Ramnath Kamat

Hesaraghatta Lake is a manmade reservoir located 18 km to the north-west of Bengaluru in Karnataka state, India. It is a fresh water lake created in the year 1894 across the Arkavathy River to meet the drinking water needs of the city. The lake is approachable by road from Bangalore at a distance of 26.5 km to the north-west of the City.  However now only remains of the lake remain as the lake was last filled completely about 15 years back. This has caused a vast area of grassland which has attracted wide variety of birds. Over the weekends, these grasslands have become popular among bird watchers.

This was my second visit to the lake in last 2 years. So I have combined the images from both trips. Have a look and enjoy :)

The Indian Silverbill

Nandi Hills or Nandidurg (Anglicised forms include Nandidrug and Nandydroog) is an ancient hill fortress in southern India, in the Chikkaballapur districtof Karnataka state. It is 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bengaluru. The hills are nestled near the town of Nandi. The hills are the origin of the Arkavathy river, where you can find a small  pond even today.

The long pending ride to the Nandi Hills was planned on Friday after Hari stepping into the shoes of Kinshuk. We planned to take our bikes in Airport Volvo bus to save energy to climb up the hill. The first Volvo starts at 3am from Electronic city to the Airport. We had to catch the bus at KR Puram.

We started at 3am from Hope farm. Cycled 10 kms to KR Puram, we were there by 3:30am. Bus came to KR Puram at 4. Bus driver agreed for carrying the bike in bus but told us he will charge 100Rs per bike.  We were expecting that but to our surprise he gave us ticket for the bike. Airport bus reached airport by 4:45am. We got down just before the airport and started cycling to Nandi Hills, which is 35 kms from the airport. Before the dawn broke we were at the foothills. To our surprise, there were many runners already lined up to run up the hill. Ofcourse, there was also the weekend crowd, thousands of bikes and cars but the gates were open so we didn't have to wait in a jam.

After having energy bars and drinks we started cycling uphill. Little we knew that its not going to be an easy piece of cake. There are about 40 curves, many of them being hairpin curves. They tested our endurance. We took rest but did not gave up. The runners cheered us up. By 8:30 we were at the top of the hill. And we were super hungry. We hogged masala dosas and idlis. And biked a little downhill to avoid the crowd and found a rock to rest.

After a quick power nap, we were recharged. Ready to ride back to the city. The downhill was indeed a piece of cake. And we biked easily till Devanhalli to be halted by a flat tyre. Yeah! Kite's first breakdown. The puncture shop was 4kms away. Chandrika as an angel came to rescue. I put my bike in her car and took to the puncture shop. After the fix, we visited the Devanhalli fort and had lunch at Chandrika's house and rode back to Bangalore via Hoskote route.

That's it. And if you have actually read the above story then care to ask for 2 toffees from me next time we meet :D

That's me

Nandi Hills as seen completely covered in clouds

Kite

Misty trees

Kite again

That's Hari

That's both of us with victory smile

Time for a power nap

They need rest too

Devanhalli fort

That's Hari coming out of Devanhalli fort

Route:


Total kms cycled: 115

Beware of: 
1. Dogs in your area because apparently you look like an alien to them in your cycling attire.
2. Animals who escaped zoos and somehow managed to ride a motorbike to Nandihills
3. Animals again who are driving cars to Nandihills.
4. Dehydration. Drink lot of water

Get inspired by:
1. Runners, who are running uphill early in the morning
2. Misty trees which have secrets to tell.
3. Masala dosas at the hilltop. [Yeah, surprisingly it was good].


Ramnath's happiness Index- 6/10.

In this blog I tried to capture some of the birds at Agara lake. I had visited Agara lake once but planning to visit it again sometime in future.
All photos were taken with Canon 550D and EF 55-250mm lens. The clarity of the pictures are not that great.



The black kite (Milvus migrans) is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae, although some populations have experienced dramatic declines or fluctuations.^[2] Current global population estimates run up to 6 million individuals.^[3] Unlike others of the group, black kites are opportunistic hunters and are more likely to scavenge. They spend a lot of time soaring and gliding in thermals in search of food. Their angled wing and distinctive forked tail make them easy to identify. This kite is widely distributed through the temperate and tropical parts of Eurasia and parts of Australasia and Oceania, with the temperate region populations tending to be migratory. Several subspecies are recognized and formerly had their own English names. The European populations are small, but the South Asian population is very large.





An egret /ˈiːɡrət/ is a bird that is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season.


The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most ofNorth America and Central America as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores, England and the Netherlands. An all-white population found only in the Caribbean and southern Florida was once treated as a separate species and known as the great white heron.