UFO revealed

The safari spotted an article in the local rag regarding Saturday night's 'orange glow'. Apparently it was a chinese lantern set off to celebrate someone's forthcoming round the world trip.

However, it does not explain the other strange lights in the sky recently one of which was going against the wind, was travelling slowly compared to conventional aircraft, had no navigation lights and suddenly took off to great height.

Nor does it explain Warren's sighting 250 miles south of here...who knows what is up there...and why do they only come out at night?

Did you see the revelations from the Russian navy's secret archives of flying things zooming from out of the depths of Lake Baikal...too much vodka on a boring posting or something real and bizarre?

No pictures of home grown frisbees on this one...sorry

Where to next? Probably not infinity and beyond...

In the meantime let us know what's been flying around unidentified in your outback.

Big bad blue tits?

A while ago the safari promised you some interesting bird behaviour. Well it has happened; I’ve got it on camera at long last. Had to wait until the nice person responsible refilled the feeder in question and then remember to take the camera. A bit tricky bit of photography as the feeder is under the trees, the morning light was dull, the birds are shy and have many ‘lookouts’ and you can’t really get close so the pics aren’t top quality but you’ll get the gist. Might try driving the Land Rover up close and using it as a hide to see if I can get closer. Nearly as tricky as a big bird trying to get its beak through a small hole on a wobbly feeder.

"Aim...leap...flap...hope"

"Ooooohhhh....got it...I've got a toe hold...I'm in!!!!" you can almost hear Johnny Morris doing the voices...showin my age now!

"Got it!"

"Where's the best bits?"

"YUM!"

Don’t know about you but this is the first I’ve come across Magpies acting like Blue Tits at feeders and I've seen alot of feeders and a lot off Magpies. Wonder if they'll be able to pass their new found skill on like Blue Tits did when they learned how to peck the tops of milk bottles left on the doorsteps...showing my age again!

They are getting pretty adept at it now. I’m sure the person filling the feeder was hoping for the smaller, prettier, birds to be attracted but this small copse of trees is called Magpie Wood (only by me) for good reason – at least 30 roost here every night, double that or more in winter. The chances of smaller birds getting a look in at the free food are slim to remote!
The Bumble Bees were just becoming active and still drowsy. I thought I’d captured the middle-leg-waving ‘you’re pissing me off so I’ll sting you if you come any closer’ behaviour but I totally missed it even with the camera on continuous shooting mode.However, on downloading the photos I noticed the Louse on the Bee’s shoulder. Scaled up it would be the size of a Guinea Pig, or something, similar on a person – not the sort of parasite I’d fancy carrying around all day.
Where to next? National Marine Week draws ever closer.
In the meantime let us know what’s hanging off your nuts in your outback.

NWDW - the final challenge

Well the final day dawns and I have forgotten to let you know of the best sightings for yesterday. A flock of seven Crossbills flew over Frank and myself on our early morning walk. A patch first for me and the red males looked fine and dandy in the moorning light. Later, after the Watch Frank and I were back in the park when we saw a Fox and ...a UFO! There have been several sightings of unexplained lights in the sky behaving unlike 'ordinary' aircraft.

The fine weather encouraged me to get the moth trap out. But the forecasters got it wrong and I leapt out of bed with a start to the sound of rain rattling on the windows. The trap was sodden but no drowned moths...more of them later.

So on with the watch. The weather had deteriorated as per usual and it was freezing. Very poor for the end of July.

There was nothing really to report, managed to get one of the Junior Rangers on to a couple of Sandwich Terns roosting on the beach before the tide came in. A distant Gannet and a small flock of even more distant Common Scoters was about the lot.

Apparently the best place to be is out to the south of the river at Formby Point. Only a few miles away but loads of seabirds.

We had to console ourselves by whatching the holiday makers trying to enjoy themselves on the Bunji-slingA cavalcade of Mods came by on their scooters, there were so many of them they took over five minutes to pass. The heady scent of 2-stroke fumes lingered over the prom for a good while after they had gone even with the strong onshore wind!
Good to see The stig is versatile, able to ride two wheels as well as four.

After all this excitement there was more to come. The Red arrows flew in from the north to refuel at the local airport as they often do...they even do this in formation. Then WOW a, by our standards at least, very large and dramatic tornado.

That was about it not a Cetacean in sight. But right at the death there in the semi distance bobbing about in the waves was a Grey Seal...at least it was a mammal. Back home it took a couple of hours to overcome the mild exposure from sitting out for over four hours. even with gloves on my fingers were blue.

Back to the moths. A Canary Shouldered Thorn was trying to hide in at the bottom of the trap...not very effectively.Scalloped Oaks are always welcome but not particularly frequent.
The pale form of Common Rustic is far less numerous than the brown/brick coloured morphs.

A new species for the garden in the form of a Dotted Clay...four of them in fact.
A teneral Blue Tailed Damselfly was caught in the kitchen window in an attempt to escape the worst of the weather after thinking it was safe to emerge in yesterday's sunshine.
Where to next, when I've thawed out? National Marine Week starts at the weekend so lots of beachy things to report on I hope.

