And so on to that frustrating fog

The Safari met up with the Community Arts team again on Saturday to do a bit of a history talk followed by a wander round the park to see what we could see. They had all sorts of activities planned too, one of which was 'seed bombing' and we were to look out for a suitable area for their wetland mix of seeds during our walk.

Filling a seed bomb - more like a seed scatterer actually

As with Thursday's event we were on the look out for interestingly shaped and/or patterned trees. We found a large Small Leaved Lime tree we didn't know was in there, it was a giant but the trunk forked too low down to be able to do the measuring the age with a tape measure trick. Hawthorns often have good bark and trunk shapes, these two are right by the children's play area.

Did you spot the litter between the trees? fortunately some of the group were armed with bags and pickers so it was collected along with quite a lot of other rubbish that had been strewn about. Why are we so messy??????

The park was probably laid out in the early 1920s but few of the original trees remain, perhaps the big Lime and a few Sycamores, there were likely to have been Elms but these have long since succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease. From measurements of some of the other trees we'd guess they were about the same age as us being planted in the late 50's or early 60s. More recent planting has taken place too, like this Jubilee Wood from which Jubilee we're not sure and even more recently in the year or so there have been some groups of trees planted under the Woodlands From Waste scheme.

The wooded future of the park looks rosy!

At the wettest point we tore away at the thatch of grasses, bring a rake would have been a good idea, to reveal about a square metre of clear soil on to which the youngest member of our group sprinkled her seed bomb. We all helped press the seeds in by gently trampling the ground and then hoped for rain. Wit ha bit of luck more similar patches would be done in the afternoon to create a nice colourful area buzzing with bees and butterflies later in the year, or probably next year.

The end point of our walk was a half buried lump of 13500 year old Bog Oak which was dug up when the field was tried to be drained. The Arts group had heard about it and as a piece of local history wanted to lift it from its dumped area and display it on a plinth with some interpretation for all to see.

It wasn't buried as badly as we thought, just covered with a good growth of grass which was soon pulled off. It was however a lot longer than we realised.

Never the less with a bit of muscle and teamwork it was soon released from it's grassy grip. As it was lifted off the ground we saw our first Frog of the year.

Turning it over to find out how much it had started to rot on the underside revealed a horde of hibernating Yellow Slugs, Limacus flavus

They weren't too happy about being woken from their slumbers and slithered off to find somewhere else to lay their heads.

After a little pulling and shoving, puffing and panting the Bog Oak was wrested on to a couple of smaller pieces to keep it clear of the ground so it could dry out properly. The local rugby team who play on the field from which it originally came will lift it to its final resting place near their clubhouse. Where it will get a more detailed permanent sign too.

Mission accomplished and all good fun.

On Sunday we set off back over the river in an attempt to mop up some of the species we missed last weekend and went a little further to find some more. We had to stop of the marshland car park again and in the field at the entrance there was a flock of about 100 Pink Footed Geese.

At the very back of the flock we're sure we got a fleeting glimpse of a Barnacle Goose with them, but we waited and waited and waited much to Monty's impatience but it never showed again, if indeed it was ever there in the first place...why are the odd-balls always at the back of the flock when we look???

From there we headed to the northernmost point of our day out, the little estuary with the creeks. Here we had a walk along the old railway-line passing an unseen Goldcrest and a couple of Chaffinches in the hedge, the tide was well out so the river was out of range of our bins and camera.

Moving round to the pool we had cracking close up views of a Curlew and a couple of pairs of Teal.

With not much else on the pool we had a look in the creeks. Here there was a good assortment of birds, Shelducks, Teal, Wigeon, a couple of Black Tailed Godwits (102), a lot of Redshanks but no sign of the hoped for Spotted Redshank. A heavy drizzle was beginning to fall so we moved around the lanes to find some wild swans which we soon did. We'd heard there was a flock of about 400 Whooper Swans in the area with a few Bewick's Swans mixed in but before we found them we came across a much smaller herd of Whooper Swans (103) some distance across a large field. we stopped and pointed the camera out of the window.

It was just as well as a few bends further down the lane we saw the large flock miles away across the fields and without a scope we'd had no chance of looking through them. On we went to the marsh where by now a think mist was settling over the river and snaking its way towards us. We saw a Collared Dove that didn't sit long enough for our Year Bird Challenge and had to drag half a rotting Shelduck from Monty's gullet - yuk!!!

With the river still low there weren't many birds close up to shore and with the wet gloom rapidly approaching we didn't want to stay out too long and get the camera soaked so we fired off a few shots at a group of Black Tailed Godwits. Just another 'banker' really, we should get much better and closer pics of them in full summ plum later in the spring.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving along lanes through dense fog not seeing much at all apart from the odd suicidal Blackbird darting across the road in front of the car at the very last minute. We expected the Lesser Snow Goose to be where it had been all week but could hardly see the field and only saw one Grey Lag Goose, we later learned it had moved half a mile or so away - cruel, so another trip over the river will be needed.

