Not a rarity in sight

The Safari saw the see was rough this morning so that negated any chance of seeing any cetaceans today. We didn't get a chance to get out yesterday but was pleased to find that the shoal of bait fish was still offshore. We were right about the cetaceans, no chance what so ever - but there was a good number of Great Black Backed Gulls, hard to count as they swooped around chasing the many Cormorants to pirate fish from them. We reckoned about a dozen GBBGs and possibly more than 30 Cormorants. A bonus was a Shag with them.

The lunchtime session proved to be only slightly different - the Shag was nowhere to be seen.

Coming back in to the office we noticed there were no fatballs in the feeder so we topped up and waited for the House Sparrows to reappear - they must have been hungry because they arrived within a couple of minutes and we'd only backed away a few yards and were still right out in the open.

Bit of a melee to get the best spot on the feeder but we like the one sneaking in down the open top - cheeky and it;s fighting with the one just arriving

Stunning little birds when you look at them closely

 Bit of a lack of light, too much ISO and they don't exactly keep still for more than a millisecond.

Still no sign of that rare of rares; the Blue Tit.
Guruing the afternoon we were bombarded by reports of Waxwings - some only a couple of miles away but we had no chance of sneaking out for them - we wouldn't do that would we? Heaven forbid!

We left for Base Camp a bit too early as the Starlings hadn't really begun to gather, only about 500 at Central Pier and we didn't see any at all at North Pier! Hopefully we'll catch them bob on tomorrow...with a sunset we hope!

Where to next? More of the too dark in the evening for anything so only Patch 2.
In the meantime let us know if there's anything with a tufty head in your outback.

Flat as a pancake but was there a topping?

The Safari saw that there was no Peregrine on the tower this morning as we drove up the hill to work.

Driving along the prom we eyed the sea excitedly as it was flat calm after a very still frosty night.

So frosty was it that the Mirror Ball had an ice-cap – wonder if the sea level rose when it melted later in the morning.

We got the scope to the wall as soon as possible and were soon disappointed by the lack of activity. Distant black dots were the usual Common Scoters flying around, none were close in on the low tide and distant white dots were gulls which appeared to be mooching around a possible shoal of fish.

Several scans later revealed a fairly distant and too far away to be identified auk, a Red Throated Diver and eventually a Grey Seal, which was good as most of them will be heading off to their breeding grounds far away or already be there.A word of warning for seal spotters though - there may be a small colony of Common (Harbour) Seals developing in the Dee off Hilbre Island so perhaps all seals will need to be checked as to which species theye are from now on; it's only a short swim from the Dee to the Fylde (That's Welsh/Cheshire Dee not Scottish Dee)

On the wall itself a couple of Pied Wagtails poked about and that was it, nothing doing overhead and only a few gulls and Oystercatchers on the beach.

By lunchtime the chill had been warmed away by the blistering sunshine and it really was very pleasant.

Out in the middle distance was the same flock of gulls, a bit nearer now as the tide was on its way in. We thought we saw something dark roll but it could have been one of the Cormorants, there were plenty on the water and more were arriving from all points of the compass.

A huge scatter of silvery fish broke the surface covering an area of about 100 yards and maybe 20 wide sending the gulls into a frenzy and somehow being the signal for yet more Cormorants to appear from further out to sea – how did they know where to go?

Something beneath the fish had pushed them to the surface, bigger fish, or something bigger still? We saw a couple more rolls but very brief and totally inconclusive as to seal or cetacean.

Whilst scanning for the mammal we picked up a diver a fair way closer in. Following it desperately trying to turn it in to a Black Throated Diver was when we saw the best roll a few hundred yards beyond the bird. A biggish dorsal fin and quite a long back suggested a Bottle Nosed Dolphin but scan as we might we couldn’t pick it up again.
Just in time for our Dolphin Watch at the weekend :-) 

We got back to the office quite happy with the 20 minute watch!

A good day had a perfect end.

There was a fine display of Starling murmuration at the pier too as we were stuck at the traffic lights, well over 10000 at a very rough guess. Shame we couldn't stop but the vivid sunset had died down a bit by then anyway.

Where to next? More dolphins tomorrow? Oh we do hope so!

