The best of Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris

Caught the lurgy

No safaris for a few days now as I am stuck at Base Camp 'crook' with a virus...not the cosiest of bed-fellows! Very little to report other than a flock of at least five Long Tailed Tits buzzing around Base Camp this morning and bread thrown on the shed roof was taken by Black Headed Gulls - where did they come from - normally everything chucked up there gets eaten by the local Herring Gulls or Magpies.

Anyway the old safari truck is up for sale and the new one is waiting to have all the mods fitted...definitely some under body protection and hopefully a bit of tricky suspension.

I didn't see this badge when I was looking the vehicle over on the forecourt, my co-pilot did but didn't say anything until quite a bit later on. Quite apt don't you think?

Can you guess what it is yet (as Rolf Harris used to say)?

Kooky and Roo have been joined by Hoopy the Hoopoe and Caper the Capercaillie for all the forthcoming adventures.

Yes you guessed it - another Disco! Luxury version this time though...hope it serves as well as the old one did.

Where to next? I'll let you know as soon as I have shed this infection.

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

It's here!!!!!

Yes...the safari took delivery of the new vehicle on Saturday and what a beaut it is to drive.

Its first safari was a short affternoon visit to Marton Mere nature reserve. What a trip it turned out to be. Within minutes of setting off along the path we had crippling views of a Kingfisher resplendent in the sunshine. Probably the best views of this species I have had at this site in 18 years! Not a hundred metres further on we came across a very obliging male Stonechat which sadly didn't want to be photographed. A female was in the rough ground on the opposite side of the track.

Following the path round through the reedbed we arrived at the first line of bushes...we had had a tip off that there was a Long Eared Owl in the second Hawthorn along. Sure enough a good scour with the binoculars revealed him(?) secreted deep in the bush.

Most of the mere itself was frozen and there was a huge number of gulls. A patient scan revealed no Glaucous Winged Gulls...a bit hopefull but the recent one at Teeside hadn't been reported on the pagers so there was a very, very, very slim chance it could have been lurking in the flock...as it was there were no oddball gulls at all, not even a (relatively common) Mediterranean Gull.

We moved on passing the same Kestrel that I posted a fewe blogs ago sitting in almost the same tree. Leaving the reserve the safari took the outer perimeter path where there was very little wildlife action. Stopping at the usual bushes we could see no Long Eared Owls but were told they had moved a few metres further east and were visible but difficult as we were looking in to the low winter sun. Careful scrutiny of the scrub eventually revealed five, only one of which was particularly obvious.

Whilst we were searching for the owls our attention was drawn to a remarkably confiding Robin, which approached to within a metre of us. Frank the 'slobrador' had a messed up a small drainage channel, as Labradors do, and the resultant turned mud was of great interest to the Robin. As soon as Frank moved out of the way the Robin was in there gleaning invertebrates...we couldn't see any but it managed to find some every time Frank churned up the mud.

Returning along the embankment we saw the Kingfisher again, this time face on but the sun had dropped lower and it the Kingfisher was as glorious as before. We dropped in to the Fylde Bird Club hide and saw the hybrid(?) female Ferruginous Duck thingy. It looks pretty good for a pure bred female of the species but there are doubts over the actual colour of its wing bar, which should be pure white, but no-one has yet had a convincing view of. A lengthy scan of the reedbed illuminated in the winter sunshine revealed no Bitterns sadly.

Moles in the grassland around the southern edge of the mere had been very active, some of there molehills were huge...and there were plenty of them...I should have taken a photo.

A short but sweet safari. Photos to be added later...sorry...downloading problems!

Where to next? a bit further afield perhaps.

In the meantime let us know where you new or old vehicle has taken you in to your outback.

River crossing as promised

Pics from our outback adventure last week.

We are stopped on Kingfisher Island...not that there is any where for Kingfishers to perch - apart from the wing mirrors! But they are seen quite regularly on this stretch of river.

The red tie isn't recovery equipment it's holding the waterproof camera to the bullbar for the next bit of the crossing...the deep bit. This is a bona-fide road...wouldn't like to try it in the safari's other car -a Toyota Corolla good as they are.

About to go in!

It really is an island.

The safari took delivery of the new vehicle yesterday...more news later.

Heres a pic of the new leaf we found last week on a small Hawthorn...only 4 months too early, but possibly a response to a Roe Deer nibbling the end of the twig off.

Where to next? The new vehicle has to be kitted out and 'prep'ed for the outback, so we won't be adventuring til later in the week.

In the meantime let us know where you have been on your outback adventures.

Lunchtime peek at the sea

Very nice to see a bit of sunshine for a change but otherwise it was very quiet on the water. Two male and a female Eider were bobbing about asleep on the gentle swell fairly close in, a Cormorant flew past in the middle distance and right out on the horizon ther were small flocks of Common Scoter flying about. Nothing else to report and still very very cold in the slight breeze.

Someone has put up a few feeders in the gardens at work and they are attracting some attention from a small flock of House Sparrows which are always nice to see and there cheeky chirruping brightens up an otherwise quiet mid winter day. Thank you whoever you are. Three Oystercatchers were on the green at first light this morning and very sluggish there were too, maybe struggling to find enough food in the current frozen conditions, Dunnock also present mooching around the cover of the Gorse bushes.

Where to next? Pick up the new car.....wheyyy-heyyy...good job too because we've broken the old one; it has an electrical problem perhaps from fording the river the other day and is powerless.

In the meantime whether it is freezing cold or the sun is cracking the flags let us know what you have found in your outback.

Happy New Year to one and all

It happened - the safari manged to get a new camera in the sales...sadly funds wouldn't run to an slr but a decent Fuji compact was purchased off the web at a knock down price so hopefully the quality of the pictures from our adventures will improve...but I can't promise. The camera might have improved but not the photographer!

So far this year - not that there has been much of it - but early in the morning, before dawn, there do seem to be more Robins singing. Blackbird has also been added to the 2009 list but very little else. What will today bring? A lunch time peek at the sea is on the cards, the recent dense fog has been replaced by a thin winter sunshine today so fingers crossed there may be something out there to report later today.

The photo is of the now not so recent Bottle-nosed Dolphin taken by my mate Phil - it would be nice to see another one off the prom here this year along with a Basking Shark and some Storm Petrels...who knows what we will be able to show you in 2009...whatever it is it'll be good!

Where to next? Obviously a quick safari over the road to the beach.

In the meantime I hope all the safari's readers have a happy, peaceful and healthy New Year...but please let us know of your outback adventures and sightings...remember there is nothing ordinary about the familiar and commonplace.

Oh and by the way the safari is picking up a new luxury vehicle tomorrow morning...Betcha can't wait to find out what it is.