One out one new one in

The Safari joined our long time birding chums south of the river for a wintry day ornithologising at Martin Mere WWT reserve the other day. We started off at their new fully glazed hide to get a bit of warmth in our bones before we ventured out in to the wild wet weather.
The problem with a fully glazed hide is that while it may be more comfortable it does make you a bit queasy when looking through the bins at an angle through the glass and isn't that good for pics either, although we could have been anti-social and gone and sat in the end wing with normal opening viewing slats but this was a holiday get-together with the gang not a full blown twitching expedition.
There was the usual fine selection of winter wildfowl in good numbers...except for Pochards which are hugely down on recent years...such a shame as they are a splendid looking bird.

Many species of diving birds from a variety of Families have that red iris so it must have some evolutionary advantage for seeing in murky water.

Also close by were a handful of Ruffs and as AB noted - phoaarr look at the chiseled scapulars on that!

One of our favourite hides here is the Feeding Station where the stars of the show are the 'Bare Tailed Ground Monkeys' of which there were three today, two females and a juvenile. The sit under the feeders while bits dropped/discarded by the birds rain down like manna from heaven - life couldn't be easier. Having said that one of the adults had a huge open wound on its back possibly from a lucky escape from the Buzzard that arrived in a nearby tree and was eyeing them up.

The arrival of the Buzzard sent all the small birds scattering for cover except this Great Spotted Woodpecker which froze in the 'you can't see me - I'm not here' pose, a bit hopeful really!

The Brown Rats shuffled on in the mud unperturbed by the raptor's presence. After it had left and before the small birds returned one of them climbed up the logs at the base of the feeders 

it then made a leap of faith towards the bird table but that turned into a leap of doom when the jump failed to reach the table and the poor animal nosedived onto the squidgy mud below. 

More excitement was seen there when a Moorhen inexplicably flew about 10 feet up into a tree, unfortunately it was badly obscured so we were unable to get photographic proof of this somewhat unusual event.

Moving on between rain showers we had a look from the next hide which was pretty quiet and then narrowly missed a soaking getting to the final hide. Here we had splendid elevated views of the wetland and watched a Marsh Harrier quartering over the fields in the distance. While watching that a small bird of prey shot through and landed on a fence post in the distance. A Merlin (YBC #168). It was just about in range in the grotty weather - why can't these birds do us a favour and sit on the nearest post when the light is awful?

By now it was lunchtime and while some of the gang enjoyed the delights of the cafe those who'd brought butties sat in the foyer overlooking the 'captives' lake. Again we were shooting through a window but it's good to see some species in close-up detail that we don't see often and when we do they are a mile away across a field in the scope.

White Fronted Goose

After lunch we back out on the trail heading the other way this time. The first hide after the new hide is a windowed and heated affair nice but not good for venturing in to the cold afterwards. From here we added a female Goldeneye to the day's list, it took us ages to spot it as it spent most of it's time under water. As it's name suggest it doesn't have a red eye like the Pochards but if you're a diving bird and not got a red eye then golden yellow is the next most popular colour.

The next small hide is another favourite offering exceptional views of everybody's favourite birds, Coots and Moorhens - and if they aren't your favourite they ought to be! Today they were sadly lacking in close up views but a Little Egret wasn't. It walked out of a ditch and sat on the bank in the wind for several minutes before having a big old yawn - it's not often you get a good view of a Little Egret's tongue!

Next up the elevated Kingfisher Hide, normally noted for its big open panoramic-windowed freezingness but today strangely rather mild in there. Stars of the show were up to 19 of the once common Tree Sparrows at the feeders but there was a no-show from the Brambling that had been reported in recent days.

By the time we reached the final hide the light was going. Try as we might we couldn't find the Green Winged Teal in with the flocks of 'normal' Teal.

Watching a Whooper Swan on its way to its maker was a little macabre but why was it it that strange position propping itself up at an angle on half open wings and half extended legs with its bill on the ground - almost as if it was trying to coll itself down to make it's demise come sooner.

With the light fading fast and no sign of the hoped for Kingfisher we had to go before the car park was locked and so ended another excellent bird filled trip out with the 'Boiders'

Our last snap of the day was of a large fungus growing out of a Silver Birch trunk, Birch Polypore.

