The Safari met up with IH down at Ainsdale Dunes LNR, where many many many years ago we were a Ranger, for a safari looking at plants and inverts and trying to avoid the birds for a change. There's also goodies like Sand Lizards and Natterjack Toads to be on the look out for too. We had a good look for the former of those two along the frontal dunes but the weather wasn't doing us any favours; it was only 9°C when we arrived mid morning and a strong blustery cold north westerly wind was blowing, in the sun and out of the wind it was warm but in the wind and out of the sun it was still winter! The back of the hand temperature test on sheltered patches of sand showed the ground to be reasonably warm maybe just warm enough for lizards to bask in a sunny spot.
The hunt for lizards was proving unsuccessful not even finding a Common Lizard, which was rather unexpected, after an hour's searching we thought we'd have come across one by now. We moved into the fixed dunes and soon discovered more Pyramidal Orchids than we've ever seen before, they were everywhere.
Along the edges of the tracks we came across a few Hound's-tongue plants, a plant we rarely see on our travels as it is a very scarce species north of the Ribble, confined to the Morecambe Bay limestones.
Our wanderings took us through acres of Kidney Vetch dotted hither and thither with the pink flowers of multitudes of Pyramidal Orchids, a real treat for the eyes especially as the tiny dune system close to Base Camp has just one small specimen of Kidney Vetch and that didn't appear last year although this year it is quite a bit larger than it was in 2022.
We mentioned earlier that we weren't too interested in the birds today but the number of singing Skylarks was a joy to listen to so when one sang not too high above our head we couldn't resist firing off a few shots even though the lens we had today was too short really.
Another pathside plant we rarely see was the pink but misnamed Blue Fleabane.
Hundreds of years ago we bought a book for our degree course, apparently it cost me 82p a small fortune back in those days when a pint in the student union bar was just 12p - those were the days ehh. We struggled with it then when we used it a little bit and have barely opened it in the intervening 40 odd years.
So when we found this rather natty looking grass we pulled it off the shelf when we got back to Base Camp - could't make head nor tale of it but we think this is Dune Fescue we could well be wrong!
All along our walk we'd been seeing Dune Robber Flies but getting a pic wasn't easy, they were very active and soon spotted us trying to creep up on them...until this one stayed put long enough to get a few snaps.
Job done with the skittish robber flies it was back to plant hunting. Wild Pansies are always a nice find. They were patchily distributed, in places few and far between, but where they did occur there were nice patches of them.
By now the sun was higher and warmer but the stiff cold breeze was still blowing. We'd seen several more Common Blue butterflies mostly keeping well down where it was warmer. We found several that had become chilled and needed to bask to warm back up.
Most of them were tatty like this one, probably from being battered about by the wind. 
This one does occur north of the Ribble in a few places but we probably overlook it as we don't often concentrate on the plants on most of our safaris - maybe we should take more notice of them.
The cold wind meant that not many insects were on the wind, we passed several scrapes dug for the Natterjack Toads and some huge almost impassable dune slacks but saw nothing moving in the gin-clear, aquatic plant filled, water nor anything other than a few hardy gnats flying above them, even furry bumblebees. Eventually we found a hoverfly. CR kindly identified it for us upon his return from sunny France, Chrysotoxum festivum and he tells us it now has an English name too - Hook-barred Spearhorn...nice!
A tiny purple flower caught IH's eye, a one of the colour forms of the Common Milkwort.
Far more numerous was the more typical blue form.
While wandering around edge of one of the many flooded paths, a legacy from the very wet winter and spring, and the person who laid out many of those white topped posts all those years ago, IH spotted a big hairy caterpillar inches away from our size 9 boot print - it could all have gone horribly wrong! At first we thought it was a Garden Tiger moth but again closer insection after downloading the pics revealed it to be a Ruby Tiger, a much more common species sadly the Garden Tiger has declined dramatically in recent years, so much so that we've not seen one for a long time now.
It was at this flood we managed to get a pic of our first dragonfly, a Common Darter. we'd seen a very small would have been either number of dragonflies so far most of them being this secies but a couple would have been either 4-Spotted Chasers or Broad Bodied Chasers.
Up the dune a few yards further on we came across a low sand bank being buzzed by non-bumble hairy bees. We decided that they were the fairly rare Vernal Mining Bees but again once back at Base Camp and asking people far more knowledgeable it turns out that they are Coastal Leaf-cutter Bees - now we've been told the shape of them is obviously that of a leaf cutter bee. The Vernal Mining Bees should really have gone over by now even allowing for the cold, wet, late spring.
Some more orchids for you to enjoy.
Whilst climing one of the ridges via a huge blow out we spied a tiny spider zooming around with lots of vim and gusto. Submitting it to the SD card wasn't easy as, like thr robber fly earlier it had good eyesightand saw us coming a mile away. We perservered and eventually struck lucky with just one of about 50 shots of it (nearly) in focus. We say 'it' but we now know he's a male Xerolycosa miniata the Dune Wolf Spider and is listed as NATIONALLY SCARCE.
IH has a pet hate about invasive non-native plants, Himalayan Balsam is his 'favourite but the dunes here hold a close second - Perennial Sweet Pea. it is beginning to clamber over large swathes of dune vegetation here but he tells us that it's not as bad as it is on the dunes further south where it is totally dominant to the detriment of just about everything else. A perfect reason not to dump your garden waste in the countryside or even over your back fence, which far too many people do.
Eventually we got back to our initial path passing the first scrape we came across. Having a more thorough look this time we found a good patch of Lesser Spearwort growing just outside the safety of the fence and beneath a post so we can't imagine how many dogs must have peed on it - all good nutrients we suppose.
The pool also gave us our first toadlets of the day, 'unfortunately' for us not the yellow striped Natterjack Toadlets 'just' Common Toads but still good to see. There were hundreds off them swarming through the low vegetation - it was seething with them.
The warmer sunshine had also brought out some parasitic wasps and like the other inverts were flighty so getting a decent pic was tricky. The Red Banded Sand Wasp hunts for moth caterpillars with which to provision its larvae.
Back at the car with an hour to spare we decided to have a look at the section of dunes over the road, Birkdale Hills LNR. But before setting off we jetisoned some outer layers and then had a chat to current Ranger and top birder JD.
We gave it half an hour out and half an hour back passing first Sands Lake and its huge Brown Rat, you must know by now we can't resist a good mammal! Out of the fringe of trees around the lake and onto the dunes proper brought us to a very pale obviously hybrid marsh orchid.
Perhaps Common Sotted Orchid x anyone's guess orchid.
There were quite a few dingy grey day flying moths about deeper into the dunes and after a bit of chasing around we copped for one, they were Anania fuscalis - no we'd never heard of them either.
We reached the nearest dune slack but the margins were so well vegetated we couldn't get anywhere close enough for a proper look.
By now time was short and so back to the cars we headed with one last stop that would require a close look at Hubbard back at Base Camp. A very short patch forming attractive grass mostly found on bare or nearly bare ground away from any taller vegetation turned out to be Sand Catstail...good old Hubbard. At the rate we've been using him we'll be well over 100 years old next time we reach for him on the shelf!
What a fabulous day out on safari in great company...and barely a bird in sight for a change.
Where to next? We've got a bit of a long blog from a bit of a long safari coming up next but it might be a while as this is single finger typing after (yet) another hand operation...Be patient it will arrive on a device near you in due course.
In the meantime let us know who's making the ground seeth in your outback.
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