Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris

Garden bird counting

2012-01-28T14:51:00.000Z

The Safari didn't get in from the party until the wee small hours but Frank had us up not too long afterwards and then it was time to do our hour's count for the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. Two Herring Gulls were very quick off the mark on the bread we threw on the garage roof and almost disappeared before the timer started.

The notebook filled slowly until an entry was written in in capitals - Coal Tit...year bird #99! Goldfinch and Magpie were near misses and a Sparrowhawk sat in the big tree at the top of the hill but didn't come anywhere near Base Camp today.

A quick breakfast was wolfed down and then it was off to the furthest reaches of the North Blackpool Pond Trail for more counting. A frosty start meant there was a thin crust of ice on the lake but the sun gave us some nice photo ops.
The only Common Gull amongst the 30 or so Black Heads.

Great Crested Grebe, from this pic there are two on the lake as the one scoped and counted wasn't as far advanced in its moult as this one.

The regular Heron comes to a chap who feeds it bacon rind apparently.

"You get my good side?"

Drake Mallard

Drake Mallard x ???

Any suggestions

A couple of Primroses were found in flower and there will be an excellent show of wildflowers later in the year provided the path edges don't get mown at the wrong time.

Where to next? Might be back later, if not we have a safari planned for tomorrow to try to regain a decent lead over Monika.

In the meantime let us know what saved the day on your big outback count.

Overtaken!

2012-01-27T17:16:00.001Z

The Safari has been overtaken by Monika in our, now annual, Year List Challenge ;-( We had a quick look through last weeks sightings in the local area and discovered there where 23 species we've not seen this year, plus a couple of others we know are in the area but haven't been seen/reported and then there's the Glaucous Gulls on the South-side we were so close to but so far away from last weekend....Maybe we should get out more!

52 Magpies in Magpie Wood was as good as it got today on Patch 1 and Patch 2 at high tide was an over the wall wash out.

Managed to get some pics of the underside of the little fungus growing out of the Gorse stem in between rain storms this morning - lo and behold it has a little stalk and isn't a bracket as we thought.

Current thinking from iSpot is either Velvet Shank or Plums and Custard. Don't think it's the latter but our knowledge of fungi is minimal to say the least.

Where to next? Big x0th birthday party for a mate of ours tonight so will we be compos mentis enough to do the Big Garden Bird Count at Base Camp in the morning. Even if we don't manage that we're booked to help out with the same at the North Blackpool Pond Trail later in the morning.

Wot a lot of knot we got

2012-01-26T17:03:00.001Z

The Safari was reading Dean’s escapades last night whichincluded his first Frog of the year. He’s in the middle of the country and athigh altitude so his success prompted us to head out to the garden to see ifany were hopping around the edge of the pond – it was absolutely lashing itdown so we didn’t get past the threshold of the back door!

Our routine was back to normal this morning, even if ourcoat was still sopping wet from taking Frank out not long after the ill-fatedFrog hunt, and on leaving Base Camp in the cold (10C in the rain last night - 2C with frost settling on the grass at 06.00) pre-dawn we immediately heardthe Song Thrush’s song being carried from the Golden Triangle on the gentle butchilly morning breeze.

Round the corner one of the Peregrines was still pushing outthe zeds (zees for any American readers) on its ledge There were Robins aplentysinging from all points (must make a proper effort to count them soon) and acouple of Blackbirds were approaching full song.

Visibility on Patch 2 was excellent for a change. Out on thehorizon there was a beautiful rainbow and we wrangled the little camera from oursoggy pocket...it pulled a focussing hissy-fit so no pics for you to enjoy :-( not sure what went wrong but it didn’t seem towant to focus on ‘infinity’, or more likely didn’t ‘know’ what distance theobject we were pointing it at was. Beneath the rainbow we reckon there werebetween 1000 – 1250 Common Scoters and a single Red Throated Diver were seen.

The sea was still a bit too lumpy to be able to pick out anyHarbour Porpoises; we’d hoped to get one for the mammal year list before wecame across the much more numerous, and far easier to spot, Grey Squirrel butit wasn’t to be as we saw one of the latter in the big park on Monday.

On the beach we noted three Knot feeding with the Oystercatchersat the side of the outfall pipe. Something made us look over to the other sideof the pipe and we saw a fair few more. We started counting at the left-handend of the flock and got to the mid 80s when something spooked them and farmore than we were expecting got up and flew – at a guess over 500 alltogether...a good sized flock. A few Sanderlings were with them and as they allflew southwards past us the Sanderlings dropped on to the beach in front of usbut the Knot kept going well past our southern border.

A scan through the 100 or so gulls kicking about didn’t giveus anything out of the ordinary.

The wind had swung round and strengthened by lunchtime andnow was coming at us off the sea bringing heavy wintery squalls. There was aplethora of white horses and some big rollers out towards the horizon. Outthere too was a large swarm of diving gulls indicating a big bait ball but onceagain the sea conditions were such that we were never going to be able to seeany cetaceans that might have been in attendance.

Several Red Throated Divers were seen, the most for a while,one was pretty close in but prolonged observation was impossible as it spentmost of the time frustratingly hidden in the troughs.

Nothing of note was found with the vigorously bobbing CommonScoters and as a particularly large and dark squall sped towards us ominouslywhipping up the sea as it approached we turned and fled just reaching theoffice door before the heavens opened.

On the way home the light was phenomenal between the squalls with vibrant colours etched against the dark foreboding sky not seen it so crisp for a long time - shame we couldn't get any wildlifey shots.

Taken through the rain/hail splattered windscreen - not whilst driving, we'd pulled over!

Where to next? More of the chilly same with even more wind...for a change...NOT..we want calm; we want calm!!!

In the meantime let us know what's hopping out of hibernation in your outback.

Better but not really any good

2012-01-25T16:42:00.001Z

The Safari was excused a Patch 1 visit this morning as Wifeytook Frank out so no news from there other than we could hear the GoldenTriangle’s Song Thrush singing away while we were deciding whether to lie inbed for a few more minutes or get up n at em.

Visibility was a far better than yesterday at Patch 2, ormore specifically we could see further. In fact the visibility wasn’t that goodas there was a bit of a weird shimmery ‘heat’ haze in the distance which wasn’tgood for having a good check of the distant Common Scoters for anything out ofthe ordinary. Closer in there wasn’t anything to set the pulse racing with thefew Common Scoters sitting behind the surf.

On the beach the patch let us down a bit – there were a fewgulls and a couple of dozen Oystercatchers feeding in the runnels and along thewater’s edge as the tide rose. A Redshank and three Turnstones poked around inthe seaweed at the base of the wall and a handful of Sanderlings scurriedaround the edges of the incoming waves in their own inimical style. But it wasover our southern border and out of accurate counting distance where the bulkof the action was. Several hundred gulls included a few Great Black Backs, acouple of Lesser Black Backs – the start of the return passage? – and a ratherdarker than normal Common Gull – from somewhere to the east?.

Oystercatchers were scattered everywhere on the wide expanseof beach with many hundreds more in a long black line along the water’s edge,conservatively 2500 of them. Sanderlings too were numerous with 130 countedbefore they took flight and flocked up. A good number remained on the beach andwe’d guess at somewhere in the region of 200-250 altogether.

A trip along the corridor from the office to the brew-roomwas rewarded by not only a hot cuppa but through the windows a Magpie (P2 No 36) was seen flying over the garden which landed on a neighbouring roof joiningthree Black Headed Gulls, one of which was in just about full sum. plum.Magpies aren’t necessarily easy at Patch 2.

The lunchtime safari wasn’t up to much either. Theshimmering haze was worse and now started at the near-middle distance makinganything beyond that far out look as though it was related to Wobbly Bob from Wobblesville, Arizona.

Close in a similar number of Common Scoters bobbed about onthe swell, close enough to be able to tell there was nothing special with themother than a single Great Crested Grebe.

With nothing much happening we gave up after about tenminutes.

This shrub makes up half the front hedge at work, the other half being Tamarisk. No idea what it is other than it has little pinky-purple flowers that the Bumble Bees love...we do know it should be in bud yet!

Round the back is our Gorse hedge which gets excessively and badly pruned by people trying to get at the windows to clean them - pruned too hard for the local Linnets to nest safely in those spiny branches. A severed trunk has this unknown fungus growing out of it - dunno how long it's been there but not noticed it until this arvo...any suggestions...it's about an inch (25mm) side to side maybe a tad more.

Where to next? Gotta get better soon...hasn’t it?

In the meantime let us know what’s wobbling in your outback.

Solid wall of grey

2012-01-24T17:03:00.000Z

The Safari heard two Song Thrushes on Patch 1 this morningalong with a Blackbird which was more tuning up than singing properly. 39Magpies were all that could be seem in the awful light although we had caused alittle disturbance as we walked passed beneath them so there could have easilybeen a few more. No sign of the Peregrines today – round the back?

Patch 2 was a dingy grey wash out with the last remnant ofbeach being covered as we got to the wall flushing numerous mixed gulls, 52Oystercatchers and a Knot. Visibility out to sea was reduced by the thick lowcloud to about 500 yards. Consequently only a few Common Scoters were seen andthose only in silhouetted shapes against the gentle swell – what might havebeen out there had we been able to see it???

By the time lunch came round and we were able to get outagain conditions were worse – the drizzle was heavier but still not quite rain.

Now even the scoters had abandoned us, in our extremelyrestricted viewing area there was absolutely nothing to be seen

We consoled our woe at not finding any wildlife to look atby taking some arty shots of the conditions and the MirrorBall...why?...Because it’s there! Blackpool’s answer tothe Statue of Liberty as SP put it recently.

Where to next? Better weather but a still calm seaplease...even calmer would do nicely if we could just have a bit of visibilityas well...no chance of seeing the Northern Lights tonight :-(

In the meantime let us know if your outback’s local landmarkhas got lost in the mist

Not bad for a Monday

2012-01-23T17:06:00.002Z

The Safari started out on Patch 1 with a pre-dawn count of61 Magpies waiting for dawn in the upper branches of Magpie Wood. Round thecorner the two Peregrines seen last night were still sat on their ledges. Onlyone of the possible three Song Thrushes was heard, the Golden Triangle birdbeing heard from Base Camp as we left. Plenty of Robins were singing but theBlackbirds weren’t, they were too busy feeding on the roadside verges...andwhere are the Mistle Thrushes – plenty about but shouldn’t we have heard themsinging on the patch by now?

At Patch 2 the tide was at the wall so no beachy stuff toreport. Out to sea, as the sun crept above the roof-tops behind us, the Common Scotersnumbered around the 500 mark and were quite active. As we scanned we gave aninward silent shout of YES – GET IN and corresponding punch in the air as amale Velvet Scoter shot through the field of view nice and close in. We lockedonto it like a surface to air missile and followed it for a few minutes as itheaded north then north west aswas lost in the swell. Excellent stuff – EASILY our best sighting of thisspecies on the west coast – Crippling even! And only bettered by a flock(!) Ofthem at Spurn yonks ago.According to the 'Birds of Lancashire' there are approaching 30,000 Common Scoters out there butunknown numbers of Velvets, perhaps as few as fifty to a hundred, to give some indicationfor the reason for our excitement.

The only other (minor) excitement was caused by a male Eidergoing north.

The big question was could the lunchtime safari match up thehigh standard. It didn’t, plenty of Common Scoters still very close to the wallgiving excellent views – if only the waves weren’t so big! (Can we have a Surf Scoter please - but having just said that we daren't claim one now!!!) Only two otherspecies were noted, two Red Throated Divers flying northwards in perfectsynchronisation and a Guillemot going the other way a long way out.

The sun had a bit of heat in it today, we could feel itthrough our woolly hat! If it’s supposed to insulative shouldn’t it keepenvironmental heat out as well as metabolic heat in? – So much for ‘Thinsulate’– maybe that’s why we get cold ears when the wind blows...

Talking of wind we have just received some consultationdocuments for the proposed new wind farm extension offshore.- copies areavailable to view at work – But are wind farms good or bad for the environment– a report out recently suggested over 6 MILLION birds had been killed by turbines in Spain alone – hardly environmentally friendly! But what is theeffect of offshore wind energy? It’s impossible to know if migrating birdscollide with them as the carcasses will probably never be found. This newscheme could impact on the scoters, Whooper Swans, Pink Footed Geese and otherspecies that use the coast as a fly-way all of those the UKhas an international responsibility for as we harbour very significant proportionsof their populations.

Beneath the waves there is the obvious but temporaryconstruction noise but how loud is the operational noise and at whatfrequencies and how far does it travel and how does it compare to the ‘natural’background noise? We’ve tried to find this info but never had any success – hasanyone got any ideas where such info might reside?

There maybe benefits to the benthic habitat with the rocksput down to prevent scour providing habitat for new species – but these couldhave a negative effect on the existing community by either being predators orincreasing the competition. One of the proposals is for fewer larger (7MW)turbines – these would have less effect on the sea bed community being fewer innumber and more spread out so any negative effect from the new community aroundthe anti-scour piles of rocks at thefoot of each turbine would only be localised leaving far greater areasunaffected.

One good thing is that boats are excluded from the footprintso that there will be no disturbance or damage from fishing vessels and thearea could become an extensive nursery area for many species of fish.

Here...

A trip to the big park after work in the late afternoon sunshine gave us a nice selection of waterfowl and woodland birds but no Nuthatch or Treecreeper for the year.

Coot - couldn't see any of KB's colour rings

Pink Footed Goose

Sleeping Tufted Ducks

The alarm calls of the smaller birds had us looking up expecting a Sparrowhawk but we were surprised to see this Kestrel glide through the trees and land; obviously looking down...perhaps for mice attracted to spilt bird-seed?

Not sure what the flower is. Anyone?

Renewable energy seems to be the only bit of the environmentthat our ‘Greenest Government Ever’ appears to understand – or do they all haveshares in it????? – to the rest of us their only greeness is their naivetyabout the natural environment...what colour is ‘blatant disregard’?

Where to next? More of the same please but with some Little Gulls thrown in...

In the meantime let us know how renewable your environment is

Our get up an go got up and went

2012-01-22T17:10:00.001Z

The Safari went took Frank to the nature reserve this arvo - we went armed and dangerous complete with the scope out today to try a bit of digiscoping. The wind was strong and cold and between bouts of sunshine the showers were ferocious, rattling off the hide roofs...or worse blasting in through the windows.

Most of the waterfowl were sheltering in the reeds but a male Goldeneye was a welcome sight as there have been very few of them this season, three females was a lower than normal count too.

A drake Pintail was good to see but we couldn't find the female that others had seen with it. Teal numbers were around the 300 mark and we didn't count the Wigeon; 18 Gadwall found their way into the notebook.

On the bund opposite the hide were 11 Cormorants, one of which was interestingly small and bronzy on the breast with an very slender bill. It's the one we should have digiscoped but try as we might with these three we couldn't get a decent pic - too much hand-shake on the camera combining with too much wind-shake on the scope. By the time we'd faffed around the small one had done one!

A Kestrel was chased by a Black Headed Gull and a Buzzard was plagued by a Carrion Crow as it tried to hunt the Feral Pigeons in the fields to our left, eventually it got fed up with the crow and had a semi-serious attempt at catching it -the crow was not amused!!! The gulls were decidedly disappointing with very few coming in while we were there.

Through the scope we could see that the bushes beyond the Cormorants were sporting the white blobs indicating that the Pussy Willow will be out in a few days and with it the early queen Bumble Bees; one has been seen already! Ash on the other hand won't be opening its dark chocolate coloured leaf buds for a few months yet - but will they open before the Oak this year?

We dashed to the feeding station between downpours. It was busy with the common visitors to feeding stations everywhere, the lack of Great Spotted Woodpeckers was made up for by five or six Reed Buntings. This female Blackbird pulled out the most enormous worm not long after the pic was taken but took it under the Brambles to 'process' it away from prying eyes

A male Blackbird gave us our best pic of the day by sitting in the closest bush to the window.

The put on a display of scratching - note the transparent protective nictitating membrane covering it's eye.

Also at the feeders - and thwarted by the anti- Grey Squirrel measures - were a posse of three male and three female Pheasants.

As much as we don't really like these mass-produced none natives they are value for money in the colours stakes.

Their antics at trying to get at the food were fun to watch too.

From the feeding station hide we could hear a Song Thrush (MMLNR No 58) singing in to the wind and on the walk back to our starting point we spotted a single Mistle Thrush (MMLNR No 59) on the grassed area with several Blackbirds (but not the white headed one - have any of our readers seen it recently?)

We left the reserve much earlier than anticipated on a bit of a downer as we couldn't muster the enthusiasm to stay longer in the duff conditions - basically we wimped out.

With it being still very early for going back to Base camp we decided to push the boat out and drive the extra mile to go and have a look at the flooded field. A wise decision as there were one Grey Heron, one Pied Wagtail, two Lapwings and two Green Sandpipers (98) poking around on the flood.

We were still back at Base Camp far too early but we really struggled to want to stay out longer...are we ill?
Where to next? Patch 2 will be back in play tomorrow lets hope the wind has blown something interesting our way and that it's died down enough for us to be able to find it!
In the meantime let us know what, if anything, put the mockers on your outback.

Brief sortie south of the river

2012-01-21T16:52:00.000Z

The Safari had to head over to the Southside this morning. A new pair of wellies for the Land Rover sure made the wallet a good bit lighter and slimmer.

After the boots had been fitted had just enough time for a very brief visit to a well known reserve with a similar name to our own nature reserve and got two year birds in the pouring rain, Bewick's Swan (96) and Ruff (97). Such was the weather that we didn't even bother nipping the couple of hundred yards round the path to the feeders where Tree Sparrows would have been a certainty nor go a hundred yards the other way where another small feeding station has held a Willow Tit recently - maybe we should have done this one...Willow Tit could be tricky to catch up with - impossible on the Fylde - can feel another trip to Moore nature reserve coming up in the early spring,,,but will we successfully avoid the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers there again? we aren't worried about the Tree Sparrows are still plentiful hereabouts (thankfully).

Where to next? Wouldn't mind somewhere to give the new tyres a test in the sticky stuff but it'll probably be another safari round the nature reserve.

In the meantime let us know what you didn't have time for in your outback.

A long way for any easy tick

2012-01-20T18:36:00.002Z

The Safari headed out with three colleagues to attend a strategic countywide natural environment planning meeting this morning. A good way to spend an otherwise dreadfully dull and wet day.

Arriving at the car park of our venue a Grey Wagtail (95) flew over towards the pond in the school next door's extensive wildlife garden. Not a bad way to start the proceedings and get us in the right frame of mind for the forthcoming workshops!

The meeting itself was intense - some present described it as turbo charged brain storming - but it was great to see so many faces from the past, some we've not seen or at least only briefly for over 25 years!

Youngster AB came along as part of his work experience from college and was literally thrown in at the deep end of environmental strategy without even the life-jacket of someone he knew on his table...all extremely useful experience for him even though his poor brain is probably addled at the moment...ours is and we've been in the business since the end of the 70s!

And many thanks to LB for helping us write the last comments about inspiration on the 'graffiti board'.

No stargazing tonight - don't fancy staring up at the base of a rain sodden cloud in a cold wet windy and muddy field...maybe tomorrow night.

Where to next? Weekend so our excitement knows no bounds - first up is a trip to the Southside for two new tyres for the Land Rover, otherwise we'll be going nowhere fast!

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

Bait ball…but distant

2012-01-19T15:11:00.000Z

The Safari heard a weird call sort of a cough and a grunt,quite loud, from something unknown as we left Base Camp this morning, a bitlike someone clearing their throat. Looking up all we saw was the glare fromthe street light – a mystery we first though of Woodcock but it was nothinglike any Woodcock we’ve heard before. Any one any ideas what we could trylistening to on Xeno-canto.

Patch 2 only held 45 Oystercatchers and a few gulls both ofwhich increased gradually as the tide fell. Looking beyond our southern borderthe light was superb but the decent number of gulls in the gentle surf didn’tinclude the nature reserve’s Iceland Gull – we have still no idea where thatlives when it’s not at the reserve.

