Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris

It’s all but gone now

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:32:00 +0000

The safari might have seen the last of the snow for this winter. We don’t get much here and 36 hours worth is probably gonna be our ration. But you never know could be some more in the new year – usually we get our biggest falls in March when the Sand Martins have just arrived from Africa! Shame we missed out on taking the Disco up country to have some 4 wheel fun. Seen some great pics of the lads out in the white stuff on the Land Rover forums – doh…don’t yer just hate having to go to work – we get proper snow so rarely it should be a public holiday!
A very slippery visit to Patch 1 early on was so bad we were wishing we had taken an ice axe with us (if we still had one that is) The steep paths through the park were treacherous underfoot and an ice axe arrest could easily have been needed!!! Even Frank with his 4x4-footed drive was struggling for grip at times, looking like your archetypal slithering-about-on-ice-with-legs-akimbo cartoon dog - poor thing. At least the Peregrine was still there on his roosting ledge. Thinking back to when I was a kid and how rare these birds were then, just a handful of pairs in the remotest parts of Scotland and a few odd pairs elsewhere…and now they are (or at least one is) a daily (from the) garden tick – how good is that – shame that some sections of the community still view them as horrendous pests and have to ‘dispose’ of them by any means – disgraceful!!! Not much else about, a Robin twittering in the light from the street-lamps was about yer lot.
A late visit to the sea-wall coincided with low tide, best part of a hundred Oystercatchers today feeding on the strandline seashells, of which there were plenty washed up. They were joined in their foraging by 30 Redshanks, and solitary Turnstone and Sanderling this morning. A small number of gulls were mooching in the runnels, Herrings and Commons with a handful of Black Heads. Out at sea a couple of dozen gulls, mainly Herrings with a couple of Great Black Backs, had found something interesting and were milling around with intent, but we couldn’t see anything obvious. They weren’t diving or settling on the sea so perhaps not a shoal of fish at the surface unless they were down just far enough to be out of range. What ever it was out there was certainly getting plenty of attention and more gulls were continually coming in from the shore to investigate what all the commotion was about.
Meanwhile the regular lunchtime trip out produce a real rarity…blistering sunshine, if only briefly, and nothing of any significance in the avian or mammalian lines.
Where to next? Surprise, surprise…safari, safari…
In the meantime let us know how much snow has melted in your outback.
A gratuitous Mediterranean Gull photo from Stanley Park earlier this year, fingers crossed there’ll be one for you on your patch this Christmas.

It’s still here!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Yes – the safari woke up to yet more snow. A fresh, but small, overnight fall had obliterated all last night’s footprints and frozen slush. Out on Patch 1 the Peregrine was still sat up there on the tower – beginning to think it might be plastic although it would take someone some considerable effort to put a plazzy one where it sits and why would they take it down during the day? Frank went bonkers in the park following the footsteps/scent wafts of the local Foxes who had been fairly active after the snow judging by the number of trails they had left behind. We didn’t see any this morning but a Robin started singing and a Blackbird clackered away in some of the denser bushes. Other than that all was incredibly still and silent in the white glow of night. One the way back an early rising spectral Sparrowhawk weaved its way over the gardens, between the houses and across the road at supersonic speed, probably hoping to flush a sleepy, cold, hungry and slow Blackbird, Robin or other somesuch unlucky victim.
Patch 2 at dawn was another matter, had to wait half an hour after getting to work for it to get light enough to warrant nipping over the road. It was busy on the beach. A runnel under the seawall had attracted over a hundred gulls, mostly Herrings but a tidy number of Commons too and just a handful of Black Heads. A brute of a Great Black Back kept an eye on the proceedings from the ‘higher’ vantage point of the crest of nearby sandbank. We were giving the gulls a good going over, one Herring Gull stood out as being more advanced in its moult with a pristine white head, but no more unusual than that. Whilst we were in the grip of gull fever a Rock Pipit was noticed to land briefly on the Bladderwrack at the base of the wall before moving of south down the beach, and a Ringed Plover was spotted too. There has been a Ring Billed Gull away down at the bottom end of the south side so always a possibility, but before we could work our way through the whole flock a barking dog appeared from one of the sets of steps close by and flushed the lot…brilliant…NOT!
They moved down to the pool over by the outfall pipe where they settled down enough to be given our full attention once more. Nothing doing. Sanderlings however were doing a lot; exactly forty of them zazzed about the lower part of the beach on their clockwork legs picking up this that and the other they seem to find down there – what it is exactly is anyone’s guess – maybe they do actually eat sand there doesn’t seem to be much else in the small particle line when you take a close look. Three Turnstones were in the vicinity of the pipe and we didn’t take too much notice of the Redshanks idly clocking a meagre six or seven.
Out at sea a pair of Common Scoters looked like they had had a pre-Christmas bust up sitting facing opposite directions about 25 yards apart fairly close in. What we took to be an adult Shag came briefly into the field of view, landed on the water and promptly dived never to reappear. It did look slight and slim beaked but at distance and with nothing about for size comparison…hmm – another one that got away? – Shag’s aren’t regular along this stretch of coast although a handful have turned up on some of the local marine lakes in the bay after the heavy weather a few weeks ago, they appear to be all juveniles rather than adults though. We missed the best sighting of the morning; young AD came out for a few minutes and spotted a massive flash of lightning over the Liverpool area. By way of thrilling natural phenomena we were lucky enough to spot a fine shooting star over Patch 1 yesterday morning.
More thrilling was the Patch 2 lunchtime visit. Little doing bird-wise but dark snow storms dotted the horizon.

The usual ubiquitous Common Scoters were bobbing about and a few gulls careened over the swells. One of the snow/hail storms rattled through at a rate of knots stinging the face and making watching a painful experience. Once it had passed and full concentration resumed we got the sighting of the day - a distant pale phase Arctic Skua going north low over the waves – certainly not one we would have put a bet on earlier in the day! Soaked by another sleety downpour and no more birds it was time to retreat indoors for a celebratory brew.
Only one more day at work and the local Patches then it’s Christmas and hopefully the safari will be reporting exciting stuff.
Where to next? Plastic Peregrine spotting probably.
In the meantime let us know what the snow has dumped in your outback.

Landed with a fluffy thud.

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

The safari was out as usual on Patch 1 with Frank this morning in the drizzle and true to form the Peregrine was still up there on his favourite roosting ledge; easily viewable in the glow from the street-lamps. Nothing but silence from the park proper;
no inkling of what was to follow…Snow - and lots of it.

