Good old murmurations save the day

The Safari enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over an almost mirror calm sea this morning, even the hazy clouds in the  far western sky took on the colours of a sunset. The cool but not cold conditions were just about perfect apart from the light swell that was large enough to hide Herring Gulls for a few seconds. The low post-dawn sunlight making them shine with a rosy hue. We find it amazing that the sea can calm down so quickly after being so tempestuous only a few hours earlier.

The excellent visibility didn't help us find anything over exciting. As we scanned we could only find a couple of small flocks of Common scoters, a single Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Cormorants flying out to sea. More Black Headed Gulls than we normally see were loafing on the water, even thoughthe tide was well out and there was an enormous swathe of beach to forage on. You'd have thought there would have been rich pickings on the strandline after yesterday's storm  but the beach was more or less empty. The pool at the side of the outfall pipe held the majority of birds, several gulls and Oystercatchers and three Redshanks…well it did hold the majority of the birds until a dog walker took his mutt towards them and they fluxhed welll down the. All that expanse of beach to walk in and he aims directly for the only flock of birds - plonker!

On the way back to Base Camp this evening we weren't stuck in traffic long enough to enjoy the Starlings, at least 5000 at Central Pier and perhaps 15-20000 at North Pier were putting on a show for several people enjoying/photographing/videoing them which was great to see.

Hot news from the Lancashire Moth Recorders was that two species of micro we trapped in the garden during the crappiest moth trapping season ever, Dichrorampha alpinana and Pammene fasciana, are both new for 10km square SD33. Would you credit it? 

 

Where to next? Working out of town tomorrow and maybe a small chance of getting out somewhere a bit more unusual before yet more Christmas shopping has to be done.

In the meantime let us know wwho's watching what swirl around in your outback. 

A dull day

The Safari watched the rain hammering down this morning and we didn’t dare venture out.

By lunchtime we looked out of the window to see the rain had eased so we grabbed the scope and headed out. There wasn’t much to see, as the cloud was so low we could hardly see the sea.  Rain was looming large not too many minutes away. To compound matters the wind was driving the rising tide well up the wall even though we were there a good hour and a half before high tide.

We scanned a few times before picking out a small flock of Common Scoters trying to rest on the heavy sea – do they never get sea-sick? A Great Crested Grebe was seen briefly before being lost in the waves and we watched two Cormorants heading towards the mouth of the river...that was enough we were getting wet with spray from the other side of the wall – time to call it a day and get back indoors. Total number of birds seen was less than 20 including the two Blackbirds listening for worms  on the front lawn.

We have, at long last, finished reading Mark Avery’s Fighting for Birds. It’s taken us rather longer than the single sitting it took Chris Packham! Still it’s a good read and to think he did all that (and more) while we have been a member of the RSPB and we’d never heard of him until he’d left the organisation. We had already come across some of his earlier work and not realised it...he was the author of the Sandwich Tern pages in the last Atlas...

The chapters cover a variety of conservation issues that have hit the headlines over the last 25 years giving the view from the ‘inside'.

If Britain wants to retain its green and pleasant image (image is often all it is as we're not that green and in more than some situations rather unpleasant too) the conservation movement is going to have to be victorious in many more such battles before the war is won, if it ever can be.

If anything it is a call to arms to all who wish to defend our precious wildlife against all those who don't understand it's importance to the  well being of the human species and who are prepared to ride roughshod over it.
It should be an essential read for up-and-coming Environmental Scientists, aging  naturalists like the Safari so as we can see what has been going on in our name, land managers so as they can learn that profit and nature conservation are far from mutually exclusive and politicians so that they ensure the right decisions can be made without compromising the natural world.

We’ve adapted this from the final few paragraphs.

At least once a week look up at the stars and realise that our tiny speck of dust, the Earth, may have the largest life-form that has ever existed, the Blue Whale (despite us humans doing our very best to kill them off). Down on earth you can also smell the scent of pine trees and hear the exalting song of Skylarks. Just take a few moments to revel in the wonder of the natural world around you every now and then, there’s a small chance it might not exist anywhere else in the vastness of the universe! And always remember we’re very much a part of nature not apart from it!

It’s a good read...then act on it!

Also a very good read and waiting for you to download onto all those new Kindle machines you’ve been buying as Christmas present is our very own What a  Monster Week! Brilliantly illustrated by James McLean  

Where to next? Please no rain on Patch 2 tomorrow.
in the meantime let us know what the library shelves are groaning under the weight of in your outback.

Failed miserably

The Safari was at the nature reserve in good time for the guided walk and got set up ready for the Ranger to bring the expectant birders round. Trouble was we couldn't find any Long Eared Owls to show them. As beautiful as Fieldfares are they don't make up for not seeing the advertised owls, a gloriously bright Canary-like Greenfinch tucking into Rose hips didn't cut the ornithological mustard either. Nor did a Great Spotted Woodpecker perched high in a distant tree, most people expect them right by the kitchen window on their bird tables these days. The Ranger set off to see if the owls were in one of their other favoured roost spots and left us to hold the fort while he was gone. Seven Whooper Swans could be heard on the water but we could only just about see them as they swam past a small gap in the trees and although fascinating Bee Orchid rosettes aren't that over-exciting either!