Not much was out to sea other than the usual Common Scoters.Scanning along the horizon we found a gaggle of gulls swooping and diving overwhat was probably a bait ball. Unfortunately the sea was far too choppy to beable to tell if any cetaceans were about. There’s a chance there might havebeen a decent sized pod of Bottle Nosed Dolphins was filmed not far away off the Isle of Manonly a couple of days ago.
Lucky guys...Hopefullywe’ll bump in to them when we do our cetacean ferry survey at the end of nextmonth (might do this one later in the year if we getthe chance)

A couple of RedThroated Divers provided the only other interest as we strained our eyes downthe scope for the hint of a dark back jumping above the white horses.

Little hadchanged by lunchtime. The tide had retreated further and left a couple ofstrandlines which a reasonable number of gulls and Oystercatchers rummagedthrough – nothing outstanding in their midst this time; not really enough gullsto pull in one of the influx of white-wingers.

The sea was still pretty choppy but with the good light weestimated well over 1000 Common Scoters, with just two Red Throated Divers anda single Great Crested Grebe seen over the water. There was no sign of the baitball and nothing other than scoters was moving out towards the horizon.

Where to next? A day’s meeting out of town tomorrow withperhaps the opportunity to go stargazing t work in the evening as part of theBBC’s Stargazing LIVE events - weather permitting of course...at the mo it looks like it’s gonna be morelike cloudgazing than stargazing but there’s a chance Saturday night might beOK if Friday is a washout – indoor activities will be available in case ofrain....and on Saturday too,,,just in case...

In the meantime let us know what you’ve been gazing at inyour outback.

Enjoy a bit of Stargazer from a long time ago....was at the Liverpool gig of this tour..on crutches with an iffy foot after a bit of a to-do with a steam roller

You might as well have the next track off the Rainbow Rising LP - all side 2...remember sides?

RIP Ronnie & Cozy - much missed

And while we're on the subject

Mild again

2012-01-18T16:45:00.000Z

The Safari opened the door on a different world thismorning, gone was the frost and crisp cold air, replaced by mild dark dankgreyness...again. The southerly airflow was bringing the delicious chocolatyscents of Bourbon biscuits being baked at the nearby factory.

But the warmer temperature did have a positive effect on thebirds as we could a hear the Song Thrush singing all the way from the GoldenTriangle, the usual Robins were singing rather than ‘ticking’ today and aBlackbird was in fine voice too from one of the gardens on the other side ofthe road.

Overnight rain meant it was probably too wet for a fullpatch walk but we did the longer version of the shortened walk...if you seewhat we mean...Passing the Golden Triangle our ears were blasted by the SongThrush; they need to be loud as even at that time of the morning, well beforethe rush hour, the traffic noise is annoyingly noticeable and makes hearingsinging distant birds difficult...we don’t like it one bit but for wildlifetrying to make themselves heard above that din must be a nightmare and couldwell have serious consequences for breeding success if females can’t hear themales calling properly.

Magpie Wood held a singing Robin, if he makes a nest wewonder if the landscape ‘gardener’ will bury it in slimy grass cuttings like hemight have done to a Wren’s nest last year. From this bottom side we can’t seethe roosting Magpies. Walking round a bit further we heard another Song Thrushsinging from the entrance to the park – need to get in there soon to listen forthe one at the top of the park...are there more...be good if they were, thenational population is rising after its dramatic fall to its low point in theearly 90s. Sadly the population graph does show that for every two Song Thrushes therewere when the Safari started birding in the mid 60s there is only one nowmeaning possibly as many as 2 million of them have disappeared :-(

Under the glow of the streetlights we counted 56 Magpies anda Woodpigeon still snoozing the night away.

Back at base camp we didn’t hear yesterday’s nearby SongThrush so could it have been the one from the Golden Triangle on a trip awayfrom its normal song post or a different one moving through?

At Patch 2 the sea was shrouded in dense low drizzly cloudwith barely any visibility. All the action was on the water’s edge which wascreeping inexorably away from us exposing more beach and therefore food witheach passing minute. A few gulls and Oystercatchers were picking at shellswhile 15 Sanderlings scampered around their feet. Four Redshanks made up thenumbers.

By lunchtime the tide was at its lowest but disturbance washigh. Today’s hominids included Cockle pickers, Mussel pickers on the outfallpipe, dog walkers and a metal detectorist. 19 Redshanks sat with a few BlackHeaded Gulls on the far side of a deep runnel half way down the beach but otherthan them there was only a scattering of Oystercatchers. At the furthest end ofthe pipe away from the pickers a 1^st winter gull had usconcentrating for a while. It’s most interesting feature was the obvious doublewing bar and ‘finger nail-like’ markings on the tertials, nice ‘shawl’ too; butits head and bill didn’t point towards Caspian Gull, nor did it have anythingother than normal length legs nor a saggy rear belly, the underwing was quitestrongly marked and there was too much marking on the belly...just a slighlyodd Herring Gull, or one with a smattering of Caspian Gull genes? Theaggressive ‘Albatross’ pose at an approaching Oystercatcher was interesting toobut it totally ignored the Turnstone almost under its feet.

A few yards offshore there was about 100 Common Scoters; nearenough to tell there were no odd-balls with them rather than them being acollection of dots at enormous range.

With the conditions being quite pleasant it wasdisappointing to have to leave because there wasn’t really anything to see.

In other, slightly more random news – but still inSafariland – our Extreme Photographer (aka Extreme Mechanic for his sterlingworking getting the Land Rover through its MoT) was out at a local beauty spotlast weekend and spotted a white headed Long Tailed Tit in the flock coming tothe feeders at the carpark. By strange coincidence last night MG’s BirdingFrontiers blog had news of another, this time in Yorkshire – Our ExtremePhotographer/Mechanic had already decided to go for another look for ‘his’ sometime later this week – weather permitting - hopefully he’ll re-find it and getsome great pics (and video) for us to show you later. Talking of MG we weremortified to have to miss his talk last year organised by my mate AB for theArtery of Life project – who in their right mind would chose to go on holidaythe very day one of the country’s leading laridophiles is doing an IDmasterclass???

Where to next? More of the same but can we have something tolook at please....

In the meantime let us know if there has been a mass evacuationin your outback.

Fishy goings on

2012-01-17T17:23:00.000Z

The Safari was out early as usual and the frost sparkled onthe pavement like the stars above the Western Australian desertor a myriad tiny diamonds scattered underfoot. Very little stirred apart from afew Robins. It wasn’t until we got back to base camp we heard the Song Thrushwhich sounded ever so close but it was still a bit too dark to locate it. Itwasn’t in the big Sycamore tree nor in either of the smaller trees in thegarden but it certainly wasn’t far away...have to listen out for it tomorrowand hope its singing from the same perch and we can have a better look for it.

Patch 2 was positively hopeless this morning. At sea severalscans revealed very little except for a flock of five Great Crested Grebes.Yesterday’s record breaking flock of Knot was nowhere to been seen, although tobe fair the area they were feeding in was under water, just one of theirbrethren was still present sharing the small patch of ooze with a Redshank.

Again the beach was 99% devoid of gulls...must need somewind to bring up a new wreck of tasty shellfish... watch this space laterthis week.

The mention of wrecked things brings us neatly onto theresolution of yesterday’s washed up fish mystery – D was able to get down toour southern border and found just one of the Rays that the fisherman had toldus about. A male Thornback Ray with well developed claspers indicating breedingcondition which D didn’t think they ought to be in until much later in thespring.

Last weekend her dog (another Labrador) was rooting around in the ‘rockpools’at the base of the wall and sniffed out this rather large Greater Pipefish (Syngnathus acus) – the tape measure shows it to be 46cm long which isn’t farshort of the maximum length for this species.

The gulls feed on these,generally much smaller ones than this individual, from time to time usually when the sea isquite calm and just behind the last breaker as it rolls on to the beach. We’venever seen any, either alive or dead, trapped in the rockpools though. (Manythanks to D for the use of her pics)

The lunchtime session was even less productive with onlythree Great Crested Grebes and two Red Throated Divers to show for very coldfingers, ears, nose etc despite the insulative effects of woolly hat andgloves.

Where to next? More of the same with hopefully more to lookat!

In the meantime let us know what’s disappeared into the voidin your outback

For a real fishy goings on have a listen here to real timesounds of the oceans perhaps including some of Monika’s Orcas.

Real winter arrives; but for how long?

2012-01-16T18:34:00.003Z

The Safari woke up for the third morning in a row to a crispheavy frost. Hardly last winter or even the winter before but for this 'winter'it’s as cold as it’s been so far.

A quick dash roundthe first half of Patch 1 only gave us a few Robins, ticking again now that itsgone colder rather than singing like they were last week, three Blackbirds werearguing over first dibs on some crumbs thrown on the verge, Frank nearly hadthe final say! At the Golden Triangle the now regular Song Thrush was giving itplenty...always a pleasure to hear.

At Patch 2 the tide was well out but the beach was almostdevoid of life, barely a gull to be seen. But we spotted a bit of movement bythe side of the outfall pipe and counted a site record 92 Knot feeding away inthe slimy oozy mud to be found there. A single Turnstone clambered aboutthrough the encrusting Mussels on the top of the pipe while with the Knot therewas a lone Sanderling. Oystercatchers weren’t counted but there weren’t thatmany anyway.

At sea despite the excellent early morning visibility andlight swell we only had a couple Great Crested Grebes and scattered smallflocks of Common Scoters – pretty much an empty sea.

By lunchtime the tide was rising and the Knot’s feeding areawas covered so they had left, nothing else was on the beach apart from dogs andtheir owners – by the look of the prints in the sand it had been a busy morningdown there with bikes, horses, dogs etc etc all leaving their mark.

No sign of the wished for Ring Billed Gull that had followedthe tide up yesterday further to the north – how we’d like to find one of thoseon Patch 2; it’s a long time since we’ve picked one out at the nature reservetoo – again we were hoping the roost on the ice might have given us a slightlyhigher than 0.00000000001% chance – there’s one at the southern end of theSouth-side too, unless it was the same bird relocating a little northwards.

The glare of the sun on the water was too strong to safelylook southwards at lunchtime but for the rest of the sea there were scatteredflocks of Common Scoters everywhere, probably in excess of 500. Two Great CrestedGrebes were close in a few hundred yards apart with three more together at somedistance out. Four Red Throated Divers were seen – not the most inspiringsession.

A fisherman arrived for his high tide session and told usthat there were several Rays (Thornbacks?) washed up at our southern border; unfortunatelythe Land Rover was in dock today undergoing the first installment of its MoT repairsso we couldn’t nip down for a look-see. With a bit of luck they might not havebeen washed away too far by the tide and our marine biologist friend D will be ableto investigate after work now that the nights are starting to draw out a bit...find out tomorrow morning if she's been successful.

Where to next? Have to make the most of the calm conditionsat Patch 2 tomorrow as by Wednesday the weather is forecast to back to itsnormal wet and windy self.

In the meantime let us know what desperately hoped forspecies wasn’t seen in your outback but snuck in round the back a little ways off.

Sorry no pics today - a gorgeous sunset tonight but just as we were getting the camera we had a call to collect the Land Rover - more repairs tomorrow...:-( So have a blimp at this one from PL he took yesterday while we were chatting, this one shows the dedication of a real laridophile.

Can't beat a bit of wall to wall sunshine

2012-01-15T20:17:00.001Z

The Safari was just about to head off to the nature reserve when we received a text from AB giving 'hot off the press' info - the mobile Smew was on the river. Nothing ventured etc we set off to the bridge. On the way we spotted a long haired youth striding purposely northwards so we stopped and JS clambered into the Land Rover saving himself a fairly long walk but having to endure a big lick from Frank.

Arriving at the river the tide was low and the only info was that the Smew was on the downstream west side of bridge. Well we both looked and looked and looked. We decided to have a check on the upstream side - that was when we looked back to see a Merlin (91) flip at great speed low over the bridge and had to bank to avoid J...he missed it although it only narrowly missed him!

On the mud there were 27 Golden Plover (92) with a smaller number of Lapwings, the channel held Mallard, Teal and Shelducks with many Curlews and a scattering of Redshanks probing the margins but no sign of our quarry. After a while AB and his dad pulled up, whay-hey reinforcements...and more importantly...with a scope! A had hardly set the damn thing up on its tripod when he said there it is...a quick peek down the eyepiece revealed a tiny dot diving about a mile and a quarter away in the distance just about recognisable as the Smew (93). So far away was it that we couldn't tell if the two larger female and single male birds near it were Goosanders or Red breasted Mergansers! Either would have been a year bird as would the Meadow Pipit that we saw fly out of marsh but despite J hearing it call above the noise of the traffic behind us we never did so it stays off the list. Easier for us to ID was the dihedral shape of a Buzzard circling over the adjacent field.

Not sure if You Tube has cut off a couple of seconds - don't recall pressing the button before the last few words of the 'commentary'.

It was cold on the bridge so once the tick was bagged it was off to the nature reserve where the southbank would be sheltered and in full blistering sunshine.

Not much was doing as we wandered up to the hide colloquially known Ice Station Zebra for its thermal 'comforts'. We immediately heard a Cetti's Warbler sing, so close was it that the hide's tin roof reverberated. Getting the camera out...just in case it showed - hahaha - we fumbled with the dial trying to move it off video from the ~~dot~~ Smew. As we did a small flotilla of Pochards came in to view - one of which was the Red Crested Pochard (94) (or probable RCP hybrid as it has been noted that it has slightly barred axillaries so may have ??? genes in there somewhere - thanks to PT & PE for the 'armpit' shots! It's gone on the list as its a near a RCP as you'll find and without the aid of long lenses you'd never see those light markings...is that cheating?

Never saw or heard the Cetti's again!

We wandered back the way we'd come, staying in the sun rather than risking the freezer that is the Feeding Station and noted plenty of gulls on the way but trawling through them didn't give us anything out of the ordinary. But we were told there were more stood on the ice at the east end...off we went...

Just four species were seen, three in the pic above...two of the Black Headed Gulls sported rings - one is the far right-hand gull - both too far away to read, none of KB's Darvik ringed birds though :-(

Common Gulls are always nice - one day we hope to pick out a Mew Gull...some chance!

Another trip up to ICZ didn't give us anything new but we did get more arty full frame Mute Swan pics

Back down to the bridge where we bumped into PL and had a good chin wag - he's had some great sightings over Christmas whilst doing an infra-red project...a Roe Deer being stalked by a Fox in the Feeding Station and on the night of BOXING DAY a big adult HEDGEHOG!!!

Talking of Foxes, this little chap showed well catching voles on the island. These are the only pics of a Fox we've ever taken during the day.

Best bird of the day turned up as we were leaving when a Great Black Backed Gull came in and terrorised the Teal and Wigeon. We left perhaps too early as there was the possibility of Barn Owl and Little Owl in the calm conditions which would have looked nice in the early evening light but our toes had got very cold in our wellies.

Back at Base Camp one or more Long Tailed Tits came through with the last hint of light bringing the garden total to 17.

So half way through the first month our tallies stand at

Patch 1 = 19

Patch 2 = 35

Garden = 17

Nature Reserve = 57

A great day, made all the better by the gorgeous sunshine and good company.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know if the sun shone brightly all day in your outback.

First full Patch 1 visit of the year

2012-01-14T15:16:00.000Z

The Safari hasn't managed a full Patch 1 visit this year until this morning. What with the dark mornings, grotty weather and Frank's arthriticy hips slowing him down a bit we just hadn't got that far. But being a little later than a weekday, bright sunshine, a crisp frost on the ground and Frank in the mood to follow his nose we headed off up the hill to the sound of the school's Song Thrush singing in the distance away to our left.

Behind us but off patch was a large skein of Pink Footed Geese their honking easily heard above the noise of the early morning traffic on the gentle easterly breeze...probably flew right over CR's place!

We hadn't taken a notebook but once in the park the following patch species fell for the first time...and the list shows just how little patchwork we've done here so far this year...

In alphabetical order rather than order of sighting...

Black Headed Gull

Blue Tit

Carrion Crow

Great Tit

Pink Footed Goose - another skein of about 120 following the main road northwards right overhead - not one of the several dog walkers looked up even though they were quite low and making a lot of noise!

Sparrowhawk - a wonderful display of skydancing for a couple of minutes before it dropped like a stone through the treetops and out of sight.

Woodpigeon - !!! Shows how much we've neglected the patch!!!

The Patch 1 totaliser now stands at 19 with plenty more 'easy' ones to find eg Long Tailed Tit and Goldfinch still haven't made the spreadsheet!

Massed ranks of Starlings were constantly passing overhead leaving their roost on the piers heading out east to the fields for a days Leather Jacket hunting.
Talking of hunting...the Peregrine was tucking in to breakfast on our way back.
Later in the morning we were allowed a short safari to the nature reserve...we hoped yesterday's Smew would be on site but we'd had no news throughout the morning. A call to AB revealed it had been reported but he'd been on site for over an hour but hadn't seen it...not good.
As we arrived on site we got a text from CR saying he was Ice Station Zebra getting his first pics of the Iceland Gull in brilliant winter sunshine as opposed to dull rainy conditions. By the time we'd driven the 200 yards to join him it had drifted behind the reeds and we'd missed our chance :-( After a while, enjoying the waterfowl, minus Smew, we set off for a mooch round the rest of the reserve passing a group of four Fieldfares feeding on Apples (taken in the same tree yesterday).
Frozen condensation was thawing and dripping from the ceiling of the Feeding Station hide and the light wasn't good so we didn't stop long...a sackful of Reed Buntings were enjoying the free grub, so much so that it's nearly impossible to find one away from the feeders for an 'in habitat' shot during the winter.
Moving round we picked up a Kestrel hunting from a stationary perch in the scrub...it was here we discovered the batteries in the camera were flat! C got some pics before his stealth-mode failed and he flushed it. A quick look into the harsh light from the viewing platform had us scurrying round to find the Long Eared Owl. It was sat in a slightly different place to 'normal' and looked to be a greyer bird than the 'usual' one...h the old two bird theory...
The scrub was devoid of thrushes although we weren't looking to hard. The reedbed was devoid of Bitterns and we only heard one Water Rail and unusually no Cetti's Warblers - you'd have thought they'd have been singing their little hearts out in the glorious sunshine. Snipe however were quite plentiful - this year seems to be by far the best for them in a long time here.
The Canada Geese and Mallards along the edge of the island were behaving as though they'd seen a Fox but we couldn't see any hint of it. A scan of the gulls in front of the geese and ducks only revealed Black Heads and Commons.
But as we got in to the Fylde Bird Club hide there was the Fox prowling along the crest of the island...that's when we discovered our spare set of batteries were also flat...:-( By the time we'd put a third set in the Fox had gone behind the big patch of Gorse and didn't reappear out the other side.
Off we went back to our starting position at Ice Station Zebra stopping at 'Mick's tree' - the best otter photographing vantage point - on the way.
At ICZ we took the pics of a feeding Mute Swan before realising it was well past 'should have been back at Base Camp by now' time and had to skedaddle.

Where to next? More of the same but will the Smew put in an appearance?
In the meantime let us know what didn't put in an appearance when it really should have done in your outback.

Seen from space?

2012-01-13T17:27:00.003Z

The Safari has had a mixed day today; the Land Rover failed its annual inspection miserably this morning...well do you REALLY NEED to stop? And apparently its bushes are deteriorating - so long as the bushes don't deteriorate so much that a Goldcrest couldn't hide in them they'd be fine by us!

But after the wallet busting shock subsided we had quite a good day. Our Extreme Photographer came round and built Wifey's last Christmas present - her pergola which her Wisteria (which flowered for the first time last year) should climb and droop a profusion of flowers over the pond.

Earlier, as we left for the MoT test a low skein of Pink Footed Geese (Gdn No 9) were over Base Camp's airspace and during the construction of the pergola a few Goldfinches (G:10) were hanging around upset at our disturbance not allowing them near the feeder on the coldest day of the year - had to scrape ice of the windscreen! - and a Pied Wagtail (G:11) flew over. Eeee it's a big un but the flowers will dangle a good metre and we will have to walk underneath them.

