Sticklebacks and more pictures from Poland

Yesterday a pack of Cubs and Beavers had a go at pond dipping at the Solaris Centre and managed to find the queen of the Sticklebacks - she's a whopper, almost the full width of a Flora margarine pot!

I have just had some more pics from my mate in Poland of our trip sent through the 'ether'.

Common Toads were numerous in the garden of the place we stayed. In the forest we found a Slow Worm on one of the sandy tracks.

Whilst this photo of the young Grass Snake was being taken there were two Golden Eagles soaring about 100 feet above my head!

We searched for an adult snake but had no luck, these Yellow Bellied Toads were probably its prey whever it was.

This Leaf Cutter Bee was a lucky find at the hill top view point at Zakopane and the only wildlife of note we saw up there at 'Blackpool on the hill'.

Back at the base for our trip the garden and surrounding trees held a White Stork roost each evening. A few blogs back (the Zakopane post) I showed a photo of my mate taking a picture of a stork on a post - here is his result...not bad!

This Fox cub was very inquisitive, one night we were on the patio and it was sniffing around the wood pile. With a bit of encouragement it became a bit tamer over the next couple of evenings and posed for a photo.

When I left I suggested that with a bit of patience they would be able to tame it and it would have a basket by the fire next time I visited...that was supposed to be a joke!

Where to next? This coming Sunday (17th) we will be Rock Pooling again at South Beach, Blackpool. Meet at 4.00pm at the Mirror Ball. Bring your buckets, pots and wellies.

In the meantime don't forget to let us know what you have seen in your 'outback'.

Newts - As promised!

Great Crested Newts as promised. The individual in the top picture looks like a female as she has a pale lower edge to her tail. In the lower picture there are three. Can you spot the third? - which, incidentally, if you find him is the only definite male in the picture?

I had a quick peek over the seawall at lunchtime. A couple of Sandwich Terns were on the beach with a huge number of Herring and Black Headed Gulls. There was only a handful of Lesser Blackbacked Gulls and a Great Black Backed Gull swooped low along the watersedge. Best of all, standing alone from the others was a beatifully crisp plumaged adult Yellow Legged Gull. Not often we see them on the beach at south Shore.

The safari took a trip out on to the rockpools of the seawall this afternoon with a group of youngsters. More exciting creatures were found, including some Common Winkles, which we didn't see at the weekend. Green Shore Crabs and Shrimps were the most regularly potted animals. We had a great view of a Sand Goby which annoyingly wouldn't stay still enough to get a decent photograph.

The top two pics should give you a flavour of what our 'rockpools' are like. The third one shows the zoning of the different species of seaweeds very nicely and the last our young friend is pointing at Green Shore Crabs, a Common Winkle, a Common Razorshell, along with Sea Lettuce and Purple Laver seaweeds.

Below are two pictures of the Sabellaria or Honeycomb Worm that has colonised the seawall. There are quite a few decent sized clumps forming and many of the other rockpools have small accretions starting. It will be interesting to see how much 'reef' this worm has managed to build in say ten or twenty years.

Where to next? Not sure yet but there have been some decent sea birds seen off the promenade over the last couple of days so the safari might try a bit of sea watching.

In the meantime please let us know what you find in your 'outback'.

Rock Pool fun

A warm and sunny but windy afternoon saw the safari hit Blackpool's Rock Pools armed with a variety of multi coloured buckets and nets.

The recent rough seas had broken up most of the shells, but a few live Mussles clung tenaciously to the inside of the articial pools. Pod and Common Razor Shells were frequently found still intact.

There were bits of Common Cockle and Prickly Cockle as well as some fragments of Baltic Tellin, Rayed Trough Shell, Tower Shell and Whelks. A few specimens of Common Otter Shell with only minor damage were found in the pools. It was encouraging to see large accretions of Sabellaria Worm. This worm builds 'reefs' that are habitat for all sorts of other shore line creatures. It is also a UK Biological Action Plan (UK BAP) Habitat because of its scarcity and importance. Nice to see such good patches on a stucture only 7 years or so old.

Plenty of dead and 'peeler' crab skins hit the bottom of the buckets as did a small number of live crags, most were Velvet Swimming Crab, but one young girl managed to track down a Shore Crab. Eventually a couple of larger Swimming Crabs were winkled out of their hidey-holes, the largest a good 4 inches across.

