Darting about

The Safari was in the garage in the pitch black last night shaking the bottle of Seasparkle very vigorously to no avail...not a hint of light came from said bottle - sooo disappointing! But as we came out of the garage we got a crackingly bright view of the ISS which is only as far away as London from here or 235 miles!

The moth trap held a small but interesting selection. Twelve species including a couple of nfys like this Copper Unerwing...but is it Svensson's Copper Underwing?

 Not enough of the underwing is visible

 and the pale tipped labial palps are apparently not a useful feature anymore

A new micro was found lurking in the deepest recesses of the trap - we think it's Phycitodes saxicola but we could once again be quite wrong.

 This macro had us dithering a bit and we're reasonably confident it's a Square Spot Rustic

If anyone knows any different on the above IDs don't be shy, shout out.

Mid morning we 'mowed' our new lawn, took all of five minutes even only using the old-fashioned shears. We laid it for Frank so that he didn't have to hobble all the way to the main road for a pee - but the silly dog won't use it, only rolls round like a dead fly in a window on it.

So now we need a nice selection of lawn 'weeds' to colonise; Daisies, Buttercups, White Clover, Dove's Foot Cranes-bill, Yarrow, Self-heal, Black Medick and Lesser Trefoil are all present in 'lawns' within a few yards of our tiny patch

After lunch we met up with CR and mossied on down to Patch 1 in warm, sticky but breezy conditions.

We were hoping for a White Letter Hairstreak or two.

We got straight in to the hoverflies with this nice Chrysotoxum festivum

Followed closely by a mating pair of Helophilus trivittatus

Few butterflies were about mostly tatty Meadow Browns, a couple of Large Skippers one of which was very fresh, Speckled Woods were as numerous as ever and a Holly Blue pottered about the tree tops. Closer to the ground was this battered and bruised Common Blue but no Small Tortoiseshells, Comma, Red Admirals, White Letter Hairstreaks, not even any Gatekeepers which were the most common butterfly last weekend.

Grasshoppers to have been in short supply this year but this Field Grasshopper posed nicely.

 And we've never seen Green Leaf Hoppers on Patch 1 before.

Overhead and through the trees a family of Sparrowhawks made plenty of noise and a late(ish) Swift went over.

CR shouted he'd got a small darter, we'd already failed to get a pic of a Common Darter which whizzed off over his way so we thoughtit would have been that one but no! It's very small he shouted.

Small indeed, it settled by his feet and was instantly recognised as a Black Darter - only the third we've seen in town in the last 22 years!

What a beauty!

After tea at Base Camp a Tree Bee was seen visiting one of our tall Evening Primrose flowers...a garden first.

Where to next? Mothy is on again tonight and there's a twitchable Yank on the South-side...so there could well be a sheet thrown over the moth trap and an early start across the river.

In the meantime let us know let us know what's squeezed in to your outback almost without anyone noticing.

The tide came in

The Safari went out this morning on to Patch 2 but there was little in evidence. A scattering of Sandwich Terns mooched about and although the sea was flat calm like a mirror it took a while to find the first, and eventually only, Grey Seal. Beyond it we saw a bit of decent flock of Common Scoters on the horizon, a quick scan revealed a good number scattered about...we started to count and realised there were more than we first thought. We got a minimum of 3500 not a bad number but not the biggest count of this moult flock so far this autumn.

We missed getting not with a group today and went on the beach at lunchtime on the trail of a fish we'd seen in a runnel yesterday...quite a bit larger and more 'free swimming' than the countless Sand Gobies...perhaps a Sand Smelt, a Sprat or perhaps a small Sand Eel.

Before we'd got to the slade down to the beach we saw the water's edge was a funny colour, but was it a trick of the light or a real effect. Walking on to the beach it became obvious it was a real thing.

A red tide!!! Never seen one of those before and neither had several old timers some of whom had been coming down here fishing for 40 years!

Not sure we'd let our kids in it without finding out what it is. Fortunately it is harmless, but some red tides aren't - ignorance is bliss...or lethal! Hot news in from the Environment Agency confirmed  the orange colouration of the sea along the Fylde is an algal bloom, however it is a non toxic species called noctiluca or 'Seasparkle' (because it gives off light when shaken). Although it is non -toxic there can be amenity issues when the algae die due to the sheer mass.

We collected a bottle full waiting for dark when we can shake it up and hopefully show you the bioluminescence

Thanks to DD for sending through the video this arvo.
Where to next? Moffy is set up and ready to rumble on a rather warm evening.
In the meantime let us know what's sparkling in your outback

Bright morning on the beach

The Safari had another group of eager explorers on the beach today. The first thing we did was to tell them of the six Bottle Nosed Dolphins we heard about not too far away to the north last night - well that got the youngsters excited and ready to rumble. Conditions at sea were absolutely bob on for cetacean spotting but we had our eyes down on the sand.

Before long a shout went up - "over here; look what we've found!" What was it? we wondered...certainly wasn't expecting a shark! A very small Tope, sadly a victim of the fishermen. News just in from Western Australia is that another swimmer has been bumped off her surfboard by a 4m Great White - just a little larger than our tiddler then. Thankfully she was uninjured, unlike the guy last week, and was back on her board the following day - now  that's what we call nerves of stainless steel!

Whilst looking at some of the more usual life in the trays a pale brown thing appeared out of a shell and started swimming around very quickly. Almost impossible to get a pic of it but this one is good enough to ID it as Idotea balthica. Not seen one since last summer...

But then another was found. At first we thought it might have been a different species but both show the three prongs on the tail, or more accurately from marLIN "The pleotelson in adults is characteristic, with approximately straight sides, a dorsal keel, and a posterior edge bearing three processes, of which the middle one is the longest".

 This little chap also put in appearance. The same as one we still haven't had identified from last week. We think it could be Sphaeroma serratum...but we could easily be miles out!

Almost at the end of our session one small group  had wandered almost out of bounds when they found this jellyfish. Although it lacks the usually very obvious rays our marine biologist friend, DB, thinks it's a Compass Jellyfish.

Back on terra firma a small number of Goldfinches were again feeding on the Spear Thistle seeds in the wild flower garden. many fewer than the other day and no sign of our green ringed individual. A female Common Blue butterfly was seen briefly here too before it hit the boost button and flew over the roof to the front garden and all the Bird's Foot Trefoil there.

Where to next? More settled weather should give an ideal cetacean spotting sea again tomorrow, providing there's no fog or sea mist.

In the  meantime let us know who's sporting all the teeth in your outback

Quick catch up from here and there

The Safari has some pics from the other afternoon in the Butterfly Zone

A double-flowered Creeping Buttercup

Common Darter

Grey Squirrel

Starts off like this

Gets like this

Ends up very very tasty

Brown Lipped Banded Snail

White Lipped Banded Snail - only inches away from his 'friend' above

And now a series of  Volucella pellucens hoverflies on Snowberry

Today we spotted a Goldfinch sporting a green ring on its left leg, but we couldn't see the right leg. Got a few pics of the flock feeding on the Spear Thistles through the dirty double glazed windows...deffo a huge amount more life on our 'untidy needs weeding' side than the neat and tidy side.

Later the Young Uns discovered it had another green ring on the other side rather than a BTO type so it's likely an escaped or released cage-bird...bet it's glad to be out and free.
Where to next? Hordes descending tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know what's hanging upside-down in your outback.
We were told today that Frank needs the operation if he is not to hobble round painfully for the rest of his born days - thank the lord for pet insurance...aka pet protection racket...just how much will the premiums be next time we need to renew the policy???