While chop saws and sledge hammers were being expertly wielded by our Extreme Photographer our mobile kept going off as text after text came in letting us know that a Smew was at the nature reserve...of all the days!!!

Where to next? The Smew left :-( but it might come back...

In the meantime let us know if the garden furniture in your outback can be seen from space.

Mortified!

2012-01-12T17:08:00.001Z

The Safari went to a meeting yesterday and on the way backto the office passed a school which happens to have (probably) the oldest treein town in its grounds. An old Willowtree with a circumference of 3.9m (12.8 feet) and a characterful gnarly twistto its trunk. The actual age will be hard to tell as it has been pollarded/hacked at atvarious times in the past, is growing alone now and is surrounded by hardground so its growth rate over the years will have been quite changeable, arough estimate of 1 inch/yr would give about 155 years. It is believed that itstands on the line of a now drained water course. Well it doesn’t any more aswe were shocked to see that it wasn’t there when we passed; in its place was apile of stump grindings.

This tree was on the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Huntregister as a ‘Veteran’ tree

Sadly it is no more and of course it is absolutelyimpossible to replace a 100+ year old tree, it’s not as if there’s a littlecorner shop that sells them so you can nip out and buy a new one.

We never got the opportunity to get a pic of the aged beauty so here's the best we could find - from Google street-view - no pics of it on the school's website or Google images :-(

There is very little news from the patches today. The SongThrush at the Golden Triangle was heard from the front door as we left BaseCamp at 06.15.

At Patch 2 the tide was well down and we counted 146Oystercatchers and a single Sanderling. Hardly a gull was to be seen on ourpart of the beach but hundreds over our southern boundary. At sea the stiffwesterly wind had chopped up the sea quite roughly so there was no chance ofgetting anywhere near someone else’s count of 3000 Common Scoters yesterday.

By lunchtime the tide was right up the wall and again therewas little happening, we gave up after the fourth face-full of gritty seawateras the splash from waves began to come over the top of the wall; the scope wascaked in salt spray by then too so viewing conditions weren’t the best. Only ahandful of Common Scoters were seen.

Where to next? The Land Rover is in for its MoT tomorrow sowe may have tales of inconsolable woe and expense to relate. Being at Base Camp all day wemay have some news from the garden and perhaps Patch 1.

In the meantime let us know what shocked you in youroutback.

At least there was a bit of fire in the sky maybe it's a sign a anger from the gods at the unnecessary destruction of one of their own...

Momentum couldn’t be maintained

2012-01-11T17:01:00.002Z

The Safari’s excitement of yesterday was given a severequashing this morning as we woke up to a damp dank dreary drizzle infestedmorning. Yesterday’s haul was all the more notable in that, probably for thefirst time ever, we ‘beat’ the South-side’s indefatigable super seawatcher BMcCfor quality if not quantity although he was watching for several hours longerthan we were able to. (See comments here for his counts). Will we ever achievethat feat again?

Today was extremely poor by comparison but not totallylacking in interest. On Patch 1 a different Song Thrush was heard singing awayacross the school playing fields; in the dreary conditions we cut short Frank’searly morning walk so nothing else was recorded.

At Patch 2 the thick mizzle was all-enveloping we couldn’tsee the tops of the rides at the nearby Pleasure Beach and out to sea was just afilthy grey murk.

The rapidly incoming tide had yet to cover the last fewyards of beach and we counted 102 Oystercatchers and a Knot (P2 No 31). One ofthe Oycs was a very distinctive leucistic individual we’ve never seen before.It had a very white head with just a mask of black around the eyes, a brokenblack breast band and a smoky charcoal grey mantle interspersed with whitespeckling – a really bonny looking bird, it also had a limp and spend much ofthe time sat on the beach while all the other Oycs were feeding around it.

Only two of the Great Crested Grebes were seen today andCommon Scoters could have numbered anything as we couldn’t see most of thoseprobably out there for the low cloud.

A noisy flock of House Sparrows (88) was thrashing itsway through the garden shrubbery, the males all wings a-flutter displayingwildly.

There was a little hazy sunshine for our lunchtime safari and the mist and low cloud had lifted. A small flock of Grey Plovers (89) came whizzing past but other than that it was all Common Scoters with a few distant Red Throated Divers. Great Crested Grebes on the other hand put in a fine performance with 11 being found mostly tucked away in the scoter flocks.
As we turned to leave we heard the fsst of a Rock Pipit (90) from the other side of the wall.
Again no pictures :-( must try harder!
Where to next? More of the same although the weather isn't forecast to be as bad as it was today.
In the meantime let us know whose feathers are ruffled in your outback.

The sort of morning that makes life worth living

2012-01-10T17:23:00.000Z

The Safari had a real humdinger of a morning. It startedearly with singing Blackbirds (plural!) as we closed the door and left forPatch 1 in the darkness. Several Robins were singing too, in fact almost allthe Robins we heard were singing and not a lot of that ticking was heard.Rounding the corner approaching the Golden Triangle we heard a Song Thrush (84; P1 No 12)singing, which was good to hear. Thought we saw one yesterday on the path butit flushed and we didn’t get enough on it in the light from the street lampsfor confirmation.

On the tower two Peregrines were still asleep and althoughthe Magpies in Magpie Wood were jumpy we counted at least 45.

All of a sudden Frank’s nose began to twitch and he stopped andstared into the wood...a Fox (Mammal No 3) shot out of the far side andscampered as low to the ground as it could get, almost mustelid like – neverseen that before) towards its earth in the Golden Triangle...not bad forstarters but far better was to follow.

At Patch 2 the tide was just about to cover the last fewsquare yards of beach and we had to quickly count about 140 Oystercatchers andnine Redshanks before they were flushed by the incoming sea. Nothing overlyspecial in that and with no beach it was time to check the sea.

Lots of Common Scoters were on the move as usual and we soonfound two Great Crested Grebes not far out, a third was seen later.

In the distance a Red Throated Diver flew south, followed by10 more over then next 20 minutes or so.

A flock of three Common Scoters tazzed by fairly close inbut the fourth bird with them was a female/immature Long Tailed Duck!!! (85)Not an easy bird to find along the Fylde Coast.

We were quite excited now as the gentle conditions andrising tide were bringing out some decent birds at last. Before too long asingle male Velvet Scoter (86) flew past, its white secondaries being verydifferent to the silvery shimmer of the Common Scoters' wings...again not aneasy find along our coast. It was now not a really good morning but a reallyexcellent morning – one of our best ever!!! Good things come to those that wait(and watch).

The duck theme continued when first seven then two moreShelducks (P2 No 29) bucked the trend and flew past northbound.

Way way out in the haze of the horizon we could see thedancing white specks of a flock of gulls, possibly Kittiwakes which appeared tobe feeding on a large fish shoal. Every so often they would move a few hundredyards then return to the original place; they repeated this a few times as westrained our eye down the scope for a hint of a cetacean...would have bet apound to a penny there were some there but we never saw anything...ohh for thegulls to have been half a mile nearer! Ahh well you can’t have everything!

This was one of those mornings when work was definitely aspoiler and before too long we had to go in and make a start on the day’sbusiness.

Obviously we couldn’t wait to get out at lunchtime but onceover the road and at the wall there wasn’t much going on. A few scans revealedonly small numbers of Common Scoters and just one of the Great Crested Grebes.A Red Throated Diver headed south in the distance. A few scans later we pickedup a distant Cormorant coming towards us, after a while it looked like a whitebreasted young bird but something about it wasn’t quite right. As it drewnearer it morphed into a Great Northern Diver (87) Holy cow ...what a day!!!When it was only about 800 yards out two Red Throated Divers flew over itgiving remarkable contrast of size, bulk, wing beat pattern and all that jizz.It carried on towards us and pitched in only about 500 yards offshore between aflock of 14 Common Scoters to its left and five to its right. After settlingbriefly giving a reasonable broadside view it disappeared. We stared and staredand stared but never saw it again...where did it go? The scoters to either sideof it bobbed about in their usual fashion appearing and disappearing up anddown on the waves but the diver simply vanished which was a great shame as itwas close enough to have given some really good views which we very rarely getfrom here, normally we only ever see a flying bird in the distance and thenonly once in a blue moon.

Then the rain started...well we had nearly 24 hoursrespite...if you ever see a bloke with long flowing robes and a big bushy beardin the hardware store buying a bucket of pitch and a big bag of nails start toworry...

Sadly not a single pic to corroborate all those stringy sightings :-(

Where to next? How on earth is tomorrow going to competewith that little lot?

In the meantime let us know which pages of the field guideyou no longer have need for in your outback.

We would have said 'fandabidozi' but with the recent revelations (you'll have to Google them) and the fact that Monika is still ahead of us we won't

Plenty of scoters but precious little else

2012-01-09T18:31:00.002Z

The Safari has some news to share before we reveal our nextthrilling installment...

The first piece of news is from KB about his colour ringedCoot we saw at the nature reserve the day we saw the three Otters. “This is anice record, as this bird was ringed at Redesmere Lake, Macclesfield inCheshire last August, seen at Marton Mere Blackpool(81 km, NW, 126 days)” K says “Any further sightings of this bird orother cr-ringed Coot would be most welcome!” So keep your eyes peeled whereveryou are.

Then we heard from CB and his Nuthatch sighting from midNovember at the nature reserve’s feeding station – a site first which he didn’trealise at the time. “The Nuthatch flew in from the trees backing ontoSwift Close.
As previously mentioned it flew straight into the feeding station callingloudly and then fed around for a bit.”. The trees backing on to Swift Close mayor may not be there much longer depending on a whether a planning permission isgranted or not. This is not the route by which the site’s first Nuthatch mighthave been expected to come by so it might not have come from the local corepopulation, if it has it’s come by a circuitous route.

We got a text off ‘young un’ AB telling us of some earlyDaffodils he’d seen in flower, and then another couple told of the Crocusflowering in their garden. Season’s gawnnn mad!!!

All interesting stuff and that’s just about where thispost’s interest stops!

Only the Peregrine still fast asleep to report from Patch 1early doors.

At Patch 2 the wind had died down a bit and the rising tidehad already reached the base of the wall so there was no beach. Out at sea itwas still quite choppy and there were a lot of Common Scoters on the move withscattered small flocks all over the place, probably in excess of 300altogether. Gulls were disappointing until six adult Kittiwakes came past inthe middle distance. Close in a Great Crested Grebe rode the swell reboundingoff the wall.

By lunchtime the wind had dropped further and the sea calmedconsiderably, so much so that for the first time in a long time we saw only ahandful of white horses, still a high swell for stuff to disappear in though –but now it was too calm!!! AAArrrrgggghhh. Lots and lots and lots of scotersand absolutely nothing else...couldn’t even relocate the grebe.

We saw the sun today...

Then when we got home we came across this on the doorstep...anyone any field guides to Chinese shells?

Think the starfish are plastic...but perhaps not being from the Far East.

Where to next? More of the same it might even have calmeddown further – enough to find real exotica like auks and divers...

In the meantime let us know what’s flowering when itshouldn’t be in your outback.

An American sneaks over the border

2012-01-08T16:42:00.000Z

The Safari couldn't decide where to go this morning as the weather closed in. But before we tell you where we ended up have a look here at the second pic down, that to us looks like it could well be a Shag in which case it is likely to be the first record for the big park.

We desided the day would be spent at the nature reserve but shortly before setting off a text from AB decided for us and we headed a little further to the freshwater marshes near the river.

The American Wigeon seen yesterday on the South-side had been flushed by the high tide and/or shooters to the right side of the river so twitching it was a must. We got to the roadside lay-by from where it had been seen to discover it had flown with several hundred 'normal' Wigeon only a few minutes before we arrived :-( We did see our first Shelducks (79) of the year from here though and our main quarry was still in the field though and fortunately MMcG refound it fairly quickly.
Viewing conditions were worse than dreadful with low cloud and heavy drizzle being driven right in our face by a stiff breeze. To view the flock we had to wind the Land Rover's window down and it just about filled with water during the half hour we spent watching the flock grazing.

There is an American Wigeon (80) in the pic - honest...see if you can find it. The pic has been digitally enhanced to make it easier for you; the real conditions were much worse than this!!! - and we were viewing through the outer branches of a Hawthorn bush

Further out in the field/murk a couple of Curlews (81) were seen - there won't be many years that we see an American Wigeon before our first Curlew!

With one leg and the whole of the inside of the Land Rover just about soaked through we decided to call in at the nature reserve for a few minutes on the way back...well we had to pass it anyway...
Several Lapwing were roosting on the bund and we found a sleeping drake Pintail (82) in amongst a portion of the Teal. A Grey Lag Goose (83) cruised out from behind the bund honking loudly - unusually it appeared to be on its own.
Gulls-wise it was very quite, the Iceland Gull had put in an appearance from about 10.00 - 11.00 its 'regular' time.
We noted a good number of Linnets on the wires across the field and MJ got a count of 120 with his scope along with 40 Fieldfare also sat on the wires - good numbers of both species for this winter.
Meanwhile the regular Moorhen climbed the bank almost reaching the hide - this pic has had only a tiny crop off each side. The rain had stopped but it was no less gloomy, one day we'll get a much crisper pic of him/her...soon?

Across on the island a pair of Kestrels were hunting giving some excellent views and a Sparrowhawk tazzed across the mere and along the reedbed. Behind the hovering Kestrels two skeins of Pink Footed Geese came into view heading our way and eventually hit the recording area's airspace (MMLNR No 56 - over half way).
Suddenly MJ shouted he'd seen something by the red bush in an excited voice - sure enough within a few seconds one of the Otters put on a performance for a good few minutes...we moved along the bankhundred yards or so with MMcG in the hope of getting a pic/vid but it didn't stay at the surface long enough, however we did hear a Water Rail scream and one of the Cetti's Warblers was singing...a fabulous end to a great, if wet, day's safari-ing...back to Base camp for a warming and celebratory cuppa...the American Wigeon was a new Fylde bird for us having missed all the others over the last 20 years!
Where to next? Patch 2 will be back in play tomorrow - let's hope the cloud has lifted by then and we can actually see the sea!
In the meantime let us know who snuck in to your outback

Deep purple

2012-01-07T16:53:00.002Z

The Safari had a quick visit to Chat Alley for the high tide as the sun came over the houses this morning with the specific intention of having a look for the Purple Sandpiper that seems to be wintering in the area. When we got there we thought the tide might have been a bit too rough and the roosting waders flushed off to somewhere else.

We needn't have worried as the Purple Sandpiper (75 - we forgot to add Pink Footed Goose to our list to the year's tally has jumped by 1) was right at the front in the middle of the small flock.

Also in there was a Knot (76), although the number in their thousands on the estuary they are not often seen along Chat Alley and we've never seen one in the roost before. Also unexpected was the Guillemot (77) the bounced off the top of an incoming wave and disappeared over the back of it never to be seen again.

After a few minutes were we joined by SD who was the original finder of the Purp and can be seen here trying to avoid getting a soaking.

We sent a txt to CR who came along just as we had to go. He may well have got some better pics - check his website later. Late edit - It's up here

Then it was off for our radio interview, which if you missed it you can catch up with it here if you're desperate. While we were on air we spotted two Jackdaws (P2 No 26) on the green.

Where to next? Not sure yet but a local Safari is likely, possibly northwards over the river.

In the meantime let us know who's top of the pops in your outback.

Crikey - that was our 1000th post - thanks for sticking with us and reading all the rubbish wot we rite...to the next thousand and beyond...
Late Edit - on the way back from our radio interview there was a Goldcrest (78) calling in the street at Base Camp.

The wind dies down on Broadway

2012-01-06T17:09:00.002Z

The Safari isn’t referring to Broadway New York but Broadway Fleetwood a few miles up the road.For older readers (or younger readers with a penchant for a certain ‘oldfashioned’ genre) there is a somewhat obtuse musical reference in theresomewhere. ♫♪♫

Anyway enough of the waffle and on with the wildlife news,some of which is good! We got around half of Patch 1 this morning well beforeany hint of glow from the sun in the eastern sky but we could see the Peregrinesat on its ledge. Walking slowly past Magpie Wood we counted roughly 50+ of theroosting incumbents – they were a bit jumpy and kept flitting about in theprocess of waking up as we walked past doing our best not to disturb them. ARobin sang from what’s left of the understorey and was answered by another inthe shrubbery across the road and a third sang from the Golden Triangle acrossthe green. Although it was still well before dawn the Peregrine had left itsroost by the time we got back round there. The walk back to Base Camp gave us aBlackbird in almost full song, which was very uplifting to hear, and severalmore Robins ticking away in various gardens.

On arrival at work we shut the Land Rover door locked up,turned round and immediately saw a little bird flit off the path in front of us.It disappeared into the darkness but within a couple of seconds we heard theflat little warble of a Dunnock (P2 № 14) coming from the hedge a few yards toour right...another Patch 2 tick...and, like the Blackbird, very uplifting tohear the song after all the minging weather we’ve had to endure this week...unfortunatelyit’s due back later today just in time for the weekend...not good :-(

We got onto the sea wall just as the sun crept over therooftops behind us and immediately saw a Shag (67) flying north not far out. Anauspicious start to the session. Common Scoters flew hither and thither nodoubt relishing the calmer conditions, so calm in fact that there were only avery few white horses. A flight of Cormorants came by, the bird looked smalland leucistic until we got on them properly and realised that six Cormorantswere being led by a male Eider (68). (NB we made a misleading rightinformation/wrong box booboo on the FBC sightings website). More Cormorantswere seen totalling 37 in all. A Great Crested Grebe (69) must have beenfishing close to the wall as it flew out a hundred yards or so not far to ourleft.

Three small ducks hurtling southwards at close range wereTeal (P2 № 18), an annual but not a regular sighting from the wall.

The only ‘half-decent’ gull this morning was a Great BlackBack, no sign of any Kittiwakes or Little Gulls in the much more benign conditions.

By lunchtime the sea had left a bit of beach and hundreds ofgulls were thronging along the strandline picking through the remains of themillions of shellfish. Further to the south just over the Patch’s border weshudder to think just how many more gulls there were and Oystercatchers toomust have numbered well over 2000. The light wasn’t too good for looking at thegulls and they mostly had their backs to us and were constantly being disturbedby the resident mutt owners but one of the nearest to us was a fine adultMediterranean Gull (P2 № 19), a species not often seen here. Also found in thethrong was a BTO type ringed Black Headed Gull but too far away to read and wedid pick out one ‘argentatus’ Herring Gull.

From the bottom of the opposite side of the wall we heardthe calls of Turnstones (70) as nine flew out and along the beach into viewbelow us. There were no other waders apart from a lone Redshank.

Out at sea conditions were still fairly calm althoughsqualls out in the distance were heading slowly our way. Above one small flockof resting Common Scoters a Red Throated Diver (71) flew southwards.

While we were scanning the waves for other goodies – theearlier Great Crested Grebe was still there - the familiar ‘chi’zick’ of a PiedWagtail (72) was heard from above and behind us. Looking round we didn’t see itbut did spot the massed ranks of Starlings (P2 № 23) sitting on the tram wires whosecalls our brain must not have registered.

Looking northwards the light across the beach was superb forgrilling the gulls. We checked back and forth several times eventually comingacross a fine and dandy adult Yellow Legged Gull (73) but nothing else of note,no larger white-wingers, certainly no long billed, long legged and very white headed first year birds orany yellow legged, pale mantled, heavy billed Common Gulls.

Can’t complain though as it was very pleasant to be able tostand up without being battered about for a change and stay dry! The birdsprovided some excellent entertainment too – all in all two very good shortsafaris.

As we left work we had two Robins (P2 № 25) in the car park and two Pied Wagtails flew over, one landed angd gave a short burst of song - very nice way to end the day.

But again no pics :-( so here's an old one from the big park, a little more black on the hood than today's bird

Where to next? Fame and fortune beckon on BBC Radio Lancashire tomorrow lunchtime – listen if you think your ears can stand it...

