A W or two

The Safari didn't get anything on Patch 2 today, it was as dead as...eventually we found a couple of Manx Shearwaters.

A mega turned up this arvo in the work's garden - a Woodpigeon (P2 #67)!!! Doesn't sound much but they aren't annual here!

Then we were trying to photograph some bees including a small Coletes type, we failed with that one but got a whopper of an unknown species.

As we were bee-ing we spotted a plant that we'd not seen before right by the cafe door - where'd that come from? Certainly not a species we've planted or would even consider planting on the very dry free draining soil here - Water Figwort - where'd that come from? 

We went to work on the bike today for the first time in three or four years - wonder what well be like in the morning but we were fit and able enough to take Frank to Magpie Wood where the Buttercups, both Creeping and Meadow were stunning.

Where to next? More excitement from Patch 2
In the meantime let us know what's golden yellow in your outback.

Extreme snake

The Safari didn't manage to get out today but the paint brush saw some serious action and now our hands are really struggling so we'll be brief. 

This morning's emptying of the moth trap didn't take long, we're uncertain that this is the Uncertain...looks good for one but last year they didn't appear until late July!

LATE EDIT - It's a Mottled Rustic

The garden gave no photo opportunities at all but we did hear a Swift, too high to see - they've been very thin on the ground (or in the air) round here this season, worryingly thin!

We did see a female or juvenile House Sparrow in the top of the Bird Cherry tree drop down to the feeder which is now obscured by foliage from almost everywhere except the kitchen window...good to see the spuggies returning for their usual June sunny seed sessions, missed them last year and are relieved they are back. The Wrens have been very busy to-ing and fro-ing in and out of the defunct hanging basket - couldn't hear any little voices but the content activity suggests little beaks need feeding.

Luckily our Extreme Photographer has been out. today so you've got a variety of quality pics to enjoy rather than the dross you usually have to put with.

First up his Adder from last night, note the milky eye indicating that the animal is about to slough its skin. This first one nearly got away

This female stood her ground...the same one that we photographed rather poorly

Today he's visited a few different habitats. 

Eastern Grey Squirrel with Cuckoo-spit on its head - we heard Cuckoo out on the moss last night. DW asked why we had EGS here - they were introduced not far from where we were last night by the Victorians who had no idea what disasters they were about to inflict on the natural world by moving various species round the world.

Nice Leech!

Mistle Thrush and nestlings.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 tomorrow, wonder if today's North Shore Harbour Porpoises  move down south a few miles.

In the meantime let us know who's been doing all the wildlifing for you in your outback.

Every cloud has a silver lining...and sometimes it's actually golden!

The  Safari is issuing a RANT WARNING; those of a nervous disposition should scroll down to the pretty pictures later in the post.

We had an evening soiree planned with the crew from the South-side and for that we'd need some 'baggin' (aka 'snap') as we'd be setting off before tea-time, so Wifey headed to the shops for pies n stuff and returned with a copy of the local paper...we NEVER get that...bear in mind that 8th June is always World Oceans Day...have alook at the front page...shocking!

WHAT??? A seaside town without seagulls??? You really couldn't make it up! Not only that the town's crest/coat of arms has a seagull slap bang in the middle of it!!!

Not sure what the four-legged ant thing is 

A classic case of if there's a problem blame the wildlife and get rid of it, no matter that the river catchment for our beaches contains probably well over a million people all putting lordy knows what down the drains. The gulls thrive because of the vast amounts of litter that are left...by humans; and have learned to rip open plastic bags of rubbish put out overnight by the countless takeaways...get up earlier and out it out just before the  refuse wagon comes in the morning. Some days the drive to work looks like Litter Armageddon just happened. The lads do sterling work picking it all up but they don;t start til 06.00 and the gulls are up n at em around 03.30 now. They are just taking advantage of our sloppy, lazy ways then get all the stick - WRONG we're supposed to be the clever ones, time to get a bit cleverer - or a lot less lazy...and to any tourists out there...you obviously like coming herree so why sh*t the place up with your crap when you leave - bin it or take it home done't leave it on our streets you dirty b******s!!!

