Catch that pigeon NOW

The Safari didn't get any wildlifing done today, difficult from inside a pub serving quality beer!

Yesterday evening a stranger visited Base Camp. A racing pigeon, the telephone number on its ring told us it had come from Burnley, maybe it had been to the footy match which 'Pool lost on Friday. No doubt the owner will blame a Sparrowhawk or Peregrine for its demise all call for a cull or worse take matters into their own illegal hands,

This morning we emptied the moth trap, best catch of the season so far.

Clockwise from top left; Early Grey, female Bee moth, Hebrew Character, Common Quaker, Hebrew Character.

And this one, a worn Clouded Drab?

 

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 tomorrow and with all the changes of migration going on what might we find?

In the meantime let us know who's the mystery in your outback 

As elusive as an elusive thing from Elusivesville

The Safari didn’t see anything on R’ouzel Puddle this morning but a dog walker had just walked past so there’s a small chance we might have missed something. That’s the only problem with it; it is right slap bang in the middle of dog walker central.

Once in the office we got the scope out of the draw while the computer was taking its usual age to boot up and we meandered down the corridor with thoughts of cetaceans on the flat calm sea. We didn’t get as far as the first set of doors! The Redstart from yesterday was still here; no doubt forced to stay another day by atrocious overnight weather – there it was only 6 feet (2m) away on the other side of the window! Luckily the windows have a mirrored finish and it couldn’t see us – back to the office for the camera we scurried. It was a little flighty and hopped around all over the place but eventually settled on the path for a poor record shot before yet more dog walkers appeared and flushed it.
We went outside but couldn’t relocate it so headed for the sea wall. Our quarter of an hour staring at the sea gave us precious little, a Gannet, six plus one Common Scoters and three Sandwich Terns.

Meanwhile back in the gardens the Redstart must have been moving around a bit and from our desk we heard it calling! Looking round it was just there outside the office window but again a grab of the camera was too slow. We went out and had a look but got only the briefest of glimpses. 

A local birder appeared and we had the briefest of glimpses again...it seemed as though it could hide behind it’s own shadow or at least  had a Romulan cloaking device (thanks to CR for this info not knowing much about Romulans, Vulcans or anything else Trekky ourselves) or perhaps could even morph itself into a Dunnock 

 or Pigeon. 

Lunchtime came and more birders arrived and though there were many eyes watching and we saw where it went could it be found in the tiny patches of Tamarisk? No chance, maybe it’s befriended the Rabbits and goes underground! Tbh we’ve never know anything so brightly coloured to be so invisible!

The rain started to come down and the birders left, we’d run out of time so went back inside giving the rising tide a miss today, could have been good too, one of the birders had seen a few Arctic Terns earlier in the morning.

If there’s no improvement in the weather our little friend could well be still here in the morning but if you do come down for a shuffy bring a shed load of patience with you and steel yourself for the briefest of flight views.

Where to next? We'll see if we can avoid the lure of the Redstart and watch for some serious tern passage.

In the meantime let us know what's luring you away for doing 'proper stuff' in your outback.

The temperature flies up

The Safari was allowed lie-in this morning so no Patch 1 safari. We did, however, get out fairly earlyish back to the big park for some woodland species twitching. We wandered around the bowling green area where the Treecreeper has been seen regularly to no avail. Down hill to the lake then, which was still mostly frozen. Another nice man appeared and threw copious amounts of bread at the ducks. In the ensuing melee we got a few pics  off - might be missing summat but this new camera doesn't have the same high speed function as the old one even though it's an upgraded model...it does keep the pics at full quality which if we ever get it right will be an advantage.

What happened next?...


.....???


.....???

That's some fast action - look at the splashes of water behind the duck, they're frozen in time and space. If you want a full belly in these cold conditions you've gotta be quick on to the food.

Taking advantage of the still open water were a few Cormorants.

 One we noticed was a 'sinensis' type judging by its gape angle of almost 90°.

Also had an interesting tail - does it swim round in circles with a rudder like that? Seems an unusual sequence if it is part of the moult.

In the woods it was dark and cold, in fact as we write at 17.00 it's the 'hottest time of the day 1.1°C the rest of the day was only a fraction above freezing.

This was one of several Blackbirds which were taking advantage of the unfrozen ground in the shelter of the trees. Flippin dark under there!

We found a very timid Song Thrush that easily avoided the lens as did the many Blue Tits and most of the Great Tits which are mostly paired up now. Some kindly souls bring various foods out for the birds, one or two of them are lucky enough to have wild birds land on their hands they are that used to these people walking around nice and slowly. Their generosity makes getting close to the birds quite easy. Getting them to keep still when there's loads of dogs running round isn't quite to straightforward.

