Some you know some you don't - always something new to learn

The Safari has had a busy week. We've been entertaining the Brownies on the beach and doing a bit of exploring around and about for ourselves too.

We always find it amazing that the beach can change so much in such a short space of time. On Tuesday evening the Brownies found loads of shells

but only one live Green Shore Crab - and that came out of the sand close to where they were standing probably in response to their pattering feet. It wasn't for want of trying either as we had well over a dozen nets being wielded in the rockpools and runnels. They did pull out a huge number of Brown Shrimps including many large ones and a solitary Common Prawn. We found them half a Compass Jellyfish floating in a pool, much more likely battered on the rocks by the previous day's storm than bitten by a hungry Leatherback Turtle. While gently caressing it to turn it over to show its 'compass points' we managed to get stung and had a very itchy thin red wheal on our hand all the following day. The also found something far more dangerous than a jellyfish - lostfishing tackle with a couple of hooks still attached.

In contrast a similar number of Guides found a rather different suite of creatures. They found a smaller Compass Jellyfish lying on the sand and close by were the first of many Sea Gooseberries, something we didn't see at all the previous evening. Like the Brownies they found prodigious numbers of Brown Shrimps but all but one were very small, where had all the big ones gone? They didn't find a single Common Prawn either but did manage four species of fish with neither group seeing any of the very common Sand Gobies in the runnels which would normally be expected. Four species of fish caught in one rockpooling session is good but not including Sand Goby is remarkable.

Despite the rough weather there were no Common Starfish or Brittle Stars to be found nor any of the giant Octopus Jellyfish which had been a feature on the beach only last week. That's why wildlife is so brill - you just can't predict what's going to be about.

Once the winds had subsided the rest of the week turned out nice and there was a selection of invertebrates to be found in the work's garden. A week or so ago when the sun was out we'd spotted a species of spider hunting wasp but were unable to get a photo. and now a bit of sunshine had us out looking again. We didn't see any but did find a rather tall specimen of the rare Deptford Pink and only an hour after telling someone they hadn't come up yet...dohhh prove us a liar!

To be fair we were looking where they've appeared in the past in mown grass and consequently much smaller although this large specimen was only a few feet away so perhaps we should have noticed it.
Around and about flying through the long grass were hundreds of the lovely Broad Centurion soldierflies

So far this year we've not seen many hoverflies anywhere we've been out on safari but the work's garden seems singularly devoid of them so seeing this big dobber was a bit of a treat. We think it's one of the Helophilus species.

 Also present as a single individual was this quite unusually shaped fly. We're sure we've seen it before but can't put a name to it yet - can you help?

Still on the look out for any spider hunting wasps we saw some tiny Cinnabar moth caterpillars. Unusually they weren't on their foodplant but at the tip of a Yorkshire Fog grass stem. What on earth were they doing up there? Basking to get more heat?

Lower down, still deep in the grass were their friends, these were on the right plant - Ragwort - and had made serious inroads into it. Maybe the others had done an early bunk to find a bigger Ragwort plant to start chomping on.

A big movement very low in the grass nearby caught our eye, we'd disturbed something fairly large and brown and out fluttered our first Silver Y moth of the year. You can make out the silver Y on it's fast moving wings as it scrambled to get clear of the grasses to make an escape.

By the picnic area there are a couple of old logs we used to use as seats but which are now in the later stages of rotting away. The furthest gone will be nothing more than a pile of dust soon but interestingly we noticed a few red blobs 'growing' at the most rotten end.

 We gave them a gentle prod with a finger to find out if they might have been candle wax or not, they weren't, deffo well attached to the wood. Could they be young Scarlet Elf Cap fungi? It's a very odd place for that species though, out in the open and very exposed to the most severe elements such as gale force winds, salt spray, direct sunlight. Or could it be a slime mould of some sort? We're going to be keeping an eye on it but if anyone has any ideas let us know.
We did eventually see one of the wasps and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing managed to get a few snaps of it. We're pretty sure it's Amblyteles armatorius which would mean that despite it being on a spider's web and us thinking those fast waving antennae were searching out the web's owner tucked beneath the prickles of the Creeping Thistle leaves it wasn't hunting for spiders at all. Reading the books it appears that this species parasitises Noctuid moths. That's why wildlife is so brill - you just know you'll learn something new before too long. It might have been this one hiding in the seedpods of the Red Campion

Here's a Red Campion pod still full of seeds - when the wind blows it acts like a shaker and the seeds are scattered.

And so what does the non-spider hunting wasp look like - well fortunately we got a few pics that are juts about in focus.

It's certainly a beauty - unless you're a moth caterpillar that is in which case it's your worst nightmare!
Where to next? It''s the weekend and the weather is fine so there might be a safari once family duties are done to tell you about.
In the meantime let us know who's on the prowl in your outback.

Pretty in pink

The Safari had an unexpected bonus last night as we took Frank out, we saw our first Base Camp Pipistrelle bat if the year, we were almost reaching the point of dispair thinking we wouldn't see any at all - now all it has to do is come back and bring some friends with it; there's plenty of midges flying over the pond for it in the late evening.