In the meantime let us know what surprised you with song this morning in your outback

Oh no not more wind AGAIN - AGAIN

2012-01-05T16:47:00.001Z

The Safari yet again was only able to manage a very muchshortened Patch 1 walk which yielded nothing! Absolutely zilch!

The overnight increase wind speed was scary at times – whathappened at 03.00? Sounded as though the house was going to come down!

At Patch 2 the sea was still ferocious; very lumpy withmassive white breakers with spray racing off their tops and some foam as well. Doubleblustery with the wind running smack bang straight in our face at 39 mph(17.75m/s). Out to sea was a solid wall of dense grey nothingness blanketingthe world.

Only a few Common Scoters were seen this morning. We reallyfeel for the poor things; it must be like trying to live in a maniacal washingmachine for them at the moment. On the water with the scoters were a couple ofCormorants.

It wasn’t long before an adult Kittiwake carved its waythrough the troughs followed shortly afterwards by the black 'W' of a 1^stwinter.

Our lunchtime session was fortunate to coincide with awindow in the rain. The sun was out!!!!! But that made half the patchunviewable due to the glare on the wet sand. Geeez - these birders are always moaning about summat!

The sea was still rough with 15foot (5m) rollers crashing into each other as the wind and tide ran againsteach other making the sea a boiling mass of white.

About 100 or so Common Scoters were seen and a steady streamof adult Kittiwakes eventually numbered 12 but no 1^st winters thistime. In the far distance three tiny white specks were probably Little Gullsbut untickable on the views we had. They just vanished into the mess of wavesafter a nanosecond’s view never to reappear. Do you think we can have this one on our list as if we HAD have been able to go to the nature reserve we WOULD have seen it?

A Common Gull bobbed along the receding tide line wingsoutstretched pattering on the water like a giant, pale Storm Petrel. Plenty of othergulls were rummaging around along the strandlines.

Unusually a 1^st winter Kittiwake was flittingabout amongst is ‘congeners’ again (or at least the other larids as we doubt verymuch if any members of the other species of the Rissa genus were present :-) )

There were only a few Oystercatchers and no Redshanks todayand despite the low tide the storm surge meant that the outfall pipe remainedmostly covered so no Turnstones for the year list either.

Did get a first for the year in the form of a flippinpuncture, a split in the sidewall so no repair – in the tyre with the besttread, over 12mm left - isn't always the way - - never rains but it pours!

Back at Base Camp, a feat achieved without the use of headlights - things are looking brighter! - a Dunnock poked around under the shrubbery in the front garden an unusual occurrence but one which takes the garden list to a whopping five.

No pics despite the sun :-(

Where to next? More of the same...and a Little Gull please.

In the meantime let us know what you would have seen if you were out in your outback today

Oh no not more wind AGAIN

2012-01-04T16:48:00.001Z

The Safari endured a dire day...
Kittiwake (65)
Redshank (66)

Wall to wall howling gale and lashing rain...

Best three sightings were a) a 1st winter Kittiwake on the beach - unusual but there were a lot of other gulls working the tideline and shellfish wreck lines. If the wind keeps up like this all winter there wont be any shells left in the sea!!!

b) a Sanderling trying to have a scratch and being blown off its feet and then bowled ar*e over breakfast a few times before righting itself and looking around sheepishly to see if any of its mates had noticed.

c) Everybody's seen gulls on inland grass doing the 'Paddling Pete' thing with their feet to get worms to the surface but we've never seen/noticed it done on the beach before, two Herring Gulls were successfully catching what looked like Ragworms using the technique down on the tide line.

Where to next? If we don't get a Little Gull tomorrow we'll wonder what it is we're doing wrong. Some just up the coast this morning.
In the meantime let us know if the wind let up for at least a minute in your outback.
Sorry only mirror ball pics again...but you'll get the flavour of the day...

Oh no not more wind

2012-01-03T17:34:00.000Z

The Safari was up and at em for very windy and shortenedPatch 1 predawn walk this morning. The only things to show for our efforts weresingle Blackbird and Robin seen – not a sound was heard everything was verysensibly hunkered down.

Our hopes for a few year birds at Patch 2 were dashed coswhen we got to the wall, some three hours after a low high tide, the water wasstill lapping at the base due to the very strong wind. All we could see out inthe raging tempest were a few Common Scoters (62). Away to the south hundredsof gulls faced the wind on the bit of exposed beach there along with a handfulof Oystercatchers. Those five minutes were enough watching – time for a warmingcup of tea, with the expectation that low tide at lunchtime would be more interesting.

A quick nip to the shops for some hardware supplies for BaseCamp had us whizzing up the road a couple of miles further to check out thefive Tundra Bean Geese (63) again. There they were sat in the field at some notinconsiderable distance. Their friend the Pink Footed Goose was still with themand in the next field was a monster of a Peregrine sitting on a tussock lookingaround no doubt wondering who was going to be lunch. With little time to spare andnot having the scope with us sadly all we could do was ‘tick n run’. The BeanGeese look settled in for the duration so hopefully we’ll be able to come backand have a proper leisurely gawp at them at a later date.

By lunchtime although it was low tide the storm surge meantthat almost all the beach was still covered in water. The sea was heaped uplike the Himalayas with spray breaking of the top of thebreakers all over the shop and big dollops of foam coming across the beach andover the wall. All in all unpleasant!

We struggled to keep the scope still on our new, butseriously off-gassing plastic-chip beanbag; you could get high in the LandRover after leaving it in there overnight!!! Just 47 Oystercatchers and threeSanderlings (64) were counted.

The usual gulls were all present with the strange exceptionof any Black Headed Gulls, won’t struggle for them later in the week though.

By the time the light faded and dusk fell Patch 2 had openedits account with a remarkably unimpressive massive score of nine species.

Nine species of birds in a day (nearer ten minutes morelike, with a extra few peeks out of the windows at the birdless back garden)might not be too good but during the festive break our marine biologist friendfound what we think is a new species of shell for the beach here, the Banded Venus Clausinella fasciata...onewe’ll have to keep an eye out for when we are next able to get down on to thebeach....it’s not all birds you know!

Back in the office we listened to the storm drivenhail trying to break through the windows and longed to be still on holiday andsat back at home cozy warm close to Little Bertha or in a freezing colddraughty bird hide somewhere.

Where to next? More of the same gale force winds in themorning and with several Little Gulls being seen this afternoon from Chat Alleyperhaps we should be a little braver and stick out the adverse conditions alittle longer tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know where, given the choice, youwould be sitting in your outback.

Below is a map of our recording area for the nature reserve, which actually only covers the area within the dashed line, although much of the rest is designated as a County Biological Heritage Site or is under review by the BEAT Naturewatch group as a candidate CBHS. To the east is the farmland known somewhat inspired name 'the East Fields'.

Mid afternoon the sun tried to come out between humongous hail showers so we went all arty-farty for five minutes with the mirror ball, while the kettle boiled, without daring to venture outside.

If we were any good at Photoshop or hat least had the patience we could probably get rid of the overhead cables and improve the pics a bit.

Moving along nicely

2012-01-02T17:58:00.001Z

The Safari went to the nature reserve again with the intention to get the Iceland Gull. On the drive in we did nail Goldfinch on site for the year...not one we were likely to struggle for for long though. Once at the hide we learned we'd just missed the Iceland gull by a few minutes AGAIN. So we hung around and waited whiling the time away with our birding chums. With nothing new to add to the list we decided to try the moss for the Tundra Bean Geese. Before we set off for the moss we went to view the Whooper Swans (55) a little way in the opposite direction and hoped to pick up the Green Sandpiper that has been there as an 'insurance' tick. No Green Sandpiper...but two Lapwings (56) went into the notebook for the first time this year and off to the geese we went.

No geese at the spot they have regularly been at so we tried another of their 'regular' locations, no joy there either - becoming a wild goose chase but we did get several Rooks (57) on the way and the no-geese field had a small flock of Skylarks (58). As we turned round to try location № 3 we got a text from CR saying he was in Ice Station Zebra and had just got some pics of the Iceland Gull - stuff the geese...we high tailed it back to the nature reserve at breakneck speed. Still there!!! Iceland Gull (59:MMLNR52) made it into the notebook...phew. We filled our boots - or at least the SD card - with gull pics in the reasonable light, helped by some good tips from resident expert PT.

This is one of the rarest gulls this year, today it only outnumbered the Iceland Gull 2:1!!! 1st winter Common Gull - where are they all?

1st winter Herring Gull taking off.

Not sure we'd be too happy if a Great Black Back was about to land on us.

More species of gull in this pic than the whole of Australia - 4 v 3

For 'proper' pics of the Iceland Gull etc see here. We spent much of the afternoon at the nature reserve enjoying the Iceland Gull and others including a superb display of hovering in the ever stiffening breeze by one of the local Kestrels. Our regular Snipe flushing Sparrowhawk sped by several times giving the other photographers ample BiF opportunities with the Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler.

Then it was time to stretch our legs, our back has 'gone', give Frank a bit of game of ball then head off somewhere else. 'Somewhere else' ended up back at the Whooper Swans, of which there were 80) but still no Green Sandpiper. Somewhere else mkII was a little further south at Fairhaven Lake, passing an Oystercatcher (60) on the posh school's playing field just before we pulled up to park, where we spotted the female Scaup (61) in dreadful light after about 20 seconds. With our back now really painful it was time to call it a day - dunno what we've done...kidney failure from the holiday excesses or a chilled muscle from to much sitting in cold draughty hides or a twinge from some unknown cause - whatever the cause it flippin hurts, will have to rest it well at work tomorrow.

So two days into the New Year and were almost 2/3rds the way to half way to our target of 200...not a bad start.

Where to next? Back to the grind tomorrow but that means Patch 2 will be in play and a few new species are anticipated.

In the meantime let us know how you are progressing in your outback.

Look what we got

2012-01-01T20:12:00.003Z

The Safari would like to thank MMcG for sending through the following pics of the three Otters the other day - OK they aren't brilliant but they are far better than our short video. 400m away through 800mm lens very dull day and a very heavy crop...enjoy anyway.

In the meantime Rabbit beat Otter to first mammal on our year list, hardly surprisingly.

...at first the hurdle...

2012-01-01T18:25:00.000Z

The Safari got just about a full afternoon's birding at the nature reserve where we scored an almost half way 50 species!

Unfortunately we dipped the Iceland Gull by about an hour - is that still a dip? - and yesterday's Red Crested Pochard wasn't seen by anyone all day and the number of Wigeon was a little down so it seems it must have gone over night with the small flock it came with.

We met up with a visiting birder who was the same chap who put us on to the Tundra Bean Goose we couldn't find on the Southside last week - how weird was that? This time he put us onto a fine adult Mediterranean Gull - thanks again bud; from the description of yesterday's bird this one was a different individual. We returned the favour by showing him the Long Eared Owl. Then we had a quick look for Jack Snipe but weren't really hopeful as the water level is still too high, 15 Common Snipe shot out of the reedbed on our approach though.

Later we were stood on the viewing platform and had our best views of the Cetti's Warbler for some time, it showed well in the (almost) open and sang for about a minute! We were joined by regular birder TS who counted a season's best of five female and two male Goldeneyes - where are they all?

Most of the regular stuff was found there except Goldfinch and Redwing...no fly over Pink Footed Geese either today so plenty more winter stuff to go at in our quest for 110 species there this year.

We ended the day with the following totals

Total year - 54

Marton Mere LNR - 50 (only five short of half way!)

Patch 1 - 8

Garden - 4

Where to next? More of the same with maybe a couple of additional trips and we're going to try to get there a little earlier to coincide with the Iceland Gull's morning visit.

In the meantime let us know how successfully you've negotiated the first hurdle of 2012 in your outback.

They're under starter's orders...and they're off

2012-01-01T11:20:00.004Z

The Safari crawled home at a few minutes before 03.00 last night and before retiring took Frank for a last visit to the grassy verge - the Leopard Slug we saw was easily the earliest record of this species in our entire life! What;s one of those doing out a few minutes after midnight on January 1st? - they should be fast asleep under a rock until at least early March...but the car's thermometer did read a 'scorching' 10C on the short drive home, it should be 2C at that time of the morning in an 'average' January.

By the time we were up in the morning it was seriously lashing it down so we decided not to venture out listing. Trying to peer through the rain soaked windows into the garden at Base Camp wasn't easy either, we could just about make out the blurry forms of Chaffinches, Blue Tits and Great Tits visiting the feeder.

11 on the list by 11.00 at that rate we should have 8784 on the list by 31/12/2012...or maybe not!

Where to next? back later if the weather improves...watch this space.

Targets for 2012 include...

200 birds for year in UK/BI again
110 birds at Marton Mere LNR and it's immediate environs - upped by 10% from 100 as we thought that might be a little too easy.
Another new-to-us bird on Patch 1
Storm Petrel and two other UK/BI lifers
An English Adder
Grass Snake in the Fylde

In the meantime let us know the expected hit rate in your outback.

PS - Have you read you gas and electricity meters yet today? Yes? - good; no? - do it now while you think on...keep a record of your usage and use the info to get the best deal from the suppliers - if you're reading this you're obviously online so choose an online tariff as they are invariably cheaper.

Plan B failed so on to Plan C

2011-12-31T15:43:00.001Z

The Safari went back to the nature reserve with the intention of bumping into the Otters again. We tried a different vantage point which we hoped would give a better view, or at least a different perspective. They tend to hang about in the bay marked on the pic...but not today!

We were told we'd just missed the Iceland Gull but luckily we refound it a little later, we'd also missed an adult Mediterranean Gull :-( . Prior to refinding the Iceland Gull we picked out a dark and chunky 'argentatus' Herring Gull amongst the four dozen or so 'argenteus' birds. The gulls came and went throughout the morning with two adult Great Black Backed Gulls and a 1st winter marauding over the rest trying to find a weakened Teal or Wigeon.

We noted a large number of Teal, later counted at 580 by MMcG with at least another 50 out sight from where he was sat. Wigeon too were in decent numbers for the site. We joined CR (his Iceland Gull pic here is an absolute cracker) in his favourite hide - aka Ice Station Zebra for its 'comforts' - and waited to see if the Otters would make a late appearance - they didn't! But we noticed a breakaway flock of Wigeon sailing out from the edge of the reeds towards us - one was an 1st winter Red Crested Pochard (207) Most unexpected and most welcome!!! But will it be there tomorrow or the day after before we go back to work?

C, M and PT got some shots off; PT's are likely to be brilliant with his new double mega 600mm lens. We were so taken aback at our find we forgot about the camera - will post some links when the pics appear.

Where to next? Well it all starts again in the morning...having narrowly beaten Monika two years running in our challenge she is up for revenge starting in the morning!

In the meantime after getting mud under the wheels yesterday we hope to able to do some of this during 2012...this is one of the 'Pay n play' sites we like to visit

The old 'leafer' does really well! We've tried that rock crawl and it's not easy and some of the crunches that come from underneath your feet are quite un-nerving - we destroyed a steering damper!

Happy New Year to all our readers wherever you are

We hope 2012 brings you health, wealth and happiness - and plenty of wildlife to enjoy of course

Rain rain and more rain but certainly better

2011-12-30T14:02:00.004Z

The Safari braved the heavy rain and went to the nature reserve for a couple of hours. We had thought of a further flung safari to have a look for the three year birds to the north, namely Smew, Glossy Ibis and Glaucous Gull but to be honest with the weather being so bad, having Frank with us, the fuel tank being quite low and our Extreme Photographer wimping out of co-piloting we couldn't muster the enthusiasm as we have probably got just enough of a nose in front of Monika in our year list challenge...with a day and a half left she could pull out a last dash finish and pip us at the post though.

The grass was a bit wet on the 'alternative' way in to the nature reserve and we went slip-slidin away; maybe asking the Rangers for permission to go that way might not have been the best of ideas given the very wet conditions...apologies for leaving the ~~furrows~~ ruts...:-(

Once out of the mire we settled into the West Planting hide with nothing much on view but at least we were sheltered from the heavy rain and it wasn't windy, in fact the water was flat calm for a very refreshing change. We scanned through the Teal - an American Green Winged Teal was found at one of the Southside sites we were at the day after we were there - don't you hate it when that happens!!!! None here today. We counted approximately 50 Wigeon with some hidden by the tops of the reeds and possibly more tucked in on our side out of sight.

Although the rain was very heavy the light was excellent and we enjoyed just appreciating the various ducks. Then DP joined us and said he'd just seen the Iceland Gull from the Bird Club hide but it had drifted out of sight. We informed him it hadn't come past us unless it had flown off behind us. He went back to the Bird club hide and we followed a few minutes later, catching sight of the best bird on the reserve as we went but we weren't sure if it would be visible from the hide; however no-one came out of the hide so we assumed they must have been able to see it so we joined them - and there it was in all it's white-winged northern glory.

A bit too distant for our camera and in the dull light the pics are pretty crappy but we're happy enough with them...for the time being - be very relieved if it stays for a few more days and we get a chance to see it as one of our target of 100 species for the nature reserve in 2012.

As we watched the Iceland Gull cruising gently round doing very little in particular - have they any 'mode' other than gentle? In the heavy rain, all the gulls seemed very settled with very few coming or going, the second best bird on the reserve climbed the bank almost to the hide window...

It came so close it was more than a frame filler but wouldn't quite stay stock-still enough for such a close portrait in the lousy light conditions.

The gull was still around and started to play with a bit of decaying aquatic vegetation for a few minutes

A Cetti's Warbler sang very briefly to our left.

With the flat calm conditions making viewing so good we chatted to DP about this season's Bittern sightings and then he asked if the Otters had been seen since early December - they hadn't - - - - - but within two minutes of the conversation a bit of a Teal flush and a splash had us looking up over to where we normally see them. Not a Sparrowhawk this time but an Otter!!! Well beggar us sideways with a bag of wet kippers!!! there were two...no wait..was that a third?????? YES - - THREE!!!

You'll have to use your imagination a bit but there are deffo three in the video - also note how we got slightly distracted by two gulls flying over about half way through...nuff said.
Couldn't think of a better way of spending the penultimate day of the year, unless of course it was a Glaucous Gull and four Otters :-)
Very satisfied we called it a day and headed back to Base Camp for a butty and a celebratory brew.
As we left we had a call from our local radio station. Now we've gotta think of our lifetime 10 most 'important' songs as we're gonna be interviewed live 'Desert Island Discs' style on BBC Radio Lancashire next week...ooohhh err a favourite tunes list of 50 or more to whittle down and a lifetime of secrets to reveal...scary stuff.

Where to next? More of the same tomorrow please...

In the meantime let us know what would get the bag of wet kippers out in your outback.

Tomorrow'd better be better!

2011-12-29T15:43:00.001Z

The Safari thought about going down to Chat Alley for the high tide but the weather had other ideas. Hail stones rattled off the kitchen window and cold rain lashed horizontally across the garden. The wind had turned from the south west to a westerly - totally wrong for the place we like to view coming right at us rather than us being sheltered from the south westerly. We wimped out not particularly wanting to stand in the face of 30 - 40 mph gale for a few Kittiwakes, no doubt we'll learn there was something a tad more interesting out there and perhaps we should have been a little braver.

A very brief watch of the feeders gave us a nice finch trio of four Goldfinches, two female Chaffinches and two Greenfinches. Hopefully when Wifey gets her new pergola built for her Wisteria (will it flower again this year - and will the other one flower for the first time?) we can hang the feeders a bit nearer the window for closer pics, although it'll be over the pond and that might not be so good if waste food and droppings contaminate the water.

Wifey tried singing a few new songs on the karaoke machine and still got scores of between 94 and 100 for ones she's not done sung before but was to shy to be videoed for You Tube again. Then she set about the Christmas cards with a pair of pinking shears making next year's gift tags. We sat by listening and making sure Little Bertha was well supplied with logs and pumping out the heat to stave of the minging damp. Talking of logs we saw this and wondered if at that price it would be a good buy - looks like a revamped old model Husky to me - if it is will it be as good as the original or made of naff plastic parts which break on first or second use then you can't get replacement parts? Still it's only 80 quid and there's an ever increasing pile of logs needing cutting stashed in the garden.