 Our friendly feral Pigeon followed us around until it realised we weren't a food source.

At the top end of the lake we heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker and looking round for a minute or so following our ears we found him high up on a dead tree. Another was drumming not very far away too.

With time running out we thought it best to give another Treecreeper hang-out by the bridges a try. On the way we heard a Nuthatch (113) calling. We whistled back and it got annoyed and started calling repeatedly giving us the chance to pin it down. We found it high up in the treetops and whistled at it, luckily it flew down to remonstrate with us landing close by on a dead snag. Aiming the camera we were just about to press the shutter when our legs were almost taken from under us by an idiot's Alsatian who thought going straight through us to chase the few feral geese grazing at the water's edge. Flippin numpty dog...and owner for not preventing it from disturbing the 'wild'life in the park.So no pic for you.

No Treecreeper either :-(...but as we headed back over the bridges to the Land Rover we saw a few Blackbirds and a smaller thrush, not wanting to pass up the opportunity of a pic of the flighty Song Thrush we putr our bins on it...not a Song Thrush at all but a Redwing (114) nice one!

On the lake from the bridges we counted 50+ Shovelers (we were doing OK until we came to a tight group of about 20 going round in circles feeding). Little Grebe was a species we rarely see in the park as were the six Gadwall. Call it lazy but we didn't count anything else.

At lunchtime Frank was ready for his walk so we hit Patch 1 where one of the Peregrines was on the ledge possibly after going hunting and coming back empty taloned. It was round the 'wrong' side and so a good bit further away than it would have been had it been sat on the 'right' side.

A more unusual sighting was this 1st winter Herring Gull sitting on one of the lamp posts - never seen a gull sit up there before and almost all the gulls hanging around the area at the moment are the paired up adults sussing out potential nest sites.

A little later in the afternoon we were helping prepare a ginormous corned beef hash - proper winter scram - when we looked out of the kitchen window to see the first Lesser Black Back Gull of the year flying over the garden (22).

Where to next? Perhaps we'll be on the trail of a Shorty and the Great White Egret which a few lucky observers spotted at the nature reserve yesterday.

In the meantime let us know who's idiot dog was charging around all over your outback.

A fiercely cold wind

The Safari spotted the Peregrine again this morning while Frank’s nose followed the trail of the overnight meanderings of the local Fox. He wasted so much time sniffing back and forth we didn’t get a chance to go round Magpie Wood and get a count.

On Patch 2 the wind was cruelly cold but at least it was blowing offshore and so was at our back. The Oystercatchers weren’t quite as numerous today but were more spread out so we got a fairly accurate, or at least more accurate than yesterday, count of 584 (including the leucistic one from a ferw weeks ago) with a least double that number beyond our southern boundary. Several Sanderlings and Redshanks poked about but it was good to see about a dozen Knot down by the outfall pipe again.

There were more gulls on the beach this morning but nothing to set the pulse racing...where’s our Glaucous Gull?

Out on the sea there were a few small flocks of Common Scoters but visibility was limited by thick low cloud. We didn’t see the eight Scaup that may or may not be still around, last seen on the 8^th but we don’t think anyone other than us was out looking yesterday...don’t really blame them in the horrid conditions. 

On the way home we once again stopped off at the big park with the intention of finding Redwing, Treecreeper and Nuthatch for the year. The lake was still mostly frozen and several of the Shoveler were asleep on the ice. They were too skittish to get anywhere near if they were awake. The forecast sunny spells didn't materialise and we spent the half hour walking around in a dull fine drizzle.

The park is over-run with feral Pigeons, not a bird we often photograph, indeed we tend to ignore them but this one sat still, fluffed up against the damp cold, as we approached.

Out on the ice there were a few hundred gulls, mostly Black Heads. No matter how often we scanned through them we a white winger just would come and join them. The only one that was in any way out of the ordinary was this rather dark 1st year...too much white on the tertials for a Lesser Black Back?

 It was too far away to get any real detail as we didn't have the scope with us.

 99.9% of the other 1st winter gulls looked more or less like this one - quite different and easy enough to ID as Herring Gulls. Larids, eh...don't yer just love em!

No we didn't find any Redwings, Treecreepers or Nuthatches - we think they see us coming and hide! We did see an Oystercatcher on the ice with the gulls which is an unusual record for the park and the Kestrel was in the tree above the feeding station again.
Where to next? Stayin close to the fire we think.
In the meantime let us know who photographs the ferals in your outback.

Peregrine calling from the tower at dusk on Patch 1 and lots of Blackbirds clucking ads they settled down to roost in the 'Iberian Chiffchaff zone'  - now accepted by BBRC but only for 3 - 5th May last year, so if you saw it later than that they are saying what you saw was in fact an ordinary Chiffchaff.