The second week of safaris under Lockdown

The Safari like everyone else has been stuck at home. We have been able to walk the mutt around the local fields early morning but haven't taken the camera as yet. 

The days have been cold and windy but there has been some sunshine and in those sunny spells saw some Buzzard passage, we saw several but all too far away until the last one which came right over the garden not too high up.

Overhead Buzzards we like but overhead Ospreys are better. So far everyone and his uncle around here seem to have had one or more, some people or soooo greedy, over their gardens except for CR and ourselves. We've got a hotline between us in case one ofr the other hears the gulls making a racket but so far no joy but there's still time...

The sunshine also brought out some invertebrates including our first 7-Spot Ladybird of the year.

A check of the stealth-cam left out in the garden for 10 days gave us the hoped for Hedgehog. It appeared on several consecutive nights always around the same time - until the batteries died. Hopefully it'll have been recorded since we replaced the batteries but we won't know until we bring it in at the end of next week. In the meantime we'll try sneaking out to see if we can spot it for real.

Our morning walk to the park to give the mutt a run passes a garden with a little wild patch tucked in the corner obscured from the other side by some shrubbery. A couple of Violets have appeared, not sure which species as we can't reach them to have a look at the rear of the flower and pick out the leaves from the other plants growing there. Nice to see all the same.

But mostly we have been confined to the garden and towards the end of the week the weather warmed up enough to bring out some more invertebrates and on Sunday there was an explosion in the number of Eristalis Drone Fly hoverflies, one, I presume a male, held a territory perched on the laundry drying on the washing line. From there it would make sorties after other Drone Flies chasing them relentlessly if another male or mating in flight if a female - An action packed half hour and fascinating to watch until the sun went in and they all disappeared.

They weren't the only insects soaking up the rays. There were a few solitary bees about from the 'colony' in a neighbour's dry stone bank and a couple of these big black Flesh Flies.

The feeders have been fairly busy but we've not had many photo opportunities. These Goldfinches had to be snapped while sitting at our desk at the far end of the living room from the window.

We've had the usual feeder suspects, Great and Blue Tits, the latter investigating our recently erected bird box but only from the outside so far as we know, not sure they're entirely convinced it's the 'Des Res' they're after just yet. A pair of Greenfinches are regular visitors several times a day and a Robin has a quick in an out a couple of times a day and we still have occasional visitors from the female Blackbird that thinks it's a Blue Tit but we've not been able to get a better pic than last week's.

Less welcome is this chap.

A trip to the shop was combined with a dog walk on the beach at low tide and after a bit of breezy weather we had a couple of interesting finds; our first Sea Gooseberry of the year,

and a Wentle Trap Shell, these are pretty scarce along this section of beach, this is only the second we've found here in hundreds of hours wandering along the strandlines searching for anything a little out of the ordinary.

We'll leave you with Lord Snooty looking down his beak at us from his lofty perch atop next door's chimney pot.

Woodpigeon

Where to next? More of the locked down same from from the park, the occasional visit to the beach as shopping trips allow and loads from the garden we hope.

In the meantime let us know who's up and about in your locked down outback. Don't forget it's migration time and anything could appear anywhere so eyes to the skies folks - and wherever you are Stay Safe!

A change of scenery

The Safari got out of bed way to early today and we perhaps should have gone out for an early morning look-see but we didn't we waited in to make Wifey her breakfast when she woke up.

We did get out just before lunchtime and made a detour to the large park rather than  head straight to the nature reserve. There were plenty of gulls on the lake but nothing out of the ordinary. A Great Crested Grebe was top of the bill on the more open part of the lake. The other part of the lake had a few Shovelers and a few more Tufted Ducks. It wasn't waterfowl we were here to look for though, we were more interested in what might be in the trees. Last week CR had had good views of Treecreepers which we've missed at the nature reserve this winter and now they'll be back on the much bigger trees here. A Great Tit sang non-stop for several minutes while we checked the tree trucks for mouse-like birds.

A movement high above us caught our eye, not a Grey Squirrel this time but something more interesting and bluer...a Nuthatch, then we lost it as it flew to another tree. This was good as they have been reported only very infrequently this winter. Fortunately it reappeared after not many minutes.

Look at that, it's got a sunny seed. It was stashing them in the cracks in the bark for a rainy day. Following it back as well we could through the twigs and branches we soon found where they were finding them. Many kind souls bring seed and fill a variety of homemade feeders and this was where the two, yes two, Nuthatches were finding the seeds.

Not the best of pics the light was dodgy (poor excuse we know) and they are quick little devils!

The seed ran out and they soon disappeared but PL came by with some in his pockets and scattered it around for the other small birds and the ever greedy Feral Pigeons. The Nuthatches didn't come back. They were, however, a tick on our Patchwork Challenge Marton Mere list but it won't go on our 'official' Mere list, the site boundaries aren't the same.

There's always a Robin or two on the prowl

And they aren't shy of accepting free offerings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered through the park with PL coming across some Gadwall at the far end near the heronry, not many Herons were in residence today. this one was at the water's edge sunning itself.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming but we didn't locate it in the tree tops. We left the park crossing the road to the ornamental woodland. Here we heard a Goldcrest but again couldn't find any Treecreepers. At the old log PL put down more seed from his pocket and down they came in their droves as if they'd been expecting him including this female Blackbird.

Out of the wood we had a look under the wooden sheets to see if there were any early waking Great Crested Newts, there weren't but there were two sleepy Toads.

Wandering on we checked out the nearby Bee Orchid patch at the side of the path, we found four rosettes which was nice. 

Now the nature reserve was beckoning, we looked unsuccessfully for the Stonechat at the wetland on the way. Instead of going in we went round to look for the Tawny Owl, no joy but it's probably long gone. There was a family looking for the Long Eared Owls, they'd been told were to look from by another birder but couldn't find the owls in the bushes. We were able to put them on to one of them straight away, the other two were tricky.

The easy one, facing away as usual

We met up with PL again. this time with TS and spent some time watching several Buzzards soaring in a 'kettle' on a thermal reaching an prodigious height. Away beyond the distant woods a white flash from a flock of birds was seen over the trees. A look gave us a flock of Lapwings and then the white flock again - Golden Plovers, about 200 of them. Another Patchwork Challenge tick - you can count birds seen from your patch boundary, but again not an 'official' patch tick,, far too far from that patch boundary. Another 100 or more Lapwings were on the flood the other side of the dyke and two Shelducks on the nearer flood in the corner of the field. The Lapwings weren't calling and displaying today despite the sunshine and we heard no Skylarks. There were a couple of dozen Fieldfares in the nearer field but we still can't find a Redwing.

A look at the Bee Orchid area which has been mown, fortunately sparing the two Bee Orchid rosettes we found a few weeks ago. Coltsfoot was in flower at the edge of the meadow, the first we've seen this year.

A quick sprint back to the car in the park took us past the wooded area to look for Treecreepers again - again no joy but we did nearly step on some Dog(?) Violets we hadn't noticed earlier in the day.

What a cracking day out on safari.
Where to next? Back to see what's happening on Patch 2 tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know who's been playing hide and seek in your outback.