In the meantime let us know what you've not seen in your watery outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch - day 8

At last some decent weather. 20 degrees plus, just a hint of wind and hardly a ripple on the sea. plenty of people helping look for our elusive target. Nothing - not a sniff...Didn't help when at high tide a couple of jet-skiers started wazzin around not far away and a tug boat brought in a rig to do some work on the site of the Riverdance shipwreck. all this marine activity probably put paid to any hope of seeing anything interesting. Out on the horizon there was absolutely nothing moving. So quiet was it that a single Cormorant hit the note book along with a fly by flock of Dunlin and a handful of Oystercatchers.

The fishermen spread all along the promenade caught nothing but seaweed and plastic bags.

The hills in the distance are the Lake District fells - so clear today you can almost see the sheep. Can't really believe it..a post with pics of rigs and boats not a wildlifey thing in sight. What will tomorrow bring...more good spotting conditions and something to spot would be nice.

In the meantime let us know how little you're seeing in your outback.
PS - no rain forecast...hooray...so the moth trap might well be set up at long last.

National Whale and Dolphin watch - day 7

A sunny day today and plenty of helpers. But still too windy. some of the other watchers around the UK have been getting some good stuff, Orcas, Humpbacks, several Minke Whales...all good stuff, but nothing as yet off our five miles of coastline. Belated news this afternoon of two Harbour Porpoises just up the coasdt during the hot spell. Well that was the last time the sea was calm enough to be able spot them.

Anything to report - just three Sandwich Terns, hardly going to get our blood racing.

Better luck tomorrow I hope. The wind is set to drop a little for our four hour afternoon marathon watch - let's hope so.

In the meantime let us know which Cetaceans haven't been seen in your outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch - day 6

Decidedly awful again. There is now a stiff south westerly but thankfully no rain today so I have started to dry out a bit in the breeze.

The heavy chop on the water would have made it almost impossible to see any Cetaceans if there were any to see. What's worse I got accosted by the talkative nutter - you know - the one you really hope doesn't sit next to you when they get on your bus. Hours he talked drivel at me - full family history - the works...

Very little to report, a couple of Sandwich Terns out in the bay, day six and these are the week's first...where are they all? A distant Common Scoter turned in to a female Eider as it drew nearer and best of all a fine male Kestrel. Being at the top of the cliff has its advantages - one being the only spray we got covered with was at the very top of the tide, the other was we were looking down on this splendid bird and got an excellent view of him from a somewhat unusual angle. But alas no pics again today.

Back at Base Camp I spotted a Potter Wasp wrangling a small green caterpillar ready to cart it underslung like a torpedo back to its nest...by far the best sighting of the day. Dashed in to get the camera...dashed out...gone!...shucks.

Forecast is still to be windy tomorrow; but ever hopefull we'll soldier on!

In the meantime let us know what's not being seen in your outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch – day 5

Back to normal – cold wet and windy! Squally, heavy showers, no visibility to speak of at times – I must be mad spending my dinner hour staring out to sea in those conditions. Anything out there today? Not really. The highlight was a Sea Slater, the marine/littoral equivalent of a Woodlouse, which was spotted by a hardy young boy who had rather optomistically come out to help look for Cetaceans. In fact the only things seen out over the sea wall were a flock of 16 Dunlins belting south and a humongously distant Gannet showing ‘washing powder’ dazzlingly white against the leaden grey clouds on the horizon. That was it! Apart from a handful of Gulls of course.
Forgot to mention the worst sighting yesterday was a yellow helium filled balloon floating out to sea on the wind – another Turtle killer will be drifting around in the currents by now.
Not only that, the Hedgehog we found when taking Frank for his final constitutional last night was found killed on the road this morning. That’s two in three days within 20m of each other. Both, I’m sure, could have been avoided as they were in an area of traffic calming speed humps and were naturally drivers need to go slow. I think we have a murderer in our midst. Evil sh*ts!!!
Where to next? Yet more NDWD tomorrow, only a four hour watch to endure, sorry - enjoy! You might even get a picture or two, there again if its rattling down with rain again you might not.
In the meantime let us know if there are any cetaceans are lurking in your outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch – day 4

Conditions were much better today…sort of. Persistent heavy drizzle meant wet optics, but a light offshore breeze meant no waves and the thick cloud meant no shadows; perfect viewing conditions; but the thick low cloud also reduced visibility to less than 1000 metres at times. All this means that any chance of a Storm Petrel has been well and truly scuppered!
A Grey Seal gave us the run(swim) around. It would pop up briefly then disappear for ages before reappearing miles away from its original location. We lost it for a good while, apparently it had come very close inshore because some anglers fishing a little way along the prom said they’d "almost been able to shake flippers with it!" There was a second one a long way to the south, about half way to Formby!
No sign of any Cetaceans or anything else for that matter, apart from three House Martins whizzing up and down along the face of the sea wall.

Is it just me or have these flying mini Orcas been in very short supply this summer.
Sorry no pics again today – if you want to see excellent Cetacean shots check out Monika’s blog, not from the UK though, more’s the pity.
Where to next? More NDWD tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know what Cetaceans are lurking in your outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch – day 3

A short lunch time watch today. Very little to report and far too windy to have any chance of seeing our Porpoises. The six Common Scoters are sat on the same patch of sea that they were yesterday morning but there is no sign of Neil the Seal, perhaps the large numbers of kite surfers racing through the surf has frightened him off.
A big bonus was two Little Gulls winging their way south not too far behind the surf. Other stuff included on the horizon distant single Manx Shearwater and a couple of Gannets.

