Four sites in one day

The Safari apologises to those who might have twigged we've been doing alphabetical blog titles and doubled up on 'D' and forgot about 'E'...so no-one did; not to worry...

No commentary today - running out of time so just IDs

A rather tatty female Common Blue at the nature reserve early this morning, not sure how she managed to get airborne...or does she just go round in circles?

Wild Carrot with the central darker (= not white) flower often it's a lot darker than this.

Think this is Field Bindweed, the closed bud was quite pink but the pics didn't come out. As you can see form our finger-tip it's not a big flower

A Tenthredo sp wasp thingy on Wild Carrot

Cinnabar moth caterpillar - is it just us or do they seem scarcer than normal this season?

As ever Frank found a puddle to cool off in - it wasn't sunny enough to properly census the butterflies this arvo but it was quite warm.

At a site we've found Great Crested Newts in previously we could only find this newt sp skeleton today - We know someone who'll be keen to collect yhis to add to his skull collection.

The butterfly 'survey' turned up only one worn Gatekeeper, would have been more had the sun been out.

Haresfoot Clover is one of our favourite plants but we couldn't find any Hop Trefoil on the nature reserve.

Meadow Cranesbill is getting towards the end of its season, still a bonny plant and great for bumble bees.

Only two Small Tortoiseshells were found, unlike the Gatekeeper and the Common Blue these were pristine.

A different Tenthredo sp again on Wild Carrot.

Speckled Woods were the most numerous butterfly found this arvo, all at the Patch 1 Butterfly Zone, but the sun had come out by then and it is very sheltered.

Soapwort, a double flowered variety but it smells divine and seems to spread OK.

Toad.

Toadflax.

Hope you enjoyed today's selection...and not a bird in sight!

Where to next? Back to the patches.

In the meantime let us know how far into your outback you got today.

Decidedly different

The Safari had two Peregrines on the tower early doors, one asleep and one throwing feathers everywhere - not its own! Then a third flew off to the NE from the far sde of the tower.

On the walk back down the hill to Base Camp two Whimbrel flew past heading coastwards calling.

We went straight out to nature reserve for an hour or so to see if anything was going over but it was a bit too clear, Still got Cetti's Warbler and Willow Warbler singing in short bursts. A few Reed Warblers flitted about, a Sparrowhawk sneaking through the trees upset the Magpies. A small number of Swallows with one, maybe two, Sand Martins drifted south and a Swift went over a short while earlier.

Bird of the session was this Common Tern, a species we've not seen here for a number of years now but which almost bred on site in the past.

Something made the big cob Mute Swan charge and a minute or so later 20 odd Coot scattered out of the edge of the reeds but we didn't see what had caused the commotion - hoping for the Otter. It wasn't this barmy dog either - no its not Frank after a bout of anorexia.

After a bit of brekkie we spent the morning in the garden enjoying the sunshine and firing off some shots of the insects.

Unknown hoverfly, only small - those are Marjoram flowers it's on. Perhaps Eupeodes corollae

Episyrphus balteatus

Eristalis sp


Syrphus sp


Sphaerophoria scripta, female, very numerous in the garden


Sphaerophoria sp, although one iSpotter has suggested Xanthogramma pedissequum



Lucilia sp, a Green Bottle.


Snapped a couple of flowers too...
Herb Robert

Spear Mint?
and Ox-eye Daisy

Back to the inverts, this is one of the many species of Tachinid Fly a parasite (doesn't kill host), or parasitoid (does result in death of host), of various caterpillars; they aren't generally host specific any caterpillar will do.

and a tiny bee, perhaps a Coletes sp, only 6 or 7 mm long. Late edit - Halictus rubicundus

A Sparrowhawk flew over at height but our pic was too awful to show here. A Swift passed over mid afternoon just as the rain started and a flock of Swallows had at least two House Martins with them.
As we left the reserve we said to the ranger 'looks like an Osprey sort of a day'. Guess what?...no not us; him a phone call at lunchtime told us he' just had an Osprey going south...well the gulls here never picked it up, probably a touch too far east for them to bother with...drat.