Roll on 36 hours and it's 2018. Happy New Year to all our readers, we hope it's a good one for you and filled with exciting wildlife.

With the new year starts another birding Year List and another Photo Year List Challenge with Monika and her friends.

The morning of January 1st was sunny and mild but as soon as we got out of the car at Marton Mere the clouds rolled in and heavy hail ridden showers ensued. We had a wander anti-clockwise taking in the feeding station and the caravan site side to get our Photo Year List Challenge started.

Grey Lag Geese

Mallard

Treecreeper - a good one for the list on Day 1 as we struggled to find many in 2017

Blackbird

Pheasant

Bullfinch - arrghhhh! But still the best pic of this species taken at Marton Mere - must try harder - - or manual focus!

A couple of Carrion Crows watching over the wetland

Not the best start to the year, especially with that out of focus Bullfinch, but not bad given the awful weather and everything else we saw we'll be able to get pics of in better conditions before too long.

We finished the day on 23 species for the year without putting much time or effort in - we put more in to staying dry and failed miserably!

Today we were relieved to find the camera had dried out without issue and that was despite having a waterproof cover on it! The rain was again heavy so we nipped out to the local waste depot to see if the Iceland Gull was about - it was, happy days!A grotty pic for #8 on our PYLC but acceptable given the dreadful weather.

We gave Monty a quick run on the nearby sodden field and picked up Grey Wagtail, flushed by mutt from a large puddle and then Common Gull - amazing that we were able to get Iceland Gull on our year list before this obviously much more common species of gull!

Driving past Stanley Park on the way back to Base Camp and lunch we spotted a few Tufted Ducks in the near corner of the lake bring up 31 species for the year.

Where to next? A we and windy promenade perhaps.
In the meantime let us know who's all blurry in your outback.

A bit of distant festive whiteness

The Safari has had a family and friend filled festive holiday and hopes you have too. On Boxing Day we had a wander up the prom with Wifey and Monty. It wasn't a bad day with little wind and some sunshine so everyone and his or her uncle was out walking off their excesses from the previous day. We didn't see a great lot of wildlife to to be honest we weren't looking too hard. Away on the top of Bowland's highest peak point, Ward's Stone, the afternoon sun was lighting up a little cap of snow, now if it fell on the fell before midnight that would make it a white Christmas in Lancashire.

The following day we were visiting friends just over the Cumbria birder where a walk to the pub gave us lovely views of the Lake District fells showing their good covering of snow on the higher ground.

In the snow; L>R Bow Fell, Pike o' Stickle, Gimmer Crag, Harrison Stickle, Pavey Ark

We think the 'big one' is Red Screes

This morning's early morning dog walk through up a pleasant surprise when we heard a Raven (P1 #43), only the second time we've had them here in 13 1/2 years. Looking round we saw a Carrion Crow and thought we'd made a mistake but then heard the 'cronk' again and looking round behind us watched two soaring in synchronised flight around the top of the water tower - nice!!! 

Later we met up with CR for a spin round Marton Mere. He'd arrived a little before us and had already seen a nice blotchy leucistic male Blackbird. We stopped in the hide affectionately known as Ice Station Zebra, it wasn't too cold today. There were a few Herring Gulls, plenty of Coot and Wigeon but not a lot else. Looking well to our right to see if we could get a glimpse of any more gulls further down the mere and got a surprise view of a Bittern flying across the water into the far corner.

At the Bird Club hide we again scoured the gulls, more Black Headed Gulls and fewer Herring Gulls here but also good numbers of Teal and more yet Wigeon. Best of the rest was a female Mallard lording it over everyone else being Queen of the Castle on the 'goalpost'. That would come into play later too.

Big full crop there!

We continued the circuit seeing not much more than a few more Teal on the way, the embankment and scrub were very quiet apart from a handful of Robins. No sign or sign of any of the Bullfinches. 

Round at Heron Hide the light was horrid but we still had to scan the gulls of which there were more Herring Gulls now. One of them raised up and had a flap in front of the 'goalpost' - oh yes the Iceland Gull (190, MMLNR #89, YBC #167) was there and we got pretty good views through the bins despite the rotten light as it took to a vigorous bathe. But by the time we'd lowered our bins and raised the camera it had drifted a little way and in the dreadful light we couldn't find it in the viewfinder so had to resort to taking a 'scattergun' of shots in the hope it would be there and in focus. It was, but it wasn't.