We really liked the look of the sea today as we drove to work...it was carpet smooth and we were able to get a few minutes scan before opening up to the masses. Not a lot was out there apart from a few flocks of Common Scoters numbering in the region of 100, they're starting to build up now. A Grey Seal bobbed along on the current a long way out and that was about the lot apart from a shed load of gulls on the beach to our left - Mr Ca-moron is really going to have to have a conversation about those - seagulls at the seaside on the beach - - would you credit it?

Just before lunchtime we spotted the mum of a young family taking pics with her phone of something in our wildflower meadow. Turned out to be a Cinnabar moth caterpillar chewing its way through  a Ragwort plant. We had a chat to them showing the daughter where the Ant's nest was, she had asked, and the young lad spotted a butterfly basking on the windows. his dad thought it was  Painted Lady but it was 'only' a Small Tortoiseshell - seems he'd had the two muxed ip all his life!

We were showing them the other plants in the meadow explaining that like the Cinnabars and Ragwort, many other caterpillars only eat one or two species of plants like Nettles for the Small Tortoiseshell and the Birds Foot Trefoil for the Common Blue butterflies. It was then we spotted two 'new' Deptford Pink plants in flower a little way away from the one we've shown you in previous posts.

The family left and we went for lunch after which we were straight out with the scope and were relieved to see the sea was still flat calm.

Nothing much had changed since earlier other than a second Grey Seal had arrived. With viewing conditions as good as they were were loathe to leave but decided to have another slightly longer than normal lunch break and give it a couple more scans. Well are we glad we did - two Harbour Porpoises appeared as if by magic about a mile or so straight out in front of us and stuck around for a while. We wouldn't swear to it but it looked like one was larger than the other and the stuck close together surfacing and diving in synchrony so could well have been a mother and calf. We watched them for about five minutes and then as mysteriously as they appeared they disappeared and by now we had to too.

Where to next? We got it wrong yesterday - tomorrow is the first day of National Whale & Dolphin Watch, do join us if you can.

Will those Harbour Porpoises stick around? Will the sea be calm enough for us to see them?

In the meantime let us know who's the prettiest in pink in your outback.

Another dolphin day

The Safari has been a bit busy these last couple of days. We've missed some Bottlenosed Dolphins, we've been on the beach with another gang of Brownies but in the same place as the last post so not much different was found apart from a very nicely marked Blenny.

Best catch  of the day for the Brownies was reserved for just about the last dip of the net before packing up when one of them pulled out a small dark Eel-like fish, the first 5-bearded Rockling of the year.
We also had BD and Young Un AB (By eck he's not so young anymore - towers over the Safari he does) helping redesign and rebuild the work's bug hotel. Some time was spend looking for any inverts in the garden, pick of the bunch was this stunning freshly emerged Narrow Bordered 5-spot Burnet moth.

The tiny Deptford Pink wasn't out for BD's macro lens but three flowers had opened the following day.

Hope Little CV doesn't have those fingerprints on his database!

Yesterday we had an all day offsite Schools Science Conference so there was no opportunity for any wildlifing but we did take our big box of shells for the children to look at, it's amazing how few of them actually go to the beach even though it's no more than a mile or so away at the most from all their  homes. From the lab window we could see the Bowland Fells, no sign of any Hen Harriers well we were never going to see any anyway as the Establishment have made sure they've all been bumped off to a very devious masterplan. Please support this years peaceful protest Hen Harrier Day 9th August at several venues around the country.

Today we've been office bound and wasn't able to get out early doors. we did get out at lunchtime but it was dire. A wander round the garden was much more rewarding in the sunshine with Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Large White butterflies and a Silver Y moth. Lots of bumblebees too, at least four species, a mining bee and a shed load of Grass Veneer moths and we heard our first work's Meadow Grasshopper of the year.

Back in the office we saw we'd missed a phone call, a quick email revealed we'd missed a pod of Bottlenosed Dolphins coming down from the north quite close in. B*gger!!! Not to worry a text alerted us to the fact they were still about not far to the south of us. Grabbing the camera and bins we dashed out but were (slightly) disappointed to see they'd now gone into the river channel and were well out of range for pics but still gave a great display as they fed actively. No matter how far away they are a Dolphin Day is always a good day.

There seems to be a bit of a pattern to their appearances emerging, not that they appear everyday. But to stand the best chance of connecting with them. They have been appearing to the north about half to three quarters of an hour after high tide then working their way down southwards - how many? Varies but between 6 and 30 according to reports - taking them about an hour to get from North Shore to us at South Promenade and beyond. Today they were quite close in for some of their journey south one of them being reported as being between the end of North Pier and the seawall!!! Well worth having a look if you can, we can't tomorrow as we're exhibiting at a summer fete.

Where to next? We'll be keeping an eye out for interesting wildlife at the fair, might even take a few pots in case there's something to show the kids.

In the meantime let us know who's just to bright red in your outback.