When we left for work there was a bit of a snow shower but by the time the short journey was over it was nearly two inches (5cm) thick and still coming down strong, you could feel it under the wheels of the Land Rover. We got a call from a colleague who normally rides in on his motorbike who was unable to get in so we set of in the Disco to fetch him – an hour later we arrived back at work, only been a mile or so down the road and back - total gridlock chaos! Buses and vans were struggling to get over the railway bridges and kept sliding back down causing traffic backlogs.

Once we got past the gridlock we got stuck behind the most over-cautious driver doing about no miles an hour, what a numpty – its only snow for cryin’ out loud, makes driving a little trickier but hardly impossible! This is what I think to your driving…
Travel nightmare – still it will all be gone by tonight.
We got a report from wifey that Frank went out and got so excited by the snow his tiny Labrador mind decided he should eat as much of it as he possibly could – he ended up with a touch of hypothermia and very loud chattering teeth – dozy dog!
This snowman was probably the first built in our grounds since 1996.
The safari was out on Patch 2 briefly at lunchtime where a very hardy fisherman was casting his line in to the rising tide. About 30 – 40 Common Scoters, in two flocks, bounced reasonably close in on the choppy sea, nothing else moving around at all further out in the distance. Most unexpected was a patch tick – 12 Lapwings flew past going south towards the estuary, very welcome.
Another snow shower moved in giving spectacular views over the sea and along the prom…worth getting cold, wet feet for. This gull photo might just squeeze in to my exhibition I have booked for next summer.
Where to next? Back to Patch 1 more than likely
In the meantime let us know how deep the snow is in your outback.

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:26:00 +0000

The safari nipped down to nature reserve for a couple of hours this arvo - cold - cold - cold but very little snow and what there was was melting.

We met up with the ranger and the volunteers who were fettling up the feeding station for he Christmas holidays. Four deceased Woodmice were found trapped in one of thee seed hoppers but we couldn't work out how they had managed to get in - an unsolved mystery. After the work was completed and before Frank ate all the seed - greedy dog! we settled down to watch the proceedings from the hide. First up was a Robin and then there were three...sorry about pic quality; dark outside and right on limit of lens, too dark for digiscoping, excuses, excuses.

Reed Buntings were a nice addition to the list which included the usual feeder fare, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, etc.

Set the camera on lots of shots a second and these are the pick of the best after much photomessing; choose your fave.

Out on the water/ice there were about 1500 gulls to work through, a hundred or so close up and the others mostly sat on the thin ice down the other end. The first bunch revealed nowt special - two species in this pic - don't you dare find a third!

But in the couple of minutes it took to drive down to the next hide a brisk wind had picked up and the waves disintegrated the ice causing the gulls to fall through and so they left in droves - by the time we got set up again most had left...damn! A small patch of ice was left in the middle of the mere so we nipped in to the small middle hide, which I placed many years ago deliberately to view the gulls from, but the reed in front hadn't been cut yet so viewing was awkward but we didn't find anything exceptional unfortunately.

Over two hundred and fifty Teal were checked for the American Green Winged variety to no avail, more where hiding from the elements in the reeds. No sign of the exotics ie Cetti's Warblers (despite some attempts at 'song-whistles') and Bitterns and we didn't go round to check out the four Long Eared Owls on site today.

Where to next? Off to check Patch 1 for our Peregrine in a mo.

In the meantime let us know what you didn't opt to go and see in your outback this arvo.

Top predators

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:20:00 +0000

The safari was out in the pre dawn smattering of snow this morning and we had the top (local) avian predator, the Peregrine Falcon sat a little way round the tower from where we saw him last night - obviously the wind had changed and he'd had to shimmy along the ledge to get out of the draught. beneath him snuffling around in the middle of the road was our local mammalian predator/scavenger, a Fox, not see none for a while but great to know they're still about.

Had a browse through a couple of our earlier posts and noticed that the numpty that writes this rubbish forgot to put the pic of the Indo Pacific Dolphin in...duuhhhh...so here it is.

Also got an old fashioned slide of one almost sat on my feet (rather than one 10 feet away) which I might be able to post, technology allowing - and yes they are fully wild, free-swimming animals not in a giant fish tank!

Briefest of updates over - the safari is off to a snowy nature reserve to grill some gulls roosting on the ice...fingers crossed for a goody or two.

Anyone lost a...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:24:00 +0000

The safari was out in the sub-zeros at lunch time today with a frozen trip out to Patch 1 with Frank and his rugby ball. Nothing much doing but the sound of House Sparrows emanating from Chavland was noticeable even against the wind would love a flock of these to visit Base Camp on a regular basis. A couple of Collared Doves flew over the field and, of course, the ubiquitous Magpies clattered about the trees. Good to get out in daylight. Then later, at teatime, we were out again and who should we see up on the water tower...yep the Peregrine is back from where-ever it disappeared to.

Although it was dark and heavy rain had set in the temperature had reached a giddy 5.5C - so night-time was warmer than day time. A 'normal' night-time minimum temperature in Blackpool is 2.25C so anything warmer than 4.5C could be regarded as 'officially' high. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. still as I said earlier today a 4C rise is probably likely now in the next generation or two...so I'm off to trade up the biodiesel Disco for a 5.0l Supercharged Rangie Sport...will someone upgrade my salary to match please!

Where to next? Look out for a local safari tomorrow might be something sort of northern or eastern to be discovered.

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

Didn't take camera today...sorry.

Climate chaos

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:30:00 +0000

The safai got up this morning and noted a temperature of almost -5C showing on the Base Camp weather station. That's pretty chilly for us here on the NW coast.

A few hundred miles away in Copenhagen world leaders have just thrashed out a deal worth begger all probably. The poor nations and island states (the ones with most to lose) wanted temperatures to reach no more than 1.5C above historic values. The west wanted 2C, the deal looks like 3C is more likely, which means if actions are properly taken then 4C is probable. Just think the amount of our money they spent propping up a failed banking system which was full of opur money anyway could have been spent on some serious mitigation and research work. 200 bankers got £5 million bonuses (simple maths = £1 billion, a serious amount of cash). But never mind that what happens at the end of the biggest climate summit - Britain is plunged in to an Arctic winter giving plenty of ammunition to the usual sceptics - that's the trouble with Britain we have a lot of weather and no climate. What they have forgotten is that we used to have winters like this all the time not as one off days like now. I have pictures in my photo album (for younger readers it's like flikr but a real paper book with real paper pictures in it) of snow in Norfolk up to the top of the road signs, and pack ice floating off Formby Point with a two foot high ice cliffs where the freezing tide has gently lapped in - sights like this are probably a thing of the past.

Topped the bird feeder up but nothing has arrived yet - probably all in Fylde Coast Wildlife's garden over the road (he had a Grey wagtail on his pond the other day not seen one of those at the Base Camp pond for years) or Fleetwood Birder's garden not too far away. Warren do you hire out Moorhens, Siskins, Greater Peckers etc?