More news tomorrow. If the wind keeps up a Storm Petrel please.
PS. the Yanks sent up a space shuttle from Florida the other day so wet and windy weather is very likely next week too. Summer what summer?
In the meantime let us know what’s frightening off the wildlife in your outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch – day 2

Yesterday’s best sighting was a Land Rover Discovery 3 with a very sleek and snazzy snorkel fitted, must be new on the market; not seen one before. That’s how good the wildlife watching was!
Today the weather was a little more promising with a lighter wind and the sea much calmer although still a little too choppy to see any Porpoises well.

But we ended up staring fruitlessly at an empty sea in the pouring rain. Eventually the rain stopped and people started to wander about and ask the usual questions; "surely it’s too cold for Dolphins", or the other favourite, " isn’t the water too dirty?" Neither are true with Bottle-nosed Dolphins being found in the, much colder than here, Moray Firth in NE Scotland and our water is cleaner now than it has been for the best part of 150 years. The persistent over-fishing might be more likely the reason we don’t see so many but the position of Blackpool right at the innermost point of Liverpool Bay doesn’t help much either and our very shallow water will keep out most of the larger species which would be longer than the water is deep!
A small flock of Common Scoters bobbed about in the middle distance to break the monotony.
Later in the morning we were joined by the youngsters from a Wildlife Watch group from out of town and they were lucky enough to see a Grey Seal bottling just behind the surf only a few yards away from some boys playing in the waves. Maybe the water wasn’t as cold as it looked. A distant flock of Common Scoters flew south along the horizon as did a Gannet and that was about it in the four hour watch! Thrilling…not.
The group then went rock pooling on the beach. Great fun as pots were filled with Brown Shrimps and the tiniest juvenile Green Shore Crabs I’ve ever seen, the smallest no more than a millimetre across. A juvenile Blennie looked like a miniscule Flying Fish with its overly large pectoral fins sticking out sideways. Further out on the beach we found a few Compass Jellyfish with their lovely rich brown markings.
Back home it was time to venture out to pastures new and see if there were any Salmon leaping at the falls about an hour’s drive north. But when we got there the roar of water immediately told us that the river was far too high.

Right enough getting down to the riverside we saw the water was torrenting through the falls.

The first bird we saw was a Dipper,

sorry about the pic quality it was pretty dark in the gorge, but this is my very first attempt at this species. Apart from a very brief Grey Wagtail, Dippers were the only birds we saw, four in total, probably a family. On the cantilevered walkway under the road bridge we came across a very interesting scat from a Mustelid, looked too much for a Stoat but no obvious fish scales so probably not Otter or American Mink, hmm Polecat? Pine Marten?? Whatever did it it had a few small stones in it – residue from the stomach contents of its prey? On the drive back down the motorway a dead animal on the hard shoulder looked very Polecatty unfortunately it is impossible to do a U-ey on the motorway to go back and check it out.
The wild flowers were nice with Hemp Agrimony just coming in to flower,

along with some Monkey Flower and Meadowsweet,

whose leaves smell like the pink Calamine Lotion when bruised.
This part of the rapids is known for its peculiar holes in the rock where hard pebbles have been washed around and around by the torrent wearing away the softer limestone.

Some of the holes go right through the rock!

Ever daring our Extreme Photographer is trying to get a shot looking UP through the hole!
The rock formations are impressive with spring water flowing from cracks all over the place.

A large old Oak tree can be seen growing precariously out of a crack in the strata. Worryingly this plastic bag was caught in the base of the tree by flood water. It is about 10 feet (3m) above the level of the river, that’s a lot of water!!!

Nearby the roadside verges were full of wildflowers. Not sure what species this Allium is as it’s not something I’ve seen for a long time.

Hardheads are common everywhere and a favourite of bees and butterflies, like Hogweed which is being visited by a Hoverfly for its nectar.

Never noticed those pink sticky up things on the flowers before, obviously wiping the face of nectaring insects with pollen – fascinating and another new thing learnt.

Where to next? More NDWD tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know what is in the pools in your outback.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch - Day 1

The safari took off to the sea side to start the annual National Whale and Dolphin Watch. Not a good start - the wind was up and the sea was rough. Looks like we were going to be flogging a dead (sea)horse (Not a Dead Sea Horse - ahh the Dead Sea; I have swum in it and can confirm it is as salty as they say). Worryingly I had been told of a dead Porpoise being washed up last week and other reports of it, or some more, one of which may have been a dead sheep? More of the sheep later - I may have found it. But dead Porpoises are not good news especially just before the national watch as we don't have many to start with.

The sea was rough, the Isle of Man boat went out and I could see the waves breaking high over the bow. Then I noticed a sailing yacht leaving Fleetwood...hardy souls, or should that be foolhardy. They were being tossed about like...well like a boat in a storm; which is exactly what they were. Ended up having great fun tacking up and down the coast with the spinaker flying.

As it turned out it was diabolical, thoughts of exposure entered my head with the knowledge that I was going to be stood there for four hours. A brief but very distant Gannet broke the monotony. Hardly a soul was about; a, because it was still quite early b, the weather was [suger lumps] and c, with the tide in there was nowhere for the dog walkers (aka bird scarers) to go...more on that later too. Eventually a man came past and had a word; apparently he was waiting for tractor training as part of his boat club duties..which he eventually got.

After driving down the slade and back up again he and his mate are now a fully fledged boat-launcher-with-a-tractor-ers.

