Wednesday 2 September 2015

The great unexpected

The Safari wasn't overly happy about going back to work after a few days break. But it does give us the opportunity to have a look at Patch 2, trouble is there was absolutely nowt out there today apart from a good number of Common Scoters rolling around in the swell.
On the way back in to the office one of the lads from the other businesses stopped us and showed us a pic on his phone taken at a friend's house at the weekend. Without our glasses it was a bit inconclusive but it looked like a cricket. We asked him to email us the pic and from there we put it on iSpot thinking it coulda been a House Cricket seeing as how it was found indoors. Those clever iSpotters had other ideas, only a Speckled Bush Cricket, OK so they're no rarity...if you're from down souff that is, up here in Lancashire it could well be the first county record (according to the often needing updating NBN map)!!!
Where'd that come from???
Mid-morning we knew Young Un AB was coming in to borrow some nets and trays to take some friends over the road to look in the rockpools. He duly arrived took the nets and disappeared returning a couple of hours later once the tide had come in. But that wasn't the end of the adventures, he asked would it be OK for his friends to do some pond dipping - of course it would, we got the key out and let them let rip! 
Not too long after he phoned us telling us they'd caught something unusual, ah they've got the darned Goldfish we thought...No not that he said...We thought wrong! Coming outside we called over to them is it a Common Darter nymph? No but they had seen a bright red male visit the pond briefly.
Intrigued now we rushed over to look in their tray - only the first ever Great Diving Beetle to be scooped out of the work's pond.
Where'd that come from???
That's the great thing about wildlife - it always managed to throw up a surprise and you can bever ever get bored there's always too much to see and learn.
Where to next? More Patch 2 stuff, will it be 'just' the Common Scoters again?
in the meantime let us know who's sneaking into your outback for the first time.



1 comment:

cliff said...

The SB Cricket is a cracking find, would love to see one of those locally.
My brother/sis-in-laws small pond was full of those diving beetles earlier this year. They didn't like the fact they were eating their tadpoles so we relocated them to my pond, but I think they've cleared off - too much duck weed in my pond maybe.