In the meantime let us know what's leaping out of the water in your outback.

Sunday morning citizen science

The Safari headed back out to our Winter Thrushes Survey square today in much more amenable conditions - cool yes with frost on the grass but blue skies and no wind! Before we'd got to the end of our street we watched a flock of 12 Jackdaws going over. Almost at the start of the walk through our square we had a Song Thrush fly overhead which turned out to be the only one of the morning. 

A slug had been caught out by the cold and was heading home verrrrryyyyy verrrrryyyyy slowly.  Several Robins and Dunnocks were calling and in its usual thicket we heard the Goldcrest again. Once on our mapped path we noted the Blackbirds of which there were many and most were feeding on Hawthorn berries but there was some chase me chase me going on and a lot of calling. 

Calling, not singing

Oooh chase me chase me

It took a while to find the first Redwing but we later had a flighty flock of five. A Skylark was heard but unseen when looked for overhead and a Sparrowhawk tazzed between the houses near the end of our survey.

All good stuff; we'll do the next one in two weeks time. 

The friendly horses looked good backlit by the morning sun but it was now to warm for their steamy breath to be seen.

On the way back to Base Camp we noticed the slug, a Black Slug (Arion ater) had only moved about a millimetre so we picked him up and placed him under a shrub in a garden well out of harms way.

We had hoped to get out fairly soon after breakfast but a non-starting Land Rover put paid to that plan...it was a while before the diesel had warmed enough to burn...a visit to the garage is booked! So it was a little before lunchtime when we eventually hit the road and headed to the nature reserve.

Frank hasn't been to the nature reserve for ages and he was excited so much so that it took nearly an hour to walk the couple of hundred yards along the embankment and by eck was it chilly in the light easterly breeze...very reminiscent of the East Bank at Cley! He sniffed here and scent marked there and waddled through the deep puddle at the edge of the path as he's done hundreds of times before but with renewed vigour today. His 'speed' allowed us to count two Cetti's Warblers and a Water Rail in the reeds. On the water we got 156 Coot with probably a few unseen along the reed edge below us, 14 Wigeon and the flock of  Canada and Grey Lag Geese numbered almost 200, count em if you like!

Looking the other way there was a gorgeous male Kestrel on the closest wires and 139 Linnets on the furthest wires. A handful of Redwings gorged on Hawthorn berries in the hedge along the big barn while a flock of about 100 Fieldfares with a few Redwings thrown in for good measure came from the east but headed off northwards before getting too close.

There were four Whooper Swans visible on a flash in the field to the south east but driving down the hill earlier we'd seen about 100 in another flood further towards to far corner. Pink Footed Geese flew over at regular intervals.

We had wanted to wait for the Starlings to come in but our toes decided otherwise and we gave up, but not before this young Mute Swan winged its way close above our head.

 Where to next? Back to the vagaries of Patch 2 tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know what's flying close overhead in your outback.

The Safari took Frank out and spotted these rather colourful leaves had been swizzled round in a neat little pile by our  gatepost, nice and bright against the dull grey of the paving slabs in the street.

A brief conversation about Bramblings with CR resulted in being offered a lift to see if we could find and photograph the Snow Bunting that had been seen on the beach a few miles up the road yesterday.

Within just a few minutes we pulled in to the car park by the lake where a few gulls and Turnstones were already beginning to roost up in anticipation of the high tide.

Black Headed Gull in winter plumage

We weren't sure exactly which bit of the beach to look at so we headed south along the strandline where we came across numerous Edible Crab carapaces with their distinctive 'pie-crust' edge. This one was a monster as can be seen by the size 9 footprint for scale. We don't get these on the beach at Patch 2 so they were a pleasant surprise. A few native Oysters were also found mostly very old worn ones including one eaten away by a Boring Sponge (not at all boring but interestingly hole-drilling)

Snow was forecast and for once the forecasters weren't wrong. In the few breaks in the cloud we could see a fair smattering of snow on the higher tops of the Lake District. This is the outlying fell Black Combe, at just 1970feet (600m) high and in close proximity to the sea it doesn't often keep much snow, today it melted fairly quickly but was replaced by each passing shower.

