Berries galore but...

The Safari was out on Patch 2 early this morning but it was very quiet out on the sea. Beneath our feet we found a dry piece of seaweed we weren't sure about. There's not that many to chose from so we shouldn't have had any problems IDing it but we did.

We're now fairly sure it's a piece of Egg Wrack that doesn't have any 'eggs' along the midrib our marine biologist friend DB should be able to confirm that.

We tried again on Patch 2 at lunchtime but it was no better. There was a bit of sunshine so we went for a wander around the work's garden instead. Along the back wall there's a good stretch of the invasive and very prickly Japanese Rose. It's absolutely bedecked with bright red rose hips.

But as we walked further we saw that not a single one had been pecked open. Normally by this late in the autumn we have a small flock of Greenfinches kicking around the garden. Where are they? Well a quick peruse of the BTO website gave a bit of a clue - basically there aren't many about compared to previous years.

Taken from the BTO website

So after a population high point 10 years ago there's been a decided crash to fewer than there have been at any time since at least the 1960s probably due to the Trichomonosis disease they are suffering from.

You can see how few there are being reported this year compared to historically using the Birdtrack graph.

Taken from the Birdtrack website

Thankfully we still get them in the garden at Base Camp but that does mean that we need to thoroughly clean the feeders before we refill them.

We'll keep you posted if any Greenfinches turn up and/or we get a different ID on the seaweed. 

A shorter whizz round Patch 1 with Monty late afternoon gave us at least two Goldcrests again, lots of Magpies going to roost, at least 30 and the Peregrine was on the tower settled in for the night - a little warmer for it than of late 5C rather than a chilly -4C.

Where to next? More Patch 2 nonsense and maybe some Patch 1 stuff too.
In the meantime let us know who's all dried up in your outback.

Back on the beach at last

The Safari was able to get a few minutes down on the sands at lunchtime today. It was one of the highest low tides of the year and time was short before the incoming waters covered the beach again.

We had a target in mind but there wasn't much of anything about other than the larger than normal numbers of Common Otter Shells.

Other shells we found were a few Iceland Cyprines

Lots of Prickly Cockles

and we found just singles of Tower Shell

and a gorgeous ?Queen Scallop

A large well worn Native Oyster was a nice surprise, been in the sea a long time. About 15cm long

Bits of seaweed lined the tideline, mostly Spiral Wrack with some strands of Egg Wrack mixed in.

Quite a few birds were on the beach including Patch 2's first Turnstones (P2 #17) and Ringed Plover (P2 #18) which might be somewhere behind the Black Headed Gulls in the pic amongst the Oystercatchers, there were about 30 unapproachable Redshanks too.

By eck it was cold out there! And we didn't find hardly any of our quarry - beach coal for the fire, we thought ther'd be loads after the storms but we only found a couple of bits other than this huge piece which wouldn't fit in Little Bertha. Its about 40cm long and 10 thick

Where to next? Might be back out there on the blustery chilly sands again looking to see what tonight's stormy tide has brought in

In the meantime let us know who's chilling out on the sands in your outback.