Excitement mounted another youngster brought a bucket full of Common Sand Stars, (Orange Starfish) collected a little further along the beach. Buckets were filling up with Shrimps, Prawns and a few small fish. One species was one I've not seen before a free swimming species with the most beautiful emerald green back, about 1 1/2 inches long. A few of Sand Gobies and Rock Blennies were caught and to my surprise a couple of Butterfish. None of these were very big, an inch at the most, but as the tide started to rise and it was time to leave the beach a much larger one of about 2 1/2 inches was found. I've not seen this species here before so it was much appreciated. Again at the end of the safari I was brough a piece of orangy seaweed that lookeda bit like a piece of crust from a loaf. Further investigation this evening revealed it to have been a piece of Breadcrumb Sponge, something else I've never seen before!

Another much smaller creature I've never seen before was a timy 5mm long whizzy thing, red at the front, white in the middle, and black at the tail end. It behaved like an underwater Whirligig Beetle - I haven't a clue what it was! Any ideas anyone?

Sorry no photos again - camera problems....repeat 1000 times 'I MUST CHECK THE BATTERIES'.....

Where to next? Back to the rock pools next Sunday at 4.00pm. Meet at the Mirror Ball.

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

Zakopane - Blackpool on the hill.

After Kroscienko we moved to Zakopane on the edge of the Tatra Mountains and over looked by the Sleeping Knight.

Zakopane had a surprise - it was a bit like Ambleside, but then a trip up the hill led to not the solitude of Loughrigg Fell but the Golden Mile at Blackpool. All manner of stalls selling all manner of the usual holiday souvenirs.

We left Zakopane to take the horse and cart ride up to the 'Oceans Eye' lake. What a stunning place - think a large Stickle Tarn in Langdale then change Harrison Stickle for the Alps as a backdrop. The way up through the forest had a couple of houses with elecric fencing around the top of their normal fence to keep the Brown Bears out during the winter. During the summer these are on the high mountain pastures and Juniper scrub, we scanned but had no luck. just as deadly was this Monkshood plant which was quite common around the lakeside.

The crystal clear water held large numbers of Brown Trout, below the smaller ones at the surface where a couple of over a foot long.

The waterfalls were something else. I filled my bottle from one of thse and I have never had water so good.
It was our intention to walk round the lake and climb up to the snow line. We had a flock of about 30 Crossbills on the way.

Snow - I didn't make it and had a lucky escape! My mate was at the snow hole which is about 10 feet high and went back 30+ feet. I clambered on to a lagre rock about the size of a Smart Car and it rolled - I didn't think I was that heavy!!!!!! But it pitched me into a crevass between the rocks about 6 feet down. Thankfully no broken bones or banged head but some blood and the bruises on my back are only just beginning to come out. I never made it to the snow and it took nearly 4 hour to stagger painfully back to the truck. A painfull seven hour drive back to Base followed. But we were rewarded with White Storks coming to roost in the garden the following evening. There had been about 200 at 6 O'Clock in the morning following the plough over the road but we were too tired to notice - the video was impressive! thanks to the farmer for waking the householder up to show him.

There was a bit of a sunset over the forest.

Then the clouds rolled in and boy did it rain!

There ends my Poland trip. Excellent and many thanks to all who put us up/put up with us!

BTW my mate stayed in Poland and rang on my first day home to say he'd just had two Golden Orioles in the tree at the bottom of the garden - - lucky swine!!!!!!

The Dunajec Gorge

Above the Three Crowns

The Dunejac Gorge (pronounced Din-eye-ic) is a spectacular river raft ride 18 kms long, falling 57 metres through imressive forested mountain scenery banked by towerng limestone cliffs. The craggy 'Three Crowns' mountain with its summit view point comes in to view several times as the river meanders its way through the gorge. Sadly we didn't have time to hike to the top as I am told the view from the top is staggering...and I don't doubt it, possibly even better than that!

Our front 'driver' gave a hilarious commentry all the way down. Unforunately I don't speak a word of Polish (I do now- hello, yes, no, please and thank you) and my translator couldn't keep up, but he had the rest of the raft in stitches. The back 'steerer and keep-us-off-the-rockser' was much quieter. However he pointed out a Dipper, which my Polish mate didn't think were found in this part of Poland. I picked out a handsome male Brambling on an overhanging tree. Grey Wagtails and Caspian Gulls were all the way down the river. Recent thunderstorms had swollen the river and the place were the Black Stork normally hunted was underwater, so that was probably our biggest dip. My mate had seen a Beaver on this trip a few years ago but scanning the forest on either side we could see no evidence of their tree felling activities.