Where to next? Out in to the garden (won't flush anything! - didn't) to chop this weeks supply of logs then it's off to Bloomfield Road to watch the Seasiders thrash the living daylights out of the (almost) invincible West Brom - actually I'll be happy with a boring 0 - 0 draw and the point but 2 - 0 for us would be very welcome. Late update Match Postponed due to frozen pitch.

In the meantime let us know what is, or isn't visiting the feeders in your freezing, or otherwise, outback.

Got a rant about methane coming up...bet you can't wait!

Sorry no pics today not able to find said photo albums from yesteryear - been stashed away somewhere. Had a look for em - found the albums but wanted pictures missing probably fallen out with several others over the years - sorry.

Oh no! More empty sea staring

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:50:00 +0000

The safari has not been able to get out properly for a couple of days now but we have just sent in our CV to become a cetacean surveyor for Marine-Life sat up on the bridge of the local ferry boat. So more hours staring at the empty greyness that is the northern Irish Sea like wot we did yesterday morning on Patch 2 are guaranteed. The tide was in so no beach activity to keep us amused. There was nothing noteworthy out to sea at all, just an empty, cold, grey void. During our survey work we probably won’t get views of cetaceans like this we had of an Indo-Pacific Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) a few years ago which, as you might gather from the name, we didn’t see in the Irish Sea but at Shark Bay, Western Australia…you never know though, off the Isle of Man or the west coast of Scotland sightings like this might be had. My favourite, Rissole’s Dolphin (deliberate, vaguely amusing, mistake there so don’t write in), can be quite numerous in that area at certain times of the year. Also possible are Basking Sharks, Minke Whales but most likely are Harbour Porpoises and both species of seals, good seabirds are very likely with the route passing close to a large Gannet colony and seabird cliffs.
The first full Patch 1 visit was undertaken yesterday evening; the first since Frank’s op. The vicious attack on the young girl has made it an unnerving eerie place during the hours of darkness – not that we’re frightened of the dark –just the fruit-cakes lurking in it! No sign of the Peregrine on the tower and nothing doing in the park; all we managed in there was a Woodpigeon fast asleep on the end of a slim twig silhouetted by the nearby streetlights.
Some snow is forecast…oooohhh two flakes or three? Already a half hearted attempt at a flurry or two this lunchtime. Might get some wintery scenes like these, brrrrr. Snow Buntings on the dunes/beach next week?

Where to next? Patch 1 in the dark again probably, full or partial walk – not sure yet depends on the time available. Must get out again soon – all this Christmas shopping is playing havoc with the safari – wouldn’t mind but we seem to be spending a small fortune but wifey’s ‘Santa sack’ doesn’t seem to be getting any fuller, we obviously need more low cost/large volume stuff to balance the high cost/low volume stuff already in there! Does anyone else have a severe problem with sellotape? I seem to go through miles of the stuff, mostly stuck to myself rather than on the roughly wrapped gifts.
In the meantime let us know what’s giving you the wrap-around in your outback.

A very grey day today

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:11:00 +0000

The safari set out on Patch 1 in the darkness to the wistful tune of a Robin this morning. Round the corner another was singing, has there been a bit of pre-cold weather movement. It’s time to get on the patch proper particularly if it freezes up a bit later in the week. The advantage with hard frost is that Frank does come back soaking wet and needing drying off when we’re trying to get ready for work. So fingers crossed for some frost and the first full Patch 1 walk for a goodly while. Meanwhile we have written our first tentative enquiry to the water board about putting up a nest box for the Peregrine and received a tentatively positive response – so things are looking good. We have been on the internet and found a cracking box similarly sited on a very narrow ledge – on a power station in Australia. The only down side is that our Peregrine hasn’t been seen since the last time we saw him before the fog a few days ago…looks like he’s got himself lost! Please come back – we’ve got more letters to write.
Patch 2 was a gloomy affair this morning in the half light of dawn even though it was well after 8.30 when we eventually got out onto the sea wall. A male Eider was riding the gentle swell not too far out and two Great Crested Grebes fished beyond the low water mark. One was still sporting a fair bit of summer plumage. Nothing else of note in the good conditions. Later, at lunchtime, the conditions were even better, the flattest of lights, no waves, barely a swell, a light northerly wind but distinctly few birds and no mammals. A handful of Common Scoters bobbed about in small groups here and there and a flock of around 150 Pink Footed Geese winged south a good way out in the distance. The beach, however, was much livelier. Two Ringed Plovers tipped forwards closely investigating the sand at their feet, two Redshank waded about in a runnel, best of all were 28 Sanderlings scattered along the receding tide line. Judging by the lack of footprints the jogger that appeared in the distance was the first person on the beach after the tide. As he drew nearer the Sanderlings flocked closer together, eventually as he approached even closer they tighter and started to leg it down the beach in front of him looking like a mad bunch of clockwork toys having a race along the sand before they took to the air and flew off round the corner and out of sight. At close range in good light their plumage is a marvel of intricate beauty. Half a dozen Oystercatchers were all we could muster and where were the gulls – nothing close enough to give a good grilling, the few that were down the beach to the south were just silhouettes in the distance. Bumped into an old friend yesterday who has just been to Svalbard and seen rakes of good stuff, no Polar Bears but the Beluga probably made up for that. He told me he uploads his photos to Birdguides and I should take a look – well I did and spotted his Kittiwake from a trip to Yorkshire a few years ago with definitely un-black legs – as he say, anyone got any ideas? – Over to you North Americans…are they red enough for one of yours?
I’ve been bold enough to post a couple of DB’s spics he took several years ago on the nature reserve – great shots of a very difficult subject to find/observe/shoot – so don’t you dare nick ‘em!

Good job Stoats aren’t as big as dogs cos they’d be bringing down cart-horses – savage little characters they are; the safari hasn’t bumped into one for a long time now, unfortunately, as they always brighten an otherwise grey day.
Where to next? Back on Patch 1 – watch this space for news of more than enough Robins, a Wren or two and the odd Blackbird…may be even a Dunnock thrown in for good measure.
In the meantime let us know whether or not you’ve been able to get into your outback recently and if so what is the big deal there.

Merely visiting

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:01:00 +0000

The safari had a very nice afternoon stroll around Marton Mere this arvo. On arriving and getting out of the Land Rover we could hear Whooper Swans calling. But these would have to wait. The matter of Cetti's Warblers needed sorting first, as did a small flock of gulls sitting, or more accurately falling through, the patch of thin ice. Nothing worth reporting in the gulls though. As luck would have it we could see the Whoopers, a family party of ma, pa and their four kids, in the distance close to one of the hides, they'd save until later in the afternoon. Meanwhile the Cetti's were notable by their somewhat unusual silence. With nothing doing on the Cetti's front it was time to check out the Long Eared Owls. On the way we had a quick look for Jack Snipe but only managed to nearly tread on an ordinary Snipe even though we had just scanned the area thoroughly! Glad we had the ranger with us because they weren't easy and not on the same branches as last year. Can you see it?