Where to next? Out somewhere on safari tomorow, not sure where yet. Some moths to get acquainted with tonight if the rain stops...
In the meantime let us know what the rain dropped in your outback

Did we see something or didn’t we?

The Safari has little to report for today but for a double stonking pic of yesterday’s sunrise have a look at PL’s effort – as he says makes you want to get up and head out!
We had a group on children rock pooling yesterday evening but before they arrived we treated ourselves to a scan of the sea to see what we could see. In the distance we spotted a dark shape ‘roll’. Was it a piece of driftwood or something else? One thing we are sure of was it was big, far too big for it to have been a Harbour Porpoise. We don’t think it was a lump of wood either as it disappeared for a minute or two and then reappeared further away, not the behaviour of a piece of wood! But was it a dolphin or perhaps even a Minke Whale?...we’ll never know!
After that excitement we waited as the group started to arrive and so did the rain...spitting at first but by the time we’d got down on the beach it was getting heavier and heavier. It didn’t stop the children enjoying themselves but after an hour exposed to the elements we were all soaked to the bone and getting cold. The nets dragged plenty of stuff up and the session’s shell count reached 16 species. One of the ‘rockpools’ we looked in held several stalked anemones, a recent colonist of this shore, one large one about 3cm across and several much smaller ones the smallest < 1 cm.
This morning no Peregrines were seen on the tower and we were too late for the sunrise.
On the drive to work what looked like a Wheatear was on the hand rail towards the southern end of the new promenade. A second bird hopped up and the first hopped down but they were just a bit too far away to confirm with the naked eye and we don’t normally drive to work with our bins round our neck – maybe we should.
Patch 2 wasn’t over exciting. Not a lot on the sea and probably the best was over 1000 Oystercatchers on the beach just over our southern ‘border’.
At lunchtime the tide was rising and the patch had improved significantly! A distant Gannet was the first for a while and a distant Grey Seal was expected. Other than a couple of hundred or so Common Scoters scattered here and there in loose flocks that was it – not far off dire.

Can't believe the Cuckoo reappeared on the South-side...darn that pesky thing, where was it in the rain on Tuesday???
Apologies again for the lack of pics but last night was too wet for the camera and today there wasn’t anything of note to point it at! Migt have to take a leaf out of DS's book and start a rainy day folder...
Where to next? Mothing in the deepest depths of Patch 1 tomorrow night; should have a ‘woodland’ and a grassland trap on the go. Give us a call if you fancy bobbing along. Last year Frank ate most of the larger moths as they approached the light...this year he’s banned!
In the meantime let us know what slipped past unnoticed in your outback.

Captain calling crazee crew

The Safari didn’t get very far on Patch 1 this morning, just far enough to witness another spectacular dawn.
We were back on Great Crested Newt mitigation duties and again didn’t find a single amphibian. The overnight spiders had been busy weaving their webs over the very dewy grass foretelling of a decent day ahead. It went cold last night, well down into single figures for the first time in ages and this morning had a distinctly autumnal feel about it. Other than the spiders’ webs only a few Brown Lipped Banded Snails were up and about. Overhead a small number of House Martins chittered.
Out on Patch 2 the sea was flat calm and the light superb but only a few Sandwich and Common Terns blogged about.
Later it was all excitement. The rising tide had brought a horizon’s worth of Common Scoters into view, not as many as last week but still about 3000 and several smaller flocks much closer in. Two Grey seals were also found.
As we scanned we’d spotted three youths in a large inflatable about 500 yards off shore. They seemed to be anchored and looked like they’d been swimming, they were enjoying a bit of lunch, pop and crisps, and were in good spirits. Then the Coastguard turned up and asked for a look through our scope. As they had no outboard he scrambled the local lifeboat.... minutes later the lads heard it coming and we could lip read them say ‘where’s that going?’ – then as it slowed they twigged it was coming to them and they burst out laughing. Before long their boat was tied alongside and they were on board being taken to the beach to the south probably for a stern ticking off.
Mid-afternoon was pond-dipping time. A small group of very enthusiastic youngsters grabbed the nets and filled the trays with 3-Spined Sticklebacks (these will have to be removed at the end of the season as they eat everything else in the pond!). A couple of the males were still in their red breeding finery. Last time out we thought we’d found a fourth species of snail to go with the Greater Pond Snail, the Wandering Snail and the Keeled Ramshorn....but our fourth was identified as a juvenile Greater Pond Snail. Well today the snail jackpot was hit when one of the boys, only a few minutes into the session, came up with a decent sized specimen of a Common Ramshorn in his net...result...and more intriguingly how long has that been hiding in there? It was good to see the Common Darter nymph again looking bigger and chunkier now. Never seen an adult here, dragonflies of any species are rare visitors to the gardens here.
During the ensuing watery mayhem a Sparrowhawk caused severe consternation amongst the Starlings, Feral Pigeons and gulls on the field behind us – another rare visitor to our grounds.