We decided to give the dipped last week Black Redstart a miss too as we'd arranged to meet GB (not the Aussie one!) for a bit of a walk with Monty who he's not met yet.

On the way we briefly stopped off at the nature reserve that is really just a dogs' toilet in the hope of seeing either or both of the Glaucous Gulls that have been frequenting the adjacent tip, we could barely see the river or the tip so gave up on that one and went to pick up GB.

A few minutes later were were walking to the point along the prom and stopped to look at the sign about the pebbles on the beach. now GB was a geologist and the next half hour was spent on the beach having a good close look at many of the fascinating pebbles there. We were careful to keep Monty away from the roosting 40 or so Ringed Plovers we could just about see about 50 yards away through the murk.

It must have been a low murk as we could hear a couple of Skylarks (104) singing over the golf course behind us. Actually its not year bird 104 as we'd neglected to put one flying over the garden (Garden #16)  on our spreadsheet on 5th of Feb.

With both of us getting hungry we took GB home and set off Base Camp. Once ensconced at the computer downloading our day's pics we spotted we'd got a bonus Bewick's Swan (105, YBC #80)

Where to next? Dunno yet but we do hope the heating engineer comes soon as it's freezing in here with the boiler on the blink - hope it's not terminal it is a bit of an old thing...

In the meantime let us know who's hiding in plain sight in your outback.

The Mars Bar is still up for grabs

The Safari has had two hats on today, this morning we teamed up with another Fylde Amphibian and Reptile Group member and got an hour or so's clearing work done at a local pond. we think, and could be totally wrong, that the lack of Frogs and spawn there could have been due to the weather warming up a bit and then going quiet cold overnight, some chilly frosts in the small hours here on recent nights.

Anyway despite there only being two of us we got the necessary work done and had a look round so with time on our hands we took the tools back to nature reserve and set off on a wander round.

With our FARG hat still on we had a look under the refugium here too but again it was devoid of life below. 

In the distance we could hear a motorbike being razzed loudly and had a bit of a shock when this pillock came round the bend at breakneck speed - really glad we weren't closer to the corner.

An intimidating little scrote, did he stop?...Only just!

Think the bike decal ends in 'ermann'  - any mini-moto afficionados out there?

He came back a few minutes later with his friend also on the bike, again they came straight along the path at at speed straight towards us this time whizzing past so close they knocked the camera from our hand, not sure if he was trying to grab it. After a mouthful of abuse for standing in his way - on a Public Footpath! - we started to phone the Police and that was their cue to leave and thankfully not come back. We later heard that two motorbikes were on the reserve yesterday evening.

With the noise machine gone peace reigned again and we continued our walk, noting the many Cetti's Warblers strident bursts of song.

As usual there was no sign of any Bullfinches, they're probably long gone by now, nor was there any sound from the possibly still around Dusky Warbler, although that too may have moved on to pastures new a good while ago.

Rather than go down the embankment we thought we'd try our luck on the path that runs outside the reserve for a change and head back towards the feeding station. Was it a wise move, perhaps not as it was horrifically quiet, hardly a bird sound was heard and other than overhead gulls none were seen until we reached the horse stile. There we watched a Goldcrest at very close range and then it was joined by another - great to watch these tiny birds working there way through the scrubby trees. A Bumble Bee of unidentified species buzzed past them, a huge queen almost as big as the Goldcrests it seemed. We hoped she'd land on some of the open Willow flowers for a photo opportunity but alas she kept on going.

There's a pond adjacent to the golf course fairway here, just through the trees from the Goldcrests, one we only very rarely visit or even take much notice of, but today our interest was peeked when we heard a Cetti's Warbler fire up form there. Maybe we'll have to take more notice of it in future and it's good for amphibians so is worth a nocturnal survey over the coming weeks.

From there we headed back round to the reserve gate and spied PL coming from the viewing platform so instead of going straight to the feeding station we decided to catch him up for a chat. We got slightly side tracked near the gate to the viewing platform when we're pretty sure we heard the Firecrest call a couple of times but couldn't see anything moving in the scrub at all.

eventually we did meet up and stopped for a chinwag, whereupon he saw that the local 'friendly' Buzzard was sat at the top of the Hawthorn bush across the 'paddock'. With the motorbike, a multitude of unleashed dogs and a Buzzard in the tree there was no wonder there weren't any Wheatears in the paddock so the Mars Bar remains unclaimed.

We've seen this youngster many times before but never had the camera with us when (s)he's been this close.

The Buzzard flew of away from us so that was our cue to follow slowly in its wing-beats. We looked for the Bullfinches and listened for the Dusky Warbler again without any joy but did hear more Cetti's Warblers and a Water Rail. A look across thee scrape and the parked diggers gave us a pair of Oystercatchers probing the silty mud although there's probably not much for them to find it yet. In the distance we could hear the Little Grebe trilling away for fun.

