Back into Cumbria for the scaly things

The Safari picked up CR and we headed north up  the motorway to our favourite private nature reserve. The clouds looked ominously full of rain as they had been for the last week or so but we needn't have worried because as we turned westwards the weather improved into what was to become a rather pleasant day. This was good as our main target for the day were reptiles. 

Once on site we wandered down to the stream past the 'Adder' wall. "Look how overgrown it's got since our last visit, we're not going to see much in that!" said CR. But only a few steps through the gate our beady eyes spotted something that looked out of place and  sure enough there was the first Adder of the day basking in the weak sunshine on top of a moss covered hummock. Tricky to get pics of through the intervening overgrown vegetation but there it sat for several minutes looking very gravid. We had a white t-shirt on and it probably saw us move when we went another pace or two down the track to see if we could get a better shot. It slithered away into a hole in the bank.

We'd not got far over the bridge when JG from the Southside Gang appeared. They'd arrived at last and it was great to see them all again. But we could only regale tales of the Adder as it hadn't reappeared - they'd dipped and it was all our fault!!!

Together we set off along the rickety boardwalk and across the moss. It was deadly quiet, not quite warm enough for invertebrates or reptiles yet. At this time of year although the woods are full of birds they keep very much hidden as they moult prior to migration or getting ready for the winter. We hoped for a Cuckoo to show but had to 'make do' with a Buzzard. A Black Darter rose up from the bog by the track as we passed and settled in a nearby dead tree making for a rather arty pic.

Over the second bridge we scanned through the woodland edge for any deer that might be lurking but our searches were fruitless. It wasn't until we got to the stream that we heard any birdlife at all, a Sedge Warbler gave the briefest snatch of song to reveal its presence in the bankside rushes. An Osprey called a it flew over too. Continuing round and onto the next boggy area another dragonfly was found. At the time identified as a teneral Common Darter but back home later that evening CR was sorting through the days images and dicovered it was in fact a female Keeled Skimmer, a new species for all of us. Top detective work from CR.

The track became, shall we say "more interesting", as we neared the stream and a section of boardwalk adjacent the stream further on was only 'passable with care' both sections gave extreme risk of very wet and muddy boots, thankfully we all survived a ragained terra firma at the bridge. Calamity avoided it was now full steam ahead back to the car park and the butties/pies. Passing the wall again we saw the Adder had reappeared and everyone was able to get a good look at her.

Once again she slithered into the undergrowth and was gone. It was then that we saw something shiny a few feet away, looking closely wit hthe bins revealed it to be a piece of shed Adder skin. JG cajoaled/coerced us to go a few steps off piece to grab a abit for her collection...ever one to oblige...if you look closely you can make out some of the scales.

Moments later a Golden-ringed Dragonfly landed really close by. These are impressive beasts that deserve to be photographed from all angles!

Once again it was only looking through images back at Base Camp later that we saw it was tucking into some lunch. It was chowing down on what looks like an Ichneumon Wasp.

Our attention was dragged away from this beast when one of its lesser cousins, a Common Darter, landed on the fence by our shoulder.

We think they're like Bottlenose Dolphins - no matter what they're thinking they always look like they're smiling. Walking back through the reserve yard we took the opportunity to get some pics of the House Martins nesting in the eaves of the Warden's house for our Photo Challenge. The adults were back and forth far to quickly for us but ever eager to be fed nestlings regularly appeared at the opening, obviously trying to see if their next meal was about to be delivered - #143

More Ospreys appeared while we were having lunch but we failed spectacularly to get any pics. Then CR spotted a Red Deer hind come out of the small patch of trees below us, followed by a second and two youngsters. We failed to connect camera and 'Bambis' so here's one of the adults.

Not quite as close as last weeks shots of this species.

After lunch it was time to climb the 'hill of doom' but we hadn't even got to the car park to divest ourself of all the luncheon paraphernalia when one of the team spotted this Slow Worm basking at the base of the wall. A good find, although they are numerous here we don't often see them.

Slightly behind us to our left is a large Howeed plant in full flower and now in the sun. It was timing with insects. Mostly they were Drone Flies, Eristalis sp but we also saw one of the big Bog Hoverflies that did a bunk before any of us could lay a camera on it and this small, but even more gorgeous, Leucozona glauca having a wash and brush up.

Wildlife interlude over we had to climb that hill. To be fair it's never quite as bad a feared, it's just the thought of starting up it straight after a hearty lunch...Not much to be seen along the track although with it warming up a bit with some sunshine butterflies were coming out to play, mostly in the form of Gatekeepers. Probably the most intersting thing we found was this anthill which had been dug by a Badger.

Our destination was the pond by the entrance gate but to get there we had to pass Little Grebe Alley, the large tarn on the side of the road. As ever several were on show but as usual all were on the far side of the sizeable tarn.