The blue felt embroidered tunics are traditional as are the felt hat with the cowries around. These guys families have been ferrying passengers across and along the river for around 250 years.

This trip cost just over a tenner - well worth it if you are ever in the area - these are only 3 of nearly 50 photos I took.

Where to next? Don't forget your pots, nets and wellies for tomorrow's Rock Pooling. Meet us at 1.00pm at the Mirror Ball.

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

PS - Found 4 Great Crested Newts at a secret site less than a mile from Base Camp yesterday (08/08/08) Photos later in the week - Yes, I do have a licence to handle them.

The happy wanderer returns - part 2

We parked the truck up in the very pretty village of Kroscienko, at the entrance to the Pieninski National Park, the first National Park in Europe and second in the world after Yellowstone! This was to be our base for a couple of days. The front step one of the of the houses at the far end of this pic had a Sand Lizard living under it!

The old school in Kroscienko has a rather large storks nest on the chimney. It did have one on the other chimney too but this has had to be removed for stuctural reasons. This nest has been here for well over 40 years.

Walks around Kroscienko included a trip to stunning waterfall filled valley Homole. A short trip 'off piste' lead to this Fritillary butterfly - not sure what species Dark Green I think - any ideas anyone? The warm humid weather made the butterflies very active and FAASST and you didn't really want to go charging in to areas were you couldn't see where you were putting your sandaled feet. A neighbour's dog - a huge black thing called Bruno - had been tagged by a young Adder a few days before we got there and was in quite a bad way. He was still poorly but recovering a week later when I left Poland - so be warned 'watch where you put your feet!'

There were butterflies everywhere including a few White Admirals. The best sighting here was having a Grass Snake in my hand whilst two Golden Eagles soared overhead and in the pool where we found the snake there were several Yellow Bellied Toads, but despite a thorough search we couldn't find any Fire Bellied Toads. We found a young Adder a few yards further on and a Common Lizard.

At a natural spring feeding a narrow rill this female Golden Ringed Dragonfly was ovipositing.

Day two in Kroscienko took us to the other side of town where the hillsides are farmed in the traditional way and the hay meadows are full of wildflowers. There were Crickets everywhere including Great Green Bush Cricket and this Roessel's Bush Cricket.

Kroscienko is famous in Poland for its mineral springs which are reputed to give long life to regular imbibers. However we knew that the damp woodlands leading to the springs were also the habitat of the Fire Salamander. Finding them was proving difficult. We had had some rain recently and the air was humid so we expected them to be out and about. Apparently they sit on the ends of twigs in the evening after rain. We searched high and low for over an hour before turning over a large rock to reveal the brightly coloured prize below. Only a youngster, the adults can reach nine inches in length.

Best creature of the whole trip for me!

Where to next? Don't forget the Rock Pooling event at the Mirror Ball 1.00 - 2.00pm this Sunday (10th Aug). Bring your buckets, nets and wellies.

In the meantime don't forget to let us know what you have seen in your 'outback'.

The wanderer returns - part 1

Made it back to Blighty from a hot and humid Poland. - Just! But more of that later.

What a brilliant place Poland is!

First up was a Garden Tiger moth on the patio.

A large forest (larger than the Fylde!) was only a few metres away from the garden of the place we were staying - it was full of Wild Boar but we didn't manage to see any, just their tracks and signs. These rumagings were only about 100m from the house and quite fresh as there are few twigs and cones lying on the recently disturbed ground. Roe Deer were seen regularly but impossible to photograph.

Green Toads were hiding in between the brickwork on the patio. According to my wife these little chaps should be called 'Commando Toads'.

Care was needed around the garden as there were young Adders hiding in all sorts of places.

Well that was Day One - more tomorrow.

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

Where to next? This Sunday (10th Aug) at 1.00pm meet at the Mirror Ball for a safari in to the South Shore Rock Pools. Bring your buckets and nets and wear wellies. This event is being run in association with the Wildlife Trust's National Marine Week. It promises to be great fun.

There will be another chance to safari through the rock pools next Sunday (17th Aug) at 4.00pm. Details as above.