In the thickest Willow two more Goldcrests searched for their miniscule prey, again giving superb views but no photo opportunities.

This time we did do the embankment and had a few unsuccessful stops to see if the Stonechats were about. A Kestrel teased the camera lens before getting bored of the game and flying too far away before we could get a shot off. More Cetti's Warblers were heard - just how many are there here and roundabouts??? Might be worth doing a coordinated count soon.

At the end of the embankment we had planned to sneak across the bridge but no can do the works have left it in a rather precarious position. You can sneak over but then there's a sheer drop on the other side. We opted for sensible and just had a look from our side below the embankment.

The works are coming along nicely and you can now see the shape of the new 'river'.

The right hand (northern) bank will eventually meet up with the vegetation on the bottom right of the pic probably just ti the left of where we were stood. The original watercourse will be blocked off and the concrete structure collapsed and perhaps removed off site. Going to be interesting to see the finished product.

Behind us we saw the Buzzard again on the top of one of the pylons that rum across the field, wonder if it had its eye on the dead sheep in the corner of the field on the other side of the dyke.

From the Buzzard we retraced our steps to the spillway and noticed there was a lump of something below the bridge in the old concrete channel. Time for an investigation...

A tidy lump of prehistoric Bog Oak, might well be worth saving for the new visitor centre - OK just outside it, it's a bit too big for inside.

By now we were out of time for Mother's Day stuff and had to scurry as fast as our little legs would take us back to the Land Rover and thence to Base Camp.

Where to next? The shop to but that blessed Mars Bar before someone claims it! And then Patch 2 for a look at what should be a fairly calm sea after the recent days of  light offshore winds.

In the meantime let us know who's finally deigned to pose for the camera in your outback.

Still as grey as...at least in the morning

The Safari was encumbered by a very plodding Frank this morning but we did get as far as the small field on Patch 1 only to note that there were no Peregrines on the tower. All the usual suspects were singing heartily including a Wren not far from Base Camp; somewhere in a neighbouring garden which was good to hear.

During breakfast we thought we heard Grey Lag Geese calling but a quick dash to the window only gave us a few Herring Gulls, we weren’t really concentrating so could have mistaken the yakking of the gulls for the honks of geese. However, one of the Peregrines was seen to be sat on the tower’s wide ledge.

At Patch 2 it was another grey, dismal, no visibility start to the day which was a shame as the sea was as flat as a silvery carpet and for a change counting the Common Scoters (well those we could see) was easy...247.

The beach was disturbed by fishermen, bait diggers and dog walkers and there wasn’t much out there; a handful of Oystercatchers, a couple of Sanderlings and nothing of note in the three dozen or so gulls.

Behind us a pair of Pied Wagtails danced around calling loudly.  

Fortunately by lunchtime the mist had cleared and we had a stunningly clear view around the bay from the Welsh hills to the Lakeland fells. We were now able to get a reasonably accurate count of the Common Scoters, c5000!!! They stretched in a fairly narrow band right round the horizon a couple of miles or so out. Apart from a few Cormorants we couldn’t see anything else with them. Until that is we picked up a Grey Seal (mammal #9) fairly close inshore but so distant we couldn’t see it with the naked eye.

Looking southwards with the Lennox Rig off Formby across the far side of the estuary. The black dots are some of the Common Scoters btw.

 Looking more or less straight out, due west. We sailed the other side of this rig at the weekend.

 Looking west north west to the first meteorological mast.

Looking north west to the second meteorological mast with Walney windfarm in the distance beyond.

 The invisible to the naked eye Grey Seal - honest!

Back in the office we took a call on our mobile and lost the signal _ the office has really dodgy reception – so went outside in  - - - wait for it - - - - - the sunshine!!! – and found the most bizarre thing...

Did you spot it?

 In one of the raised planters was a dead Hedgehog. Now was it put there or had it climbed up looking for somewhere to hibernate and not been able to dig itself far in enough down. Never seen a Hedgehog here before and never had one reported in the six and a half years we’ve been working here – seen a Fox, an American Mink and a Grey Squirrel (no trees for miles!) but never a Hedgehog.

Then it was off to the north end of town to meet a colleague and mark out the position of a new pond.

The area had already been ripped in preparation for tree planting in a couple of weeks time.

The ripper had pulled some nice pieces of Bog Oak out of the ground, these will be used as a feature/wildlife shelter in the new pond. A couple of bricks were found lying around and turning one of these over revealed a colony of Gammarid Shrimps lurking beneath. They weren't happy about being exposed to the  light and bounced around all over the shop trying to find a dark corner to hide in.

This was the largest piece a little over 6 feet (2m) long and about 18 inches in diameter (45cm), whether or not it is actually Oak or another species - well you tell us cos we don't know!

Where to next? Anything could happen tomorrow - we've got a late start followed by a long lunchtime session at the 6th Form College.

in the meantime let us know what's buried just below the surface in your outback.