Tuesday 14 April 2009

At last some pics!

A veritable plethora of pics from the local area over the holiday weekend. The safari has been busy without having to go very far and suffering the speed freaks with flat hats and blue rinse cauliflowers.

First up is Sweet Vernal Grass the first grass to flower in the spring and when ripe if chewed tastes strongly of American cream soda. Spit it out quick if you try it otherwise the taste will linger in the mouth for hours!








This is a better attempt at Primroses than a recent post, mostly due to the addition of a UV filter.



AAnother grass , this time Meadow Foxtail, the picture gives the name away. These grasses are left over from the old farm fields from well before the houses were built.



This little chappie is the Carrion Beetle Hister unicolor a first for Base Camp's garden. Not quite as exciting as the fly-over Goshawk less than an hour ealier. The Mite seems to be a common passenger looking at google images.


In the local park this Great Spotted Wooodpecker hole often resounds to the tap tap tap of the occupant beavering away inside.

The originator of the drilling pokes her head out for a quick look-see.

This is the first Great Spotted Woodpecker I have ever managed to photograph. Achieved by a gentle bash on the base of the tree.

These Mining Bees are digging away at in a neighbour's dry stone wall in her garden. No idea what species they are. Out with the family on Easter Sunday we found the scarce and very local sand dune species near Liverpool

Autumn is normally the time to find these Common Inkcaps Coprinus atrimentartius. These were going over on the side of the road on the way to the park earlier in the week. OK to eat provided you haven't been drinking alcohol in the last couple of days, not in this state though they need to be a bit fresher. Personally I wouldn't risk it...where's that single malt gone...?


Cowslips used to be so common in the UK almost every pasture field had them...sadly now they are rarely seen in the fields but plentiful on motorway embankments where they have been planted...but of what provenence and genotype are they? The name alledgedly comes from the fact there were so common and refers somewhat politely to cow sh*t!


A better UV filtered attempt at Lesser Celendine at Base Camp's garden.

And eventually we get to the last one. Me and Frank on the beach. Yes we've both been in the water. 11 centigrade; not that warm but you couldn't keep either of us out...not sure which of us enjoyed it most!
Frank did find the safari's first Sandwich Terns of the year.

Where to next? Weekend safari is in the pipeline, somewhere in land I hope.
In the meantime let us know what is springing forth in your outback.


1 comment:

Monika said...

So cool to see everything in the ecosystem from the mite on the beetle to the grasses to the woodpecker. Great story about getting her to peak out!