As the tide dropped and the beach was starting to be revealed a nice flock of Turnstones dropped in just a little too distant for a good pic.

They didn't stay long, with the beach growing by the minute the dog walkers started to appear en-masse and their pooches soon began stalking/chasing this flock and it left probably to be disturbed somewhere else.

A pair of Great Black Backed Gulls were having fun on the wind - putting the wind up all the other gulls on the beach. No we weren't having an earthquake at the time!

Look at the beak/axe on that.

A few Lesser Black Backed Gulls came to see what goodies the receding tide had left behind. Some of them had recently fledged youngsters in tow. One of them was ringed with a Darvik ring but infuratingly it would omly stand still when it was up to its knees in water. When it did eventually rest on a sand bank guess what...yep..a dog almost immediately rushed at it and it did one in to the distance. The ring was black with yellow/dirty white lettering I think W(or N)L2Y but I could be miles out!

Note the smokey grey mantle of the Lessers compared to the black of the Greater pictured earlier.

I noticed a bloke and his girlfriend taking pictures of something just off the sea wall. Ever the curious one I just had to go and investigate. A long dead and strangely headless Grey Seal...what a smell...wish I hadn't prodded it with my boot! The blubber was breaking up in to a fringe of rotting strips...could this be the wool from the 'sheep'?

In the first picture you might be able to make out some lost fishing line but I'm pretty sure the carcass pre-dates that as it still has a fairly fresh lugworm bait on the hook. Happen a fisherman hooked in to it whilst reeling his tackle back in.

Seals have big claws!
But only little tails.

That was it, just another slightly less distant Gannet to report. Wind is forecast to remain strong and Pete over at Heysham Bird Observatory (see blog links on right) reckons we could be in for some Storm Petrels tomorrow or Monday - - ohh I hope so!!!

Watch over domestic duties beckon..the first is to take Frank out for his walk and so we set off with the camera in to the Butterfly Zone...(Warren prepare to eat yer heart out!) Nothing like a bit of friendly rivalry; and that was nothing like friendly rivalry. So Warren no offence mate but you have been getting some mighty fine butterfly pics recently. Edit- just had a thought about your snail dilema...your tap water might have a snail unfriendly additive in it and your rain water will be calcium carbonate therefore no snails.

The field is wet with all the recent downpours and Frank being a Labrador was quick to take full advantage of any puddle no matter how shallow. Look at that flying jowlly cheek on the right and those quality ears.

But the sun was shining and we soon tallied up over 50 Meadow Browns and about 25 Small Skippers. The latter are beginning to fade now, looking washed out and pale compared to their flashy orange/coppery bronze of last week. A small number of Large Whites were lazily flitting about the field. The second brood of Common Blues has also hatched in the last day or so.

But in the copse is where the real action is. Speckled Woods are appearing again although this individual looks like its been around for a long, long time, don't think I've ever seen such a faded and battered specimen before. We did see a couple of Holly Blues too.

Commas are always nice to see, big, bright and brash.

A rather large bee, looks like a White Tailed Bumble Bee, caught my eye resting, or cooled, high in the canopy of an Elm tree, somewhat unusual. Now here's the fluke. As I was getting a few shots off a little pale, bronzy butterfly flew past it and seemed to land in the leaves nearby. OOHHH interesting...and I had no binoculars. But I did manage to pick it out with my naked eye hanging underneath a leaf...how lucky was that!

AND at long last I got the picture I've been waiting for

Not brilliant so far but full size its fine by me! Just a shame that the twig is obscuring the white 'W' but you can just about make out the 'eye' and the tiny tail...will I better this pic this season?

Where to next? More NDWD news for you tomorrow and we have a group of kiddies coming to do some rock pooling once the tide has fallen. An interesting post coming up!

In the meantime let us know what's swimming about unseen in your outback.

BTW the TV programme I had to turn down has appeared. Wildest Dreams (BBC1 Wednesday 7.00pm) it is called and will probably be at www.bbc.co.uk/wildestdreams If only I was 30 years younger, footloose and fancy free - well mortgage and pension free. Will be interesting to see who the contestants are and how they get on?...I woulda won it...yeah right!

Never been there before

The safari has had the trip of a lifetime to...wait for it...the island with the heronry in the park lake...WOW.

Walked round the lake a thousand times, driven past the lake a million times, been on the lake a fair few times but I've never been on the island.

It's only a few square metres and has some largish trees, the Elms have died or are dying but the others are doing well. There are about 25 Herons nests. We discovered that there were nests in all the reasonably large trees except the Sycamores. It didn't matter if the trees were alive or dead although some of the Elms may well have been alive when the nests were started. The bare ground is the result of thousands of ducks and geese feet trampling any vegetation that dares to put a leaf up out of the soil.

I would have thought that it was a bit late in the season for there to be young still in the nest but something quite unpleasant narrowly missed us as we were standing under the tree. Looking up we saw movement through the twigs. Snapped a couple of photos against the sun and looking at them back at Base camp discovered there were two chicks in the nest.

It doesn't bode well for those chicks that don't take care in high winds.

I can almost see Archaeopteryx lying there. Only 145 million years to go.........

