Bright start

The Safari was out early this morning with Frank and he missed the Fox only 20 yards up the hill, serves him right for rolling around in the damp grass like something not right.

A little later the female Peregrine was swooping round the tower giving the gulls roosting on the nearby office roofs something to squawk about.

Then it was off across the main road clip board in hand to record the winter thrushes. As soon as we hit the North Blackpool Pond Trail's entrance 'gate' we had a flurry of Blackbirds...this was going to the theme for the next hour and a bit; Blackbirds were everywhere but not a lot else. We spotted a flock of Long Tailed Tits near the Brambling Zone but didn't have time to stop and look for the dapper little finch...maybe on the way back...

A Song Thrush broke the Blackbird's monopoly and a Kestrel flew over the horses' field towards the totally vole-free footy pitches. In the cemetery a Sparrowhawk made a Blackbird clatter somewhere in the furthest hedge - all get noted down whether seen or just heard.

The industrial estate was a revelation as there were just as many Blackbirds here feeding on the scattered remnant Hawthorns and 'amenity' Cotoneasters as there was on the more 'countrysidey' bit. The second and final Song Thrush of the survey was recorded here.

Another Blackbird only just escaped the clutches of another (or the same?) Sparrowhawk by diving into the thick Willow scrub growing in the pond by  the footy fields...might not be so lucky next week as this where the management project is taking place and one of the jobs being done is removing some of the Willow that is threatening to totally shade out the pond.

The return leg took us past the Brambling Zone again but as we rewached it we had our highest concentration of Blackbirds, again in a remnant Hawthorn hedge feeding on the berries, hard to count as we unwittingly flushed them but at least a dozen in as many yards. Again time was against us and we could only have a quick look for the finches, Goldcrest, we'd had one earlier in the crem too, but no Bramblings!

Off survey and almost back at the 'gate' we had a camera moment but hadn't brought the camera out, when a Redwing sat up still and close; absolutely stunning in the mid-morning sunlight against the background of dark twigs and bright red berries.

Grey Squirrels were notably numerous with half a dozen and a Coal Tit flying across the wide open space that is the football field looked out of context.

Not a bad morning's 'work'...but we could have gone to Patch 2 were yet another Bottle Nosed Dolphin was seen...excellent stuff!

Where to next? A BEAT NatureWatch pond project tomorrow, if we get there after a big family do tonight.

In the meantime let us know what's working what's left of the hedgerows in your outback.

Last rays of the day

The safari made the middle pages of the local newspaper again with our Dolphin Watch last weekend.

Unfortunately the comment by easyman777 is very wrong; sadly these creatures do have to swim in polluted seas and suffer the consequences of doing so as being the top predators they are prone to concentrating various pollutants such as heavy metals and dangerous organic compounds in their blubber which can then be ‘fed’ to their offspring by lactating mothers who use their some of their fat reserves to produce milk for the infant. The bating water sampling referred to only tests for microbial load 

The laboratories analysing the bathing water samples count the number of certain types of bacteria, which may indicate the presence of pollution, mainly from sewage or livestock waste. Total coliforms, faecal coliforms, mineral oils, surface-active substances and phenols. From 2012 all EU Member States will begin to monitor and report the measured values of concentrations of two microbiological parameters — intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli

 Due to historical ignorance, hindsight is a marvellous thing, many of our existing wastewater collection (sewerage) systems are often 'combined' in that they receive foul sewage from homes and commercial premises, as well as surface water following rainfall. After periods of heavy rain a mixture of surface water and foul sewage can be discharged to the environment via combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and may impact bathing water quality and affect human health.

We have to tell you that much of the ‘pollution’ on our beach ISN’T ours – it comes down the rivers that flow into the estuary to the south of us and from there the tidal currents dump it on our beautiful beach...thanks guys! NOT!!! Although we have to add the proviso that a huge engineering scheme by our water company is nearing completion in Preston and that will help prevent many pollution incidents like the ones we witnessed during this very wet summer.

