There's snow't about

The Safari hasn't been able to get out much in recent days and when we have we haven't seen much. We've been out so little we've not had a look at Patch 2 all week and have probably come to grinding halt on our Patchwork Challenge for there. No Velvet Scoter or Scaup to add to our list then.

The last week has seen moon-set happening around mid day so we took the opportunity to try a few arty shots from the garden last weekend.

Poking around the garden at work we came across the Borage we saw flowering last week with a new flower recently opened - it;s mid/late December what's going on!

Since the weekend a couple of Snow Buntings have been frequenting the beach just to the south of Patch 2, although news is often released of them being 'dogged-off'. At lunchtime today we thought sod it let's have a long lunch break and drive the mile down the road and have a look for them. Once we were on the beach it took about two minutes to locate them well out on the sands rather than where we expected them, high on the beach on the strand-lines.

We walked well out beyond them to get the light on the right side and then got in front of them to let them come to us; which they very obligingly did. Standing still they came within about 30 feet (10m) of us. If we'd have lain down on the sand they may well have come closer. It was a bit cold and damp for that though! But Snow Bunting (185) is now on the list - wonder how Monika is getting on? She's had a bit of a busy year.

They were finding seeds washed up with the shell fragments on the lowest strandline.

We watched them flit about a few times too when there well deserved colloquial name of Snowflakes was all too obvious - lovely little things and a treat to see on a lunch break that only went five minutes over our normal allocation.

Where to next? Holidays - whoopee-doo; but they start with another funeral tomorrow morning which isn't so good.

In the meantime let us know who's doing snow't in your outback

A bit of blubber at last

The Safari didn't get much on our early morning Patch 2 look apart from the very welcome feeling of warm sun on our ear, just one of them the other, in the shade, was a lot cooler! There was some haze and the flock of Common Scoters were well out on the low tide so no  chance of seeing if anything was mixed in with them.

At lunchtime we were out again and this time it was warm enough not to need our coat zipped up. The tide was now well up but the scoters were still out of range. Better was the Red Throated Diver we was in the middle distance, where have they been we've not seen any for ages apart from the 'tame' one on the nearby marine lake. Even better was the brief view of a Harbour Porpoise that surfaced a hundred yards or so in front of it. We had one more brief view before it disappeared - excellent stuff.

Wandering down the corridor to the printer mid-afternoon something blue caught our eye, we're sure it wasn't there yesterday. A small Borage plant in full bloom  - bring on the bees!

After work we didn't want to waste the glorious sunshine so we headed to the nature reserve to have a shuffy at what the lads have been up to, Rumor had it they'd started on the Sand Martin nesting bank - and they had; almost up to the height where the holes start going in, need a metre above water level to prevent access from predators like Mink, Stoats and such like.

Looking good, there's still some vegetation to scrape off the top of plateau to encourage the local Lapwings and Oystercatchers and maybe a Little Ringed Plover or two, OK now we're just getting carried away.

A Chiffchaff (MMLNR #74) sang from the bushes to our left as did a Cetti's Warbler while a nice male Reed Bunting graced the reeds to our right.

From our limited vantage point we couldn't see much on the water apart from Coots, three Gadwall, three Teal a few Cormorants on the old bund and four Lapwings there too.

All good stuff.
Where to next? What will Patch 2 produce tomorrow?
In the meantime let us know who put in the briefest of appearances in your outback.

Coming up...

The Safari has some dates for your diary...namely

18^th – 26^th June Bike Week – will we be delving into the deepest darkest depths of the garage and dusting off the cobwebs from our velocipede?

21^st – 23^rd June is National MothNight(s), this year the emphasis is on brownfield sites. Base Camp’s garden isn’t a brownfield site and being mid week we’re unlikely to be able to get the trap out until Friday night...weather permitting of course.

And 25^th June – 1^st July follows on nicely being National Insect Week – bring on those bugs!

In between is the Rio +20 Conference - three days to save thee world - no chance! Vested interests, big money and isolationism/parochialism will win out again no doubt...already they pre-negotiations are breaking down and seriously weakening any resolutions that may be passed. At least human population growth is on the agenda but how to control/reduce it is the biggest question of the next decade probably - growth? - -  can the planet take much more growth, even at a slow rate, if all those new people try to live a consumerist life that we in 'West' enjoy...why shouldn't they?

Not much doing today on a squally, cold and mostly wet day. A Grey Seal was easily best of the day although a male Pied Wagtail was on one of temporary puddles near R'ouzel Puddle on the way in to work.

A brief interlude in the rain gave us a chance to get a pic of an unknown plant growing in our flowerbed we'd seen through the window walking down the corridor to the office. It turned out to be Hen-bit Dead Nettle.

Whilst out we also got some other pics.

The Borage is looking good and being very much appreciated by our bees.

A few Yellow Dung Flies rested on the foliage in the cool temperatures

At lunchtime a Great Black Backed Gull stole a dead flat dish from the Herring Gull that had found it - no contest really.

Where to next? 90 minutes in front of the telly willing England to thrash the Swedes - no offence to Wifey's bosses.

In the meantime let us know who's steal what off whom in your outback.