Where to next? More patchy stuff.

In the meantime let us know whose adrift in your outback.

Back on the beach

The Safari was up at the crack of dawn this morning and cracking the dawn was too - a riot of reds in the eastern sky.

Patch 1 gave us four Robins, eight Wrens and two Sparrowhawks, not bad. Back at Base Camp we could hear two Peregrines shreiking at each other on the tower as we tried to catch up on an extra half hour's shuteye.

Out on Patch 2 it was a bit dire with only three Sandwich Terns, roosting on the beach, and two distant Common Terns of any note.

Mid morning we had a group on the beach by the pier again. They pulled up plenty of the usal stuff and then got lucky when one of the youngsters brought us this that she had found floating a in a little pool near the pier legs. we didn't have clue but now think it is a species of larger Barnacle from the lowest part of the beach.

A couple of Sand Gobies were netted but some of the children sruggled to tell them from from the Brown Shrimps - hardly surprising when you see the pic below. No Prawns today.
Another very tiny fish was found, a fry from a something or other.
Another child brought what we first thought was a Sea Slater, but closer inspection showed us it was something similar but not a slater. The three pointy things at the back (sorry posterior processes) tell us its an Idotea balthica.

Been looking for one of these for a while.

At lunchtime a short seawatch at patch 2 gave us a very distant Grey Seal and a few Common Scoters but nothing else. One of Patch 2's whale watching regulars husband caught a small Dab just as we were packing up but he'd thrown it back before we got the camera anywhere near it.

The afternoon saw our regular garden clubbers setting to work with their usual gusto finding more wildlife to keep them interested and slowing their gardening duties down.

A small spider was discovered lurking in one of the plants that was 'weeded'.

A large mushroom was found under some of the bushes that are 'off-limits' to the gardeners. We are poor at mushroom ID...help anyone???

After work we took Frank to the beach at the north end of town and promptly found a tiny Speckled Sea Louse in one pool and a (possibly) different species of Idotea (buses anyone?) but we had no camera so we'll have to go back.

Where to next? More patchy stuff.

In the meantime let us know what needs weeding in your outback

Across the river

The Safari's hopes of putting the mothy out last night came to nought when just as it was getting dark the rain was heard hammering on the sitting room window.

Our first full Patch 1 safari since Frank took ill gave us a singing Coal Tit, a Sparrowhawk wing it between the trees upsetting the Woodpigeons and a Willow/Chiff hweeting.

This morning were Frank-free and decided to head out over to the South-side with the target of two, possibly three, species to add to our Year List Challenge with Monika. The weather was more like late October than mid August but that should have meant that anything that dropped in yesterday would still be there.

As soon as we got there we headed to the far hide and as we arrived we heard a Whimbrel somewhere out over the marsh.

Plenty of Swallows hawked insects over the water during and in-between the heavy showers, at least three Sand Martins were with them. On the water were four Whooper Swans - they don't have long to wait for all their chums to come back now.

The Long Horn Cattle were joined by a flock of Grey Lag Geese. In the water behind them are three Ruff, there was a fourth when they lifted after a Buzzard flew past but that seemed to peel off and didn't reappear with the others.

We waited and waited but neither of our target species put in an appearance. Best sighting was the big bull but he was away over the far side of the reserve, unless the Great Black Backed Gull was. The bull is huge - how much bigger must have a bull Auroch, that used to live in these parts, have been?

