Billhooks at the ready

The Safari was able to get a good half hour or so at Lunt Meadows after our family duties at the end of last week. The sun was very bright and we thought the main attraction wouldn't be out n about until long after we'd had to leave. Long time birding chum JG was able to join us and told us of a Red Kite seen locally the previous day, we looked but there was no sign of it today.  Walking the riverbank we could see hundreds of Pink Footed Geese in the arable fields, they weren't too far away and the noise of their conversation was a delight to the ear. We stopped at the viewing screens from where the Short Eared Owls are often seen but word on the street marsh was that we'd just missed one having a quick fly round. 

We waited and waited as long as we could but eventually had to leave and head towards the car park. From our next vantage point five pr more minutes from the previous one we could see two Short Eared Owls flying around - how annoying! And within a few minutes J had counted no fewer than five in the air together! Too far for anything like a proper pic, these few are by far the best we could muster...if'd we stayed put a few minutes longer earlier we'd have been able to fill our boots with full frame pics in glorious low afternoon sunshine. The big question is will we have the opportunity to visit on a similar day later in the year.

Even at this range the views we got in our bins were spectacular, well worth bobbing in for on the way back to Base Camp.

Sunday afternoon we  had a jaunt out with Wifey and Monty to Scorton Nature Trail. It was quiet for birds but it's always a good walk round. There weren't many terrestrial fungi but many of the dead trees hosted huge numbers of fruiting bodies of many species, none of which we know the names of we're ashamed to say.

After all the recent rain the woods were flooded and  looked for all the world like the swamp forest of the south eastern United States.

Like those damp American forests there's plenty of epiphytes growing on the trunks of the larger trees, like this Bracken rooted in the thick layer of moss covering the bark of the living tree.

)

Detail of the Bracken spores

A possible quarry species had been seen a few times over the weekend and pics on the interweb were very tempting. All we needed was a sunny Monday morning, a sunny morning that didn't materialise leaving us a little frustrated but able to crack on with some jobs around Base Camp. Fortunately the sun came out at lunchtime and off we went 45 minutes down the road to a sewage works.

We pulled up and as soon as we got out of the car we were put on to the bird in question by the group of birders stood along the footpath around the side of the water works. We got a poor and almost inconclusive view in the darkness of the shrubs.  We got Monty out of the car and walked him further round the corner to stretch his legs. And wow just about the first bird we saw in a quickly moving flock of small birds was the Firecrest (189). We got crippling views of it with the bins as it worked its way through some felled stacked shrubs and bushes where it searched for tiny invertebrates. But could we get any pics? By eck it was tricky, never still and almost always hidden or at least half hidden in the twiggery.

Bottoms up - a typical view of the bright yellow feet

Close

Another quality typical view

Almost!

Darned twigs!

At least you can see its eye

Better

Much happier now!

Argh - motion blur

At last!

Very happy with this one; now if only we had the patience to clone out that annoying twig!

Very pleased to have got a Firecrest (YBC 165) on our Year Bird Challenge as it's a species that wasn't on our radar at all being scarce and unpredictable in Safari-land. Particularly pleased that we didn't have to wait for it as we've heard tales of folk having up to five hours standing along the footpath before it deigned to show itself.

It was associating with a mixed flock of tits and Goldcrests, the latter too were also very hard to get a decent pic of as they moved through the edge of the wood 20 yards the other side of the fence.

Also in the flock was an overwintering Chiffchaff and like the others refused to show itself properly. That is until we were just walking off back to the car when it came out and sat on the pathside vegetation, unfortunately we were at the back of the line and had to stretch our lens round the side of the peeps in front of us. 

We left rather chuffed with our efforts and on the motorway as we drove back it started raining again, how well timed was that!

Today start with a nice bonus. It's still dark when we take Monty out for his early morning walk and when we reached the little field beyond the water tower we flushed a Woodcock from the long and squelchy grass. The grass is still growing even though it's now December. not only is it still growing, Meadow Foxtail, Perennial Rye and Cocksfoot are in flower along with a few Daisies, Dandelions and the odd Creeping Buttercup here and there.

That wasn't the only good find of the morning. Our visit to Marton Mere LNR gave us only our second sighting of the Bittern this year. It flew along the top of the reedbed in front of us and landed on the far edge of a reedy bay where it stood for a couple of minutes looking skyward as they do - superb views in the bins but sadly we weren't able to get a pic of it for our Year Bird Challenge - wrong lens again!