All the creatures in the sea need our help. Please support thecampaigns to encourage the govamint to get their fingers out and declare 127 Marine Conservation Zones  

Looking at our Harbour Porpoise sightings chart (goes back to Jan 2008) our sighting on Sunday (arrowed) was slap bang in the middle of the ‘expected’ zone. 

We are pleased that the majority of sightings have been after high tide as that takes out the bias of increased observer effort because the birders usually pack up and leave once high tide arrives or soon after. It could mean that most birders don’t report their Harbour Porpoise sightings in which case the chart is pants! Why does ‘science’ always seem to create more questions than answer it was trying to find in the first place?

Last night we had a group in learning about sustainability which meant a late finish but that gave us an opportunity to have a look at the sunset we’d noticed brightening he binds across the office window.

After dark the Mirror Ball is lit with multi-coloured/patterned techno-laser lights – so we had a bit of an experiment with that – never tried getting pics of it after dark before.

The results are OK but not in the same league as some of these  

Little to report today although a chilly morning patch 2 session gave us our best count of Oystercatchers this ‘winter’ 138 and a shed load more beyond our southern boundary. Sanderlings were uncounted and in the gloom it looked as though some of them might have been Dunlins. The rising waters were covering the outfall pipe (disused) making the four Turnstones beat a measured retreat along its Mussel covered length

Another short and chilly, grey session over the last 10m tide of the year gave us little reward. Three Great Crested Grebes and a few small flocks of Common Scoters were disappointingly all we could muster on a fairly flat sea that promised a far lot more than it delivered.

Where to next? An appointment with the winter thrushes along part of the North Blackpool Pond Trail in the morning.

In the meantime let us know who's making the mess in your outback

Normal service is resumed...sort of

The Safari is pleased to tell you that there are no weird and wonderful stringy sightings to report today. All the Great Crested Grebes were bog-standard Great Crested Grebes and both the auks seen were as-normal-as-you-like Guillemots.

250 or so Common Scoters were scattered to the four winds and today’s Cormorants numbered only about 50 mostly in small flocks heading out towards the rigs; it would seem that the big shoal of fish has moved on – we said that last week and it reappeared so it could well be back.

Best of the very limited rest was a Red Throated Diver and three Greenfinches in the back garden, the finches, not the diver.

Just when we thought normality had returned to the universe a nutter walked into work (sorry; an interesting chap with a unique philosophy)...reckoned saving energy was the work of the devil and we were all in collusion with said ‘spirit/demon’. Even our photovoltaic roof came in for some of his ire as looking intently at it somehow he came up with a multiplication figure of 660 and that was BAD...oh VERY BAD (we thought the ‘bad’ number was a few more than that and it is a very interesting number at that!)   

He had the staff a bit freaked out and even ourselves when he suggested harnessing the all the power in the entire universe, despite the fact that it’s still not known how big the entire universe is or what energy source is currently powering its acceleration, assumed to be ‘dark energy’ what ever that may turn out to be. Anyway if it can power and expanding universe we wouldn’t knowingly want to be anywhere near the source of all that energy.

Apparently and you heard it here first energy is the root of all evil as control of energy is ‘political’ power and that leads to corruption and oppression and also allows too many humans to inhabit the planet and that some of us should go to another (unspecified) planet – he didn’t say specify which energy source could be used to make the journey, tightly wound elastic bands? Steam engine? Dark energy?

Scared the living daylights out of the cafe staff when he walked into the kitchen and started inspecting the fore extinguishers. Frightened the living daylights out of us when he had a look at the art work along the corridors with his hands then placed them on his head to see the artists thoughts in his mind’s eye...yep...weirdo!!!  Harmless(?) though and it does take allsorts as our Ma n Da used to say. 

Good Starling murmurations were seen on the way home -wee tried to get a pic but couldn't park close enough. They were at North Pier and the closest parking spot is south of South Pier - quite a few of em though; 10000 perhaps.

And we've become a magician - we've turned a Smooth Newt into a Great Crested Newt and back. Yesterday Wifey told us a colleague of hers had found a newt at work and described it as small and very dark, so we assumed it was a Great Crest.Well we found out this evening it was a Smooth Newt when it was brought home in a jar to be released in the right place.