But which species is going to get it in the neck next; arre there too many seal and porpoises pooping in the sea, will they have to go too, what about the fish - oh there aren't any the trawlers have got rid of that problem for us, then there's 10000+ waders on the saltmarshes all pooping away that'll wash onto the beaches...get real, there's nothing wrong with wanting clean wholesome bathing waters but there are limits and we should be looking closely at ourselves first before pointing fingers at innocent wildlife.

By the way the sea is not dirty - its much much much cleaner that it was 20 years ago and orders of magnitude cleaner than in the resorts heyday when visitors were like ants on the beach - you really didn't want to go in the water then! Probably cleaner now than for any time in the last 100 years, it's just that the new EU regulations are stricter..and so they should be the sea is NOT a dumping ground!

Ahh dumping that brings us nicely on to rant number two again associaterd with World Oceans Day and our unsympathetic, unsustainable and downright callous use of wildlife.

We went to the beach to find it full of families enjoying the beautiful sunshine. The sand was golden, the tide was in ( and clean!) the big boys were playing with their toys.

Frank had a little play with his ball and a paddle

and in the midst of all this a fisherman had been digging bait and chucked away wait he didn't want/couldn't use...no thought of not digging so many Lugworms or taking them home and freezing them...no chuck em and get some more - what a waste! And then fishermen often have the audacity to say they are 'guardians of the environment' well a few might be but a fair proportion aren't.

 The Speckled Sea Lice will take ages to eat that lot!

Enough of the ranting on the with the proper stuff...

The previous night's moth trapping was the best of the year so far with two moths and two caddisflies  succumbing to the lure of the UV light.

Another, more normally marked, Scalloped Hazel and a Bee Moth along with two individuals of Mystacides longicornis.

A very poor showing and we're getting worried about the fate of our moths round here.

Eventually evening came round and we picked up our Extreme Photographer and headed down the motorway to meet up with the gang, from where we followed their lead to our site for the night.

And what a site it is, somehow we've never been there before; 85 ha of mature woodland surrounding a remnant lowland mire - beautiful. We were taken up to the tower hide  by the Ranger and were duly impressed with the surroundings. So much so that we spent so much time taking it all in we totally forgot to get the camera out! A Buzzard flapped lazily at eye-level and away over the trees while a Yellowhammer looked for all the world like  a Canary in the scrub below us.

A train rattled by in the distance beyond the far trees on the world's first ever railway line between built between two cities.

The central part of the reserve is former peat workings, manually extracted by hard work rather than machine cut like the illegal turf cutting going on in Ireland at the moment.

The Rangers have been busy creating bunds and blocking drains over the last 20 years or so in an attempt to rewet the peat and it's working

They've also been removing encroaching scrub and invasive non-native Rhododendron all of which is having the effect that Sphagnum Moss is regrowing and the area is once again become an active raised bog...gonna take a long long time to get it back to pristine but the longest journeys start with the shortest of steps...and more importantly it doesn't take humans long to undo what Nature took thousands of years to create!

In the low evening sun the Cotton Grass was looking splendid

In areas were mire vegetation was becoming well established Round Leaved Sundew was found in abundance, this one had caught an insect (arrowed) despite being rather smothered in Cotton Grass seeds - an occupational hazard here we would imagine.

But it wasn't the plants we had come to see, here's a clue...

Now what might live under refugia like these???

We got a Slow Worm under an early lift, close but not close enough! Then a few lifts further on we connected with our quarry for the evening - an Adder! our first in Britain - - at laaaaaasssstttttttt!!!

Too quick for a pic on this very warm evening. The warmth somehow hadn't brought the dragonflies out and we only saw one 4-Spotted Chaser all the time we were out so there were none of the hoped for Hobbys that are a specialty of the site.

The Ranger lifted more tiles for us until at last another Adder and this time it stuck around just about long enough

Shame about those two grass leaves right in front of her face. getting pics wasa nightmare, the light under the tiles was dark but all around was bathed in strong low sunlight...we pitied the poor camera - our Extreme Photographer might have got a much better shot from a slightly different angle - we'll wait and see what he sends through.

An excellent evening our with the Hesitant Weasel (that's him in the white t-shirt above) and crew and thanks to all involved especially the Ranger for taking the time to take us in to this normally out of bounds part of the reserve. We'll certainly be visiting this most very excellent site again and aren't sure now why we've never been before - been missing a treat!

