Black velvet?

The safari can feel the nectar that is Guinness and champagne slipping silkily past the tonsils...mmm exquisite. However it is not one of the world's best drinks we are concerned about here. Some lucky so-n-so had MY Velvet Scoter today flying north from North Shore i.e. going the WRONG way! I was watching, briefly again, from South Shore where I could only manage the same Common Scoters as yesterday, one or more could be an American Black Scoter but unless I had one in the hand I don't think I'd ever tell the difference, certainly not at 1/2 mile+ range bobbing about on a very choppy sea. Nothing else out there at all today unless you count a small flock of Oystercatchers and a single Sanderling scurrying around between the gulls on the beach - and none of them was a Slaty Backed Gull. Sadly no Tufted Puffins, Ancient Murrelets or Rhinoceros Auklets either as far as I could see.

Precious little else to report. Patch 1 - the park - was dead or at least hadn't yet woken up... Yesterday's Peregrine was still there on the water tower well before sun up. I could see it in the glow from the street lights sitting in exactly the same place we had seen it last night. A little later after a mooch around the park in the dark it had gone. Wasn't there tonight so has it moved on or will it be back?

What is it with Frank and Foxes? Last night we spotted our gingery friend as he calmly went about his business. I sat big Frank down and slowly crouched down beside him. A couple of minutes we sat there watching. Frank suddenly got it in his head that Foxy isn't for watching he's for chasing! Two huge deep barks made the poor Fox leg it for cover. Frank shot after him dragging me from crouch to sprawl in a millisecond, cracking my chin on the concrete in the process. I let go; he charged off with his lead rattling along at a merry rat-a-tat-tat on the track behind him. Then, knock me down with a feather - he did it AGAIN this morning. This time I'd didn't see the Fox until it was too late - by now the nobble on my humerus was practically wrenched from its socket in my shoulder blade. I dropped the lead and Frank was off. The big question is what would he do if he ever caught up with the poor unfortunate creature - lick it and give it a good sniffing probably.

Where to next? A wildlife safari perhaps even with pictures tomorrow...Wow that'll make a refreshing change.

In the meantime let us know what's chasing who or who's chasing what in your outback.