This one any better? Not a lot I think.
Hardly going to trouble Bird Guides Photo of the Week page are they?

With three Long eared Owls in the bag the Whoopers were now about to fall. But they had other ideas, the swines had moved from right in front of the hide to over by the scrape.

Seventeen Gadwall graced the mere a good tally for this species which bred here for the first time this summer.

Other ducks included a very tidy 60 Wigeon, three dozen Shovelers, and a good score of Teal, but no Green Wingers amongst them as far as we could tell. Pochard numbers seemed pretty low as did Tufted Duck which we neglected to check through in case of a Ring Necked Duck or a dodgy hybrid. a lone female Goldeneye was joined by three others at dusk. At the death whilst waiting for a chance of Barn Owl another 50 odd Whooper Swans came in overhead but 20 0r so split off and landed in the adjacent fields.

The Cetti's gave us a right run around. One was almost beneath the hide window but would it show, then a Wren darted out; have we been making an elementary mistake? Another(?) Cetti's piped up calling from an island of reeds in front of the hide but we hadn't noticed a bird fly across the little gap to it. Then out of nowhere we saw one do exactly that! So deffo two but again would they show for a photo - no chance.

We wandered around the far side to check over the reed bed for Bitterns and fluked a short snatvh of Cetti's song from a few yards west of the West Planting Hide. A disappointing day for gulls - none on the mere to grill. No Bitterns put in appearance either despite it being a perfect evening for one to pop up.

The sunset wasn't too spectacular but did light up the farmhouse windows looking like the house was ablaze inside. The tower didn't look too bad either

Did we see the Barny? Did we heck, no Little Owl this evening either, not sure if he's been seen on the barns recently. The sound of wildfowl settling down for the night of flighting off to feed during the hours of darkness was a beautiful end to the day.

Where to next? Back to Patch 1 tomorrow - will the Peregrine be there, missed him these last few days.

In the meantime let us know which duck is which in your outback.

Cetacean training

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:55:00 +0000

The safari had a good reason for not being out in the splendid winter sunshine this arvo. Along with over 30 other interested bods, including Fleetwood Birder, (nice to catch up with you in person S), we learned how to get involved with the Marine Life cetacean surveys from the bridge of ferry ships. A new route is being pioneered across the Irish Sea at the moment. The route isn't new but having wildlife surveyors on board is. So duly enthused I will be putting my name forward as a volunteer to take on this exciting role, even though I got one of the gulls wrong on the ID quiz - can you believe that! All is not lost as I was sat next to the great MJ (veteran of several 'Pride of Bilbao' trips) and he too made the same mistake and he is hands down far and away a better birder than I, by a good old fashioned league never mind a mile (think he was in the '400' club BEFORE it was 'invented'.

So I'm off to write my CV and wait for tonight's Bowland lamb chops, garnished with Rosemary from the garden, to roast all washed down with a slug or seven of quality ale.

See ya tomorra, but before I go late news of no Peregrines today (up and at 'em on Patch 1 far too late, and far too foggy to see if he was there last night), but we did get a good sighting of a real rarity so far this winter, a couple of Fieldfares 'wacka-chacka-ing' from the top of a scrubby Willow bush - they were obviously lost in the overnight fog like the skeins of Pink Footed Geese we could hear at various times during the night, maybe it was only one skein going round in circles looking for their usual roosting place - lovely sound in the darkness though - really wild.

Where to next? Local safari tomorrow arvo to see if we can tick off Bittern, Cetti's Warbler, Jack Snipe and some other good stuff, and maybe get a pic or two too.

In the meantime let us know what is out there waiting to be surveyed in your outback.

Sorry no indoor photos today.

Blimey

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Well the safari wasn't expecting this. Just a few miles up the coast from here very near my mates' new house we visited the other week. Good job its cold at the moment cos this is gonna smell soon.
Where to next? Next trip out won't be until Sunday got a cetacean survey training course to go on tomorrow, obviously I'll need to pay attention if there are goodies like this to be found!
In the meantime let us know what's rotting in your outback.

No photos today again - mist, nothing to see but a very nice sunset through the office window when we had time took look up from our monitor.

The net result

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:43:00 +0000

The safari went out on to the beach armed with the sharpest knife in the world and failed miserably to remove much more than a few square metres of the trawler net. Jeez, was it tangled beyond strangulation after the several tides since we first noticed it! Wrapped in and through the Mussels, caught around several uprights and wrapped around itself – in a word a totally tangled web of a nightmare. Add to the that the fact it was impossible to stand still for more than a few seconds due to our boots disappearing in sinking sand and you get the picture as to why we had to leave it where it was and phone the ‘experts’. How they will tackle it is anyone’s guess. Fortunately there was no sign of anything trapped in it…yet…
On our way out to the net we noticed a couple of Turnstones picking through the Mussels on the pipe and about 25 or so Oystercatchers were on the beach nearby. Very wary they are…and horribly difficult to approach close enough to get a half decent pic despite the beautiful bright, but hazy, sunshine.
Looking down the beach we could see a low mist coming up from the warming sand but the photos haven’t picked it up. All you can see is that the pier legs look a bit fuzzy.
Out on the water it was very quiet, nothing of any note moving at all, barely a gull even.
Venturing on to the beach gives opportunities to see the sights of Blackpool from a different perspective – looks quite inviting on a sunny day like today.Not quite warm enough for sunbathing though…maybe next summer…
Where to next? Patch 1 to check out if the Peregrine is sat on his usual ledge, probably is – why change the habit of a lifetime. He was last night but we didn’t get that far this morning.
In the meantime let us know what’s at risk of getting tangled up in your outback.

Royal turn

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:33:00 +0000

The safari dipped out on seeing the queen in town the other day, for all the singing and dancing m'larky she gets invited to and has to put up with, but we would certainly prefer a Royal Tern! Wonder if she actually likes any of the acts or just claps politely as they leave the stage thinking "doh, not more drivel". Never got to see Queen the band either but have got Princess Anne on my royalty tick list.

More importantly that king of birds, our regular Peregrine, is back at his roosting ledge on the tower this evening. No other news...meetings, meetings, meetings!!!

Possibly even more important that royalty and birding; the 'Pool won away 3 - 0 last night...excellent news, now an away win on Saturday would leave only 5 wins and a draw for safety this season with just over half the season still to play - that I would like!!!