And it wasn't quite all over, after dropping of our Extreme Photographer back home we tired but happy drove the lat three miles and waiting at the last set of traffic lights we had a Peregrine fly over going to its roost site in the town centre followed by about half a dozen Swifts - good end to a perfect evening especially after all the earlier rants - all is not lost keep up the good work folks!

And we got three Kestrel records for the current survey...please take part if you can.
Where to next? Another hot day so we probably won't be out with Frank til it cools down a bit and we've got chores with a paint brush to do in the garden so news from Base Camp is quite likely - what will we find?
In the meantime let us know where  you have been missing in your outback.

No cetaceans but more than adequate recompense

The Safari saw that the sea was like a mirror this morning and we couldn't wait to get the scope on to the wall. The sea was ideal, the weather perfect and the visibility as clear as a bell so what could go wrong? Hardly any marine life that's what!

We struggled to find a couple  of Grey Seals and a Sandwich Tern, extremely distant, almost off Liverpool rather than Blackpool a flock of diving white specks were an unknowable number of Gannets.

Disappointing doesn't cover it and lunchtime was even worse, by now it was hazy from the near-middle distance and just nothing was out there at all.

But all was not lost we had a site to visit on the way home to check for local goodies. As soon as we got there we saw that there had been a hatch of Craneflies - they were everywhere! Good food for the Whitethroats that were in their usual bush. White butterflies were enjoying the warmth and we managed all three species, namely Large and Small White and Green Veined White.

Our  target species were likely to be found under refugia so we lifted them up to find...nothing beneath them! Walking round the pond we found a locally rare plant in reasonable numbers, Common Meadow Rue. Enough to have this site declared a County Biological Heritage Site.

Very pleased with ourselves for confirming this plant is still present here.

Wandering further round we started disturbing numbers of Blue Tailed Damselflies from the vegetation. One of  them was bluer and brighter than the others, our first Common Blue Damselfly of the year.

Over the water a sudden movement caught our eye; not one but two then three Broad Bodied Chasers careering around after each other - their aeronautical skills were an amazing sight to behold. One was kind enough to land just a few feet away.

We were able to sneak a few inches closer and got a frame filler

Under the next refugia we found a small Frog and a Smooth Newt - best check it just in case as this pond is quite peaty and acidic

Yep, with a spotty chin like that it's deffo a Smooth rather than  Palmate Newt.

The final refugia held a bit of a surprise, a couple of mammals, and one of them stayed still enough long enough for us to be able to fire  a couple of shots off.

Short Tailed Field Voles are pretty cute but don't try to keep them in a small tank, they don't half fight!!!

Where to next? Gates and garage doors to creosote tomorrow but we've got an exciting evening trip meeting up with our mates from the South-side...all will be revealed on Sunday, fingers crossed we're successful.

In the meantime let us know what was under what you were turning over in your outback.

 

Oh happy day!

The Safari was looking at a fairly empty but flat calm sea this morning until four drake Eiders flew south followed very closely by two dozen Canada Geese (P2 #65) with another drake Eider in their midst.

Way out in the distance a Gannet plunged vertically from a spectacular height indicating fish at depth. Within minutes it was joined by several others, a few Manx Shearwaters and some white dots which could have been Kittiwakes or other gulls, some could have been Sandwich Terns but all the action was a long way offshore in the wibbly-wobbly haze.

A wander round the grounds with our landscape tidying team leader gave us a male Pied Wagtail with a gob full of food - wonder where the nest is.

Lunchtime saw us out on the seawall again but the sea was almost devoid of life other than a distant Grey Seal away to the south. Then it was time to take our group out on the beach with their pots and nets again. Just how many Necklace Shell egg ribbons can one group collect? Indeed if there were so many egg ribbons where were all the adults - we didn't find a single one!

Tower Shells, very apt for Blackpool, were found today which we didn't see yesterday although in general diversity of finds was a little lower today but there were more and larger Brown Shrimps and Common Prawns. Best find was probably a Green Shore Crab that was in the process of shedding its old skin and the new carapace could be seen beneath along the line of the split - we shoulda taken a pic but today's group seemed to have a knack of getting the water in their pots exceptionally muddy!

A few Dahlia Anemones were found but only very small specimens.

After the group had left on their coaches we got a tet from our mate saying he'd just been watching Springwatch in the Afternoon and seen one of our pics! On a piece about beachcombing - which is what we'd just finished doing!!! We had a look on iPlayer when we got home and had to wait a couple of hours for Episode 8 to appear on the menu. And there it was...