Not a great lot of other birds and we didn't see or hear the Bullfinches; we did get plagued by unleashed dogs just about every time we stopped to look at something...what a right royal pain the ar*e they are there's absolutely no need to exercise an unleashed dog in the nature reserve - it's supposed to be reserved for nature not a dog toilet! It's not as if there's nowhere else locally, only a several acre field and a four mile circular walk use those instead you ignorant feckers!!!

The reason we had the wrong lens for the Bittern was because we had the right lens for getting some pics of the volunteers hedgelaying team who were pushing on now and making some inroads into the first length of hedge.

Still some big stems in the hedge requiring the expertise of M and his chainsaw

Expert hedgelayers will note some elementary mistakes but everyone is a beginner here and many of the stems aren't ideal being old and gnarly and not easy to 'pleach' neatly. Still Hawthorn is a forgiving beast and in a couple of years time all will be thick and green again and hopefully dog-proof in the spring which it isn't at the moment. To be fair it's a project we wanted to get stuck in to when we were in charge here about 15 years ago, it would still have been a little tricky then but a lot less so than now.

A lively few days for the Safari!

Where to next? A day in the garden at Base Camp tomorrow and what's likely to be a cold and windy seawatch atop Rossall Tower with the Living Seas team from the Wildlife Trust on Thursday.

In the meantime let us know who's giving the quality views in the bins in your outback.

Wither has it wandered we wonder

The Safari had a morning on the North Blackpool Pond Trail yesterday. A conservation event had been organised with the Freshwater Habitats Trust to clear Willow trees that were growing in the pond to create a larger and unshaded area of open water. The pond is one of their 'Flagship Ponds' meaning it's one of the top 10% best ponds in the country. Its location between long-term footy fields and a housing estate probably means that there's never been any nutrient input like manure or fertiliser spread nearby and seeped in making the water too rich. The only inputs are blown leaves and rain!...and the leaves issue is being sorted.

It was a chilly frosty morning and everyone was eager to make a start once the formalities of the health n safety briefing and the tools talk had been completed.

Fortunately we had chain-saw wielding A from the FWT out who made light work of the larger trees which made lots of work  for the 'tidying up' crew of which we were one.

Cold over-the-wellies work!

That looks a bit heavy S

Going

Gone - and it's gonna make a big splash!!!

That looks a bit more manageable

In the good old days you could have a big bonfire to lose all the cut material but not anymore so all the brash has to be dragged well away from the pond and stacked up into neat habitat piles. This was our job as it's just about all our hands will allow these days,

With everybody's heads down concentrating on the job in hand not much wildlife was seen apart from a youngish Frog and a flock of Long Tailed Tits working their way through the ever decreasing twiggery - seems to be a thing this week!

We had to leave for other commitments at lunchtime but looking at the group's Facebook page there was plenty more achieved in the afternoon session.

There's always something to do along the Pond Trail so if you're at a loose end and fancy getting stuck in please get in touch.

In an attempt to get Monty drier and cleaner we took him to the prom late in the afternoon, which unlike almost everywhere else is more or less mud free. He had his usual ball with his ball but unfortunately his good buddy Stanley wasn't able to join him for a mad half hour's romp. He did get to enjoy a bit of a dig and a gorgeous Blackpool sunset though.

Today we were planning taking GB out to Marton Mere for his first visit in ages but an injury to him caused by a domestic appliance (a dangerous thing is a hoover!!!) put paid to that so we went on our own with Monty. We had the big lens with us and no tools today so only stopped to say hello to the volunteers who are still clearing the hedge line prepping it up in readiness for next week's laying session - again if you're at a loose end and fancy meeting a bunch of friendly folk, learning new skills and doing something positive for your environment please get in touch. There's so much going on out there it's impossible to say you're bored; you've got nothing to do!

After saying hello and getting all the negative local bird news (although the tempting Preston Firecrest is still present at the sewage works) we wandered off round the reserve visiting the very quiet Feeding Station first and not stopping long. We didn't stop at Dragonfly Den but kept going to the Bird Club Hide where J was already watching from. He hadn't seen much, most of the waterfowl were tucked tight in to the reeds on the far bank to get out of the bitingly cold wind. 

A Water Rail was seen briefly right under the SE Viewing Platform bit darted in to the reeds far too quickly for any chance of raising the camera...it was in deep shade anyway. There was no sign of the Stonechat around the new ponds from the very cold east embankment, if it was that cold here today how cold was it on the East Embankment at Cley in Norfolk??? Brrrrrrrrrrrrr and double brrrrrrrrrrrr we guess.