Where to next? Patch 2 to remove that old net if no one else has done it yet.

In the mean time let us know what species of royalty have graced your outback recently.

Sorry no wildlife pics AGAIN today. apologies for the over excessive Blue Tit yesterday.

Up with the larks

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Or more accurately up before the dog walkers! The safari’s morning Patch 2 watch started just as the light was becoming ‘useable’. We noticed a good many waders still asleep roosting on the beach and hordes of gulls looking for something for breakfast nibbles left behind by the receding tide.
70+ Redshank were counted, a very good total for this stretch of the beach, we got to exactly 70 when the first dogger appeared on the beach and scattered the birds in all directions. We had just about got to the end of the flock and there weren’t that many more. A lone Ringed Plover and three Turnstones made up the pick of the rest. Thirty odd Oystercatchers were not particularly well counted and there were many more further to the south. As per usual nothing of note was found in the gull line. A fierce looking Great Black Back with a beak like a Viking’s war axe kept a watchful eye on proceedings just in case one of the many Herrings, Commons, or Black Heads came up with something worth stealing.
Earlier, Patch 1 produced the Peregrine, again on his usual ledge on the water tower. But more interesting was the apparent increase in the number of Robins singing, unfortunately a full Patch 1 visit isn’t on the cards until the weekend to find out how many there are in the park proper.
A short lunchtime shopping trip for yet more Christmas thingamajigs saw a pair of Black Headed Gulls on the roadside verge giving it all the spring courtship welly, all drooped wings puffed out chests and Ministry of Silly Walks dance steps…and not even got their ‘black’ heads yet…A Forsythia bush near Base Camp has a few horribly early flowers on it – it’s three months to March!
Where to next? Peregrine spotting on Patch 1 later tonight is likely to be the next ‘big’ trip!
In the meantime let us know what’s apparently on the increase in your outback. And we need our wellies tomorrow 'cos there's a huge piece of marine litter - a large chunk of trawler's fishing net - caught up on the Mussels that encrust the storm water pipe right where the Turnstones rosst and the Oystercatchers feed as well as being a danger to any fish that might be wandering up and down the side of the pipe at high tide - needs to be cut off and removed.
Thought you might like to see one of our Blue Tits at Base Camp that has been eating all the pies…and the sunny seeds…and the peanuts…and the fat balls…

and no that’s not a ringer’s mist net its caught up in.

PS. Just seen it confirmed that there are now 4 Long Eared Owls at the nature reserve...sorted...any one for five?

Of Copenhagen & Butterflies

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:07:00 +0000

The safari has noticed that the temperature is forecast to plummet down to normal this coming weekend. It will be interesting to see how much hot air comes out of Copenhagen over the next two weeks at the COP15 UN Climate Change Conference. Will enough serious decisions be made to make a difference; more importantly will WE act on any decisions made. The politicians can spout all they like but if we, in our personal circumstances, refuse/feel unable or don’t have enough information to make the necessary changes then it’ll be the end of civilisation as we know it before too long!
Anyone with any interest in the natural world can’t fail to have noticed changes in the distributions in certain species which can only be explained by warming. For example, on Saturday the safari received news of a Peacock butterfly flying around a site not far from Base Camp, this is just a bit too weird for December! While no one particular event can realistically be attributed to climate change there is so much circumstantial evidence mounting up that only the blinkered (Gordon Brown’s ‘flat earthers i.e. my own father (who thinks its all a con to raise even more taxes from us)) or those with vested interests (Australian opposition parties/heavy industry) can seriously think about ignoring it and continuing with ‘business as usual’. Anyone with any sense or understanding of the science can see it’s as plain as the nose on your face that something needs to be done and soon – the time for faffing about at the edges passed long ago.
Sunday saw the safari on a trip to the south side in another brief attempt to find the Shore Lark. Driving down the coast road it was obvious that we had arrived during a much higher tide than normal. There was even water under the pier at Southport. It NEVER comes this far in; this is the first time in 12 years of travelling this route that wifey has seen the sea here!

At our destination the tide was right up and had covered the area the Shore Lark is normally found. With so little beach/marsh uncovered disturbance levels were high and all the land birds were very mobile dodging the dog walkers, ramblers, sightsee-ers etc – its unbelievable how many people walk right in front of your ‘scope without so much as a by-your-leave when it should be fairly obvious you are looking at something further down the track – selfish ignoramuses (ignorami?) the lot of them! Plenty of Skylarks were mooching around on the remaining patches of dry(ish) land and the flock of Twite was persistently flushed from the sea wall area a little further along the beach. Two Pied Wagtails flitted among the Starlings and a pair of Reed Buntings appeared on the beach then moved on. None of the three Meadow Pipits could be strung into Water Pipits. A Short Tailed Vole was spotted desperately half swimming/half scurrying to the highest point of the little island it was on. But sadly no sign of the elusive Shore Lark – is it still about or has it done a bunk – please don’t tell me it’s flipped over to the north side.
A tidy flock of gulls sat on the water a hundred yards or so off shore so it was time to give them a good grilling. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out from the crowd. As we were working through them again, to make sure we hadn’t missed a goody like a Ring Billed Gull, eminent local naturalist Phil Smith sidled up for a chat and told us of a Snow Bunting further down the coast. Unfortunately we wouldn’t have time to stop off to bag this cracking little bird. As we both continued to hunt through the gulls for the chance of an odd one out we had nice fly pasts of Bar Tailed Godwits – a very rare bird on Patch 2; which could be seen across the estuary from where we were stood – and a large flock of Knot.
Time was up and we had head off to go visiting family.
During our usual Patch 1 walk in today's early morning pre-dawn darkness the Peregrine was spotted roosting on his high ledge on the water tower. A very quick morning blast across Patch 2 revealed nothing of any consequence. Patch 2 at lunchtime was little better, only a handful of Common Scoters sat out in the cold. A passing Herring Gull looked to be somewhat darker and more contrasty than it ought to have been but in the poor light, barely daylight, and the lack of any others about to make a comparison with it’ll have to be ignored. Certainly no ‘southern’ Skuas or Little Auks whizzing past this arvo…just nearly horizontal raindrops. Maybe Reservoir Cats has got it right and it is time for the government to ban this ‘dangerous cult of seawatching’.
Where to next? Really must twitch those Great White Egrets, but they’ll probably end up as a regular UK breeding species before too long anyway, and then there’s the increasingly rare Willow Tit on the outskirts of Preston for a Fylde tick.
In the meantime let us know what’s done a bunk from your outback.

Dire!!!