Something unseen flushed the gulls and many of them moved further down the lake but a good few left, unfortunately the Iceland Gull was with that group. 

From the Viewing Platform we counted at least 225 Wigeon and we knew there were more hidden in the reeds at the far end so probably over 250 were on site, a good number for here. C saw a Little Grebe that we missed but that probably didn't make up for him not seeing the Bittern nor the Iceland Gull.

Back at the car a couple of Magpies were in the tree by the hedge too close for the 600mm but we had to snap away as the opportunity was too good to miss before we headed off back to Base Camp for a brew.

Where to next? Might well get back out to Marton Mere again tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know who's lording up in your outback.

Drizzle drizzle and yet more drizzle - it's wet out there

The Safari has had laundry 'drying' on the line for over a week and it's still wetter than when it came out of the machine! To say it's been a bit dreich would be the understatement of the year...and today we had thick fog all day too.

Other than having to walk Monty we've barely been outside except to do bits n bobs of Christmas shopping. We've not seen a great lot of wildlife even the garden at Base Camp has been very quiet probably because the temperatures have been well above 'normal' for mid December this week. We did get a very brief surprise visitor the other day though; wee were sat at our desk in the sitting room half watching daytime drivel on the telly, half flicking through Flickr or some other social media on the laptop and half doing nowt in particular at all when by chance we chanced to look up through the window as a Woodcock (Garden #31) flew past the window and up the garden beneath the two pergolas and away over the back fence - the first sighting for the garden and at about 2pm it should have been roosting deep in cover in some woodland. It must have been flushed by a ?cat? from the little piece of rough scrub affectionately know as the Golden Triangle close to the end of our street.

A couple of days later we had a male Sparrowhawk fly through on the same route but this time landed on the back fence and stayed there for several minutes but not long enough for us to grab the camera as we'd not long since put it away upstairs from its normal within-easy-reach place due to a big family birthday meal and lots of guests arriving imminently.

We managed a very early morning walk round Marton Mere to catch up with LR. It was deadly quiet out there even the Robins weren't singing! We did have a Woodcock fly in front of us in the gloom of the pre-dawn as it went to roost in the scrub close to my old cabin. No sign of the Bullfinches later once it had got light - we use the word loosely! There were a good number of Wigeon and Coot on the mere but most of the other waterfowl were still tucked up in the edge of the reeds and mostly out of sight, seeing three Pochards was good - - can't believe we've ritten that, we've made triple figure counts here in the 90s! 

Drake Wigeon

That early in the morning there were few gulls on the water, there's no overnight roost here, so the chances of bumping into the local Iceland Gull were slim to remote. A quick bunk in to the roadside alongside the waste depot was fruitless too...where does that little blighter lurk when it's not being seen?

As always there were a couple each of Cetti's Warblers and Water Rails calling from the reedbeds.

A pre-planned trip down the motorway to Pennington Flash to hopefully find the increasingly disappearing Willow Tits with CR was rained off. We were hopeful that a couple of Yellow Legged Gulls would be there too if we looked through the gull roost hard enough but it wasn't to be.

A wander out today with Wifey and GB along the prom was taken in thick fog, even though the tide was in you could hardly see the sea. We didn't make it as far as Rossall tower, it wasn't far off but was barely visible through the fog.

Plenty of chat but not a lot to see obviously. A few Skylarks flew down the beach looking a bit lost but it seems the Snow Bunting that is sometimes seen the far side of the tower might have joined another and gone down the coast just beyond Patch 2 to where we photographed them last winter, lets hope they stick around down there as the Year Bird Photo Challenge will be on again in 2018 but maybe with slightly different rules.

Where to next? Not sure if we'll get out until after Christmas now but where-ever you are have a happy solstice and a merry Christmas we hope 2018 is a peaceful one for you and don't forget whatever nonsense the humans get up to the wonder of wildlife is just outside your front door so get out and enjoy it.

