Swimming in Greece?

A far flung safari to report on this time. A trip to the lovely island of Rhodes. The swimming bit in the title was great with tepid calm water and a multitude of fish - all of which seem to like bread even more than Stanley Park ducks. Sadly, I do not know the names of any of them so if there is a reader out there who can suggest a good field guide to the fish of the Mediterranean the safari would be very grateful. Med fish aren't as bright as those from tropical reefs but there are some subtle beauts down there.

The first creature of note was this lovely Preying Mantis who posed very nicely for her picture.

After seeing the Red Backed Shrike family in Poland it was rather sad to find this youngster covered in ants dead on the road.

However some of it's siblings were alive and kicking and eating the rather large Hornets that were flying around all over the place.

I'm not sure if they were migrants or a resident family that nested somewhere nearby but this was the only male I saw all week and boy was he wary, he wouldn't let me anywhere near him for a better shot. I saw him for a few minutes on just one morning's walk.

The cliffs at the end of the bay had a selection of fossils including several of these perfectly preserved Scallops.

The sunset before the big storm was a picture - the storm itself was a humdinger, the first rain for five months apparently.

Other highlights included single Cory's and Yelkouan Shearwaters out at sea, four Eleanora's Falcons together in off the sea, 2 Long Legged Buzzards and a very obliging Kingfisher. I only managed to track down three species of lizard, Starred Agama, Anatolian Rock Lizard (juveniles have stunningly blue tails) and Levant Skink.

Amongst the insects the stars were Humming Bird Hawk-moths, and Long Tailed Blue, Oriental Meadow Brown and Southern Swallowtail butterflies. The former wave their long tails like pretend antennae and with the eye-spots look like the head, I've never noticed them do this before and not realised that the tails could be deliberately moved. Cunning eh?

Where to next? Could be anywhere! There are high tides and strong winds coming this week....not Stormies this time but Leach's Petrels......tiny, but enigmatic, ocean wanderers.

In the meantime let us know what you have found in your outback.

Sticklebacks and more pictures from Poland

Yesterday a pack of Cubs and Beavers had a go at pond dipping at the Solaris Centre and managed to find the queen of the Sticklebacks - she's a whopper, almost the full width of a Flora margarine pot!

I have just had some more pics from my mate in Poland of our trip sent through the 'ether'.

Common Toads were numerous in the garden of the place we stayed. In the forest we found a Slow Worm on one of the sandy tracks.

Whilst this photo of the young Grass Snake was being taken there were two Golden Eagles soaring about 100 feet above my head!

We searched for an adult snake but had no luck, these Yellow Bellied Toads were probably its prey whever it was.

This Leaf Cutter Bee was a lucky find at the hill top view point at Zakopane and the only wildlife of note we saw up there at 'Blackpool on the hill'.

Back at the base for our trip the garden and surrounding trees held a White Stork roost each evening. A few blogs back (the Zakopane post) I showed a photo of my mate taking a picture of a stork on a post - here is his result...not bad!

This Fox cub was very inquisitive, one night we were on the patio and it was sniffing around the wood pile. With a bit of encouragement it became a bit tamer over the next couple of evenings and posed for a photo.

When I left I suggested that with a bit of patience they would be able to tame it and it would have a basket by the fire next time I visited...that was supposed to be a joke!

Where to next? This coming Sunday (17th) we will be Rock Pooling again at South Beach, Blackpool. Meet at 4.00pm at the Mirror Ball. Bring your buckets, pots and wellies.

In the meantime don't forget to let us know what you have seen in your 'outback'.