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:01:00 +0000

The safari would like to thank Warren & Monika for their kind concern re the safari's poorly hands. Not only do we have bad hands to worry about but the 'Pool have just clinched defeat from the jaws of victory in their home match against Barnsley...1 - 0 up with only 6 minutes to play...idiots! 3 points would have left only 19 to get for the relegation busting target of 50 with well over half the season still to play and have us at 4th in the table. But we have a few tricky games coming up in quick succession..need to find some form or at least learn how to defend! At least PNE lost aswell.

Frank dragged us out over the still shortened Patch 1 walk - we took our 'new' video camera - an old Sony 8 with tape - and got some shots of the Magpies starting to settle down in their roost in Magpie Wood but the battery ran out before we could film the Peregrine coming to his roost on the ledge on the water tower.

Where to next? Visiting the sick again tomorrow but might try for half an hour on the way for the elusive Shore Lark/Great White Egret if we get the chance.

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

Sorry no pics again but does anyone know any easy/cheap way to convert video tape to computer files?

Dog rough

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:44:00 +0000

As the safari mentioned yesterday today's safari was of the Christmas shopping type, but we did get a few minutes wildlifing in. After Frank had been to the vets to get his stitches out we went up to one of Fleetwood Birders haunts to stretch his legs. We had a brief wander around Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park aka Fleetwood dog park. Never seen so many mutts and only one, guess which, was on a lead. They were everywhere mostly where they shouldn't be - on the wrong side of the wall and fences in the reedbed, swimming in the lakes etc etc etc - it's amazing there was any wildlife there at all! Fortunately gulls are fairly resilient to disturbance like this and continued to come and go dropping in for a wash and brush up before hitting the adjacent tip for lunch. All the usual suspects including a single Great Black Back, but no Mediterraneans and no sign of the Glaucous that has been seen on the nearby beach.

A flock of 22 Meadow Pipits flitted about twixt grass and fence line and gave good photo opporunities - if only we'd taken the camera but this WAS a shopping trip.

The remotest part of the park against the waste sorting station looks really good for a Cetti's Warbler. We tried a few loudly whistled song but nothing replied, although a Reed Bunting LEFT the reedbed in front of us, maybe it thought there was a giant Cetti's lurking nearby!!! By now the shops were beckoning and Frank had had a short off the lead flurry by the car park and well away from any water just in case. This was his first since his operation and he skipped about like a Springbok on steroids; sadly he his still confined to lead only excersize for another week.

The shops were a major disappointment we really struggled to find anything either worth buying or that fitted. You will be releaved to learn that we did get the 'Secret Santa' gift and got it back to the Secret Santa box in the nick of time.

Meanwhile out on the shortened Patch 1 the good old Peregrine is sat roosting up on the water tower again this evening and we had a small flock of Long Tailed Tits in the garden - wow wonders will never cease!

Where to next? Sincerely hope its back to wildlife safari-ing we've had enough of this shopping m'larky.

In the meantime let us know what wildlife is lurking round the shops in your outback.

Apologies again for the lack of pics.

PS on the hand front I posted a pic of my good hand the other day and no have cause for concern as I have just today found a large lump at the base of my thumb on my bad hand - this is seriously bad news...

Dipped, dipped, despondant

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:29:00 +0000

The safari is devastated today with news from the south side; reading the comments on JD's blog it transpires that the Shore Lark is still present in its usual place as was the Linnet and Twite flock - so where the freak were they on Tuesday??? Not only that, a Lapland Bunting was at the Green Beach where we avoided going due to shortage of time - wish we'd known we could have squeezed a few minutes birding in...doh...not seen one of those since can't remember when!

Where to next? Desolation has set in on the wettest, coldest, windiest day of the year - the laundry on the line is wetter than when it went out - the rain is rattling on the windows and we haven't got our pressy for the office Secret Santa tomorrow lunchtime! Something tells me its not a wildlife safari tomorrow its far far worse - a Christmas shopping safari. Jeez I hate that; you spend ages sorting out your plastics for recycling they go to China where they get recombined in allsorts of undo-able combinations, we buy the item, it breaks and can't be recycled so goes to landfill anyway! Oh joy!

In the meantime let us know how far it is to the shops in your Christmasy outback.

Sorry no wildlife pics again today...not takin the camera out in THAT!

PS. The Peregrine was on the water tower on the return leg of the shortened Patch 1 walk this evening BUT it wasn't there on the outward journey five minutes earlier...so we now know it flies around in the dark, even though it may have only moved from one side of the tower to the other to escape a change in wind direction.

Dipped, dipped would have dipped!

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:18:00 +0000

On the way down to hospital visiting duty the safari stopped off on the south side in the vain hope of connecting with a/the Great White Egret. A good few hundred Lapwings were stood out on the saltings braving the icy wind. A flock of about 30 Linnets joined them but there weren’t any Twite among them. Some of the hardier Linnets even started bathing in the freezing water! There were hardly any Pink Footed Geese and we could see even fewer Shelducks. A solitary Kestrel hovered over the marsh. As for Little Egrets, there were more than we’ve seen at any one time, away from a roost site, in this country. Whichever direction we looked there was at least one. All over the shop they were but, sadly, no sign of the larger, yellow billed one.
We didn’t call in at Marshside and view over the embankment of the southern end of the reserve from the Land Rover appeared to be of a frozen birdless desert. So we probably hadn’t missed much.
We did, however, bunk in, very optimistically I might add, to Weld Road beach to see if the Shore Lark was still about. It hasn’t been reported for a good while, probably over a week now and certainly didn’t trouble the note book, neither did anything else.
No sign of it or anything else, ie the regular flock of Twite, as we walked along the track along the back of the beach. Everything must have been keeping its head down in the cruel wind. We didn’t venture on to the Green Beach to see if we could find a Jack Snipe as time was getting short.
By way of a detour into Liverpool we went through the ‘Hightown Bends’ past a couple of SW Lancs Ringing Group’s sites which I used to regularly bird when I lived at home eons ago. The fields I used to toil in digging potatoes and cutting cabbages etc don’t seem to have changed much in the intervening time. There was a covey of six or seven Grey Partridge (difficult to count at 30mph round a tight bend AND there’s nowhere to pull over and stop to get a photo on this busy country lane). I’m sure they were in the same place 30 odd years ago when I used to cycle past on my bike!
The field in which I first made some notes about the klepto-parasitism of Lapwings and Golden Plovers by Black Headed Gulls had been sown earlier in the autumn with a cereal crop so there was little bare ground. I seem to remember, but could be wrong, that the plovers mainly used the field after it had been ploughed and it was still bare soil. Today only the Black Headed Gulls were present.
Not enough time to try for the Grey Phalarope, which was seen until at least the previous day.
On a mammal note the safari got an email inviting us to a Numbat release in the SW corner of Western Australia next week. Unfortunately I doubt if we’ll be able to attend. I love Numbats – one of the best, if not THE best, mammals on the planet and are still in need of a lot of help. Spoke to the boss about it and despite there being free tea and buns on offer he couldn’t be tempted into releasing the budget for me to go.
Did see something this morning we’ve never seen before on Patch 2; a ‘moonset’. This morning’s full moon didn’t quite drop to the horizon before the sun came up and ‘burnt it out’. Shame – never seen the moon ‘drop’ in to the sea. Don’t know how often it happens but I’ve never noticed it before – lovely stuff.