There now follows a very quick review of what we thought of 2011 - an interesting year.

We only got one sighting of Barn Owl despite them having a pretty good year. Similarly we only saw one Kingfisher after they appear have been hit hard by last winter. And what happened to all the Jays only three sightings all year.

On the other hand we did somehow manage EIGHT lifers this year - a feat not achieved since our earliest twitching days a long time ago now. Two of those we self found and one was first for the county for which all our thanks go to Frank cos without a dog we wouldn't have been walking in the park at that time of the morning!

Our sister's wedding right down in the far south of the country gave us the only opportunity we've ever had of adding Cirl Bunting to our BI life list and now only Storm Petrel is left of the regular British Isles breeding species to tick off...will it fall n 2012?

The local orchids put on a good show with a new site for Bee Orchids which produced over 30 monster blooms and talking of monster blooms the Hybrid Marsh Orchid was a two foot tall stunner.

Fylde Amphibian & Reptile Group was formed with the subsequent successful search for Great Crested Newts with them turning up in several new sites albeit close to know existing sites, and a very exciting forthcoming project for 2012.

Back to the birds - somehow we managed to book an inland holiday the week of the 'best' autumn storm for a generation and missed a field guide's worth of cracking seabirds including a sackful of one of our 'most wanted' - Sabine's Gulls. But Wales did give us our only Red Kite and Crossbills of the year.

Cetaceans included record breaking numbers of Harbour Porpoises sightings in the first half of the year - after that the weather was too rough to be able to see them! But better was to come in the form of two sightings of Bottle Nosed Dolphins, first four then at least a dozen really close in - THE highlight of he year!!!
Then we found an suspected Iceland gull, later confirmed and eventually poorly photographed it yesterday - CR got a proper pic today

Totals are as follows

Year birds 206

Patch 1 - 71 including one lifer Iberian Chiffchaff

Patch 2 - 73 including one lifer Caspian Gull

Garden - 45

Nature reserve - 93 and somehow that didn't include Meadow Pipit!?! Target for next year must be the ton!

The is the proviso that there are two full days left of 2011 so these totals may change depending on if we can get out on safari and if so where we go.

Where to next? Somewhere entertaining - if the weather allows...

In the meantime let us know how kind 2011 was or wasn't in your outback.
New Year's Resolution for you all to try - read your electricity and gas meters on 1st of every month to make sure you know how much you're using and then you'll be better able to get the best tariff without getting ripped off by the supply companies - actually you'll still be ripped off; just to a lesser amount...

Kerry Katona & Stacey Solomon eat yer hearts out

2011-12-28T17:08:00.000Z

The Safari took Frank for a mooch round a very windy nature reserve this arvo. With the wind so strong - AGAIN - not a lot appeared to be happening. Rather than go on the Viewing Platform we opted to bunk into the nearby hide for a bit of shelter and found another couple in there already with their scope set up. There were plenty of Teal on the water and in the distance a Buzzard played with a big flock of Feral Pigeons which were trying to feed in the field. Further in the distance a huge plume of several thousand gulls appearred over the trees then all the corvids and pigeons went up along with about 200 Lapwings. Suddenly the Teal were in the air too but we never did find the culprit, which was most likely a Peregrine. Two female Goldeneyes were the pick of the waterfowl as almost everything else bar the Coots was tucked away in the margins of the reedbeds out of the wind. Outside the hide window we could here a small flock of Long Tailed Tits - one of which was singing! Further to our right a Water Rail screamed.

Away at the far end of the mere we could see a sizable flock of gulls roosting so decided to wander down that way for a closer look. On the way we were able to show the couple the Long Eared Owl which was sitting on its now usual twig with its back to the wind - not the best of views! We were joined in the hide by MMcG and as we perused the gulls we couldn't find anything any more out of the ordinary than a Herring Gull with an inordinate amount of white on the wing tip but which looked far to 'ordinarily' grey to be an 'argentatus'.

The sun tried to come out which really put the kibosh on the gulling so we gave up, as we left the hide another couple asked if the owls were showing so we obliged; this couple was a little luckier than the earlier birders as the owl decided to turn its head and open one eye for a quick squint at them.

MMcG went back the way he had come whilst we made up our minds to brave the exposure on the embankment and go round the other side for a better look at the gulls.

On the way we noticed these well grown Bluebells under the large Sycamore tree. But we didn't see or hear any thrushes on the windfall Apples as we passed.

Our gulling session started with not much just a fair few Black Headed Gulls with a handful of attendant Pochards, whose numbers are very low compared to not too many years ago, hopefully because of the mild winters and not a general decline in their Eurasian population.

We watched 400 or so small gulls come in from the north east, about half and half Black Heads to Common Gulls. The Common Gulls gave a bit of a scare as there were several 2nd winter birds noted but only a single 1st winter bird - have they had a diabolical breeding season?

With no Mediterranean Gulls to get us over excited we moved on to the next hide but the water level is still far to high to allow the reeds to be cut in front of the little 'gull' hide, fortunately we couldn't see any gulls on the mere through the top of the reeds so we went to the next hide.

Here there were a few big gulls roosting and bathing.

All of a sudden there was a big flush and several hundred Teal, at least a couple of dozen Wigeon along with hundreds of gulls. As luck would have it look what dropped right in front of us!!!

Whoopy - flippin - doo the Iceland Gull...or more gloatingly OUR Iceland Gull.

It bathed briefly before paddling vigorously back in to the lee of the reeds where it was out of sight. Nothing for it but to brave the wind and go to the bench where exposure was a distinct possibility. Here we could just about see it through the tops of the violently waving reeds. We stuck it out a few more minutes hoping it would fly - it did and we managed to get off one very poor blurry shot...might have been better to have had the camera set to video mode.

What a brill afternoon! Woulda been briller if it had a been a Glaucous Gull cos we haven't had one yet this year...but we're not complaining too hard as far as we know this is the only Iceland Gull in the county...until someone tells us differently.
Finished the entries in the notebook with two Blackbirds and two fly-over Mistle Thrushes on an almost passerine-free day.

Where to next? There is the small matter - or not so small - of the Glaucous Gull up the coast a bit or we might be able to go Smew-and-Glossy Ibis-ing or maybe we'll be back on the nature reserve tomorrow - who knows.

In the meantime let us know who's gone to Iceland in your outback.

Southside spectacular

2011-12-27T20:14:00.001Z

The Safari met up with an old friend we don't see to often and had a stomp round the salt and fresh water marshes. If you like geese here were plenty! As usual almost all were Pink Footed Geese but we did come across a few European White Fronted Geese but couldn't find the Tundra Bean Goose we were told about. Ducks included more Wigeon and Teal than you could shake a stick at along with a tidy smattering of Pintail, Mallard, Shoveler and Gadwall. As for Black Tailed Godwits and Lapwings just how many can you fit on a lagoon or two?

Raptors were represented by a scrappy looking Buzzard, a Peregrine and a Merlin were perched up on distant posts out on the far edge of the marsh. At least three Marsh Harriers wafted around the outer fringes of the marsh too.

A Kestrel perched up on a trackside bush and for a change allowed a very close approach. Pity it was a grey, grey day but at least the torrential drizzle had finished.

At long last we found our own Great White Egret, nearly a hundred miles away but its long neck and egg yolk yellow bill could easily been seen. As we passed the scope to I it walked down the nearest gully and all he saw was its head poking out like a periscope. Plenty of Little Egrets out there as well but we didn't see any Grey Herons - another sign of the changing ornithological times.

Then it was off to the freshwater marshes a little way inland. The afternoon was a bit brighter and the geese obliged by flying across the breaking clouds.

Below is one of the many Marsh Harriers on site, it's not long since these birds were rare enough in summer now we're trippin over them in winter too.

We couldn't find any of the six Bewick's Swans that had been reported but there were 1720 Whooper Swans to work through.

We decided to wait for the Barn Owl to put in an appearance and we were glad we did when one of the four Marsh Harriers decided to chase a Pheasant, it lost it in the long grass but must have seen it again, or something else as on it next stall and stoop the ringtail Hen Harrier popped up (206).

Where to next? Still a few days left to perhaps add another species to the year's list and plenty of time to enjoy being out and about in the wilds of the Fylde or maybe a little bit further afield.

In the meantime let us know what's changed beyond ornithological recognition in your outback.

He's bean!!!

2011-12-26T14:19:00.002Z

The Safari enjoyed a cracking Christmas Day yesterday but without much in the way of wildlife. Our motorway trip to family on the South-side gave us three Buzzards versus two Kestrels. Our late night venture forth with Frank saw a Christmas Peregrine roosting on the tower.

This morning we forewent breakfast and headed straight out to the moss in the anticipation that the Bean Geese were still present - they seem to be fairly settled but you never know. This is a species we've never seen in the Fylde before and only once in Lancashire and that sighting nearly 20 years ago! Fortunately they were (205)...our thanks go to those birders who have been giving detailed directions as we doubt if we'd have found the site otherwise.

Arriving on site we were somewhat relieved to see a very small flock of geese over in the corner of the field, so we didn't have to check through hundreds or even thousands of Pink Footed Geese to find them, just one of the six is a Pink Foot...isn't it great when birding's this easy!

The Mute Swans were only a few metres away on the other side of the ditch and totally disinterested in us. Also around were a few Skylarks including a little sub-song.

The pics don't do the birds justice, those orange legs were brighter than the satsuma's we left out for Santa and Reindeers! - Nicely marked tertials too...but shortly after this they turned and flew off right into the sun and we were unable to follow them without risking losing our retinas.

As we were leaving to see if we could either track them down again or find a flock of White Fronted Geese we saw some birders approaching, minutes too late. It turned out to be some friends we've not seen for too many years! After quick Christmassy catch-up they went to see if the Bean Geese had just gone one or two fields further down the path and we drove off across the moss.

We couldn't find any geese at all. A drive down the bumpiest lane for miles still didn't give us a flock of geese. We did see a small flock of geese in flight in the distance which may or may not have been our quarry.

Shoulda used the wipers but could let go of the camera to flick the switch!!!
Getting back on the road - which isn't much better to be honest but doesn't have the puddles - we met up with SB coming the other way, they'd had a Merlin not long after we left them and then set off on what was likely to be a wild goose chase.
So what did Santa bring? Someone obviously thinks the food at base camp might be a little bland ;-)

The left hand bottle rather worryingly has a warning to keep away from children and pets!
We might need a few glugs of those sauces when we come to attempt these -

- the 'nasty surprise is tripe! Oh joy tripe filled white chocolate...can't hardly wait!!! Anyone care to drop by and have a taste??? Thought not.

Where to next? Looking forward to a Seasonal South-side Safari Extravaganza tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know how kind Santa has been in your outback.

Twas the day before Christmas

2011-12-23T18:36:00.001Z

The Safari was out at lunchtime, sneaking briefly into someone else's territory. Not a lot of time but a short walk along the side of the estuary but an interesting selection of birds seen never-the-less. A couple of Little Grebes were in one of the creeks and out on the marsh a male Goosander rubbed shoulders with a helluva lot of Wigeon. Waders included plenty of Curlews, many Redshanks, a quick fly round of about 15 Snipe and a very unseasonal Common Sandpiper, although one has over-wintered here for couple of winters now and this one didn't seem to have any problems finding worms in the mud.

And now for one of our favourite rants about over-cut hedgerows. Not a lot of winter shelter from the cold winds whipping up the river here anymore

Unnecessarily butchered along the footpath and woe betide anything that was out of line like the Elder that's been hacked to pieces. None of it was likely to be overhanging the path and how much damage to the grass in the pasture was any shading likely to cause? it's just too easy to butcher hedges with heavy machinery and little or no knowledge of the natural world - just so long as it looks 'tidy...well actually smashed up branches and see-through hedges aren't 'tidy!'...wish people would get that in their fat heads!!! There's gotta be a better way...

Rant over; we followed our walk with a fine lunch and a couple of pints were enjoyed by the fire side at one of the few pubs in the region that allows dogs in...that's another rant for another day...

On a far lighter note our toast this morning bears a striking resemblance to somewhere we hope to visit next year...can you guess where?

Where to next? Unlikely to be a safari tomorrow, but wherever you are we hope Santa is kind and brings you everything you wrote on the note to him you hid up the chimney earlier this month.

In the meantime let the feasting begin!!!

Mingin' weather - stayed in!

2011-12-23T14:04:00.002Z

The Safari just couldn't be tempted to venture forth today. Wall to wall wet and miserable greyness had us staying indoors. We might have been tempted by the 'Tundra' Bean Geese but there was negative news of them by lunchtime although both Eurasian and Greenland White Fronted Geese had been seen in the area.

In the opposite direction another flock of Pink Footed Geese played host to the Todd's Canada Goose but again nice as one of those might be - it's only a sub-species so we can't add it to our total in our competition with Monika - the thought of peering through a rain soaked field of Pinkies from a steamed up Land Rover wasn't inspiring enough to motivate us. At the last count we had the slenderest of leads but Monika had the added incentive of an attempt at the County Record so by not going out hunting down the Beanies we may well be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - but there' s still a couple of days birding left before midnight on the 31st.

A very quick round a small part of Patch 1 gave us two Mistle Thrushes flying over and some Dove's Foot Cranesbill in flower, an opening flower bud on one of our neighbour's Forsythia bush and in the Garden at Base Camp the Fuchsia bush has a solitary new flower bud.

We topped up the sunny seed feeder and almost as soon as our back was turned had a Blue Tit, a Chaffinch and a lone Greenfinch; but where are all the Goldfinches that we heard earlier chattering away before they left their roost in the big Holly Tree in one of the gardens a little way up the hill.
A very brief Christmas errand also gave us a Mistle Thrush singing loudly from the top of a tree in the cemetery.

Where to next? Wedding Anniversary tomorrow and a posh nosh out of town might just provide an opportunity for a short safari before we wade into a plate of steak n chips.

In the meantime let us know if the rain eventually stopped in your outback.

Going to roost

2011-12-22T17:53:00.001Z

The Safari did get to the nature reserve for a couple of hours this arvo but not before taking Frank around Patch 1 which was quite productive. A flock of at least 13 Long Tailed Tits made their way past us as we arrived and a Coal Tit sang heartily from a low open perch - no camera!!! with another nearby in with several Blue Tits and a pair of Great Tits.

Under the trees at the bottom of the park we saw a clump of well grown Bluebells, about 3" (75mm) tall.

A Grey Squirrel bounced around on the grass near the footy field, thankfully Frank neither spotted nor smelt it otherwise he'd have been off like a shot ploughing a furrow through the muddy saturated ground to get to it.

Seven Blackbirds were counted along with three Robins and on the way back to base camp we heard a Woodpigeon singing from the Golden Triangle.

Arriving at the nature reserve the first bird seen on the drive in was a Mistle Thrush. Then, after parking the Land Rover and going into the first hide another 'unusual' entry for the notebook in the form of three Lapwings roosting on the bund opposite.

There was enough noise from the blustery wind to drown out all man-made noise pollution and for a pleasant and refreshing change all we could hear were the pleeping of Teal, the squawking of Black Headed Gulls and the gentle lapping of the waves.

The reedbeds to either side of the hide each held a Wren this arvo but strangely no Cetti's Warblers. A flock of thrushes landed in the top of the big Sycamore tree away over the far side of the mere, the scope gave us a count of 11 Fieldfares.

Clinging to a bush on the island we spotted a fine female Kestrel while over to our left a Buzzard cruised the fields. A visiting birder told us he'd seen some swans in the far corner of those fields, two Mute Swans and two Bewick's Swans...so far we've only had Whooper Swans in the area this winter but we went to check them out and sure enough two Bewick's Swans they were...an excellent find!

We had hoped for lots of gulls to work through in the 'expectation' of finding the Iceland Gull but there were only a few Black Heads and Common Gulls all afternoon. One of the Black Heads showed a small patch of oil on it's belly from the recent spill - hope it's not going to be too serious - it could have a very deleterious effect on the hundreds of Common Scoters along the coast.

Wildfowl included two female Goldeneyes, could have been a third later unless they had split up, about 450 Teal with xxx??? more still tucked away in the reeds - no Green Winged Teal seen despite concerted checking - 28 Wigeon was our best count then we heard some more whistling unseen from another part of the reserve, 35 Shoveler is getting better, hopefully there'll be triple figures in the new year. The 135 Canada Geese and solitary white Grey Lag Goose could do with being eaten this week! Where's all these wildfowlers when you need them? Not that they should be shooting anywhere near the reserve of course!

Whilst waiting for the no-show of the Iceland Gull or even the Herring Gulls, so few seen - where were they? - we heard the Cetti's Warbler fire up a few short snatches of song and hearda Snipe flying round but couldn't pick it up. A male Kestrel and several Sparrowhawk sightings completed the day's raptors.

Best bird of the day was the lone Great Black Backed Gull that came in for a wash and brush up for about half an hour before leaving to the coast.

But best sightings were all the birds going to roost, flocks of varying sizes of Woodpigeons, Pied Wagtails, Goldfinches, Long Tailed Tits and several thousand pier-bound Starlings as well as lone Reed Buntings dropping in from on high all passed us as the day drew to a close.

So no Iceland Gull, Bittern or Otter but it was still very good to get out in the fresh air for the afternoon.

Took the camera this arvo but couldn't find anything to point it at so you'll have to make do with this old one...taken on horse dung but the same species - Yellow Dung Fly - was out in numbers in the afternoon sunshine enjoying the freshly laid dog's eggs (there was a bin specifically for that stuff not 20 yards away!!! Make us MAD.

Where to next? More of the same tomorrow unless there is something a bit different elsewhere to tempt us into a (slightly) more distant safari.

In the meantime let us know what's coming home to roost in your outback

Three Christmas wishes

2011-12-22T10:18:00.002Z

The Safari's first Christmas wish came about when we learned of yet more sickening Bird of Prey persecution is still being discovered adding to the RSPB's list of known incidents

If you haven't signed the petition to bring England and Wales in line with Scotland and their recently introduced law of Vicarious Liability we would urge you to do so (UK rsisdents only) - it's easy and only takes a minute or two of your time. If the RSPB has a million members surely the petition can get well over the 100,000 required.

Our second wish is that lots of you dash over to Amazon and download our work of literature onto those new Kindle devices you're children have all asked Santa for. Please help make it a best seller, it won't make the Safari rich but it might go some way to protecting and conserving some very endangered species such as Numbats, Woylies, Chuddichs, Quendas and Red Tailed Black Cockatoos whose world populations number in the low thousands; low hundreds in some cases!

You are more than welcome to nick the pic and put on your Facebook page (other social networking sites are available)...who knows, if we get enough sales we might be tempted to write a sequel...already got the beginnings of an idea featuring a species currently very topical...

Our third wish is that all the safari's readers have a fantastic Christmas/winter solstice festival whatever you call this season in your part of the world. peace and goodwill to you all...even raptor poisoners - let's hope the see the error of their ways...SOON!!!

Where to next? Looks like Wifey will allow us a bit of a safari this arvo so we might be back later - there's that Iceland Gull to be found (why couldn't it have been a Glaucous Gull not had one of those this year?) and the Rangers just phoned to tell us that they saw the Otter at the nature reserve yesterday.

In the meantime if you haven't already please sign the petition....there's no time like the present although it would seen the perpetrators are still living in the Victorian past!

A seaful of scoters

2011-12-21T14:58:00.000Z

The Safari hit the sea wall as soon as it was light enough,and dry enough, this morning. The tide was dropping but hadn’t reached thebottom of the wall so there was no beach. A quick scan north and south gave usnumerous Common Scoters in flight, just small flockettes but plenty of them andmostly at a range. However, much closer in at not far beyond the low water markthere was a huge long thin line of them, difficult to count in the choppyconditions but well over 200 in all probability. We looked hard and hopefullyat them but couldn’t find anything other than Common Scoters. After a fewminutes the tide had left the beach uncovered beyond our southern boundary andthere was a veritable gull-fest sadly just all a bit too distant, especially inlight of CB’s observation of a white winger ‘round the corner’ in the Ribble yesterday.