At the pond we immediately set about looking into the water to see what aquatic goodies we could find. Not a lot the view in was much obscured by reeds and Lily leaves now but above the surface there was a lot to see. An Emperor Dragonfly patrolled below us refusing to stay still enough long enough for the auto-focus to lock on. Also buzzing about were lots of damselflies including several Emerald Damselflies shimmering in the sunlight. Common Darters egg laying in tandem further out over the Lily pads completed the Odonata scene.

The area around the pond held much of interest too. A Dor Beetle stumbled and staggered along a grassy track

Their undersides are spectacularly blue, even better when you show an in focus pic of one that's not wriggling around trying to right itself - like the one we had but manage to accidentally wipe off off the SD card - - what a numpty!

A Common Darter was expertly rescued out of the wet grass holding it firmly to the ground by JG.

And then came the best action of the day and certainly the most bizarre. A tiny Common Lizard was seen at the base of a tree. Once it realised it had been seen it darted into cover. While waiting for it to come back into view all mannner of creatures started to climb the tree starting with a Grasshopper that had been jumping around in the grass by our feet.

This was followed by a tiny Common Toad. It was like an all-comers race to the top.

But the toad decided to have a snooze a metre or so into its climb.

 

Even a Harvestman joined in for a while but spent more time going round the trunk than upwards. After a while the lizard did reappear although there was some discussion as to whether or not it was the same individual as the earlier one was said to have had a brighter more colourful pattern.

It even looked as if it was going to join the tree climbing race.

Our final finds here were unusual. A Gatekeeper with a single white spot on its upperwings but sporting gtthe 'normal' double white spots below. Can't say we've ever noticed one like that before.

And the other was a cracking looking red and black Ichneumon Wasp, later found out to be one of the Dusona species.

And even later discovered to be either quite a scarce beastie or terribly under-recorded. There are only 169 records for this genus on the NBN Atlas of which none are in England north of a line between Lancaster and Scarborough and then only one confirmed and one unconfirmed record in the whole of Scotland - so a new dot on the map for Cumbria courtesy of the Safari and gang.
With time now pressing it was time to make our way back to the car park and say our goodbyes to the Southside gang. But not before another look at the Slow Worm and Adder...of which there were now two out basking a few feet apart.

Then right at the end of the day we got our Osprey shots...and there were two...just like the Adders.

Always a little high but hey beggars can't be choosers and what a brilliant end to a brilliant day, lots of fun, lots of laughs and lots of wildlife - top banana!

Where to next? We've got a bit of a boaty ride coming up next week - watch this space.

In the meantime let us know who's winning the Inter-species Tree Climbing Championships in your outback

Creeping along

The Safari apologises for the lack of recent updates, inexcusable we know but we have been away for a week in a rather windy southern Scotland. But before we get over the border we've been on a few other safaris loser to home doing our best to add to our Photo Year List Challenge. At the time of writing we're currently in third place with no hope of catching the front runner (from British Columbia) unless something awful befalls her, there are a others who are hot on our heels too.

A cold, drizzly and windy Fleetwood golf course early in the month gave us this poor Skylark pic for 116 - yet another to try to improve on as soon as possible.

CR took us up to the private reserve in southern Lakeland but the weather transpired against us with no reptiles and few birds seen so by lunchtime we decided to call it a day and head south to Leighton Moss RSPB reserve where we spent much of the afternoon enjoying the Black Headed Gull and Avocet colony. However our fave pic of the afternoon as of this bathing Oystercatcher.

 quick stop at the nearby quarry on the way back to Base Camp gave us a brief Raven (PYLC 117)

An improvement in the weather brought some migrant birds with Wheatears being seen along Chat Alley but only when we werre camera-less. A wander round Marton Mere gave us our first Willow Warbler  (PYLC 118) of the year. Always a joy to hear their liquid cadence filling the morning  air.

Now armed with a camera we headed to the cliffs again and were successful in our quest for Wheatears (PYLC 119)

The cliffs aren't 100% natural but we have been allowed it as the 'hand of man' can't really be discerned in the pic - phew! 

We've had several visits to Marton Mere, mostly with the aim of coming across one of the many Cetti's Warblers but the skulky little devils continued to avoid us as they had done all year so far - hearing them isn't problem; seeing them out in the open for more than a split second is a different proposition entirely. We were rewarded one morning with a handsome drake Garganey (PYLC 120) that was unfortunately a little too far away to do it full justice

And then to Dumfries and Galloway we went for a week with Wifey, LCV and family. For the first half of the week there was a very cold wind blowing in all the way from the far side of Moscow that was keeping many migrants at bay. The second half of the week warmed to almost tropical temperatures so it was beach and ice-creams wit hthe family. not until we'd visited the Red Kite feeding station at Bellymack Hill Farm - a must visit if you're in the area, open every afternoon of the year. Like everyone else there we filled our boots with pics but chose this slightly blurred one for our challenge pic (121), they stoop very very fast when the food appears!