Over-flying Pink Footed Geese are always good to see and hear.

The group continued their walk and we went to collect some firewood. We got two bags worth - or a about enough for a month's burning in Little Bertha. We locked the gate behind us when we'd finished and called in to say we'd done so - it was then we saw we'd missed a call. The call we made shocked us...while we'd had our head down with loppers and saw we'd missed a Little Egret on the scrape - it might still have been present. we were given permission to drive round but those two gates to unlock and lock behind us had us fretting. As we arrived MJ and EP called us over to the bench and told us they were following an Iceland Gull they'd briefly seen at the far end. Our scopes were soon up and the three of us scanned but to no avail. The Little Egret wasn't visible from where we were stood but MJ said it should be still on the scrape 'around the corner' from the Grey Heron we could see. We drove a little further and discovered the Little Egret had done a bunk!

Not doing very well, were we? 

We had a few minutes looking at the gulls just in case the Iceland returned. It didn't but this Herring Gull with its head on upside down flew past.

 Gulls were coming and going all the time, bobbing in for a bathe.

A Cetti's Warbler sang to our left and a Water  Rail squealed to our right but we saw neither.

Good numbers of Teal were seen but none with a vertical white stripe. Wigeon were heard whistling  and a fine and dandy drake Pochard swam past - where are all his mates, they seem horrendously scarce this season.

All too soon  it was time to go. totally dipped out!

Where to next? Patch 2 might provide some interest but then again...but we're always hopeful and if we don't look we deffo won't see. what do they say...if you don't go out you wont see nowt!

In the meantime let us know what successfully avoided the optics in your outback.

Yet more thrush news

The Safari was out well before dawn (o5.30!!!) with a desperate Frank; opening the front door we were serenaded by a wall of sound from at least two each of Robin and Blackbird, all very spring-like after only three days of 'wintery' weather. A nice way to start the day even if we did go back to bed.

A little later, once we'd properly woken up, we were out on the North Blackpool Pond Trail armed with binoculars, pen and clipboard for our bi-weekly BTO Winter Thrushes Survey, too many hands are needed to take the camera.

Before we got to the point where we start counting we already had a number of Blackbirds all foraging around on the ground after the thaw, or were there no berries left? Two Redwings eyed us cautiously from the 'other side' of a tree.

And then it all went quiet! In the Community Orchard we expected at least one bird but saw none and only heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker give one call. Through the gate and onto the count-zone we started to pick up odds and sods of Blackbirds but more interestingly a Mistle Thrush started to sing behind us, three species of thrush so far and we'd only just put pen to record sheet, but would we get a Redwing later actually on the survey?

The very fiercely trimmed Cotoneaster hedge on the industrial estate is still covered in berries and gave us the highest concentration of Blackbirds, seven in only twice as many yards even though a bloke having a smoke outside his office told us the Sparrowhawk had tazzed through only a couple of minutes earlier and might have been in the hedge by the pond on the other side of the road, we looked but found a Magpie and another Blackbird instead.

On the cut through behind the back of the houses and the back of the factories gave us a really nice flock of very hard to count, House Sparrows, 25-ish(?). A flock of Long Tailed Tits contained a Goldcrest and on the wet mown grass at the edge of the path a Song Thrush listened for worms with four Blackbirds.

The rest of the survey square was more or less birdless and very very wet underfoot...and then we came 'off-square', but still on survey, rounded the corner and got half a dozen Fieldfares feeding on the plethora of berries still left on the remnant hedgerow with at least 30 more Blackbirds.

Back in the Community Orchard and now off-survey three Grey Squirrels chased each other round the big Sycamore tree and a/the Great Spotted Woodpecker landed in a high branch and started to tap for hidden grubs.

The finch flock was around again by the dyke and as we watched a multitude of Goldfinches and Chaffinches we had  a text from CR who lives nearby that the Brambling had been in his garden a little earlier. We didn't have time to look for it as we had to get back to Base Camp.

Not much else during the rest for the day which was spent indoors but a brief venture outside with Frank gave us another flock of Long Tailed Tits with a Coal Tit with them this time.

In the garden a Black Headed Gull was seen on the top of the roof - not often we see them up there, Herring Gulls regularly but hardly ever a Black Head. A Blackbird clattered out of the far end of garden from under the trees and a couple of Woodpigeons were lurking under the feeder for spilled seed. Unfortunately for them nothing seems to be coming to the feeder to spill anything for them...so we emptied it out in advance of a good clean - they'll think Christmas has come early when they find the piles tomorrow morning!
A somewhat odd find was a Garden Snail making its way across the footpath on our late evening mooch out with the big fella - temperature just 6C but that's gotta be better for a snail than the -4C it has been this week.  