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

No snow at Marton Mere

The Safari had an exciting day last Saturday. It started with a  bang! Well not so much as a bang but a loud call from a large finch-like bird that was loosely associated with a small flock of about half a dozen Greenfinches. We'd had a little bit of a lie in and were a few minutes later than usual taking Monty out on his first walk of the day. We took our normal route but as is now the norm didn't go as far as the field to meet his friends as it's a total quagmire and the amount of doggy pressure it's getting is giving us cause for concern for any overwintering butterfly eggs or caterpillars, how will they survive such trampling? We'll have to wait and see what the populations are like next spring and summer. Anyway that's by-the-by we took our shortened route just to the little field not really noticing much on the way, a Robin sang from a garden, there were a couple of Blackbirds in their usual spots by the shrubbery and a very optimistic Woodpigeon coo-coo-coooo-coo-coo'd in the chilly distance. We not noticed the small flock of finches in the largish Sycamore tree we pass beneath, that is until we looked up to see what had made that call that was so unusual we've never heard the like of before. There, with the half a dozen Greenfinches, was a much larger 'finch'. The Greenfinches circled round and landed back in the top twiggery where they often sit up in the Sycamore tree but the odd one kept going over the rooftops in the direction of the park giving another couple of single calls. So what was this call like? Loud, slurred disyllabic and quite musical. 

We asked the Twitteraty the question as it to what it might be and within minuted renowned birder AM @leicester_llama came back with Pine Grosbeak or something escaped - well we had a listen on Xeno-Canto  and knock us down wiff a feaver we soon found this, the first European recording we listened to and it doesn't half sound reeet like what we'd heard earlier especially the single calls in the middle of the recording - we didn't hear it make any double calls. But was it a Pine Grosbeak or something else??? Unfortunately we weren't able to get out later and have a search for whatever it was so it'll remain a mystery.

The reason we were unable to get out is because we were on our way to Manchester with Wifey. And why were we going to a big city? To see Queen with Adam Lambert of course - again. And as with last time a couple of years ago it was an awesome gig. Monster graphics and lighting effects with of course a good two hours and more of belting rock n roll almost all different tunes from the last tour; well Queen's portfolio has a fair few songs to choose from - only 14 albums!

Photos from Wifey's camera.

Frank the friendly robot

Brian

Roger

Adam - "I want to ride my tricycle"

Adam Lambert, a runner-up in a USA X-Factor series, was just nine when legend  Freddie Mercury died - he doesn't pretend to be Freddie he's got enough 'camp' ego of his own and to be fair although Freddie appears in some incredible 3D graphics Adam is still the star of the show, cracking voice, great stage presence and wicked sense of humour 21st Century Queen wouldn't exist without him.

A tricky drive back to Base Camp through some serious snow showers and motorway warning signs showing 'Severe Weather Expected Tomorrow Expect Delays' gave us a taste of things to come in the morning.

The morning came and with it cold cold cold but not a flake of snow in sight. With sunshine to good to waste we called CR and arranged a quick trip round Marton Mere. 

The feeding station was busy with a maximum count of 29 Blackbirds feeding on windfall Apples under one tree with a couple of others lurking further the back too. Monty managed to get his lead tangled in LGB's very expensive tripod legs at the Viewing Platform and while we were carefully extracting him we missed a short flight from one of the Bitterns. The water was mostly frozen with a couple of open areas holding good numbers of waterfowl but it was the gulls roosting on the ice we were most interested in. Would the recently returned Iceland Gull be on there?

It wasn't there, we later found it had been and gone about the time we were picking C up.

Before we entered the hide we had to 'tidy up' after Monty and lose the plastic bag - in doing so we missed another Bittern flight this time C managed a 'record' shot. Dohhh only an idiot would have a dog.

There wasn't much else on offer and we soon ran out of time anyway.

So no Bittern pics or Iceland Gulls to add to our Year Bird Challenge tally but we were greeted by this beast as we drew up outside Base Camp.

We were back the following day too. Even colder, still not a snow flake to be seen. But perhaps a wider variety of birds. A flock of nine Black Tailed Godwits flew by. We'd bumped the dial on the camera and knocked the settings to Lordy knows what.

While scanning the gulls two Ravens cronked as they flew seawards. Only the second time we've seen them here. By the time we'd seen them they were past us hence the backside shots.

A last look from the Viewing Platform gave us three Redshanks sat on the ice before flying off to the south.