Earlier we'd had a brief chat to TS who told us he'd seen two female Bullfinches very well in the scrub, it'd be good if they were still there and sitting up all photogenic and all. We scanned the bushes and listened to no avail. A few Blackbirds, calling but unseen Fieldfares, a Dunnock and a Robin were all we could find.

Are you lookin at me?!?!

We also spotted a Grey Squirrel having a doze soaking up the warming rays.

J said he'd seen a few, more than ever before, on this side of the reserve in recent visits and sure enough just round the corner was another enjoying the sunshine, shame the same can't be said for a Long Eared Owl - where are they this year?

We're pretty sure there are actually two tails here - what do you think?

As we were taking this pic we heard the low call of a Bullfinch from somewhere deep in the scrub behind the squirrel. There were calls and calls but no sign...and then one flew - so we followed it. More calling but no can see - arrrghhhh. With no Bullfinch luck we checked a few more previous Long Eared Owl spots again with no luck and left J to go on to the Viewing Platform while we retraced our steps and left the reserve in the NE corner to give Monty a bit of off-lead time.

'Round the back' where we used to watch the Long Eared Owls from we heard the Bullfinch again but again it wasn't possible to see ti deep in the scrub...frustrating! The race is on for someone to ge the first decent pic of one at Marton Mere, now if TS carried a camera we'd all have long since been beaten to it!

Further down the track this Norway Maple stood out from the leafless crown shining like gold in the late morning sunlight.

On the path back to the car we saw LR's favourite gull; a Black Headed Gull that's been patrolling this stretch of track across the field every winter for more winters than we care to remember; is it five, seven, 10, more? 

Year in year out he wanders up and down this stretch of the track, drifting up and overhead if someone comes along to start the march again.

But it all begs the question; where does (s)he spend the summer, on the local salt marshes, Denmark, Czechoslovakia (OK OK we know there's no such place anymore) or even further afield?

Wonder where does he go from here?

We'd forgotten how good Michael Schenker is

 

It was walking towards an Apple tree with a few remaindf apples on the branches and a good number of windfalls beneath. earlier we'd heard Fieldfare(?) calling from here but would they be there now. There was movement in the lower branches but only three Blackbirds dropped to the ground, no Fieldfares this time.

A bitterly cold morning but a great safari none the less...and our thermal socks, last year's Christmas pressy, worked a treat on their first outing, no cold toes in our wellies!

But even with all that great wildlife the best sighting of the day was watching Monty get to grips (or not) with the first serious ice of his life, if he has come across it before, last January of February he's certainly forgotten about its lack of traction - it was quite amusing in a sort of cruel sort of a way watching him slithering about on it this morning...and he couldn't drink it either!

Where to next? To the Southside on family duties tomorrow but there might be a chance to see something somewhere.

In the meantime let us know who';s marching up and down with monotonous regularity in your outback.

We like it at the lake

The  Safari saw a Flickr pic from PE the other day after we'd visited Stanley Park lake to have a look at the Scaup, but he hadn't posted Scaup pics but an interesting looking hybrid duck, presumably a male Pochard x Tufted Duck. With a bit of decent weather and hopefully some sunshine we arranged a lift with CR for an afternoon visit. 

There were a lot of Tufted Ducks on the lake but it didn't take long to locate the Scaup, they'd hardly moved since our previous visit a couple of days earlier.

The Gadwall didn't seem to like the Scaup coming too close and regularly acted aggressively towards them

The light was marginally better today but all the Scaup were asleep, a small number of Pochards were having a doze nearby.

It was when we were checking these few Pochards we noticed that the hybrid was with them, and like them was mostly asleep.

We took a good many pics but only these few showed it with its eyes open.

Gulls swimming close by and a Cormorant made everyone wake up and shuffle about, even the Scaup.

The hybrid woke up and had a little swim round too.

It's not often we get a mix of Aythya ducks like this round our way...impressive.

Aythya ducks - Left to right - - female Tufted Duck, 1st W Scaup, the hybrid, male Pochard

After filling our boots with the ducks we had a quick look over the rest of the lake, 30 Cormorants on the far rail and one in the water, no Goldeneyes, a fair few Gadwall and behind us in the woods a punter tempted a Blue Tit down onto his outstretched hand with some tasty morsels but it was too quick for our camera...or our reactions more like. In the distance a Nuthatch called but there was no sight nor nor sound of the Ring Necked Parakeet today.  From there went for a look at the other part of the lake especially to see what was with the gulls on the rail there, when we got there there was hardly a gull to be seen apart from a few Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls in the far corner. 