As we checked through the gulls as best we could we pickedup a bird in flight going out of the river and into the grey gloom over the sea– our first impression was that it was something a little different as it hadbroad rounded wings. We watched it continue out to sea at a steady speed andheight. By the time it was probably about two miles out it turned north,parallel to the coast, maintain its height and speed. In the dreadful light wehoped it would drop below the horizon and we could get something on it as itcontrasted against the sea but no it just kept on going without so much as aglide until it turned north west out to sea again and was lost to view in theoncoming rain...but what was it?...Who knows...at a guess maybe a Marsh Harrierbut there again may be not...and if it was what was it doing out there andwhere was it going – 70 miles to the Isle of Man or just a daytrip and alook-see round the bay? Whilst concentrating on that mystery bird we noticedyet more distant scoters on the move and picked up a single Red Throated Divergoing south. We wisely decided to give up as the first spots of what turnedinto a very heavy shower landed.

No gull-fest on the beach at lunchtime, hardly any at alland certainly nothing pulse-quickening amongst them. Best of the bunch was aflock of 50 Sanderlings and a Dunlin. A dozen Redshanks and two Turnstones wereeasily outnumbered by an uncounted 100+ Oystercatchers.

At sea almost all the Common Scoters had drifted/flown outof view and there was nothing else out there.

We very much doubt if we’ll get a white Christmas this yearas the forecast for the weekend is giving temperatures into the low doublefigures and well above average for the time of year. For Christmas Day ourdaily minimum is forecast to be a mind bendingly globally warmed 6.5ºC abovethe long term average –well over that 4ºC ‘limit’ that everyone seems to bescared of doing anything about, and Boxing day is forecast to be even warmer.It’s all a bit academic though as this year’s warmth is only cancelling outlast year’s ridiculously cold spell. All will be revealed in 2030 when thefigures for the current trio of decades, 2001 – 2030, can be compared withthose from 1961 – 1990 & 1971 - 2000...by which time if it has happenedit’ll be far too late to stop it!

Where to next? Hols so anything could happen in the next coupla days...

In the meantime let us know what was where it perhaps shouldn't have been in your outback.
Not quite stop press but we just had a call from AB who was at the nature reserve watching 'our' Iceland Gull - confirmed at last...now where does it hang out the rest of the time and is it going to a regular bather/loafer on the mere?

2011-12-20T16:56:00.002Z

The Safari was dog sitting today and had to have a day off work which worked out nicely as we got the last of our Christmas shopping and wrapping done give or take a few little bits n bobs. it also gave us the opportunity to twitch the Long Tailed Duck (204) that was released after being picked up exhausted by a wildfowler's dog. It spent quite some time feeding, or at least diving - don't know if it actually found anything in the boating lake but has a damaged wing so probably isn't going anywhere soon.

The grainy pictures show what a grey and miserable day it was and the bird itself is quite wary - well you would be if a dirty great hound had grabbed you in its jaws.

Pick of the bunch but still a 'going away' shot.

Also present were two female Goldeneyes and five Red Breasted Mergansers or at least there were five until CR pointed his long lens at them when three of them decided they were camera shy and flew off over the dunes to the sea.

With no real chance of a better pic of the Long Tailed Duck we took Frank for a mooch on the beach, as you can see it's a lot more shingly than our regular haunts a little to the south. We wander hither and thither across the various strandlines looking for whatever took our fancy. One thing we did note was there was a massive amount of plastic litter tangled up in the seaweed and 'free-floating' than there ever is on our beach - must be the way the currents run that dump it here...be far better if it wasn't thrown in the sea in the first place!!! Its everywhere and impossible to avoid in any wide angle view as in the pic of Kelp below - to Frank's right is one of the many onion/carrot bags we saw. Good piece of Kelp though - washed up from ??? in the recent storms. There is annoying raindrop on the lens from the very short light shower by the look of the pics.

Two young girls and their dad were doing a bit of beach-combing too, looking for shells - an excellent way to spend an afternoon with the kids even if the wind was a bit braw!!! We found a few small Native Oysters, all pretty old and worn, one was almost worn through and was translucent - this one was the youngest that we found and still has it's patterns and ridges quite well defined so was probably alive at sea until not long ago - don't really know how fast they wear down but we'd guess this one hasn't been dead more than five years possibly a lot less...could be horribly wrong though. There must be a small population still out there somewhere.

The tide line after storms is often a productive place to find dead birds and possibly one with a ring on but not today. We found the wings of an Oystercatcher and this bit of gull - gotta be Herring or Lesser Black Back - but which?

This is the dingy view across a chilly and desolate Morecambe Bay - circled, or more precisely ellipsed is Heysham nuclear power station home of the Heysham Bird Observatory .

Plenty of Oystercatchers were out on the mudflats along with a few Redshanks and were heard but didn't see Turnstones. With the cold wind we were feeling rather neche and didn't spend a lot of time checking over the beach. We were hoping we might bump in to a flock of Snow Buntings, not that any have been reported recently but with the weather over the last few days one never knows! There weren't any :-( so we've probably missed them for this year.

A last look at the Long Tailed Duck on the boating lake gave us a Little Grebe tucked tight under the far bank and well away from the radio controlled luxury cruiser yacht that was whizzing around and had flushed the last of the Red Breasted Mergansers and the Goldeneyes on to the larger lake. It would seem that the Long Tailed Duck can't fly; at first we couldn't find it and thought it might have flown off with the others but then we spotted it in the farthest corner well away from the disturbance.

Where to next? Back to work in the morning and hopefully Patch 2 will produce something interesting on our last visit of the year.

In the meantime let us know what a gundog has slobbered all over in your outback.

All day deluge

2011-12-19T17:18:00.000Z

The Safari managed an unusual double yesterday. After seeingthe Fox at the nature reserve we then saw one at the Golden Triangle whilst outwith Frank on our late night constitutional. it's not often we see two of these in different locations in one day! No Peregrines could be seenroosting on the tower though.

This morning we didn’t get far on Patch 1 as we did a swiftabout turn and successfully dodged the rain.

Once it was light enough we got out onto Patch 2. The tidewas low and there were many hundreds of gulls on the beach taking advantage ofthe morsels left in the strandline. Probably somewhere in the region of 2500stretched out in front of us along the water’s edge. Also out there were about 200 Oystercatchers,guesstimated rather than counted with any degree of concentration, similarlythere were about 50 Sanderlings and a couple of dozen Redshanks. The reason forthe lack of commitment to the waders was all down to the large numbers ofgulls, no time for waders when there were that many gulls to peruse.

Peruse we did and eventually found two ‘argentatus’ typeHerring Gulls and a cracking adult Yellow Legged Gull.

All the while we were stood there the rain became heavierand heavier until we were forced to abandon our gullathon. What a gooddecision that turned out to be as it continued to rain heavily for the rest ofthe day.

No chance of seeing anything out at sea as we couldn’t seeout to sea! By lunchtime there had been no improvement, worse if anything...sowe dashed out to do a bit of Christmas shopping and got absolutely soaking wetdodging multitudes of slow old people who seemed to have the perfect knack ofgetting in the way just because we were short of time. And if people can’tdrive in the wet don’t go out in the rain!!! Crikey a total traffic nightmarecos of a few puddles, alright some of them were bigger and deeper than normalbut there’s no need to drive like you’re waiting for Noah’s Ark to comehurtling round the next corner – sheeeezzzz – we got back to the office totallyfraught – almost chewed our back teeth right down to the roots!!!

There was no news of the Long Tailed Duck but we wouldn’thave had time to get that far north even though we were over half way there.

Where to next? Day off tomorrow so who knows.

In the meantime let us know if Noah was spotted in your outback

No reward for cold fingers and toes - not true really

2011-12-18T19:09:00.001Z

The Safari was dragged round Patch 1 this morning by an enthusiastic Frank, We hadn't anticipated going that far but it seemed as though he was on a sniffing mission and just had to get there. We're glad he did as one the way we watched the male Peregrine drift lazily southwards over the school grounds upsetting the numerous local Feral Pigeons as it went, good to hear what sounded like a good number of House Sparrows in the school's roadside bushes - no doubt the Works Dept will be along now we've mentioned those and floor them next week. At the park we counted a dozen Blackbirds and heard a Goldcrest, possibly two but we couldn't see it/them in the depths of a tall conifer tree. On our return trip a Peregrine was enjoying sitting in the sun as it peeked above the houses and a little later back at base camp whilst enjoying our traditional Sunday morning bacon butty a Sparrowhawk took over where the Peregrine had left off and upset all the local Feral Pigeons.

Before we could go out safari-ing we had the inconvenient matter of a very flat tyre to attend to. Mysteriously the little black cap was missing. 300 or so presses of the footpump later we were on our way to the nature reserve enjoying the sunshine but not the cold wind.

After several trial runs we eventually we counted 47 Wigeon, at least 400 very mobile Teal, 22 Gadwall - a very good count for the site - 18 Shovelers, at least 25 Pochard and a single female Goldeneye. All the Tufted Ducks must be on the nearby park lake, where there are 50 - 60, as we could only find three - surely there must have been more than that! Didn't count the Mallards, weren't many visible for much of the time but as dusk fell quite a few emerged from the depths of the reedbeds, or the Coots. A Pair of Moorhens showed nicely in the sunshine in front of one of the hides. Also here we heard a Cetti's Warbler blasting away.

Gull numbers were very low and only two Great Black Backs, on at different times, were of note.

A flight of nine Snipe was good for recent years but then we were told of a flock of about 130 earlier in the week! At dusk more Snipe were heard leaving the cover of the reedbeds but remained unseen.

As ever we went up to the top end of the reserve to wait for the Bittern/Otter combo. Just as we got towards the bench we disturbed a Kestrel tucking into a vole on one of the fence posts, it took off taking its dinner with it. A Great Tit acted like a flycatcher catching Winter Gnats in the last of the afternoon's warm sunrays. From somewhere to our left a Water Rail squealed and a Cetti's Warbler sang with a second bird heard 'chipping' nearby. A Fieldfare flew out of the scrub and got half way across the mere before turning back - apparently there were about two dozen feeding on windfall Apples on the other side but we didn't go Long Eared Owl bothering today so get get round that side.

The Kestrel came back and sat in a Poplar tree behind us silhouetted against a darkening sky - we didn't see the small flock of Starlings heading to their roost on the pier as we pressed the shutter!

Our attempt at sneaking a little closer for a more frame filling shot failed miserably as it saw us coming and was off.

The we saw two swans winging in, one larger than the other, something made us look at them...one was a Black Swan! We're not going to include it on our list but it is a species we've not seen this year or at the nature reserve ever. What a fine looking bird in flight with its white primaries and secondaries and when it landed its bright red bill was obvious at long range - a little stonker even if the resident pair of Mute Swans weren't too happy with it being on their lake.

Also unhappy were the 150 or so Canada Geese and what had upset them you ask...a Fox was prowling around on the island and in true 'duck decoy' fashion they were following its every move. After a while the Fox settled down and put its nose under its tail but within a few minutes was scampering around trying to catch a vole it must have heard scuttling around in the grass behind it.

A single Pink Footed Goose that came out of the reedbed as dusk fell, probably a shooting or recent weather casualty.
The last entry in the notebook was two Little Owls sat out on the barn roof picked out by the eagle eye of PE.
A Woodcock as we were loading Frank into the Land Rover was the last bird seen in the darkness but failed to get written in the book.

While we were on site we got a call about a Long Tailed Duck which was on a boating lake a few miles up the road but decided to stay put and wait for the Bittern/Otter - neither showed and the duck would have been an addition to our year list competition with Monika; maybe it'll stick around a couple of days and we'll have a chance to catch upon with it...apparently it was picked up by a wildfowler's dog obviously unwell, he then put it in box and released it on the boating lake.

Where to next? Patch 2 should have a good bit of beach to cast a beady scope over in the morning.

In the meantime let us know what's been put in a box in your outback

The weather outside is frightful

2011-12-17T11:51:00.000Z

The Safari has always had a more than a passing interest in astronomy, beginning of the universe, quantum mechanics (not that we understand any of that!) etc and was interested is this recent observation The thing is we're not sure why they had to look for the black hole in the very centre of the galaxy. We know for a fact it's passed by Base Camp some time this year and swallowed up a variety of objects namely a hoover nozzle, a travel Buddha (including cosy travel case - reckon he's more powerful than St Christopher) and a hand carved nativity scene Baby Jesus (Never noticed Herod's henchmen lurking in the spare room - possibly because there never were any henchmen - well he had henchmen by the hundred but the 'incident' probably never happened). All objects were present and correct this time last year but now are compressed to an infinitesimally small but super massive blob of stuff thousands of light years away - suppose we'll never see em again!
Duff day today didn't get on safari, didn't really get light all day and those showers were best avoided. Tried to go Christmas shopping this arvo but didn't see anything worth wrapping, so much expensive tat and so few affordable items of real quality.
Where to next? Two year birds out of range and 'NO Franks Allowed' to the north and two to the south also 'NO Franks Allowed'; still those elusive Bean Geese out there somewhere...we'll probably end up at the nature reserve for the afternoon tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know what the passing black hole swallowed from your outback

More weather woes

2011-12-16T17:09:00.001Z

The Safari opened the door to a real wintery scene thismorning; a thin layer of snow coated the world outside. It hadn’t stopped thelocal Robins from singing nor the Blackbirds from clucking.

We didn’t go far choosing to dash back to base camp for awarming cuppa.

The dawn never really broke so we left the scope in the drawand headed out onto the beach with just the camera – and a big plaggy bag forany coal we might come across. In the gardens we spotted a real rarity...a Wrenand then a second - yeah hey patch tick #73.

As we crossed the road we noticed a dark blob right on topof the Mirror Ball, with cold fingers we fumbled the camera out from under ourjacket but it was playing up and wouldn’t turn on and when it did the lenswouldn’t zoom – darn it big style!!! The blob was a Carrion Crow which was‘hitching a ride’ on the rotating sculpture. It sat there for two or threeminutes while we cussed at the camera, as soon as the camera’s malfunction wasover come and video mode chosen – yes...you’ve guessed it – the flamin birdflew...AAAARRGGGHHH possibly a photo/video opportunity of a lifetimelost...really hope this is a temporary malfunction as we could really dowithout having to dash out and get a new camera...been looking at this one but Wifey probably needs new jewellery morethan we need a new camera

On the beach the tide had moved round a lot of the flotsamand jetsam on the strandline from yesterday and interesting finds proved harderto come by although we did pick up about 20lbs (10kg) of coal, or about twoweeks worth of burning – great when it’s free. Much of it had been washed intothe gap at the bottom of the steps along with hundreds of Pod Razors.

Musta been cold as there was snow lying on the beach - you'd have thought the salt would have melted it straight away.

Eventually we came across an only slightly damaged maleMasked Crab, check out the length of those chelipeds!

There were shed loads ofCommon Sand Stars in the lowest ‘rockpools’ many were still alive but sadlythey will probably succumb to the cold over the next few days as they will beunable to crawl back beyond the low water mark where the water temperature ismore constant and a little warmer, currently 11° C

Snow showers continued intermittently all morning some ofthem heavy but it didn’t stick so no chance for Frank to play with asnowman...yet! No we didn’t make the cake, not that artistic...but we did tryto get some arty-farty shots of the Mirror Ball with The Big One behind...couldhave done with a bit of sun rather than thick dark clouds.

No lunchtime safari as we had a site visit in the north oftown to look at a site which is going to become a brand new woodland.

Due to being prompted by Stu the other day we stopped on theway at the memorial to the Policemen who lost their lives attempting a searecue a few years go, 28 years ago to be precise. The sea is a dangerous placewhen it’s rough and yet people still play chicken with the waves or let theirdogs run loose and at risk of being washed in despite all the warning notices.Even on lovely calm summer days the beach can be a dangerous place as the tidecomes in behind you very quickly and cuts you off if you aren’t keeping a closeeye on what’s happening around you; some of the gullies are deep enough to beover head height!.

Thankfully the snow and rain had stopped and it turned in toa bright and sunny afternoon – just right for a traipse round a soggy field.

The plans look good with a nice mix of tree and shrubspecies and with it being so close to the coast it should pull in someinteresting migrants as it matures. The site already has a few little copsesbut they seem to attract little other than the local Goldfinches and HouseSparrows, there is a reasonable population of the latter (for the 21^stC at least). Over the years we’ve seen a handful of grounded Meadow Pipitsthere but nothing to set the pulse racing. The majority of the existing treeson site are Blackthorn bushes – hence the sparrow roost – and Alders, bothnative and Italian (don’t know why they were chosen), which are currentlyshowing their catkins.

While we were there a medium sized slender winged raptorflew over the site heading inland, it was a bit too far away and we had no binswith us – at a guess Short Eared Owl would be top of the list of possiblesuspects.

A wet walk across the low-lying central section revealed ourwellies have a hole to let the water out if it should go over the top – soggyfreezing cold feet...not pleasant...but we did come across this piece of wood, practically tripped over it hidden in the grass, which we assume is an ancient piece of Bog Oak, probably not oak at all butthat’s what it gets called generically. The area probably hasn’t been woodedwith large trees for many centuries. This one is about a foot in diameter andfar thicker than any in the current plantations.

On the drive back to the office we had a txt from AB who wasstill there saying a male Kestrel had put in an appearance.

Where to next? Alas more Christmas shopping rather thansafari-ing is likely.

In the meantime let us know how white it got in youroutback.

How's this for a bit of fun - a Frank and snowman cake brilliantly made by a good friend of ours - too good to eat?

What’s gone wrong with the weather? There wasn’t not a breath of wind first thing

2011-12-15T17:38:00.000Z

The Safari stepped out of the front door to a bit of awelcome surprise this morning. We didn’t hear the whooshing of wind across therooftops or through the branches of the trees and the telephone wires; insteadwe were very pleased to hear the delightful twitterings of a couple of Robins.Walking round the corner we bumped intoanother Robin pecking around on the footpath where we had wrangled a soggycrust from the vice-like jaws of Frank late last night – he is basically acanine hoover when it comes to littered food and has been known to swallow halfa pizza without even breaking stride.

A Blackbird was on the grass verge listening for worms inthe sopping wet grass. On the far side of the road yet another Robin wassinging its little syrinx out – seems like all life was glad to back to normal.A far longer than of recent but still shortened wander round Patch 1 gave usmore Robins and Blackbirds and we’re pretty sure we could see not one, not two,but three Peregrines tucked up on the tower! And at long last we’ve managed acount of the Magpies roosting in Magpie Wood. Very cautiously we walked slowlypassed trying to pretend not to look up and disturb them – 45 but we couldeasily have missed a few as it was quite dark in there; still, not a bad count!

At work we put our wellies on and hit the beach to see whatthe last few days’ storms had brought up. The answer was loads but on the waywe found a dollop of Fox doo-doo on the promenade which might go a little wayto explain the reason why some of our punters at work have been coming inasking where all the Rabbits have gone.

On the beach the strandlines held vast numbers of starfishand shells. Most of the starfish were Common Sand Stars, but there were also agood number of Cushion Stars and a few broken Brittle Stars. Some of the Common Sand Stars were big, up to ten inches (25cm) across.

Huge numbers of Prickly Cockles were also a feature of thestrandline.

Of note was the number of complete Common Otter Shells,

despite them being common and easy to find we very seldom find them whole, thisis a bit weird considering the weather we’ve just had; you’d think the severestorms would have broken them all up.

One species we came across was one we’ve not recorded on thebeach before, Queen Scallops. We found three and each was encrusted with what proved to be a species of soft coral - Dead Man's Fingers - Thanks to our marine biologist friend DB for the ID.

The same, or a similar, coral/sponge was alsoseen unattached but in much smaller pieces perhaps broken off but they didn’tlook it – thing to the right under the Pod Razor. Stalked Anemones also featured,some were still alive like the one on the left in the pic.

We came across several well pecked fish remains beforestumbling over this very fresh Dab.

Masked Crabs were quite numerous butundamaged ones were few and far between, this one is a female, easily told bythe short chelipeds – the ‘legs’ the claws are on, the males having much longerones for use in display. The antennae form a respiratory tube when lockedtogether as they are in the pic helping them ‘breath’ when buried in the sand.