After meeting up with MMcG we traipsed up the beach and down the beach with nothing to show for our traipsing but a handful of Sanderlings and a few more Turnstones, individuals of both species gave us 'false alarms' as did a flock of Linnets that flew up from the lower strandline. 

Eventually MMcG spotted the buntings only feet in front of us on a stretch of beached we'd been over twice before - where had they been hiding? So close were they at first they were too close for us to focus on with the long lens!Yes there were now two of them, doubling the count JS had yesterday!

Unfortunately they were very mobile and seemed to prefer the shaded areas which wasn't good for pics on such a dull day...not only that but they just never kept still. We fired a feew shots off of which these are easily the 'best' but we did get some stonking views in the bins...Snow Bunting in the bag (W-274; BI-188) - very happy!

With a few minutes to spare CR wanted to have a go at the four Goldeneyes on the lake, our and his first of this back end. They were a bit distant for our lens so we decided to have a go at the Turnstone roost, but were initially distracted by a young Herring Gull.

We snuck up on the Turnstones by doing this! You'll be thrilled to learn we managed to smear Turnstone and gull sh*t* all over our coat/trousers etc...

Where to next? We're in charge of Frank tomorrow so might well get out on safari somewhere as his leg is getting much better and he needs a bit of exercise and excitement.
In the meantime let us know what's got you crawling around on all fours in your outback.

Thrushless old soak

The Safari saw the Peregrine roosting on the tower last night for the first time in a long time. It was tucked up tight against on e of the comms cables doing its best to keep out of the wind and rain/hail. By the time we got out this morning it had already left - probably deciding tucking in to some nice warm pigeon/wader innards for breakfast was a better option than snuggling up to cold wet concrete slab.

We weren't out as early as we have been this morning leaving it a little later to give the thrushes time to wake up and get active for our first Winter Thrush Survey  of the season...better late than never as the survey officially began in mid September.

We planned to do the Brambling zone then head in to our 'square' for the  thrushes. Dunnock and Robin were at the reedbed. A Goldcrest called from the thicket and a few Blackbirds were feeding in the Hawthorns by the ditch on the way but the weather was looking seriously ominous - it looked like we were going to get wet.  

Who said Blackpool was all Kiss me Quick Hats and penny arcades?

Arriving at the zone we saw the seed was still on the path and obviously uneaten. Several Blue Tits and Great Tits were in the hedge along with another Robin but only two Chaffinches. Five Blackbirds were here but we were still ' off-survey'.

The big black cloud above us unleashed its fury in a terrific rattle of hail, so violet was it that the horses in field cantered to the hedge to get some shelter. Here, still off-survey, were another half dozen Blackbirds...with the downpour the field looked really good for a Ring Ouzel but sadly none dropped in...one day perhaps???

The hail turned to steady heavy rain and looking in the direction it was coming from the sky was evenly dismal - time to cut our losses and make a dash for Base Camp and a warming cuppa and slice of toast.

As we turned to leave a small flock of Long Tailed Tits moved through the bushes and we noted three Grey Squirrels arguing high in a Sycamore. Looking up at them we decided to risk a couple of arty autumn colour shots.

So no survey and no thrushes apart from Blackbirds - we'll try again tomorrow.

Where to next? Might be able to get out again a bit later this arvo,

In the meantime let us know how wet it gets in your outback.

Struggling today

The Safari was pleased with the Brambling yesterday afternoon and really hopes the finch flock finds the seed we’ve put down and sticks around. Be good to see the Bramblings here all winter, not sure how many are present now but 4+ was the number reported about a week ago.

Today the wind was well and truly up and the Patch 2 experience a somewhat chilly windswept affair – think our wig is stuck on tree somewhere in Yorkshire! – The tide was out and a reasonable strandline had been left by the receding waters. A couple of dozen Oystercatchers and our best count of the season so far of Sanderlings, a mighty 17 of them...it’s still early days for the beach though. A fair number of uncounted Common Gulls were down there too...anyone fancy picking out a Mew Gull after the next trans-Atlantic depression has passed?