There's a whole heap more Red Kite pics on our Flickr site. 

Morning visits to the nearby RSPB Mersehead reserve gave us lots of Barnacle Geese but few migrants other than chiffchaff, a couple of Willow Warblers and a few Blackcaps, one of which was photographed very poorly for number 122.

The star of the show there are the Barnacle Geese and we spent a lot of the time just  enjoying them and trying to read some of the Darvik rings some of them sported.

Best animal of the whole trip for us though were the Badgers at the last public watch of the year at Mersehead. We hate to admit it but we've not seen a live Badger since the early 1980s so for a few quid, a comfy chair and an almost dead cert chance of seeing them we just had to pay the entrance fee. A bit of a wait that included a couple of unidentified bats and an unidentified 'dark' owl - not the fairly regularly seen Barn Owl was crowned by not one, not two but three Badgers feeding on the peanut butter bait down to six feet from our boots the other side of the window - we just loved it and big thanks to Calum the warden for allowing the group to stay an extra half hour. hopefully our Badger drought has been ended and it won't be 35 years or so until our next sighting of a live one - crikey we'll only be a few years short of the ton by then!!!

Roe Deer are always good to see there too and we could even have reached out of the car window and touched one as it bolted past us on the way out of the reserve from the Badger watch - awesome!!!

The last couple of days of our trip gave us a distant flock of Golden Plovers (PYLC 123) - not quite the summer plumaged pic we were hoping for but an enforced digi-scoped pic at phenomenal range. Also out on the rocks but not photographable were our first Whimbrel of the year and a local scarcity in the form of three Little Egrets.

Our very last morning gave us another year bird, the Sedge Warbler that LCV had heard the day before.

Back in Blackpool it was only a matter of time before we went to Marton Mere and this time we had our Cetti's Warbler (PYLC 124) success - even got it singing. The relief is palpable.

The following day we managed to get a pic of  the Whitethroats (PYLC 125) that had eluded us on 'Cetti's' day

But were still unable to submit Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler,  Reed Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler to the SD card. Later that afternoon news broke of a nice selection of birds at a bit of a flooded field just round the corner from Marton Mere towards Weeton so we piled Monty into the car and set off. Pulling up we scanned the muddy flood seeing some Black Tailed Godwits feeding in the water and lots of Pied and a few White Wagtails on the mud then a little flit of brilliance caught our eye at the back of the field - result one of the two Yellow Wagtails (PYLC 126). It's such a shame that these are now so uncommon - in our youth aka the old days we came across these much more frequently on our birding days that Grey Wagtails. Could have done with it coming a little close though.

Also in the field and taking some finding as we expected them to be on the mud at around the water margin rather than well away from it in the grass were two Little Ringed Plovers (PYLC 127), again right across on the far side of the field.

Our next safari was an afternoon out at Brock Bottoms with Wifey where the Bluebells were at their finest.

Wifey spotted a butterfly resting on some track-side plants which turned out to be a female Orange Tip laying an egg, the plant being Jack-by-the-Hedge/Garlic Mustard/Hedge Garlic.

A change in the weather was due and we txtd CR that Stanley park could be good in the morning with Wood Warbler predicted - and would you believe it on our early morning dog walk news broke of a Wood Warbler in Stanley Park, sixth sense/experienced birder/pure fluke - take your pick. They're only ever a one-day-wonder around these parts.

An hour and a half later we'd picked up CR and were watching it infuriatingly flit through the twiggery giving very poor views. Thankfully eventually it moved a few yards and gave much better views.

Better views were had through the bins when it showed well again later on in the morning but we had no chance of getting a pic then. Still it's one we didn't photograph in either of our two previous challenges so very happy to add it to this yea's tally at number 128.

While in the park we were told of a family of Tawny Owls over the road in Woodland Gardens so after filling our boots with the Wood Warbler off we went for a look. After looking in slightly the wrong place we came across another lad pointing his camera high into the tree-tops where he kindly pointed out the adult and two fluffy youngsters to us.

A top morning out!

The following day we left Base Camp in heavy rain and so didn't take a camera with us. Big mistake as when we were down on the embankment at Marton Mere after seeing very little on the way the gulls got up making a commotion and there above them was our first Osprey of the year and well withing range of the big lens and now the sun was shining - dohhhhhh - - you can't win em all!

Never forget you don't have to go to exotic locations and nature reserves to get close to awesome wildlife - here's a gorgeous Small Tortoiseshell butterfly slurping nectar from the Spanish Bluebells (admittedly an INNS weed) right outside the front door at Base Camp. Just make some space for nature in your gardens, doesn't even have to be all your garden just a bit of it will do for starters.

Where to next? Looks like a wet weekend coming up but we have a kids Bird Bingo event in the morning and who knows what might turn up at this time of year and then next week another further flung safari oop north with CR weather permitting.

In the meantime let us know who's the one day wonder in your outback