The island is home for refugees from the Mutant Ninja Turtles craze a few years ago. The demonic aliens are resonsible for all manner of nasty things from eating all the fish eggs - not true; there are loads of fry and small fish, the successfully breeding Great Crested Grebes prove that - chewing the feet off ducks - not true never seen a duck with no feet on the lake; there is a Woodpigeon with only one foot but that is because it got tangled in discarded fishing lne.

This large one has lost a scute, probably shed it rather than lost it in an accident. I never knew they could do that - you see you learn something everyday.

Where to next? Got a cunning plan for later in the day after my National Whale and Dolphin Watch duties at the weekend (see you there?)...still got that new, to me at least, bird behaviour to report on if I can get close enough for a photo.

In the meantime let us know what is ageing in your outback.

Time for a dip

Last night the 41st Blackpool Scouts descended on our pond armed to the teeth with pots and nets. Fortunately for them by the time they had arrived the torrential monsoon, thunder and lightening had just about finished – I have never seen a downpour like it in the five years we’ve been here. The rain coming off the roof missed the gutters by a good foot or more!
But the storm passed and the scouts eagerly got stuck in. They pulled out a tubfulls of snails, sticklebacks and other wriggly things.

In one of the pots ther was a bit of excitement as large male 3-spined Stickleback attacked and tried to cannibalise one of this year’s tiny fry.

It grabbed it amidships and seemed to be trying to turn it headfirst to be swallowed but the little fella wouldn’t go despite being killed, maybe it was those spines doing what they are supposed to do. The deceased fish, showing its erect spines and a bite sized chunk out of its belly, can be clearly seen in the top right of the photo. But what is most interesting about this tale is that in all my years of keeping sticklebacks in jars, tanks etc I have never seen them try to eat each other. Is this ‘normal’ behaviour, was it brought about by them being in the confined space, why pick on that particular one – it wasn’t the smallest in the pot?…Questions, questions, questions…wouldn’t life be boring if we’d seen everything and had all the answers. Any one ever seen this behaviour before?
Other stuff included a rather fat Diving Beetle that was far too agile to get its photo taken. Both front swimming and back swimming Water Boatmen were duly netted.

Snails included the Common Pond Snail, a lot of the small Bithynia snails and just three Keeled Ramshorn snails.
A Damselfly nymph was centre of attention until someone else copped for the exuvia of a Dragonfly to howls of terror and/or wonder.
After they had gone all was quiet in the garden and a Dunnock could be heard giving its autumn long ‘seeep’ call. Warren is right about autumn being just about with us.
And if anyone was wondering what on earth we were trying to photograph on our recent trip to Bowland (you probably weren’t) then take a look at Mike Watson’s header on his blog, a far superior effort than our brownish blobs in the very distant distance.
Where to next? Leading a Brownie pack looking for butterflies this evening…monsoons permitting.
In the meantime let us know how much of your outback has been washed away.

Pictures now added to yesterday's 'D' post

Howdy folks yesterday's post is now full of fabulous, fun filled photographs and some are even in focus.

Later dudes, got a load/gaggle/posse of boy-scouts to try to avoid getting struck by lightening...now who's hidden my fork???

Tales of Domestic Disaster and Dastardly Dutch Elm Disease

The safari is pig sick of the letter 'D' at the moment. Remember our Damaged Drain...well there's more. Now our Dishwasher has Decided to give up the ghost Due to a Dodgy capacitor and we Discovered a Damp patch on the floor by the front Door, (which is new but the Double glazing has been manufactured back to front with the lead lights on the inside and the frosted pane on the outside - how can they make a mistake like that?). The Damp turned out to be caused by an un-Detected Drip from the water stop-tap. Lifting the floor revealed wet rot in the joists which need to be replaced. As they were being Dismantled we Discovered Dry rot too...a further Disaster followed when our brand new friDge went on the blink. Oh, and one of our new gates has split a post in the hot, Dry weather and Dropped on its hinge. Doesn't pose any problems to Extreme Photographer come Extreme Demolition expert/joiner, Raf.

Not having much luck at the moment so if anyone has any to spare please, please, please pass some over to the safari.

So what Does all this alliteration have to Do with Dutch Elm Disease. Well our local patch, the park, is on Devonshire Road and is home to the increasingly scarce White Letter Hairstreak butterfly whose caterpillars feed on Elm trees and Elm trees are the favourite food of the Elm Bark Beetle which carries the Deady Dutch Elm Disease, a fungus that clogs the trees water transport system which eventually kills the tree.


The park has been under attack for some years as can be seen from these galleries of the beetle on a long Dead tree and the stumps of felled victims, but this year there seems to have been a particularly virulent outbreak. Dead and Diseased branches are showing bare amongst the summer foliage of the other unaffected species. The trouble is the WLH caterpillars only feed on Elms so this tiny population could be Doomed.

I Did manage to get a photo of one...not the best shot in the world but it was one - honest! Well it was a long way up and in to the light and sort of facing me...lucky to find it really let alone photograph it. Its onlt ther size of your thumbnail.

I remember the first one I ever saw. It was in a Different local park and I was giving a guided walk to a group of Disabled children. One of them called out he had caught a butterfly from his wheelchair. I was showing others in the group a Meadow Brown and assumed he had caught another - Rule One: Never Assume Nuthin'!!!! - He was calling me over quite excitedly as he knew he had Done well but when I got to him...YIKES WOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW WOULD YA LOOK AT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to remember this is a species that normally spends most of its Days feeding on honeyDew (aphid poo - yummy) at the top of tall trees and this young chap caught it only a couple of feet off the ground. Some feat.

