Out and about in the dark

The Safari had a very short Patch 1 walk up the hill, just far enough to see that one of the Peregrines was present. Then it was into the Land Rover for a night time adventure. We headed east to meet up with a group of fellow dog owning Land Rover enthusiasts. On the way an owl flew across the lane only a few yards in front of us and landed on top of the roadside hedge. We enjoyed stonking views of a Tawny Owl (122) as it fluttered away from us and then flew back across the road and out of site.

At our destination the sky was clear and we had a good view across the central Lancashire plains with the towns and villages laid out like an illuminated map before us. Upwards the moon shone brightly with Venus and Jupiter almost in conjunction chasing each other across the ecliptic. Sadly that wasn’t to last as cloud rolled in as we started our walk through the woods to the summit. 

Nothing stirred in the very dark, double dark even, woods. All that could be heard was our chatter and the sniffing of the dogs. frank kept up with pace until the last few hundred yards but once he was on the downhill stretch back to the Land Rover he picked up a gear, even if we did chop half his head off in this pic of his rear end.

After a muddy wallow under the trees we ventured on to the higher and drier health at the top stopping at the OS column to work out from the plaque on the plinth what we would have been able to see had we come during the day. 

From the valley woods below we heard another Tawny Owl hooting and from a lot nearer a Pheasant gave a very loud alarm call.

A very enjoyable fish n chip supper was had from Noblett’s of Plungington Road, Preston (they asked for a plug) by way of a detour back to Base Camp. Excellent to see that they served their meal in recyclable/biodegradable cardboard trays rather than polystyrene – well mine was but Wifey had gravy on her chips so they had to be served in 'soggy-proof' polystyrene. Frank didn’t do too badly either as the portions were of a ‘decent’ size’. The poor boy is cream crackered today!

The early Patch 2 safari was a brief, dull and misty affair. Of note was a Curlew on the beach with a lone Oystercatcher and flying south not too far out was a flock of nine Wigeon (P2 #42) which flew over a full summ plum Great Crested Grebe.

The briefest of looks at lunchtime gave us very little in the bright haze. A small flock of Common Scoters was feeding vigorously close in and we could just about discern numerous black dots in the near middle distance.

Looks like someone wants to know the price of everything but is totally ignoring its value, although if it makes the powers that be sit up and take notice of the natural world we suppose it can't be all bad.

Where to next? More owls please?

In the meantime let us know how dark it gets in your outback.

Oh deer a shortage of Shorties

The Safari headed out mid-morning to the site where a couple of Short Eared Owls have been hanging around for a while now. It might have seemed like a strange time to go owling but they were seen yesterday at lunchtime so after a night of rain we thought they might be hungry and up and about at that time again.

It was a mild enough morning as we wandered up and down the tracks keeping an eye on the rough ground either side. Two Buzzards called noisily to each other and then gave us a short display flight.From the pasture beyond the far end of the rough we could hear a Curlew exersizing its vocal calls but not quite doing the full bubbling call; one of the best sounds in nature anywhere in the world IOHO. A flock of six was seen to briefly rise above the trees possibly flushed by the Buzzards. 

Meanwhile a few Skylarks went over calling but we didn't hear any song form them - ditto about  their sound!

A mooch round a bit of a wet area flushed two Snipe and a little later we had a flight of 12, then another, so a max of 15 or a total of 12? Splashing sounds from a small patch of open water here gave us several amorous Frogs some of which had contributed to the rather large blog of spawn in the middle of the pond, our first spawn of the year.

Leaving the little boggy patch we noticed the dark tipped ears of a Brown Hare as it slunk away unsuccessfully trying to remain unnoticed - think Frank smelt it too as his nose was twitching in that direction.

We had another wander up and down the banks of the dyke hoping that the Shorties would show themselves but it was to no avail and as the wind was picking up and  spots of rain were in the air we decided that any self-respecting owl would now be staying cosy in its roost...time for some lunch.

It just so happened that our route back to Base Camp took us past the Hooded Crow site so we stopped for another look - nothing again! But we did call in at the farmland birds feeding site round the corner. Here it started raining quite heavily but we had a decent numbers of crows to work through - nothing :-( and two distant Buzzards sat on adjacent posts along a fence-line. To our right near the farmyard a Song Thrush sang and in our bins we picked up a singing Skylark hovering over a distant field, we could just about hear its song with strained ears as the wind was blowing the sound away from us.

Scanning through the corvids we saw a group of four Roe Deer appear from behind a hedge and start grazing in the open on the stubble field about 500 yards away. Brown Hare and Roe Deer were only added to the year list yesterday and then both seen again today - almost weird?