Where the children feed the ducks we had a check of the few Coots' feet to see if we could see any rings bit all the ones we were able to get a look at were blingless today. As you walk up to the rail at the water's edge a hopeful flotilla swims towards you and the waiting vultures (aka Feral Pigeons) swoop down expectantly from the boathouse roof. Among the Coots and Mallards were a few Tufted Ducks, which although shyer than the others still come quite close if you don't move too much or too quickly.

We were in no position to move quickly or move much at all being at severe risk of being goosed by this ferocious scary beast that snuck up behind us.

Yet another quality safari and many thanks to C for the lift and the company.

We got to the nature reserve again this morning and bunked in on the hedgelaying crew, it;s still early days and clearing out was order of the day rather than swinging the axe and laying any 'pleachers'; we have to admit we got a little impatient and snuck one in, right at the 'wrong' end of the hedge. No wildlife was spotted other than a nice flock of Long Tailed Tits working their way through what's left of the twiggery.

Where to next? There's a conservation day at one of the top quality local 'Flagship' ponds tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know who's snoozing in your outback.

A quick but successful sprint round Marton Mere

The Safari took advantage of a sunny morning yesterday and picked up CR for a swift rush round the nature reserve. We had family duties in the afternoon so were time limited to make sure we got back to Base Camp to make all the necessary preparations. We had a particular target in mind and after the double success of the Scaup and Ring Necked Parakeet at Stanley Park the other day C was 'expecting' to see the Bittern(s?) and Otters, not that he's ever seen the latter here. At the wetland a Water Rail called from one of the pools and a Meadow Pipit got up from the long grass around the northern edge. At the main gate we decided to go round anti-clockwise for a change taking us to the Woodland Watch hide first. Here a Grey Squirrel mooched about with a small number of Chaffinches and a Dunnock. Over to the left two Apple trees had shed their fruit and three Blackbirds were taking advantage of the windfall. C spotted another movement beyond the Blackbirds, a Fieldfare - superb, that's the one we wanted as they've been thin on the ground so far this season. But from our seat at the far end of the hide we couldn't see it as it was down in a little depression. Only one thing to do - move seats to the near end and success, there it was in all its multi-coloured thrushy gorgeousness. At long last we got a much improved pic for our Year Bird Challenge, we'd got it on our tally last March but that one was at distance and in atrocious light, so a closer one even if still in poorish light was much appreciated. A second one appeared but neither stayed long as a passer-by on the footpath behind the hide flushed them deep in to the scrub.

Moving on we didn't stay long at the next hide nut carried on to the Bird Club hide passing a singing Cetti's Warbler and calling Goldcrest on the way. RH was already in the hide but hadn't found anything out of the ordinary. There were a lot of Coot on the water and all of a sudden something got them scuttering across the water towards the far bank. We couldn't see what was causing the commotion, possibly just a Cormorant coming up underneath one of their backsides. The main thing we noticed was that the ginormous reed island that recently appeared had disappeared being broken up and floated off by the previous day's gale force winds and rise in water level from the torrential rain. That meant that we didn't have close views of many of the wildfowl that we'd enjoyed on recent visits and we didn't see many Teal of which one which may be the Green Winged Teal that was apparently reported last weekend. 

Wandering on we left RH to go the opposite way. A few yards later we saw that a large Willow tree that blocked much of the view from the little viewing platform had been removed - good stuff. We had a bit of a slippery look from the platform only to flush a large number of Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal...so that's where they were all hiding!

At the bridge the water going down the overflow was prodigious as was the flooding in the fields to the east, rarely have we seen them so wet. Wet but fairly devoid of birds as far as we could tell.

Along the reedbed we heard more Cetti's Warblers but through the scrub we had very little. A quick stop at the Heron Hide gave us a lot of glare and not much else, certainly no Bullfinches.

We saw RH coming from the opposite direction approaching the Viewing Platform so we aimed that way too. After a bit of chat our phone went off, JS was calling, we'd not long since noticed him down at the far end by the bridge. "Have you seen the two Otters by the Mute Swans?", "err no we haven't where exactly?, "By the juvenile close in to the reeds", "Oh yes, cheers, nice one!!!" Thanks for that J.

A little far off for a decent pic but they did put on a good show for several minutes, unfortunately our time was up and we had to leave before the show ended. We'll never tire of seeing Otters here.

Diving Otter or floating football?

So no Bittern for us as usual but great that C broke his Marton Mere Otter duck.

Where to next? We've got a couple of visits back to the nature reserve lined up next week, one of them will be helping the volunteers out with a bit of hedgelaying which should be fun even if we will mostly only be standing and pointing cos of our bad hands. No flailing an axe around for us!

In the meantime let us know who's breaking up and sailing away in your outback.