Note the new widget in the side bar showing the current ppm CO2 in our atmosphere. Up from 250ppm 23 years ago to 291 ppm now. OK 300ppm is a very small proportion - 1/3333th – and may not sound much but think of it like beer (or any other alcoholic drink). One litre of beer is a little under a kilogramme and so about 1% of our body weight but only 0.05% of the beer is alcohol so only 1/2000^th of my body weight is ‘active ingredient’ – Our physical mechanisms can cope with a litre of beer but add a little bit more and we begin to feel the consequences, continue adding the beer and well you can guess the rest...so to those who say there’s only a tiny amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and adding a tiny bit more won’t make any difference we say think again. 

Was ‘Super-storm’ Sandy a product of climate change? Don’t suppose we’ll know for a few years, we’ll have to wait and see if the frequency, track and intensity of hurricanes changes over the next few decades – by then of course New York (and other places) may well have been washed off the map.

We’ve never actually heard of a Superstorm before (neither has spellchecker :-) ) but here’s a definition stolen from an American who seems to know a bit about the weather systems over there from here

“Sandy was a tropical cyclone. It started out, as is typical, as a tropical depression. Then it strengthened to become a tropical storm. Then it strengthened to become a hurricane. Then it lost some of the defining characteristics of a hurricane and met up with other weather fronts, which caused it to lose the characteristics that defined it as a tropical cyclone and it became a subtropical cyclone -- another meteorological term used for storms with certain defined parameters.

Superstorm is a name attached to it as non-scientific reference to reflect that it was a big storm fed by multiple weather systems.”

So now you know what a Superstorm is...flippin wet by the look of it...maybe it’ll make some of those in financial power over there sit up and take note at what they might be causing...some chance they’ll keep saying all these events are just freak weather and nothing to do with a changing climate.

The blustery remains of Sandy are currently bringing blizzard conditions to central eastern Canada it will eventually fizzle out there without bringing any whoopy-dooo North American birds our way.

No chance of a lunchtime seawatch today as algal foam was being blown over the top of our office building and onto the green at the back! This is nothing to do with Sandy and is just normal Blackpool Illuminations windy weekend weather.

So we had a brief watch of the new work feeder were a small flock of Starlings, a single House Sparrow and a really camera-shy Robin but no Blue Tits.

Not a Blue Tit in sight

 

 

Where to next? Not sure what the weekend might bring.

In the meantime let us know if the weather allowed observations in your outback.

Cooling down

The Safari’s ears noted a significantly autumnal feel to the weather at the sea wall this morning – they were telling us it was cold and they weren’t whispering! There is a definite change in the weather coming this weekend with the likelihood of a smattering of snow on the higher ground to the north east of Safariland.

Nothing of note was out to sea even the Common Scoters were few and far between and far out (man) barely able to be seen in the dreadful light conditions.

A flock of gulls swooped about just this side of an approaching hailstorm that looked as though they may have been into a shoal of fish close to the surface.

Overhead a Meadow Pipit will be one of the last migrants of the year we get here and on the beach we had our best count of the season so far of both Redshanks, 16, and Turnstones, seven.

Back in the warmth of the offices through the window we saw an Oystercatcher feeding with a handful of Black Headed Gulls on the lawn.

We didn’t go to the wall this lunchtime choosing instead to run the gauntlet of the elements and walk over the railway bridge to the pet shop in search of some Blue Tit and Brambling attracting wild bird food. We hadn’t got far when a sharp shower of hail rattled off the hood of our waterproofs. Thankfully the wind was at our back and the return journey was shower free.

Fatballs have been installed in the Blue Tit zone and seed spread for the Bramblings. We hung around the Brambling zone for half an hour after work with JS and FB and after a few false alarms we got one as we were almost back to the Land Rover. Happy days! But will the food work by bringing them down to ground level?

A Lords and Ladies seedhead was a nice find - didm't notice it during the summer

Hope this cold snap gives us Waxwings!!! Hot news this arvo was of six only a few hundred yards away from Ma n Da’s back garden in Liverpool, must be some round here before too long.

Yesterday's caterpillar was an Angle Shades moth.

Where to next? Who kmows what tomorrow might bring.

In the meantime let us know what's poking out of the multi-coloured leaf litter in your outback