The Safari has come across a few four letter words over the years but one which we had almost forgotten came rattling back with a vengeance this morning – RAIN! Still it’ll do the spuds n tomatoes at Base Camp the world of good even though we watered them before leaving for work.
Despite the much cooler morning with a stiff breeze poor Frank was still suffering from last night’s heat induced lethargy and only made it to the small field on Patch 1. After all the excitement of the last couple of days it was back down to earth with a resounding bump. At the Golden Triangle a Song Thrush sang and another poked about at the bottom of the Philadelphus hedge – have to say the scent off these hedges in the evening is just fantastic at the moment – also singing from the depths of the GT was the Blackcap, a lively pair of Greenfinches made up the numbers. A Dunnock snag its flat little ditty from the inside the smell that has become Magpie wood - the 'gardeners now dump their grass cuttings off the field in there - shame there's no Grass Snakes round here but they do tend to spread it about a bit too much flattening the habitat rather than keeping a snmall neat pile.
On the way back to Base Camp we spotted a dead Herring Gull lying at on the far side of the road. Further investigation revealed it to be an unringed 3rd summer bird. Unfortunately we had neither a bag nor a camera as it was more or less undamaged (apart from being dead of course – flew into telephone cables during the night or clipped by a car) and would have made an informative moult study.
Patch 2 was pretty dire too. The tide was well out and there was nothing on or over the sea. The only thing of note in the sea was a Grey Seal bottling not far behind the surf. At the water’s edge there was a bit of a build up of gulls, more than we have seen for a while and notably a decent number of Black Headed Gulls with a single juvenile.
At lunchtime the tide had just reached the wall and there was nothing happening what-so-ever, we last no more than five minutes in the quite heavy rain.
With nowt doing outside we’d like to draw your attention to inside where a colleague who’s a bit into photography, has a couple of pics up. This one is superb and a piece of ‘extreme digital engineering’ excellence, 360ยบ panorama, 38 frames, 1 picture, 2 sheets of paper and more detail than you can shake a stick at! Well worth a look if you’re in the area. It's of the Inverewe area of NW Scotland. Got to be the longest photograph we've ever seen! And there are a couple of other crackers too!
Despite the much cooler morning with a stiff breeze poor Frank was still suffering from last night’s heat induced lethargy and only made it to the small field on Patch 1. After all the excitement of the last couple of days it was back down to earth with a resounding bump. At the Golden Triangle a Song Thrush sang and another poked about at the bottom of the Philadelphus hedge – have to say the scent off these hedges in the evening is just fantastic at the moment – also singing from the depths of the GT was the Blackcap, a lively pair of Greenfinches made up the numbers. A Dunnock snag its flat little ditty from the inside the smell that has become Magpie wood - the 'gardeners now dump their grass cuttings off the field in there - shame there's no Grass Snakes round here but they do tend to spread it about a bit too much flattening the habitat rather than keeping a snmall neat pile.
On the way back to Base Camp we spotted a dead Herring Gull lying at on the far side of the road. Further investigation revealed it to be an unringed 3rd summer bird. Unfortunately we had neither a bag nor a camera as it was more or less undamaged (apart from being dead of course – flew into telephone cables during the night or clipped by a car) and would have made an informative moult study.
Patch 2 was pretty dire too. The tide was well out and there was nothing on or over the sea. The only thing of note in the sea was a Grey Seal bottling not far behind the surf. At the water’s edge there was a bit of a build up of gulls, more than we have seen for a while and notably a decent number of Black Headed Gulls with a single juvenile.
At lunchtime the tide had just reached the wall and there was nothing happening what-so-ever, we last no more than five minutes in the quite heavy rain.
With nowt doing outside we’d like to draw your attention to inside where a colleague who’s a bit into photography, has a couple of pics up. This one is superb and a piece of ‘extreme digital engineering’ excellence, 360ยบ panorama, 38 frames, 1 picture, 2 sheets of paper and more detail than you can shake a stick at! Well worth a look if you’re in the area. It's of the Inverewe area of NW Scotland. Got to be the longest photograph we've ever seen! And there are a couple of other crackers too!
The skyline was this clear this morning, before the rain, so much so you could almost pick out the sheep (but not the Hen Harriers) on the Bowland Fells with the naked eye. We have some friends who must have the best view in town from their second storey sitting room window when it comes to looking out towards the Lake District; hmmm...wonder if Lonesome George, England’s only wild Golden Eagle, could be seen through the scope from their sofa...would save a few quid in fuel...
Where to next? More beachy stuff tomorrow and maybe a scout round the low water mark for a change.
In the meantime let us know how wet the rain is in your outback
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