Back at the park there are some young Elms which are small enough to escape the attentions of the beetles but might also be too small to flower so are no use to the WLHs either. There are also a couple of Small Leaved Elms which have haven't been attacked (yet?), perhaps they are distasteful to the beetles, it was on this tree I got the shot.

Also got the Banded Snail 'Double', Black Lipped and White Lipped. The large Buddliea (Butterfly Bush - Buddliea davidii - getting very tenous, or Dubious now!)) is in full flower and played host to a fairly fresh Painted Lady. Nearby was the Great Spotted Woodpecker's nest - they won't be in it next year as those Dang Grey Squirrels have totally Destroyed it. Did see something new today - the Display of Small Skipper butterflies which buzz their wings at each other like moths Desparate to warm up and escape from photgraphers Do. I never knew that! Talking of moths I looked Down for no good reason and spotted this Large Yellow Underwing 'Dancing' (couldn't find a more Descriptive 'D') on my boot. Did I mention the Duo of Common Darter Dragonflies?

Bizarrely Pete (why can't his name have been Dave or Don or Dan?) at Birds2Blog has featured Common Mallow and Black Tipped Soldier Beetles on his posts, must be common round our way at the moment cos I got em too, without realising he'd already snapped em.

Enough of the 'D' nonesense; where to next? Got some more guided walks to Do this week and then next weekend it's National Whale and Dolphin Watch During which I will be found staring at an empty sea in Dreadful weather - hopefully not! Also got some bizarre, tricky bird behaviour to show you if I can get it on film (can Digital be Described as film?) - something I've never seen before anyway.
In the meantime let us know what has been seen in your outback this week.
(Pictures will be aDDed tomorrow cos this Dumb-ass Donkey of a computer Doesn't recognise my camera) Another thing - why am I inside typing away when there is lovely sunshine outside and the wind has Dropped a bit????????? Better get out and try for some better WLH shots

In praise of privet

The safari with Frank in tow passes a superb Privet hedge several times everyday.

This is the 'normal' introduced Japanese species rather than the native species but in this instance it matters not.

There are literally thousands of miles of this stuff planted up and down the country. Only rarely are they allowed to grow tall and flower. In my last home my next door neighbour was always berating me for allowing my half of the hedge to grow rampant and not be kept clipped and 'tidy'. Tidy is an outdated Victorian concept of the human 'domination' of nature - there is no need for it anymore we need to cut the apron strings from our 'illustrious' past and soon.

This particular hedge was alive with moths at dusk a couple of evenings ago and this morning was full of bees. I dare say with a bit of sunshine at mid-day there would have been a sack full of butterflies too...but I'm not there at that time of day to check it out.

So for anyone out there in blogland with a privet hedge, or any other hedge for that matter have a rest, take it easy, relax, chill out, leave the clippers in the shed and sit down and enjoy the wildlife that uses your pride and joy instead...it's far more fun and much less hard work.

As for me due to all the recent overnight rain I've not been able to get the moth trap out very often so I think I put on a thick skin and wave a net around on the main road hoping to ignore the vacuous comments from the drivers passing by.

Today's rant is now over and I'm looking forward to a safari tomorrow - windy but not windy enough for Storm Petrels.

In the meantime let your outback be and leave your clippers to go rusty in the shed.

Just around the corner

The safari is lucky enough to have a rather splendiferous butterfly site literally just around the corner. Nothing special but on a good day shed loads. The field used to be where the parks department cut turf for the sports fields and hasn't been fertilised or anything for years, so is effectively a couple of acres of unimproved grassland right in the heart of town. Because of its history for turf it is a little lacking in wildflowers and thus nectaring opportunities slightly reducing the numbers and variety of butterflies. But today there were plenty about in the warm humid conditions and because there was no sun they were slow enough to photograph.

Here we have a mating pair of Small Skippers - thankfully no Essex Skippers here yet to confuse the issue...give it a few years!) . They are on one of my favourite grasses, Timothy - what a great name for a grass. Love that purple colour of the flowers - beautiful.

This is the male with the little black scent brands, wonder what that aftershave smells like?

Another male this time by Extreme Photographer, Raf.

This is another of Raf's, but this time a female Large Skipper. Not that they are actually any bigger than the Small Skippers. Well there might be a millimetre or two in it.

Through the paper thin wings you can see the chequered pattern of the upperside.

My effort at a male Large Skipper. Again note the black stripe of the sex brand. Obviously a different flavour of aftershave otherwise there would be lots of mix-ups.
Total counts were impressive; over 150 Meadow Browns but not a single photo - how did that happen? Nearly 100 Skippers of both species and including the ones to quick to be identified. Four nice and fresh Small Tortoiseshells was a good find as there is some serious concern that their numbers have been serious reduced by an introduced parasitoid fly.

In addition to the butterflies the migrant moth Silver Y was present in decent numbers. Although this one is in warming-up the muscles buzzing mode you can still see why (no pun intended) it is called Silver Y.
A small number of Burnet moths were also on the wing, but we didn't get close enough to discover if they were 6-spots or Narrow Bordered 5-spots. There were obviously more to hatch as this cocoon proved.
One of the Burnets was attacked by this Emperor dragonfly in mid air. They may well be distasteful as the dragonfly dropped it and allowed it to fly off to where-ever it was going.The dragonfly promptly did a circuit of its territory and then disappeared. Amazingly Raf found it laid up in the grass on his transect - almost trod on it!
The supporting cast included interesting species like this grass bug, you can tell by its small wing cases it is not quite a full adult. Not sure of the species.