Sea Hearts (aka Sea Potatoes) were numerous but beingfragile few were in good condition. They are a species of Sea Urchin but ahairy rather than spiny one; it’s very seldom we find them with some of thehairs still attached.

Apologies for the grotty pics – we never did get round tocleaning the salt spray off the lens. (Have done now).

We also picked up a bulging pocket of sea coal in a matterof minutes; not carbon friendly but it’ll supplement the wood burner over theweekend. There was buckets of the stuff enough to keep the home fires burningfor a coupla-three weeks if we’d have had the time and a big enough bag.

Fast approaching heavy rain had us heading back to theoffice before we could have a proper look out to sea so not a lot of birds werenoted. Four Knot with a Dunlin and only two Sanderlings was an unusual ratio ofwaders. Lots of Oystercatchers, well over 100 and, best of all, our first ‘argentatus’ Herring Gull – ye oldegulling season has starteth! Could do with finding one like the one in thefirst pic here from just down the coast aways.

Lunchtime and the wind had picked up again, nothing too serious butit had made the sea very lumpy on the rising tide. It was pleasantly warm stood in the sunprovided we didn’t look to the south and burn out our retinas with the glareoff the water. Looking north however the light was very good and we had a decent variety of seabirds to keep us entertained – seven or more Great Crested Grebes, threedefinite auk sp, of which one was a probable Guillemot, one a definite Razorbill, several Kittiwakesincluding a 1^st winter, at least five Red Throated Divers. 300+ Common Scoters, all very mobile and we'd probably reckon all our counts are under-estimates.Much more like it! Would have been better if we’d been able to stay out another houror so over the high tide and watch it start to drop.

Where to next? More of the same please!
In the meantime let us know how lumpy your outback is.

A scary night passed by without incident

2011-12-14T17:21:00.003Z

The Safari took Frank out before bedtime last night androunding the corner onto the main road we were caught by a gust that had usboth teetering on the verge of collapse. Back indoors it was off to bed wherewe could hear the wind wreaking destruction in the gardens all around, by eckit was howling – unknown things were crashing around all over the placeoutside...we prayed the chimney stack wouldn’t come crashing through theceiling, or worse come down on the Land Rover parked in the drive. Earlier during our teatime game of footy we saw only one Peregrinesitting tight up against the cables trying to squeeze itself out of the wind.

Yesterday we reckoned that at the high tide with the stormsurge the water on the other side of the sea wall was actually higher than thecarpet under our feet. It wasn’t the biggest of tides either, the big springtides can add another metre to the water level...now that would be scary – oh by the way Canada,thanks a bunch for pulling out of Kyoto - we’ll send you the bill for a newcarpet and a pair of wellies to wear at our desk...30% increase in CO2emissions in 20 years...how’d a ‘developed’ country manage that? Who do theythink they are China?

Overnight the wind dropped but by dawn it was still runningat 30mph (50kph) with higher gusty spells. Heavy hail showers rattled againstthe kitchen window and against the darkness we could see the stones piling upon the sill outside as they dribbled slowly down the glass. Brrrrrrr...wedidn’t really fancy going out in that.

But out in that is exactly what we did once it was lightenough to use the scope. Looking over the wall at Patch 2 the sea was stillheaped up and as white as the Rocky Mountains in winter.Here and there small parties of Common Scoters lifted off the water before yetanother huge breaker swamped them. Impossible to count them and we did see afew small flocks closer inshore riding the waves. Still no sign of any VelvetScoters, Long Tailed Ducks or Little Auks :-( but a novelty in the form of aRed Throated Diver was seen at mid range heading southwards through the deeptroughs. Monotony of the scoters slightly relieved!

Two Great Black Backed Gulls patrolled the waves with menaceon the look out for anything that might look a little slow, weak or feeble.There was a passage of about two dozen Kittiwakes, all adults, and one of thosewould have made a tasty light snack for the GBBGs.

Although the tide was out and a good stretch of beach wasuncovered we only had a cursory scan along the water’s edge. Not manyOystercatchers and only a handful of Sanderlings but beyond the southernboundary of Patch 2 we could see many hundreds of Oystercatchers and gullsfeeding along the various strandlines and in the shallow pools left by thereceding tide.

The high tide and high winds at lunchtime once again meantno birding but we did dash out to get the following pics. Might have been OKfor the scope if we had a tripod in the shelter of the not-so-sheltery shelter(last pic) – they’d be miles better as shelters if they didn’t have a gapingbig hole in them!

No chance of standing in our normal spot again today...

Plenty of blobs of flying foam again

The gulls had to dodge so of the blobs of foam

There were quite a few gulls playing on the wind

Nearly every wave gave a big over-the-wall splash

lens was salt encrusted by the time we took this last pic

Where to next? Hopefully the wind will have died down enough to let us have two full sessions but not so much as everything can re-orientate itself out to sea.

In the meantime let us know what's getting splashed all over in your outback.

Another rank day in paradise

2011-12-13T17:00:00.000Z

The Safari dodged the torrential hail showers to get a tenminute watch over the se wall. Even four hours before high tide the water waswell up the beach driven by a force 8 sou’wester. The tumbling waves were already huge, so muchso that it was several minutes before we found the first of not so many CommonScoters. A dozen or more Kittiwakes, all adults, battled southwards over thespray, hard to get a proper count as it was one flap forwards two flaps back.

Having had a major study of a plethora of leucistic HerringGulls and ‘proper’ white wingers we arenow reasonably sure that the one we had on Sunday morning wasn’t a HerringGull based on the brief views we had onour 40mph drive-by - the primaries and secondaries were uniformly pale and translucentwith the underwing coverts a pale tea colour. A leucistic Herring ought to showdarker outer primaries contrasting with the paler inners. Our money is now on a1^st winter Iceland Gull but we’ll have to wait until someone elsecomes across it for verification. We doubt if it was a Glaucous Gull as itdidn’t seem big and bulky enough and even at the range we saw it at thedistinctive two-tone large bill of a 1^st winter Glaucous Gull shouldhave been easy to see.

The following pics may give you some clue as to why wedidn’t get a lunchtime safari in...fortunately we successfully avoided asoaking by the narrowest of margins. These were taken about an hour before highwater – don’t think we’d have stood a chance of staying dry if we’d have goneacross at the top of the tide. The wall we lean the scope on is about 4 feet(1.25m) high.

Apparently after last week’s storm hundreds of Common SandStars and a Dab (a species of flat-fish) had been thrown out of the sea andonto the road at the point where we photographed these Bottle Nosed Dolphins atthe end of the summer.

Where to next? Even more wind forecast tonight - 80mph is possible!!! So once again it'll be patch 2 tomorrow might even try to get on the beach for a look at the carnage that is the strandlines...now where'd we put those wellies?

In the meantime let us know what's battling against the wind in your outback.

Short and sweet at the seaside

2011-12-12T16:10:00.002Z

The Safari was able to get across the road as all that nasty fencing had been taken down over the weekend. We didn't have long but it was a fairly productive few minutes. The tide was rising quickly and most of the beach was already covered but where there was a strand-line of shellfish we noted a large number of Common Gulls and counted 207 Oystercatchers with many more further to the south. A few Sanderlings dodged in and out of the thousands, nay millions?, of wrecked shellfish. We haven't had a chance for a go see but through the scope we could pick out zillions of Pod Razors and Rayed Trough Shells in several lines stretching as far as the eye could see (with the scope) in both directions. There were so many Common Sand Stars that even the gulls appeared to be bored with them! A friend told us that she had been on the beach and seen loads of Brittle Stars and Sea Potatoes; at the weekend her hubby told her one of the anglers had caught (and released) a 2lb+ (1kg) Squid - a real rarity along this coast!

As the tide rose the Sanderlings got restless and a flock of over 30 'picked up' our few and sped off northwards to their favourite roost.

A Cormorant flew by, nothing unusual in that, but this one had the full white head and thigh patches already.

At sea we could only pick up a few dozen Common Scoters but above them we had five Kittiwakes.

An even shorter lunchtime session was a little more productive. The wind had picked up a bit and roughened the sea even more and the light was worse but the numbers of scoters was now perhaps 3-400 with them moving about all over the place and a good few small flocks quite close inshore. Two Great Crested Grebes kept appearing through the heavy swell looking for all the world like two periscopes, but we couldn't find anything else with the scoters...where is that Long Tailed Duck? All the while we were there there was a trickle of Kittiwakes going past, we didn't count them but we'd guess at somewhere between 20 and 30 as there was some doubling back going on, all bar two were adults.

Sticking with the gull theme we noted a couple of Great Black Back Gulls and made an effort to stick with them through the troughs as they can be good 'value'; at the end of last week one was seen to find, and promptly swallow, a Little Auk that had wandered too close to shore only a few miles up the coast...damn things eating a Lifer!...shouldn't be allowed!!!

Where to next? More ferocious wind is forecast for the next couple of days so Patch 2 will be our best bet for some decent birding.

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

Missed again!!!

2011-12-11T18:30:00.001Z

The Safari was chatting to next door who have recently got the tiniest little Jack Russell puppy they've called Albert - no doubt that in the not too distant future he'll be running rings round Frank. As we were out a Cormorant and a Sparrowhawk went over. Then it was out to see if we could find any of the several Bean Geese that are in the area, not seen one for the best part of 20 years. We headed out to the moss and on the main road saw two birders scoping what could only have been a flock of grounded geese from a most unusual place. We passed them but as we did we saw a white winged gull come half way across the road then turn back and head off over the houses...we were in a busy stream of traffic approaching a motorway junction at 40mph so couldn't do anything about it...nothing for it but to abort the planned excursion and spin back round the roundabout...couldn't find it but did have a quick chat to the birders who hadn't seen a Bean Goose in the flock but had seen a Greenland Whitefront on the moss. Abandoning the leucistic Herring/Iceland/Glaucous Gull to was back to the original plan. We found the location easy enough only to see the flock flushed by a block with two dogs walking them where he shouldn't have been - marvelous!!! NOT. A drive down the very bumpy and very wet track got us no nearer the flock but we did see a field of at least 30 Curlews.

So it was back to the nature reserve where the white headed Blackbird was once again in its usual place half way down the main drag. A Cetti's Warbler was heard almost straight away but we went to see if there were any geese in the fields to the east. On the way we heard a second Cetti's Warbler fire up. 27 geese came in but landed a long way off in dense tall stubble and it was impossible to grill them. While we struggled with the geese 16 Whooper Swans came from the north west but ignored the three Mutes Swans on a large puddle in the goose field. 30 or so Linnets were on the wires and joined by about two dozen more.

Another 15 geese landed but this time we could tell they were all Pink Footed Geese as they whiffled in to land. At the far end of the embankment we could hear a Song Thrush singing and spotted a second. Four Snipe flew over, today was going to be a Snipe day with many more seen, the best number we've come across here for a long time. A Water Rail squealed from the very flooded 'dry' reedbed, on a pile of windfall apples a few yards further on were a good many Blackbirds and two Fieldfares. A Kestrel came in and landed atop a tall tree flushing them all, not enough wind for hovering today! Before long it was joined by the other half of the pair.

Rounding the corner we noted a flower in flower - Hogweed.

Apologies for today's pics the light was awful but worse was the fact that we hadn't noticed all the condensation between the filter and the lens - - dooohhhh, no wonder the pic were so rubbishy. Then we saw a hint of movement in the corner of our eye and turned round to see a Grey Squirrel in an isolated tree.

Nothing over exciting was seen from the hide so after a few minutes we headed back to the Long Eared Owls, one of which was just about visible deep in the usual (for this season) bush.

By now it was time to go and look at the geese again as we'd seen more come in, well over 100 now. On the walk past the reedbeds a dozen or so Long Tailed Tits were flitting about in a Willow tree at the side of the path but we didn't bother with the camera - gone off em!

The geese were still out of sight/range even through friends' telescopes. Two Buzzards buzzed the flock to no avail although one managed to catch a mouse or vole. Nothing for it but to head off to the other end and wait for the Bittern/Otter combo. At the hide a Water Rail scuttled a cross the small gap at about 100ph shrieking as it went. We started to get a bit cold so decided to walk up to the bench to get the circulation going. from there we got a better view along the length of the mere and counted 15 Wigeon along with loads of other waterfowl but only one Goldeneye today.

We were joined by quite a throng but all we could muster between us was a third Cetti's Warbler and a Sparrowhawk - they told us we'd missed bird of the day...they'd had an adult Mediterranean Gull down the other end not long after we left them. No Bittern/Otter combo this evening...

Where to next? Patch 2 might throw up a goody or two.

In the meantime let us know what should have shown themselves in your outback.

Missed it!

2011-12-11T09:15:00.001Z

The safari learned this morning that yesterday was International Mountain Day - we didn't have a clue even though we included a pic of a 'mountain' in yesterday's missive...something subliminal going on???

Can't really call Parlick a mountain as it's only a small outlier of the larger, but still small, Bowland Fells and stands a huge oxygen deficient 1417ft (432m). In yesterday's pics the green tree covered hill to the right is Beacon Fell which is much smaller still at only 873 ft (262m) but as it stands alone it affords great views in all directions...well it did until the forestry trees grew. However there is a long term management plan to replace the conifers with native woodland and increase the area of heath at the the summit.

Where to next? Back later with tales of woe from dipping today's intended quarry due to torrential rain.

In the meantime let us know if your outback has a long term management plan.

Death in paradise

2011-12-10T08:53:00.001Z

The Safari wasn't expecting such a grim day, it started out without much of a to-do.

Two Peregrines were huddled on their respective ledges last night during our game of footy, the wind had dropped to next to nothing but with that came clearing skies and dropping temperatures - it was going to be the coldest night for some time.

This morning on our return back down the hill from behind us we heard a whooshing sound steadily increasing increasing in volume, looking up we saw a narrow crescent of well over 1000 Starlings scythe their way towards the lightening dawn.
Back at Base Camp a lump of bread on the garage roof attracted the attention of a Herring Gull, we hadn't thrown any bread up there for a while so we wondered where it had come from. The shape of the bread was quite fish like...very fish like as it happened. We went for a closer look and discovered that it was, sadly, one of the large Goldfish from our pond...now we really began to wonder how it could have got there...cat, Fox, Heron? Was it dead and hoiked out or did something catch it then abandon it? And if the latter will what ever it was come back for the others? The pond is netted against Herons and we don't think they'd leave a fish that small just swallow it straight down and was it not a bit too windy for one to be able to land in the limited space? Mysterious???

Once we'd gone back inside the Herring Gull soon came back. Looking at the fish's eye it would seem that it hasn't been dead too long.

We set off very glumly to the shops but stepping out of the front door we were confronted by more death...small bits of a Woodpigeon were scattered around the front garden. Did the culprit have mustard on it's Woody with the discarded Coleman's wrapper there?

On the way to the our garden centre destination a little inland we soon spotted the snow on the Bowland hills. Thought it was a bit chilly last night.

We've often felt that the deep clough on the lower flank of Parlick should be fenced off and planted with trees.

Back at Base Camp we tucked into a sumptuous pie each...whoever Shirley is she makes flippin good pies, we had a Christmas Pie with half a turkey in it along with a chipolata, a slab of bacon, cranberries and rich stuffing; Wifey 'made-do' with a lusciously rich Butter Pie filled with chunky slices of potatoes and gently softened onions all washed down with lashings of homemade gravy...yummmmm...can deffo recommend.

A chat about the Otters at the nature reserve with our Extreme Photographer who now has some natty kit and a cunning plan...need to test it first but the results could be good...providing the Otter(s) play ball. While he was on the phone a big female Sparrowhawk dived between Base Camp and next door at an astonishing speed...after another Woodpigeon?

Where to next? Out and about tomorrow with perhaps another year bird to have a look at, won't be many more now, so we hope it's still there and then we'll end up on the nature reserve at Otter/Bittern time, providing the 100mph gales haven't come back.

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

Battered and bruised but we’re still here

2011-12-09T15:16:00.001Z

The Safari has been hunkered down out of the wind. Yesterdaymust have been one of the windiest days of the last 20 years here. We had twosustained periods of over a couple of hours when the wind didn’t drop below40mph (65kph) and there were several gusts recorded at 55mph (90kph), it wasn’tquite as bad as had been forecast.. We got off lightly; the top of Cairngormsrecorded a gust of 165mph (266kph) not far short of the all time UK record of173mph (280kph) (March 1989) but that is at 4000 feet (1245m) above sea level.

Poor Frank was lifted off his four very sturdy feet andbundled over by one gust which surely must have been well over 100mph, with hislarge mass and low slung centre of gravity we wouldn’t be surprised it had beentouching 200mph!!!

At last we were able to get out and have a look over thewall this morning. Dodging the severe hail showers we dashed out and gave it ago. And glad we did too. Almost straight away we were into a flockette ofKittiwakes, a 1^st winter and two adults, close inshore making theirway south. Also heading many southwards were a fair few uncounted Common Gulls,are these local birds moving to feeding areas or late movers. Half a dozenLesser Black Backs were also seen and the couple of Great Black Backs appearedto be enjoying the blustery conditions, one had a good close look at theKittiwakes checking if they may be catchable and breakfast no doubt.

Our friends the Common Scoters were uncountable sittingdefiantly amongst the still huge waves, well over a hundred with severallarge-ish flocks close in and plenty of smaller flocks moving further outtowards the horizon.

Best bird of theshort session was found while we were watching the distant scoters – a skua spsped northwards just above the horizon. We watched it cover the miles and notonce did it move its wings as it expertly caught the up-draughts off the wavesin a superb display of effortless speed flying against the wind. If we had toput money on a species we’d say Arctic Skua but it was a long long way out.Eventually it disappeared into the oncoming hail storm and that was our cue toleg it back indoors for a brew.

Woulda credit it! Despite the fact the tram was now running we got out again at lunchtime and enjoyeda full quarter of an hour’s fresh air in the stiffening cool breeze. Kittiwakeswere order of the day with at least four adults fairly distant and a muchcloser 1^st winter bird. A change from the scoters appeared in theform of an unidentified auk which was far too large for a Little Auk, so Guillemotor Razorbill, take your pick.

The dropping tide started to expose the beach and we had aflock of Oystercatchers nicely silhouetted by the midday sun. 17 Sanderlingspattered along the retreating water’s edge and a hundred or so Black HeadedGulls waited for the tide to reveal its edible treasures.

The dot thing above the horizon in the middle of the pic is the Lennox gas rig, to the left of that you can just about make out the Welsh hills east of Snowdonia.

There was still the high probability of heavy showers as thesky suggests.

Where to next? The weekend probably entails more Christmas shopping than safari-ing :(

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

Rockin n rollin

2011-12-07T16:46:00.001Z

The Safari didn’t getout this morning, not for fear of having our eyeballs blown out of theirsockets – although that was a consideration – but those dreadful tram peoplehad closed off the access before it got light enough to warrant even thinkingabout braving the elements.

By lunchtime the tide was dropping but the wind hadincreased to a sustained 40mph with gusts to over 60mph so anything coming outof the bay southwards should have been well inshore but still we couldn’t crossthe road. Not that we’d have been able to hold the scope steady anyway!

This time tomorrow we could well be experiencing even worsewind with sustained gusts to Hurricane Force 11 – if ever there was a time tobatten down those hatches it’s probably now...some snow is forecast too.

Wonder if we’re missing anything going by. Wonder if there are any birds left in the Irish Sea - we wouldn't be surprised if they've all been blown clean across the country and are now battling their way down the coast of Holland or Belgium!

In the absence of anything to report may we draw yourattention to last week’s fires in Western Australia.Aussie Glen’s picture is very distressing and be warned if you have a queasydisposition but it is a stark reminder of the casualties uncontrolled fires cancause and all the more reason for you to download our story as a proportion ofthe proceeds will go to help AG and the volunteers at Maroo care for thesurvivors so that they can be released back to the wild once fully fit.