Nearly didn’t get any photos as the traffic prevented quick crossing of the Prom. BTW Patch 2 was devoid of wildlife…obviously frightened off by the thought of that huge moon dropping on them.
Where to next? Back to Patch 2 I suppose.
In the meantime let us know what the full moon was up to in your outback.

Bonanza

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:54:00 +0000

The safari probably isn’t the only one to notice the distinct change in the weather over the last couple of days. Distinctly chilly now after the recent mild but very wet and windy rubbish.
No sign of the Peregrine on the water tower over looking Patch 1 this morning and despite us walking a different (dry) route if he’d have been there we would have spotted him as the wind was in the north and he’d have been sitting on the sheltered south face of the tower illuminated in all his muscular glory by the glow from the street lights.
From Patch 2 this morning we could see that the Lake District fells have had a fair dusting of snow overnight.

The thick socks are on and any future visits to Patch 2 will have to be accompanied by a better pair of gloves!
But as entertaining as distant snow is it wasn’t as good as what was in front of us on the rising tide. As we approached our favoured watch point a Great Black Backed Gull sailed majestically along the top of the wall with only inches of clearance – jeez those guys a big and barrel-chested when seen close up - plenty powerrrr! Got the scope set up on the sea wall and within 30 seconds had dropped on to the sighting of the day – a Harbour Porpoise and quite close in too. Don’t think we would have seen it had it been further out as the rising tide pushing against the stiff NNW breeze had chopped the water up. A concentrated scan to the north following the direction of travel revealed nothing; didn’t see it again. Very much a very lucky looking in the right place at the right time sighting.
But all was not lost more was out there…a trio of Eiders, two males and a female, came in from the south which was going to be the pattern of the watch – everything was going northwards. The low early morning pink sunshine illuminated a gorgeous female Common Scoter, making her look a rich ‘rusty’ brown. A few yards beyond her a 1st winter Little Gull bounced over the choppy sea, nice to see they’re still about after last week’s splendiferous adult. Within a few minutes a Red Throated Diver motored north passing within a few feet of the gull. Looking to be going somewhere on a mission! By now the fingers were beginning to feel the effects of the wind chill but we stuck it out a couple more minutes and connected with a stunning Guillemot (Common Murre for our north American readers – I do wish you’d call stuff by its proper name – what’s all this Winter Wren and Parasitic Jaeger nonsense?) going north at close enough range to get an unusually good view for this species, not a distant ‘auk sp’ and certainly not stringable as a Little Auk. One of those would be very nice off this coast; we used to have a stuffed one on view in the centre at the nature reserve that was found on the beach locally many years ago – wonder if they still have it. A few Common Gulls were out amongst the white horses but somewhat surprisingly no common gulls were seen.
Enough was enough - the wind-chill on the fingers now said ten minutes out there was more than long enough and it was time to dash back in to the warmth of the office. Not a bad ten minutes at all…missed a Great Northern Diver at 08.00 by faffing around in the office too long before getting out on site though…that’ll teach me…
Out on Patch 2 at lunchtime in very crisp light – can even make out the two wind farms and almost see the party of Boy Scouts on the summit of the Old Man of Coniston - but very little to report wildlife-wise apart from a pair of Common Scoters sitting just behind the surf and 8 Sanderlings buzzing around just in front of it. My bogey, Velvet Scoter, is reported to have reached Rossall Point…its getting closer…
Where to next? Bloomfield Road for the big match…in a few minutes…UP THE ‘POOL!!!
In the meantime let us know if the snow is settling in your outback
PS. For those that like gruesome gore – if you’re wondering why I was going on about my hand yesterday this is a pic of my ‘good’ hand from not so long ago.

Makes holding my bins steady a little tricky. You don’t wanna see the bad hand.

You couldn't write it!

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:43:00 +0000

The safari can report that the Peregrine was still on the water tower at 10.00pm last night but we were excused the early morning walk with Frank so don't know if it was still sat on its ledge at 07.00hrs. Must get in touch with my contacts in the water board and see if they can get a nest box put up there.

We weren't sure we were going to get out today but the sun was shining and we were able to get to the local park to try out a bit of digiscoping. All hand held, not got one of those stick your camera to your scope adaptors. But the results aren't too bad. The light was variable but when it was strong it was a bit dazzling as you can see from the white parts on these Herring Gulls. They were a good distance away more than could be achieved with the 'normal' camera and a better result too I think.

We tried to get the Cormorant as it was preening but lost the sunlight behind hazy cloud unfortunately.

With the 'normal camera and no scope we hit the duck feeding zone and got a couple of shots of much nearer quarry without too much zoom.

We were hoping for a Mediterranean Gull as they are regularly found amongst the Black Headed Gulls here. The Black Head below is digiscoped at a range of about 50 yards.One of the Black Heads was ringed but as we were about to set up the scope and get some shots off to see if we could read it all hell broke loose - total mayhem...
A CAT ran past us...with its LEAD dragging behind it...too much for Frank...The reason we were in the park in the first place was so that he wouldn't run round too much and get all muddy on account of his stitches. The park is ideal, all the paths are well tarmaced and generally puddle free unlike the nature reserve or the access to Patch 1. He had been well behaved, just sniffing other dogs backsides, as they do, almost ignoring other dogs' balls (throwing balls - not testicles), he even managed to ignore the Grey Squirrels although other people around made getting shots impossible which was a shame as they were undeniably cute today. But the cat was the straw that broke the camel's back - what freakin' dough-brained numpty idiotfink brings a cat to a place full of dogs for a walk? A bearded twit of one that's who. Well you know what happened next, Frank set off after it at breakneck speed snapping his lead, felling the scope (it's OK Mick it fell on to the muddy grass not on the hard tarmac - dirty but undamaged fortunately). The cat disappeared; Frank was here, there and everywhere looking for it - it had jumped on a bench and was trying to make itself as small as possible. What a bloody pillock! Frank was now mud-up; I had blood on my hand from where I grabbed the lead, not, fortunately, from his stitches. Even more fortunately the blood was from the finger NEXT to my bad one otherwise I'd be in hospital by now and not ranting away at the computer in my sitting room. Not badly hurt just skinned by the fast moving lead.