This Yellow Dung Fly is another of my favourites - don't ask me why cos I have absolutely no idea, I just like em despite what they eat! Crackin' pic by our Extreme Photographer.

The warm, moist weather was great for insect but also brought out a few amphibians too. This Frog is either diseased or injured, hard to tell which although the later would be preferable.
Wouldn't mind putting some mammal traps (Elliot or Longworth - not old fashioned mouse!) out to find out what mammals are living in the area. Occasionally we see Kestrels but they could be after something as mundane as beetles or worms.

Rain stopped play on the butterfly survey front and soaked by a downpour we walked home. As soon as we got back to Base Camp the sun came back out, how annoying is that. But the little rest and a nice cup of tea and a bun in the garden had us looking around to see what there was. Good numbers of Blue Tailed Damselflies over the pond, and plenty of Red Tailed, and White Tailed Bumble Bees. This Hoverfly is doing a good sneaky impersonation of a WTBB. (Sorry I got lazy and couldn't BEE bothered spelling it out again!)

Nearby lurking in the Gladioli was this rather stunning little Spider.

After the rain had stopped we got back out to finish the butterfly survey but unfortunately there wasn't enough prolonged sunshine to see if the local speciality the White Letter Hairstreak was on the wing...and now the forecast has gone rotten for the coming week....dohhhhh. But walking through one of the smaller areas of longer grass was like being in butterfly heaven as myself and Frank ambled through the long grass there were butterflies popping up in front of us like there was no tomorrow, possibly nearly 50 in the air at any one time right under our noses...simply wonderful and a spectacle I will remember for a very, very long time, so much so that anyone passing nearby might have thought I was some sort of nutter talking to myself but actually I was telling Frank how fantastic the sight was!

Sun will have to come out soon though and when it does we'll be surveying those butterflies again.

Where to next? Could be anywhere this week, depends somewhat on the weather..a good blow would be nice to bring in some Storm Petrels - one of the few British breeding Birds I've somehow successfully avoided seeing so far.

In the meantime please let us know how many butterflies you have seen in your outback this week.

PS Watched a documentary about the 'Best Job in the World' - you know that island thingy on the Barrier Reef in Queensland - the other day...I very nearly put an application in for that but it looked to good to be true. Have to keep up with the winners blog and see what I missed out on!
Still no news of that TV programme I had to turn down - wonder what has happened to it....having said that it'll appear in the TV mags next week I bet...looking forward to it anyway!

While we're on the subject of dolphins

This week as people look forward to their summer holidays some of them will be hoping to swim with captive dolphins - - PLEASE DON'T

World Week of Action for Captive Dolphins
01 - 07 Jul 2009
World Day of Action for Captive Dolphins (4 July)

Don't let your dream holiday become part of a dolphin's nightmare.
A week of action to highlight the suffering of dolphins and whales in captivity.
Cetacea Defence came up with the concept of organising a World Day of Action for Captive Dolphins (4 July) in 1992, and the following year the last dolphinarium in the UK closed down. However, many British tourists still visit whale and dolphins shows while on holiday abroad and, in addition to supporting campaigns in countries where dolphinariums exist, Cetacea Defence is encouraging people to act as 'compassionate travellers' and avoid funding animal cruelty while on holiday.
Behind the dolphin's 'smile' lies a world of horror. Most dolphins in captive shows have been taken from the wild, ripped from their families, often as part of the notorious 'dolphin drives' where some dolphins are killed for their flesh and others sold live to zoos.
Once in captivity, the dolphin's whole life is reduced to performing in concrete tanks that prevent them from communicating or diving properly.The opportunity to swim with dolphins in captivity causes even greater risks to the animals as well as to people.
World Day for Captive Dolphins is on July 4th each year - find out more here.To learn about the cruelties of dolphinariums and swimming with captive dolphins, see Marine Connection's informative website.

Sir David Attenborough once said, "It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living."

Lets try not to reduce our appreciation of the natural world to a few lonely, captive individuals in an artificial environment, or worse; pictures in history books.

Right political rant over, the safari is off out to survey the local butterfly populations before it starts raining again and hopefullly before the Horse Flies (aka Cleggs - Tabanidae) have got hungry!!!!!!!

In the meantime let us know what's biting in your outback.

The wanderer returns

Well the safari has returned to civilisation if you can call traffic jams, mobile phones and emergency services’ sirens civilisation.
Our remote location in a deep wooded valley in the heart of South Wales lacked all these…it was a hidden piece of tranquil heaven. Apart from the loudest Song Thrushes I have ever heard that is! The entrance gate is about a 5 minute drive from the cottage along a narrow woodland track.