But better was to come. we had a very brief view of a Bittern and called out to some visiting birders in the nearby hide. We didn't get a reply so went to chat to them and discovered they hadn't seen it. While we were chatting one of them spotted a Fox out on the ice at the far end of the mere. We'd seen probably the same individual dart across the path near the bridge down that end earlier.

Then as we chatted a Bittern flew from where we'd seen it land a few minutes earlier and this time we managed to get a couple of dodgy shots off.

Not perfect but we're happy enough. Better still the second one followed a couple of minutes later.

Time to go; with a big smile on our face!

This morning we had a half hour looking for the Iceland Gull at it's favourite waste disposal depot. There were hundreds of gulls on the roof but mostly out of sight. Our best bet was going to be getting a pics of them as they left the roof en-mass and hope the Iceland Gull could be found on the photo. We might have been better with a wider angle lens as we weren't getting many in the frame. 

A movement down to our right caught our eye, a Dunnock was doing a bit of kerb crawling picking up tiny morsels of ???? as it went. 

Our gull pics weren't brilliant and we didn't strike white gold.

Better luck tomorrow perhaps.

Where to next? Back at the waste depot and/or a brief visit to Marton Mere in amongst Christmas duties.

In the meantime let us know who's got cold feet in your outback.

Gee tha's a cold wind

The Safari had a quick shuffy at our spreadsheets and discovered we'd not seen a Woodcock on Patch 1 before the other day making it the fortieth species we've found on the Patch so far this year. Not only that the Ring Necked Parakeet that flew over Base Camp on Wednesday was the 33rd species for the garden this year and the first of its kind ever! it came from the north...but from where??? We've heard one up at Monty's walkies field which is to the north of us, could it be that one and just how many are there around town now; three have been in Stanley Park now, an increase of two in recent days.

Yesterday we joined the Wildlife Trusts Living Seas team for a rather chilly and very blustery two seawatch from the top of Rossall Tower. Storm clouds gathered and the sea tossed and turned but there was a good turn out despite everyone realising there'd be very little chance of seeing any blubber, still there's always a chance of a seabird or two when staring out to sea.

Thankfully that big black cloud missed us, as did all the others!

It was a bit like hard work, but we found a distant flock of Kittiwakes perhaps the same as came right beneath our noses in a tight flock a little later. From our position tucked in behind the wall at the back of the tower we didn't see them until very late and they'd passed by the time we'd grabbed the camera.

Just one out of perhaps 20 - where'd the others go?

Not much else was out there. The new shingle island was almost covered and all we could see roosting on it was a handful of Eiders and a couple of Great Black Backed Gulls. After while a Red Throated Diver flew by but most of the action was right below us on the beach as the tide began to drop. First in was a fly-by of a nice flock of Ringed Plovers followed by a good number of Sanderlings which pattered up and down the beach on twinkling black legs dodging the incoming waves.

From time to time a larger wave would send the closest ones to the water fluttering skywards.

Best find of the session was actually as we were leaving when we spotted a Purple Sandpiper roosting with a few Turnstones.

Once we'd found one we found a second, and then a third and then two more; five! That's a really good count for this stretch of coast and most unexpected.

This morning we had a wander round Marton Mere for a couple of hours with Monty. We came across a couple of female Bullfinches and we were almost able to gget a decent pic of one until the usual plague happened - a couple of unleashed dogs (two of far too many this very chilly morning) miles away from their idiot human ran in front of us and flushed it seconds before we could press the shutter button...sooooo frustrating and infinitely annoying.

Not too much else to be seen, a Goldcrest and perhaps a bit of a cold weather movement with a bit of an influx of Fieldfares and Blackbirds, we heard at least a couple of Redwings too. 

At the platform a flock of tits came by some of which stopped to take a few pecks out of the remaining Apples still hanging from the branches.

The light wasn't good for looking at the water from there, but at least 200 Coots were sat in the middle of the mere.

A bumblebee buzzing past was a complete surprise, although it was sunny it was no more than 4C out there and there are lots of Bluebells popping up under the trees behind the platform.

We will get that Bullfinch pic one day (idiot dog owners permitting) but it won't be this weekend as we're elsewhere.

Where to next? Not sure and there might me snow...watch this space.
In the meantime let us know who's bitten off more than they can chew in your outback.