Carefully we went back to the Land Rover for the camera and took the following pics - not the world's best of Roe Deer but at that range in the rain they ain't too bad!

Did you spot the Magpie?

Shame the Carrion Crow in the top corner wasn't the Hoodie

Also seen today were the first Blackthorn flowers of the year and the first fresh green shoots covering a roadside Hawthorn. 
Where to next? The Common Scoter-fest that is Patch 2 beckons tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know what's putting in appearances on consecutive days in your outback.

Morning 0 - 1 Afternoon

This morning the safari set off for he coast on the off chance that there may be some (or a) Harbour Porpoises about as one (perhaps two) was seen a little to the south a couple of days ago. The sea was choppy and you wouldn't want it any rougher to stand a chance of seeing that little black fin, but worse than choppy was a sea mist with visibility down to no more than half a mile. We have seen them nearer than this but it doesn't help having most of the sea out of sight.

All we could muster was the usual gulls, plenty of Black Headed and Herring Gulls, a few Common Gulls and only two Lesser Black Backs, although many of he latter will have migrated south by now.

The old boating pool held a decent wader roost of about 200 Redshanks and 61 Turnstones. A Grey Wagtail flew in but landed out of sight. There is a colour ringing scheme on this species - see Heysham Bird Observatory blog on right for details.

A fly over Pied Wagtail and a solitary Meadow Pipit were all the cliffs could manage.

Later in the afternoon the safari managed a trip to the superb Marton Mere nature reserve. We arrived just as the sun was going down and the reeds on the far bank were glowing. There were reports of 6 Long Eared Owls, apparently not showing particularly well, a Peregrine Falcon and a Buzzard. We set up in position with some friends and waited to see if the Bittern was going to put in appearance. Conditions were perfect but the bird was a no show!

A Sparrowhawk came belting out of the bushes and veered past us at the last minute before swooping unannounced into the Feeding Station. A few small flocks of Starlings made their way to the coast but none decided to roost at the reserve, maybe that's why the Bittern didn't show; we have seen them trying to catch Starlings as they dive into the reed bed to roost.

There was good selection of waterfowl on the mere; something spooked about 200 Teal from the shelter of the reedbeds but scanning through them diligently revealed no American Green Winged Teal. There is one not far away at Marshside RSPB reserve on the other side of the river.

The temperature started to drop once the sun had set and the grass underfoot became crispy with frost. A chilly mist rose over the water. The photo below is an attempt to capture the ethereal essence of the evening.

The rangers have recently put up a new Barn Owl box and we hung around in the cold to see if any were about without success. While we were waiting a Peregrine Falcon flew overhead and then low across the fields nearby. We also heard a Little Owl 'peeeoooo-ing' in the distance, a few Snipe left the reserve for their nocturnal feeding areas in the fields and a lone Lapwing 'chewit-ed' in the darkness.

We left in the pitch black with ice starting to form on the windscreen of the Land Rover.

Where to next? Still need to catch up with those Waxwings; but there is an awful lot of Christmas shopping that needs attending to too.

In the meantime let us know what you have found in your tropical paradise or snowy waste or even windswept temperate area.

One of these might be nice. Update 5th Oct

The safari has not been able to leave the shelter of the bunker this week - that's the trouble with 'real' work. The conditions have been ideal for a couple of days to get out and look for Leach's Petrels but sadly the wind seems to have peaked now that the weekend approaches. Hopefully the wind will ease enough for these little chaps to get busy again (Arachnophobes look away now!) It has already dropped enough for a Sparrowhawk to be seen over Base Camp this afternoon, it's very rare to see these soaring along in foul weather.

This is a Garden Cross Spider. The reason I like them is they make their webs in advance of calm weather. A westerly wind is only any good when it's raging an absolute hooley, anything less than that is a bit duff.

These spiders are the ones that build the typical cobwebs of children's picture books all over the garden; for some reason they seem to like washing lines - maybe just to scare the living daylights out of laundry hanger-up-ers. The ones defending their chins with a pair of 'boxing gloves' are the males. The females have a decent set of fangs - good job they don't bite people!

Fine weather can mean cold clear nights. Then it is time to listen out for migrating Redwings, small thrushes from Iceland and Scandinavia. Stand outside quietly and listen for their thin 'seep' calls as they pass overhead in the darkness. As they arrive so do other species and the safari is waiting for news of the local Long Eared Owls - they can't be too far away.... this week.... next week.... who knows....watch this space...

Where to next? What the weekend will bring?

In the meantime let us know what you have found in your outback.

PS. This morning (5th Oct) it happened - the first sunny morning since this blog and guess what - I was nice and clean fresh out of the shower and hanging out the laundry then walked straight through a web - poor old spider has to build another one now - sorry.