The alternative way in involves a steep overgrown decent and crossing a narrow ford.
Putting out a crayfish trap overnight in the stream at various points either side of the ford revealed no crayfish. We were hoping for the native White Clawed Crayfish and not the dastardly North American invader, Signal Crayfish (which, had they been found, would have ended up on the BBQ) but could only find young Brown Trout despite a variety of tasty baits being offered.
What about the Red Kites?...missed them! Saw plenty on the drive down through the Cambrian Mountains, more numerous now than Buzzards which are more common than Kestrels, how times have changed! But the only one I spotted whilst not driving I missed taking a picture of as I was waiting for a Spotted Flycatcher to visit its nest site. Snap and be damned; there won’t always be another one soon.
The Spot Fly itself was a nightmare. First photo of the trip, through an old and dirty pane of glass but at close range. It took another couple of days to get another half decent shot, not through the glass this time but at a greater distance. I think the first shot is actually the best.
We had a few trips out. The first to Pendine Sands, home of the land speed record for many years where Donald Campbell broke the 150mph mark 84 years ago in July 1925 (a record that would only last a few months being broken at Southport, just over the river on the safari’s South Side). Frank was never going to break any speed records as he lumbered after his ball through the thousands of Lugworm casts.
A lone, but rather large jellyfish, turned out to be an Octopus Jelly, a species I’ve never come across before. Apparently this isn’t a big one! This Hermit Crab is a little beauty, what a superb pincer. We found him trundling quietly along the beach.
Having never been there before I hadn’t realised there were cliffs and rock pools to explore. The cliffs held a small colony of Fulmars, their stiff winged albatross-like gliding flight easily picking them out amongst the Herring Gulls. A family of Peregrine Falcons could be heard yikkering in the distance and gave brief but distant views.
In the rock pools there were a fair number of these little Cowrie like shells which we don’t get on our beach. They look almost tropical, but are in fact something quite different – the internal shell of a Sea Slug, Acteon. These bizarre strappy horseshoey type thingies are broken bits from a spiral of Sea Slug eggs maybe from Acteon, maybe not as apparently there is no key to Sea Slug eggs – you do surprise me! Many thanks to Kathryn at the Fylde Coast Marine Life Survey for the IDs I struggled with.
On the north coast of south Wales is the small town of New Quay, famous for its connection to the writer Dylan Thomas, and more importantly to the safari, Bottle-nosed Dolphins and other marine mammals. A boaty ride had to be taken. While we waited for the boat to be brought to the harbour wall we were lucky enough to see two, possibly three, Dolphins messing about round the boats right in the harbour itself. Impossible to get photos of, lots of shots of out of focus boats but not a sniff of a cetacean. I need to get some tips from expert dolphin photographer Monika .

Don't blink or you'll miss it!

Boat ride took us past very interesting rock formations were you can see the stresses and strains of the millennia in the twisted and buckled strata. The cliffs provided excellent nesting ledges for Guillemots, Razorbills and Kittiwakes. Once again my photographic skills were sadly lacking and this Guillemot is the only decentish pic I got – I blame the heavy swell for rocking the boat and spoiling my aim.
This Cormorant was in perfect position until it decide to take flight when I pressed the shutter. Fortunately a Gannet, from the big colonies further west, was much more obliging. My first and only attempt at a picture of this species.
Did we see any more Dolphins?...of course we did. Blink and you’ll miss it! There was a small calf with this female and they put on a splendid show of synchronised swimming for about five minutes…excellent stuff indeed. Poor Frank got rather hot on the way back and a way of trying to keep him cool had to be improvised. A couple of Grey Seals were seen briefly but the swell made spotting them difficult.
Back at (temporary) Base Camp a young Song Thrush started sunbathing on the shed roof while a young Robin picked insects from the moss. Unfortunately they didn’t offer a decent shot of them in frame together. Not easy this wildlife photography m’larky!
Around the fishing lakes the warm sunshine brought out a selection of dragonflies and damselflies. The bright blue damsel is Azure Damselfly, look for the ‘Honda’ logo on the segment below the thorax, Common Blue has Barrett’s, the builders, oak tree logo instead. I wish we could get a pair of Large Red Damsels doing this back at our base camp pond! This teneral Darter dragonfly could be Common Darter, but could just as well be a species I’m not familiar with…anyone any ideas/confirmation? Pairs of a rather large species of Pond Skater were enjoying the hot sunshine. Much bigger than the puny ones we are used to up in Safari land.

Finally, one of my favourite bugs, the iridescent, and well named, wasp Chrysis ignita, the Ruby Tailed Wasp. Ruby Tailed Wasps are 'parasitoids' meaning that they eventually kill their hosts: the larvae of burrow-dwelling solitary bees.
What happened to the promise of Badgers…those mythical beasts are just that. Although a sett was on site close by seeing them proved impossible. A concerted effort one night just led to a multitude of bites from a field guide’s full of insects. One morning the BBQ was not where we left it, but later, baits put out to attract the stripey faced critters weren’t touched. As for the Otters…even more mythical but the owner, another David, reckoned one had been active most nights in one of his fishing lakes as every morning it was well churned up. But we didn’t find any evidence of fish being taken and eaten.
Eventually it was time to repack the Land Rover and say good bye to our little piece of Welsh paradise. As Arnie sort of said…’we’ll be back’!
And no more Kites on the way home…shoulda took that photo when waiting for the Spotted Flycatcher.

Reading this back it looks like we didn't see much, but that wasn't the point - it was to go somewhere new and have a mooch round and enjoy what we found, which is exactly what we did...brilliant stuff!
Where to next? Back to more familiar haunts…butterflies to survey near to Base Camp…National Whale and Dolphin Watch is coming up soon, closely followed by National Marine Week...so there will be lots of goodies to report on.
In the meantime let us know what you have found in the outback you have visited for your hols.