Where to next? The nature reserve beckons tomorrow morning and helping out with the first of the season's Long Eared Owl walks - hope they are on show and haven't buried themselves deep and low in the scrub.

In the meantime let us know what's enjoying the thaw in your outback.

Thrush again

The Safari arrived at work early in the pre-dawn morning to find the Song Thrush was still hopping around by the front door at work, didn’t expect to see it again, will it be there tomorrow?

Nothing of note was seen on a hazy sea during a very short and very chilly Patch 2 watch.

By lunchtime the sun had been out taking the temperature to a balmy 0°C. The sea was quiet apart from a southbound flock of 12 Pintail.

A dark small wader with a wide wing bar flitting past made us look more closely at the beach. A count of the waders gave us 33 Sanderlings, four Redshanks, a Turnstone and four of the ‘mystery’ wader – Ringed Plovers; a species that has been very scarce on the beach this year. A very welcome addition to the day’s birding.

Bit of a strange days with two pieces of local (and not so local environmental news).

First the gas fracking in the local fields has been given the go ahead. Ids this good or is this bad? Hard to say but we will betaking pictures of all our walls and ceilings this weekend so as our solicitor can see we had no cracks in the walls before the fracking began and the tremors (= earthquakes) start. Rather than dash for gas we'd be better investing  in the need for less energy full stop. If the astronauts in the ISS can wear t-shirts with the thinnest of skins around them and an external temperature which varies between -160 C and +120 C why are our homes so poorly insulated???

The sea this morning had a huge heat haze over it, surely it's not beyond the wit of man to be able to use that infinite source of energy...probably isn't but they couldn't make any money out of it...should the warmth be a profit making commodity?

Next up from the 'Greenest Government Ever!' was the announcement of ONLY 31 of 127 proposed Marine Conservation Zones being put forward for consultation. At least one of those 31 is Patch 2, let's hope it gets through the consultation without a hitch. The Cook Islands managed a far bigger success - shame on our pathetic shower!

On a final environmental matter that cropped up yesterday we've had to write to our MP and MEPs to ask what the hell is going on...and when is it going to addressed...we have HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BLATANT AND WANTON LAW BREAKING and destruction of our natural heritage.
Maybe our local Area of  Outstanding Natural Beauty's logo should look like this

Where to next? What will turn up tomorrow? - strong wind and heavy rain probably.

In the meantime let us know who needs warming up in your outback.

Pink footed buses

The Safari arrived at work on a freezing dawn which brought a Song Thrush (P2 #89) to the front garden as we were unlocking the front door and get in the warm...nowhere warm for the poor thrush though but there might have been some unfrozen ground underneath the dense perimeter hedge and there are usually a few snails to be found under there too

Too foggy to go out for a shuffy at Patch 2 this morning but it was very good to hear more Pink Footed Geese flying overhead especially as we were sat at our desk, made the lack of getting out a little more bearable.

The conditions at lunchtime weren't much better and that light breeze was cruel; all we could see of any note were a few Sanderlings chasing round on the quickly expanding beach.

Where to next? Better visibility tomorrow?

In the meantime let us know how cold it was in your outback.

Not the Plaice to be

The Safari braved the freezing chill this morning and because there was no wind it was far more comfortable than expected. A shimmery heat haze danced over the horizon reducing the small flocks of Common Scoters to indeterminate wobbly blobs

A few Cormorants flew this way and that but certainly nothing like the large numbers of a week or so ago. No gulls were up and about fishing to give any hint of the whereabouts of fish shoals; all those we saw were loafing on the flat sea waiting for the tide to ebb.

Scanning several times eventually paid dividends when close in, actually not that close about half the distance again as the low water mark so getting on for 2/3 – 3/4 mile, we watched a big bull Grey Seal tearing in to a large flat-fish, possibly a Plaice.

With our eye to the scope our ears picked up the unmistakable sound of geese in the distance. Looking up a chevron of 42 Pink Footed Geese was coming towards us at some height from the due west. A very late date to be adding this species to the year list for Patch 2 (#88).

By lunchtime the sea was even flatter but there was very little to see. Two Great Crested Grebes dived close behind the water’s edge and much further out a small flock of Common Scoters had a Red Throated Diver in its midst.

A peculiar looking root on a floating log had us guessing for a minute but we couldn’t turn it into anything more exciting.

A check through the few gulls on the beach didn’t turn up anything out of ordinary but there were a handful of Oystercatchers and Sanderlings along with a Redshank or two. 

A cold night beckons as there are extensive areas of frost still on the lawns in the works garden where the sun doesn't quite reach at this time of year...they'll be frozen a little more solid tomorrow making it more difficult for the Blackbirds to get to the worms.

At the garden gate at Base Camp we spotted these two tiny little frozen fungi growing at the base of our rosebush.

Where to next? More of the chilly but hopeful same.

In the meantime let us know who's having a fish supper in your outback.