To say we're chuffed is a bit of an understatement....occasionally we see pics on the show from people we are 'friends' with on F/B or Twitter or a local name we recognise but whose face is a mystery, but to have them pick one of ours is a bit of an honour. They must have been short of beachy type pics cos this one was taken in early spring last year.

Before tea we took Frank for a little walk along the first part of the North Blackpool Pond Trail to check on the progress of the Bee Orchids. The first two we found had been trampled on and broken so they wont flower. But we did find a couple already to go, only a couple of days behind schedule.

Bring them on!
Where to next? No groups to take on the beach tomorrow but no doubt we'll be having a good look at the sea.
In the meantime let us know what's about to burst forth in your outback.

A right ol' mixed bag for you

The Safari has been up to all sorts this week as busy as a busy thing from Busyville Arizona! There hasn't been much at Patch 2. A Swift (P2 #65) was creaming overhead last night as we waited for the Beaver group, earlier there were four Grey Seals offshore. The Beaver troop arrived to the heady scent of Coconut emanating from the Gorse bushes. What a great scent it was almost intoxicating!

The Beavers got to work with their nets and pots in our pond. Within minutes  had Jaws in their net!!! How'd they manage that when the Young Uns so patently failed???

 One of the Beavers took hiom home to join the other fish in his garden pond - lucky Jaws; he was destined for the lake in the big park where he'd have to have run the gauntlet of Great Created Grebes, Herons, Pike and fishermen.

Now smaller creatures like this Water Hog Louse might have a reasonable chance of survival, although a few tiny fry 3-spined Sticklebacks prove there is a mummy and daddy in there somewhere - we didn't see them this time.

Today we had a school group on the beach this arvo and before they arrived we were watching a Harbour Porpoise away down the beach charging around more in the fashion of a Bottle Nosed Dolphin almopst fully breaching at times in very shallow water! It wasn't far offshore and despite the commotion and splashes it was making we didn't notice anyone else down on the beach notice it, with the warm weather there were a fair few folk down on the sands. One thing we did notice that was very very scary was a strange man in a vivid lime green Mankini - shouldn't be allowed!!!!!!! To draw our attention away from the sights on show a couple of Grey Seals were offshore, maybe they couldn't believe their eyes and were having a right good giggle too!

The gang arrived and got to work filling their buckets and trays with seaweeds and shells. Sea Gooseberries were a great hit with them. Good to know they knew that Starfish can regrow damaged arms - good job too for this battered individual!

Lots of Green Shore Crabs, both alive, peelers and cast skins were found but star find was this jaw from a Dogfish or Smooth-hound. Well we think that's what it is.

Hopefully our friendly marine biologist DB will be able to shed some light on it tomorrow. Not every day you find a bit of shark lying around. Suppose it could be a ray.
Where to next? Back on the beach with another group tomoroow....all good fun!
In the meantime let us know what's lying around waiting to be picked up in your outback

Blitzing it garden style

The Safari has spent much of the day in the garden at Base Camp today. The moth trap held an absolute zero - all 'minus 273' moffs nowhere near the trap!

Then it was time to have a blitz round the garden to see what we could find. We started at 10.00 and will finish at 10 tomorrow morning.

The plants didn't pose too many problems as we found nearly 30 species that have found their own way on to our patch - worst was an fairly sizeable Ash sapling we've not noticed before that will have the back wall down in a couple of years if we don't take a spade to it this summer!

We had a few sessions of observing with gaps for various reasons interspersed and we finished for tea at about 7pm at almost 70 species. The mothy is out and stealth-cam is peering at a pile of mealworms in the 'quiet' corner where hopefully a Hedgehog will make an appearance overnight.

We've had to use those clever iSpotters for a few things - which is in the rules, indeed it is encouraged.

The results of everyone's efforts will be recorded on iRecord and then on the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. Not that we've found anything that won't have been recorded in this area before - now if we'd been at work this week and done it in the garden there then we might have been able to add a dot or two to the maps.

A couple of things still awaiting an ID...

And still no beetles, butterflies or even an Earwig!  A bat would be nice this evening.

Where to next? Might go to the nature reserve early doors tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know what's being blitzed in your outback.