It is important to realise that fire is very much part ofthe ecology of many areas around the world and the plants and animals and even thepeople native to those areas are in many ways adapted to it. What is less naturalis that western ‘settled’ societies which have moved into those fire proneareas now have a fear of it and prevent it from happening until there is toomuch fuel and any fires that do occur are often too fierce to manage and becomefar more destructive than small faster burns would have been. Fire managementis a high priority for WA’s Dept of Environment and Conservation but sadly inthis instance it seems that it was one of their controlled burns that got outof control 60,000 hectares is approx 15 miles x 15 miles or in a local contextjust about all of the Fylde, a square from Blackpool to Preston and from therenorth almost to Lancaster ie the bit of Safari-land we spend almost all ourtime in!

Where to next? Hopefully we’ll be able to get across theroad for some more fury watching but don’t count on it.

In the meantime let us know what the wind’s blown in in youroutback.

No pictures? You are jokin aren't you???

Verrryyy innterressstinng

2011-12-06T16:44:00.001Z

The Safari hit the wall as the sun was just peeking throughthe clouds and over the rooftops again this morning. Until then it had been adull grey and dreary dawn but with the sunshine the light over the sea wasexcellent. Pity there wasn’t much to see except that there was less snow onBlack Combe but much more on the hills further inland.

We began our safari by concentrating on the gulls...just incase...Although the wind had dropped a bit since yesterday there were stillmassive waves and troughs making following even large birds like the LesserBlack Backed Gulls a bit on the tricky side. Common Gulls went past well abovethe waves in a steady southwards procession and we counted about 30 after we’dsussed what was happening. Unfortunately today there were no ‘iffy’ gulls.

The Common Scoters are still there, as defiant as ever inthe face of the foaming white water, we counted around the hundred markalthough this is likely to be only a small proportion of the actual numbers offshore.

What a relief...at last there was something else to lookat...a Red Throated Diver heading northwards which made a very welcome refreshingchange....there is something else out there after all!!!

A sighting from yesterday up near where we were at theweekend got us thinking about our mystery corvid last weekend, now was it orwasn’t it??? Hmmmmm???

Our lunchtime safari was scuppered. Before picking up thescope we looked out of the window to check on the weather only to see the tramguys closing off the crossing...probably just as well he did it then cos inanother five minutes he would have been closing it behind us and we’d have hada very long walk to get back to our starting point only 25 yards away! A verylucky escape judging by the torrential horizontal hail showers that occurredwithin a few minutes. They might only have been short but they weren’t ‘alfheavy!

Where to next? More Patch 2 if we can get over there; and ifwe can get over there will we be able to stand up as the wind is forecast to begusting to nearly 70mph/110kph at first light tomorrow...now that’s starting toget scarily windy.

In the meantime let us know what relieved the monotony inyour outback.

No pics today as dark as the darkest dungeon out there!

Lifer escapes?

2011-12-05T17:46:00.001Z

The Safari was brave/foolish* enough to venture onto theseawall as the sun rose up over the houses opposite this morning. The tide wasfalling but the sea was still a maelstrom of white foam after another verystormy night.

As the clouds cleared to the north we could see much moresnow had fallen on the Lake District hills overnight. Infact the westernmost fell, Black Combe, could easily have been renamed WhiteCombe.

Out at sea we could only see a small proportion of theCommon Scoters that were probably present...they are tough cookies. When he was(much) younger one of our brothers used to have a thing for a ludicrous which-would-win-in-a-fight scenario eg Tiger v Walrus, Elephant v Killer Whale...etcetc well we know which would win...Common Scoters v anything you care toname...c’mon if you think your hard enough!!!!!

A cargo ship was sunk not faraway from here last week when a 'huge' wave broke the ship in two with the tragic loss of five crew members and still thescoters sit out this storm and the next and the next...until winter is over intheir ‘survival’ suits of greasy black feathers and nothing to eat but a fewvery gritty seashells. Some of the breakers out on the horizon must have been about 15 feet (5m) high!

Not a lot else was about but scanning southwards we spotteda distant gull with a very distinctive pattern as it careened through thetroughs away from us it wouldn’t give us a another good view until it finallyswooped up and dived down never to be seen again...could it have been one ofthose elusive Sabine’s Gulls or was it just a 1^st winter Kittiwake?We’ll never know; the law of averages would say Kittiwake, Sod’s law would saySabine’s Gull.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to get out there at lunchtimebut a visit to another office had us finding two good clumps of Sulphur Tuftfungus on a lawn and both Primrose and Cowslip in flower in a small patch ofPublic Open Space that has recently been planted with a few trees and sown witha wildflower mix.

Where to next? Can only really be more from Patch 2.

In the meantime let us know what missed be identified inyour outback

*delete as appropriate

Snow!

2011-12-04T19:07:00.001Z

The Safari had a Peregrine over the garden early this morning while we chomped into a bowl of Shreddies (other flattened malty square shaped cereals are available), no bacon butties today as a hearty pub lunch was in order after a bit of a wander through the woods at the northern end of Safari-land. The motorway drive up there gave us six Buzzards and three Kestrels. When we arrived our friends pointed pointed out the snow on the hill tops over the estuary - Yikes hadn't seen that on the drive up. It wasn't quite like this pic from this time last year but there was a heavy smattering down to about 2000 feet.

There is a dang fine, yet fairly easy, scramble you can make out on the crag on the right running diagonally bottom right to top left. See this googled pic of the crag in summer for the route.

And this pic, again stolen from Google Images, of a typical bit of the exposure to expect, it's only about a 500 foot drop to the lad's right down to the tarn...wouldn't hurt til you hit the bottom!

OK in summer but a really different kettle of fish to attempt in snow and ice.

Frank met up with his chum young Benny, who has the cutest ears but is a seriously bouncy dog...

All the excitement got to Frank in the end and he got a bit tired and tried to squeeze himself into Benny's bed...

with a bit of difficulty as he didn't really fit...

Not a lot was seen on the walk as we we chewing the fat and catching up on all the local goss. As we walked we kept an eye out for plants in flower for Dean and found Ox-eye Daisy, Bush Vetch, Yarrow and Meadow Buttercup which is perhaps less than we might have expected. Another Peregrine was seen have a right old go at a Woodpigeon that escaped by diving into the woods.

We'll leave you with an autumnal puddle we managed to keep Frank out of.

Where to next? Back to the thrills and spills of Patch 2; what might the blow have brought within range of our scope?

In the meantime let us know who got sleepy in your outback.

Imaginary winnings

2011-12-03T21:48:00.001Z

The Safari is absolutely rolling in dosh, shame it's ohh so imaginary.

NET winnings today would have amounted to £288,048.50, we like the 50p on the end, makes it feel so much more 'real'.

The highest stake we needed was a mighty overdraught bashing £131,000 but that gave us a fairly decent 'win' of £360,500!!!

If you have that sort of cash we'll tell you how it's done - for a small fee...Having said that if you DO have that sort of dough you really shouldn't need anymore!

Where to next? Out in the windy wilds with the family tomorrow but there might be some chance of spotting a little wildlife along the way.

In the meantime you'd better check those betting slips in your outback.

Gimme the real Ozzy any day of the week

2011-12-03T19:20:00.001Z

The Safari is dismayed at the rantings of a certain Osbourne this week, sadly not totally unexpected from this shower of sh*tes purporting to be the Greenest Government Ever. In the same week it was also reported, somewhat quietly, that the farmland Bird Index has dropped to its lowest level ever without any hint about what this GGE might do about it. How long before we can walk through England's green and pleasant land without hearing a Skylark singling or seeing a Lapwing plunging earthwards...10 years, five...and what exactly were Grey Partridges? In the uplands the Duke and Duchess of nowhere-you've-ever-heard-of still demand their minions to blast our Hen Harriers/Goshawks/Red Kites/Eagles out of the sky because their great-great-great-great-great granddaddy was a mate of Billy the Conqs who gave em thousands of Saxon acres to play with. Meanwhile in the lowlands Warren is plagued by a wealthy numbnut's 'gardener' who thinks its acceptable to shoot the roosting Mallards on 'his' ornamental lake as they sleep. Possibly less than five years if our glorious Chancellor manages to cover all the best bits of habitat in concrete to boost the economy by building thousands of houses no one can afford to buy or massive extensions to ports which won't receive ships full of goods until people have the money to pay for them...in the meantime he'll have ripped out the spiritual soul of the country, something we perhaps need more than ever to wean us away from the non-entity of celebrity culture and other trite sh*te Saturday night TV bombards us with these days. The viewing figures for best documentaries for ages Frozen Planet and the Origins of Us are nowhere near those of the daily offerings of any of the totally mundane soaps, dancing, singing or sitting around in a hotel garden...we seem to been overcome with despair...even the tiny carrot of no fuel duty rise can't dent our loathing for the numpties currently in charge. Yes we know no matter who you vote for the government always gets in but this lot need to be got out double quick before they make some serious mistakes that will take decades or longer to undo.

We reckon its all to do with a total lack of connection and understanding of the natural world - strange as some of these people are allegedly farmers, but then if they are in the NFU their leader Peter Kendall worryingly doesn't seem to have clue what's on his farm either and doesn't believe there is a biodiversity crisis on our farmland...well of course there isn't because when he walks round he doesn't see any biodiversity except the stuff he doesn't like, Rabbits, corvids and Woodpigeons...there's only these commensals left...oh b*llocks to it just make the proper Ozzy Prime Minister for a couple of months, we might actually hear some sense for a change.

We believe it's all down to education or more precisely the lack of it. Pound to a penny GO, DC, NC, CS, PK nor many, if any of their cronies could tell a Yellowhammer from Yellow Loosetrife. How can they make decisions about things they know absolutely nothing about. What's needed is a return to the nature table in Primary schools backed up by proper natural natural history lessons in the curriculum right through to GCSE, rather than a mini-beast hunt here and there and a 'habitats' session covering no more than a couple of day's work in four or more years schooling and then nothing in the teenage years. Then maybe the planners, developers, council officials, brickies, postmen, hairdressers, TV celebrities might actually have some inkling of what is around them and how it fits together and importantly how they fit into IT.

Enough of the rant - today we saw one of the Peregrines over the garden upsetting the local Feral Pigeons - there seems to still be loads of them so they're just not eating them fast enough!!!

On ourr walk to the park with Frank we kept an eye out for plants still flowering and got a reasonable list...Daisy, Black Medick, Chickweed, Dove's Foot Cranesbill, Lesser Celandine! Greater Periwinkle (naturalised in the park), Fox & Cubs and Wall Barley. A Goldcrest was unseen in the tree-tops.

Here's a question for yer - anyone got a spare 25 grand lying around getting dusty in a forgotten draw somewhere? We were discussing betting at work yesterday and we said we had a sure fire system for winning on the horses, trouble is we don't have enough capital to make it work :-( Our colleagues didn't believe us so when we got home last night we gave it a try with Monopoly money...wish we had real money!!! The result...after all yesterday's races we ended up with NET winnings of ...wait for it...a few pence short of £ 15,000 (about 150% return on yer money) ...for one day's work - Tax free!!! The reason why we couldn't do it for real was our highest stake was almost £10,000 (the return on that was £22,528 or about a year's salary, which of course IS taxable).

Tried it again with today's races and managed to make a NET profit of...

Where to next? A day at the races I think...(can't beat a bit of Queen - or Marx Bros).

In the meantime pin back yer lugholes and let this shower of nobodies rattle yer brains - they would never have won X-factor and they can't dance but they do have fun and Johnny X really gives those skins a severe thrashing. At the Club is still one of our fave albums - the ending is a gas!!! But we never realised they made a second album...duhhh - we can feel a download coming up...

Rapid transport cuts off the Safari

2011-12-02T16:40:00.001Z

The Safari only got out for the dark early morning session.The sea was still rough(ish) and a similar number of Common Scoters to recentdays were bobbing about. On the beach we counted 29 Redshanks and didn’t countthe very small number of Oystercatchers; no Sanderlings at all today and only afew gulls.

Little did we know that that was going to be it for the restof the day. During the morning we had noticed one of the new trams running upand down the track on the far side of the road being trialled and tested withallsorts of gizmos hanging out of the windows on wires suggesting they weredownloading data to an on-board PC.

Lunchtime came and we picked up the scope to go out butfound our way over the road blocked by fencing...the tram testing had for somereason necessitated the closing of our access to the sea wall...so no birdingwas possible.

Dean mentioned he was making a list of all the plants stillin flower over this coming winter so we had a quick shuffy in the garden hereand found Gorse, Perennial Cornflower, Sow Thistle and a Dandelion.

We also found a few pics on the internal memory of thecamera from earlier in the summer which you mightn’t have seen before; even ifyou have they might brighten up an otherwise dull day so you’re gettin emanyway if only to pad this post out...

Gloomy enough today to make the pics look as though they are b/w but they aren't...we were gloomy though faced with hundreds of yards of safety fencing in both directions.

And from the lost archives of the inner workings of the camera...a Campion moth caterpillar, complete with White camion seedhead, minus seeds...now we wonder where they went...

Deptford Pink...wonder where that came from...and if it'll ever reappear...

Gorse, crappy attempt at a flower...try again tomorrow, or the day after or the day after that, Gorse always has a flower somewhere! Today a pair of Dunnocks were noted sneaking into a particularly dense patch to roost in the thorny safety.

A lurid green caterpillar from the summer dug up whilst weeding - moth or sawfly anyone? So OK why does it have to be this bright if it lives underground or did we dig it up as it was digging down to pupate...in which case which of the plants in the garden are this green to warrant that colour as camouflage?

Shaded Broad Bar? Nope, Dean tells us it's Yellow Shell, thanks D :-)

White Tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lucorum or terrestris?)

Where to next? Weekend!!! Not sure about tomorrow but we have a bit of a further flung family safari planned for Sunday...may include beer rather than wildlife though.

In the meantime let us know what's transported you to the ends of your outback today.

No porpoise in life

2011-12-01T17:47:00.001Z

The Safari was out on the beach as soon as it was lightenough to see but we couldn’t see yesterday’s deceased Harbour Porpoise, it hadn’tbeen washed up this far...it’s still out there somewhere but the longer it’sdrifting around on the tide the less likely it is to be any use to the postmortem team from the Natural History Museum.

Whilst we were out we had our usual scan of the beach andsea, the regular Common Scoters were still bobbing about liked corks and thegulls were picking through yet more washed-up shells and starfish. Amongst thegulls skittered nine Sanderlings and one which had lost a leg hopped alongquickly in an effort to keep up.

Oystercatchers went uncounted today but there seemed to befewer than yesterday, Redshanks, however, had increased by a few to about twodozen, there may have been some more out of sight below us as the ones we couldsee were all in the runnels at the bottom of the wall.

At least the sun came out even if the wind was still on thecool side. The last couple of days certainly didn’t feel like the warmestNovember for 352 years!

By lunchtime the weather had deteriorated as usual, but itwas mild, it was actually warmer outside on the wall than in the office!

The waders were clinging on to the last vestiges of beach as the tide rose beach and wecounted 41 Oystercatchers and 33 Sanderlings; the Redshanks had already gone toroost on the wall beneath us and although we could hearthem we couldn’t see them for a count. During our study of the waders on the beacha Grey Wagtail was heard, looking up we couldn’t find it though.

No change in the scoter situation but we did have somethinga bit different in the form of a pair of Pintails (P2 #72) flying northwards over them –which was nice! Nothing else of interest though, the Walney Island Long TailedDuck seems to not want to go a-travelling just yet.

Patch 1 after work in the dark a quick look at the towergave us just one roosting Peregrine, great when you can go out and that is theonly species of bird seen! We did hear a Grey Plover calling as it flew coastwards though.

Thankfully it’s only three weeks until the nightsstart drawing out again...

Still no pics so you can have a cold and watery wintery sunset from a few years ago.

Where to next? More Patch 2 unless we can coerce Frank intogoing as far as Magpie Wood for a count of the roost there.

In the meantime let us know what’s flying over the regularsin your outback...

Our first low tide for a goodly while

2011-11-30T18:20:00.001Z

Our first early morning low tide look over the wall gave us75 Oystercatchers, at least 20 very mobile Sanderlings – how many exactly therewere we’re not sure as groups kept flying about all over then running roundlike mad things, there was at least one Dunlin with them. 21 Redshanks were allthat we could find today.

Huge number of gulls fed at the waters edge as the tidestirred up the shellfish wreck from yesterday’s storm. There was a large numberof starfish washed up too.

At lunchtime the tide was at the base of the seawall and thebeach was fully covered. The recent string of 500-odd Common Scoters was still bobbingabout on the waves in similar numbers. Almost all of those in flight close inwhere moving from north to south whereas further out it was about 75% movingnorth to 25% south.

More distant gulls were represented by a few Common Gullsand a Lesser Black Back, all moving south. No Cormorants were seen today andwhere are the Great Crested Grebes and Red Throated Divers?

After lunch a punter came in showing a pic of a dead Harbour Porpoise he'd seen further down the beach way beyond our southern boundary. With a bit of 'luck' the carcass will be washed up on our stretch tomorrow morning after the tides and we can get out and collect it for a post mortem as, for a change, from the photo it didn't seem to be in too bad a nick.

No pic today as the sea wasn't quite as dramatic as yesterday although up to and including the weekend the wind is set to come back with gusto with gusts to 50mph again.

We'll leave you with a nice sunset from a while ago.

Where to next? More seabirds please, or at least more variety of seabirds please - a late Sabine's Gull wouldn't go amiss, nor would one of those, or 'the', Hilbre Island Little Auks.

In the meantime let us know what's skittering around the water's edge in your outback.

Got a bit wet today!

2011-11-29T18:28:00.001Z

The Safari only had the chance to nip over the road for a couple of minutes today. The wind was howling and the waves were crashing. It was too wet to stand up by the seawall so we had to lean the scope on the far less robust railings. All we got was a similar number of Common Scoters to yesterday and a Great Black Backed Gull ridin the storm out (also an REO Speedwagon tune - remember them? We'll leave you to find it for yourselves on You Tube) on the water.

With the tide almost full, about another half an hour to go, we shot back for the camera to try to get some pics of the impressive breakers. It wasn't raining when we got back to the wall, but after a couple of shots it started spitting and after a couple more it was torrential and horizontal, we were wet. Juat as we turned to leg it back over the road a huge wave came over the top of the wall - if we weren't wet before we certainly were now. And so it was off to physio to drip in the waiting room - we were so bad one of the staff brought out a 'Warning - Wet Floor' sign!

You'd wonder at people needing to be warned to Keep Out when the sea's like this - often they don't head the warning...either they think they are tougher than the sea or it's drunken bravado...which ever the sea always wins with the inevitable consequence.

A week or so ago qwe found this moth flying around the garden at Base camp - not the best pic - perhaps Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis heparana but a very late one - anyone any other suggestions.

Where to next? More wind and rain probably.

In the meantime let us know what's all washed up in your outback.

As a quick aside now might be a good time to think about a purchase of a download of What a Monster Week or a bagful of Burston Blues to help with the rehab of the injured animals that are going to be brought to Maroo in the next few days. The poor wee mites will need all the help they can get.

Serengeti of the seaside

2011-11-28T18:18:00.001Z

The Safari was back on a cold and gloomy Patch 2 at lunchtime, the first time in over two months. Not far offshore was a thin string of Common Scoters was sitting around the low tide mark, it might not have been wide but it was certainly a long string stretching well over a mile! How many were there? hard to tell as they were mobile with flocks of between one and two dozen coming past from the north all the time we were there, but probably in excess of 500 altogether. Other than the scoters only Cormorants a Great Black Back Gull and a Common Gull were seen.

Too dark for much to be found on patch 1 but a Peregrine was asleep on the ledge.

Where to next? More from Patch 2.

In the meantime let us know what's sitting in a long line in your outback - talking of long lines it is good to see that the RSPB/BirdLife International's campaign to reduce Albatross deaths from being caught as by-catch from long-line fishing vessels is beginning to bear fruit in many areas of the Southern Ocean with deaths down around 90%...just need to sort out the atrocious Taiwanese shark finning nonsense now...maybe they have taken note and taken the first positive steps...