If you're wondering why I was so worried about Frank take a look at his wounds - he's got a stitch in his eyelid too.

If we hadn't have had to dash home to de-mud then we could have had an hour looking at the sea - flat calm today for the first time in ages...picture taken almost legally from a moving Land Rover on the way home. If you can't tell the sea is the shiny patch behind the people below the darker grey of the sky. Not a white horse in sight...annoying!!! Bloody pillocks!!!

Alls well that ends well, thankfully.

Where to next? There's a Grey Phalarope near the hospital, hope it's still there tomorrow; might just be able to sneak half an hour before visiting time.

In the meantime let us now how many pillocks, numpties, dough-brains, there are lurking in your outback - I know Fleetwood Birder has had problems with them recently.

What makes the wind blow? + Update

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Late Edit - Peregrine was on the water tower on our shortened Patch 1 teatime walk - will it still be there at 10.00pm and 07.00am tomorrow morning.

Still no Patch 1 visits yet but the safari was out on the windswept sea wall at first light this morning. Sadly no White/Black Bellied Petrels, Frigate Birds or Masked Boobies to challenge our ID skills, just several Common Gulls going south to the nearby beach as it became uncovered by the receding tide.
What’s slightly more worrying is that the safari has been faffing around with statistics again…”Oh no not more pseudo-scientific drivel”; I hear you moan.
Here at the Solaris Centre we have been open exactly 5 years and we have a full five years worth of electrical generation data from our wind turbines.

Somewhat bizarrely our ‘wind generation profile’ correlates fairly well with the recent el Niño/la Niña sequences.
After a the very hot summer of 2003 el Niña flipped to la Niño in autumn 2004 just as our turbines came on line. Our chart shows a steadily increasing output from the generators. There was another el Niño from September 06 to April 07. Since then, through most of 2008 and into 2009 la Niña has been dominant. Three grotty summers on the trot for us up here. There has certainly been a drop in average daily maximum and minimum temperatures since mid 2007 (in Blackpool at least). Only three months have been 2°C warmer than the average daily maximum, two have even been almost 2°C cooler – unprecedented in recent years, and only four months have shown an average daily minimum temperature of 2°C over the long term average. In the last few months the la Niña has started to wane and el Niño is in the ascendancy. I think this fits with the observed peaking and now tailing off in our electricity generation. What is going to happen next? I’ll get back to you in about 50 years time and let you know…was it all supposition and looking for patterns when there aren’t really any there…or…did I really suss out the correlation that early?

We had our last hot summer spell (topping 30°+ C for several days) in 2006 - 25°C was hot day when I was a lad. With el Niño back in charge, depending on how strong it is or how long it lasts, will we finally see 40°+ C here in the UK? With la Nina and a bit of PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation – although the PDO cannot directly explain global temperature variations) masking the ongoing warming anything is possible. Get your sunscreen supplies in Warren – it could well be in your neck of the woods when it happens.

Out on Patch 2 at lunchtime the tide was out and thankfully the wind had dropped considerably. It was unusual to note that the most numerous species of gull on the beach was in fact the Common Gull, out-numbering the other species put together…which is weird!
The recent heavy weather has made the beach change considerably and there are channels and sandbanks in odd patterns. This obviously suits the local Redshanks as there were 17 of them. Turnstones hit a count of 8 and a single Ringed Plover buzzed about on stop-start twinkling legs between them. Nothing of any particular note out to sea…apart from, briefly…the SUN, right in our eyes…bloody typical.
Where to next? Better get some Christmas shopping in soon, but not tomorrow as it is Buy Nothing Day 2009 – possibly my favourite day of the year, not that I buy much any day of the year – mother-in-law doesn’t call me Frugal McDougal for nothing!
In the meantime let us know if the rain has stopped and the sun is shining in your outback.

Apologies for lack of wildlife photos - again...

A little bit of what you fancy…

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:11:00 +0000

The safari had no visit to Patch 1 nor an early morning patch 2 session either, unfortunately, as that could have been quite good on the falling tide with the strong overnight squally wind.
But a lunchtime venture on to the seawall just about at low tide was worth it. We only had a few minutes and scanning the wall to wall white horses didn’t reveal much, smaller numbers than recently of Common Scoter were being thrown about in the maelstrom, a couple of Kittiwakes headed south and a Herring Gull were all we had to show for our efforts. So we turned our scopes on the strandline to see if we could pick up any Sanderlings or Ringed Plovers and give the gulls a going through. No waders apart from the Oystercatchers but flitting about over the Black Headed Gulls and Common Gulls scouring the strandline was a beautiful adult Little Gull. We watched it for ages as it pattered on the surface of the water like a petrel deftly dodging the incoming breakers. Stunning bird – I really like them and was lucky enough, in the 70s, to have been a volunteer warden at very rare UK breeding attempt in Norfolk. Still can’t work out why they are ‘upside down’ though. The underside of the wing is much darker than the upper unlike the majority of gulls. I know Black headed Gulls have a ‘smoky’ underwing but it’s nowhere near as dark as the Little Gull’s.
As it gave up its search for food and drifted off down the beach it was time to get back to work with chilled toes; the time for thicker socks is getting nearer! Deffo worth going out though, there’s been a few of these little beauts up and down the coast and it would have been a shame to have missed them – the winds are forecast to drop and we might even get some chilly but sunnier weather at last.
Where to next – A safari on Saturday is likely, what we had planned for Sunday has been replaced by hospital visiting – it was exciting too….doh.
In the meantime let us know what little beauts have turned up in your outback.
Sorry no wildlife pics today.

Didn't last!!!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:08:00 +0000

The safari has absolutely no wildlife news today. With Frank incapacitated there was no visit to Patch 1; where yesterday, at about the time we are normally on site, a young girl was attacked. Weird as we very rarely see anyone else during our predawn birding visit and if we do they are invariably someone else walking their dog before work. There's not half so dough-brained numpties out there.
No chance to get out onto Patch 2 at lunchtime today, unfortunately, as there has been some good stuff up and down the coast over the last day or so. A Little Auk - that would be a great Patch 2 tick...evn better in Patch 1!!! A few Little Gulls too, more Kittiwakes, a Leach's Petrel, Great Northern Diver, Velvet Scoters, Slavonian Grebe, Great Skua, Walney Island to our north had Arctic Skuas although dark phase as opposed to our light phase ones yesterday and quite a late Gannet.
Tomorrow is going to be another windy day but looks like there might be a little sunshine - whoopy-doo.

Where to next? Hopefully Patch 2 a couple of times although the tides are a bit duff at the times we can get there.
In the meantime let us know what the wind is blowing in to your outback.

Sorry no pics today...too gloomy.