A Stock Dove and a Lapwing gave us something else to look at before we decided our hands were too cold and wet and needed a walk to warm them up. A Swift flew over as we left the hand.

Moving round to the next hide a small patch of Lords & Ladies caught our eye, something we don't see very often these days.

On the wall of the hide we found this spider, some sort of Harvestman we think. Interesting arrangement of its legs, but is it resting, hiding or clinging to wall for dear life.
Anyone for an unknown moth? Very browny-grey and nondescript, could be a woodland or wetland species or even something very widespread and common.

A rare occurrence happened at lunchtime when the sun came out, albeit briefly, and with it all looked good especially the Purple Loosestrife!
A Male Kestrel appeared from nowhere as did three Green Veined/Small Whites.
On the water our only Tufted Duck and Gadwall of the day we found along with a Little Grebe.
On the way back to the first hide we watched a Short Tailed Field Vole nip across the path and saw two Speckled Woods spiralling in a shaft of sunlight in the woods.

No sign of the two on our wanted list.

The site was OK if you like Grey Lag Geese, Mallards, Shelducks, Tree Sparrows and a few Teal thrown in for good measure.

Nothing for it but to try for target number three a few miles away. with a stiff breeze bringing heavy showers we were far from confident.

Little Egrets were the most numerous bird of the session! That's never happened before! Only six though. A few Meadow Pipits fluttered out of the grass from under our feet and two Greenshanks were heard. Bird of the site was a Green Sandpiper that gave excellent fly-past views.

In the crop fields the other side of the sea wall we found a Brown Hare in with the Woodpigeons. nine Ringed Plovers flew from inland onto the marsh right in front of us and again a bit of sunshine brought out Small/Green Veined White butterflies, at least eight Common Blues were also seen.
At the car park the field of Sea Lavender looked stunning - the pic doesn't really do it justice -

Passing through the car park we walked on a bit and are really glad we did. We watched a Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine sparring for ages. The Peregrine was the aggressor swooping and diving, making the harrier turn and jink all over the place. On a couple of occasions they touched talons -superb!
A Brown Hare in the field beneath them was also give a clunk by the Peregrine and the large number of Stock Doves all bore the brunt of mock stoops. In the distance we spotted a second Peregrine while the battle royal continued.

all too soon it was time to make tracks back to Base Camp, no new year birds but the raptors' aerial combat easily made up for that.
Where to next? Back to work and a group on the beach tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know who's stooping at what in your outback.

Home alone

The Safari was at home longer than anticipated today. We did our chores then decided to nip off out. That's when we discovered our car and house keys were on their way to uncharted territory (Leeds) in Wifey's bag...oops.

Not much doing at Base Camp, a few Swallows went over and the 'flock' contained two Swifts too.

Later all the gulls in the distance were seen circling in a large tight group, then those on the depot roof a lot nearer did the same - a raptor was on the move! The next group of gulls to panic was those on the offices next door - a Buzzard came gliding past at a low height, if only we'd grabbed the cam era and not the bins. Having said that had we been holding the camera the raptor would have been an Osprey at ridiculous altitude!

Yesterday's footy was played in blistering sunshine. A new stand under construction in the far left corner will complete the stadium, just in time for our promotion back to the Premiership ;)

Whilst doing a bit of log sawing we came across this tiny black fungus erupting from under the bark of a dead Elm branch. We have trouble identifying fungi unless they are boxed, wrapped and labelled on the shelf in the shop!


Blistering sunshine returned in the afternoon and we spend a pleasant hour or so hacking away at the garden, dead-heading the roses, getting torn to shreds by the Loganberry and battling our way througgh the Small Leaved Elm to be able to get to the compost bins, along with sawing a couple more logs. All this will be impossible once the doc gets his scalpel out on the old knackered hand.

With one ear and one eye on the sky we saw another two individual Swifts racing southwards, a few more Swallows and four Curlews heading towards the coast. The gulls did their reverse 'domino' effect again but this time we didn't pick up the culprit - probably because we had both bins and camera to hand this time.

Where to next? Weather permitting the mothy will go on again tonight and there should be a safari somewhere interesting tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know who's heading for the coast in your outback.