me stuck on a tiny outcrop of rock, with a 500m sheer drop in front of me, separating us from the path we were aiming for. My friend carried on around the edge of the cliff, but we were clearly not going to go any further.

Heard a sort of rustling/whistling sound and a massive eagle just soared over me, no more than 20 feet away – so close I could hear the wind in its wings. Just swept majestically across the gorge.

I felt very put in my place.

Stopping to admire some elephants and fix a bike when out for our New Years Day ride, when the leader of our group started telling us to move it quicky. The elephants had taken a notice of us and were moving in front of the young one, getting ready to charge.

Set of sharpish

Best I have is that I was out on a road ride and was greeted by a friendly black lab who sniffed around my bike then trotted off merrily down the lane 😆

We have a raccoon under the house – perhaps less exciting…

I saw a juvenile Golden Eagle on the trail at Dalbeattie. It was perched on the remains of a tree 5 metres from me. Looked very unperturbed and calmly flew away once I started going for the camera slowly.

Kudu and bushbabies in the woods by the river on a night ride.

Riding through a damp patch next to a different river and realising it wasn’t water but elephant piss, quite fresh.

Quirrel: was that Mashatu?

A bear stole my Camelback.

Watching a very large praying mantis liquidise and devour a very large cricket in the hills above Cadaques, NE Spain. It was like Alien in 3D but scaled down somewhat.

Crested a bit of a hill and running towards me were two foxes. We all sort of stopped and looked at each other for a few seconds then they turned tail and ran off. Wonderful but bizarre moment.

We stayed at Yosemite last October and saw a bear. The ‘douche’ in the tent next to ours decided he knew better than ALL the rangers and kept his food in the tent. He wandered off for brekkie just before we did and we came back sooner…. his tent was now more closely resembling a pile of matchsticks and cloth – we legged it to the main reception desk to raise the alarm.

Went back to the tents to see a ranger on the situation already shooing away a massive bear into the woods, however the lure of several thousand kcals of salami was quite strong and she kept coming closer.

Anyway, it all calmed down and it was actually fine, they are soft as shite there.

What was scary was when she came back that night and brushed against our tent and sat outside breathing heavily.

Good experience.

Came across this adder in the summer – a big one too.

On a motorcycle the best thing I saw was in Nepal. Came round this bend, slowly, in the dark on an isolated road and a leopard walked right out in front of us. We stopped and the leopard stopped on the side of the road, about 8ft away and just looked at us for ages then slinked off into the undergrowth.

Wallaby in the New Forest.

Adders, Otters, and especially Eagles on numerous ocassions. Not technically on the trails of course but Killer Whales and Basking Sharks (Tiree) and Minke whales off the West coasts of Skye and Rum easily top all of these.

~

:o)

Like TJ, Adder climbing out of a rut in a landy track in the Lammermuirs.

Walking in the Olympics, Washington State, stopped for a breather on a rocky ridge and was buzzed by a humming bird, it hovered about for a minute then dipped it’s beak into the snow melt collecting on the top of my gaiters. It was then that I realised what had woken me up early that morning…I thought at the time it was a huge bee!

Walking up Gleann Taitneach came across a ennormous stoat chasing a mountian hare down the landy track towards us, they both stopped no more that 20ft from us. The hare shot up the hillside and the stoat followed after a second, it was still chasing it across the hillside determined to get it’s breakfast!

I ran over an adder last summer whilst riding through Grizedale. It was basking on some singletrack (not NFT) and I didn’t see it until the last minute. Slammed on the brakes and turned round and it was laying completely rigid and stretched out.

As there was a 2nd rider following a couple of minutes behind I ignored my own rule of “don’t poke poisonous/dangerous animals” by poking it with my front wheel to see if it was dead. It was very much alive and clearly very angry as it went to bite the wheel before heading into the bracken.

I did a little scared dance thing and ran 2 or 3 steps back up the track cos I’m brave.

I generally see quite a few deers, foxes, hares at Thetford. Last week we buzzed past a very suprised looking mouse sat on the trail, eyes reflecting the light from our lights.

Saw an adder curled up on the trail at Kirroughtree. Stopped and got a couple of snaps before he slid off into some undergrowth.

Had a badger run across our path at Thetford.

The best was on last weeks road ride. I was about 2 miles from home and riding along a dead straight bit of road. Noticed a shadow over my left shoulder, which turned out to be a barn owl. It was flying along the road, searching in the ditch (I guess) for prey – it was absolutely silent. I twisted my Lumicycle towards the ditch to try & light him up & he overook me, then flew level about 6 ft ahead of me, about 8-10ft to the left. I think he was using the light to peer into the ditch and get a better view. He flew alongside me for about 1/2 a mile before swooping across the front of me & into the field opposite. I was pretty gobsmacked.
Might take the camera there one evening to see if it’s a regular hunting ground…

Mr Badger regularly makes an apperance on the last trail of our Wed night ride. One mate has two confirmed ‘hits’ against him (unintentional of course :D), with people further down the line of riders recording him “still down”, “still down”, “up but wobbly” and finally “What Badger?”.

He’s also very kindly built a small set on a right turn which has been christened Badger berm, so a proficient trail builder aswell.

Of the other wildlife i’ve seen, being ‘swooped’ by a Owl was pretty cool and the Red Kites at Nant Y Arian are always great to watch.

My goal is to see an otter.

However last November I was riding home when I saw quite a few people standing next to the weir at our local river. I’d heard rumours of salmon coming back to the river, but to my amazment and astonishment, there they were. Mostly sea trout, but quite a few salmon. I’ll be riding down there as much as possible in the next few weeks, as after a decent rainful there should be a good viewing.

Also got hit on the side of my leg by a badger on a nightride. That horrid feeling of a living creature that felt large and hairy, striking you on a descent is not something I’d like to encounter again, it took a bit of control to keep the bike upright

heading off piste down some local woods I happened upon David Miliband being worn like a glove by David Cameron, I have still not yet quite recovered.