Where to next? More of the same but a very late finish so no chance of witnessing any murmurations - they'll all be fast asleep by the time we're passing.
In the meantime let us know what's been stuffed in a jar of leaves in your outback.

A day our eyes might have deceived us

The Safari had a miserable visit to Patch 2 this morning. Visibility was pants, beyond pants even! Misty with horrible ochorous light and a strong 'heat' haze. Everything beyond the near middle distance was a wibbly-wobbly blur.

We scanned close by for the Harbour Porpoise - no sign, we struggled to find any gulls in the middle distance suggesting that the fish shoal had moved on. Not a lot was on the move. In the big chop we struggled to find much close in but a grebe caught our eye - didn't look quite right for a Great Crested Grebe. We waited for it to pop up again which it did several times but was down again before we could get anything more on it. A Common Scoter tazzed passed and as it did so a small auk sp, much smaller than the duck flew past a little closer in. What was that??? Only about half the size of the scoter...Puffin??? Or something even smaller??? It was in the troughs all too soon and never seen again.

But what about the grebe? Well we thought it might have been a Red Necked Grebe but we couldn't find it again so we'll never know.

No other news today, we were to late for the Starlings today.

Where to next? Off out in a bit to see this chap and his rather good pictures, apparently he's won some competition or other.

In the meantime don't forget to follow the snippets of rubbish wot we rite on Twitter and you can also keep bang up-to-date with all the local wildlife news and events by following BEAT NatureWatch on Twitter too.

Just how grey can you get?

The safari had not much doing this morning although visibility beyond half a mile or so was more or less none existent.

early morning high tide: A Grey Seal was unexpected at this time of year and would have been a bonus yesterday – it’s still surprising how many people are surprised to learn that seals are regularly seen here, although we do get far too many people telling us they’ve seen ‘sea-lions’ in the water – without wanting to sound rude the level of general ignorance is sometimes hard to bear...more ammunition for some proper natural history to be taught in schools at all levels – should there be a GCSE in natural history/environmental management/basic ecological principles? – Discuss.... Just to illustrate our thoughts; with the ‘recent’ Ash disease outbreak we did a quick poll around the office to find out what people knew about it. Most had seen it on the news but didn’t know anything about it or how it might affect the landscape but perhaps the most worrying thing was that nobody actually knew what Britain’s third most numerous native tree looks like and could identify it. In our rather limited test it was variously identified as an Oak or even a type of Pine but never an Ash!

Anyway rant over and back to this morning about 500 Cormorants, way more than we've ever seen here before, 30 Great Black Backed Gulls, 2 Guillemots, 4 Red Throated Divers and 3 Great Crested Grebes. Must have been a cetacean or two out there shame about the visibility.

Far to grey and dingy at lunchtime hardly able to see the sea and no chance of making out a horizon – we’re living in cloud – it was totally dismal; so no chance of being able to find out if our cetacean friends are still about or not. 
Good Starling action on the way back to Base Camp this evening - not huge numbers but a raptor was buzzing through them. Unfortunately when we were stopped by the lights we couldn't see the action so don't know if it was a Peregrine or Sparrowhawk. 
Where to next? What chance the mist and drizzle will have cleared by tomorrow and if it has what chance our cetacean friends have cleared off with it?

In the meantime let us know what, if anything, you’ve been unable to see in your outback.

Well would you believe it!

The Safari took Frank out before we set off to work and watched a rather large and quite unexpected at that early hour of the morning White Tailed Bumble Bee buzz over our head and down the hill.

We went to work along the prom as usual and was very pleased to see that the sea was a lot flatter than we feared was going to be the case.

The advertising of the Dolphin Watch had worked well and we had a fair crowd all eager to see a dolphin or two.

We hadn't long to wait as DB scanned for the gull flock and almost immediately shouted "Dolphin!" We didn't see it, in fact we didn't see much at all for the first half of the watch as we were making sure the others were clued up and and knew what they were looking for and what seabirds were about - not many as it happened unlike earlier in the morning on the rising tide when SD had counted roughly 1500 Cormorants!

We're not sure how many people saw the Bottle Nosed Dolphin but it rolled a couple of times and the same or a different animal was seen briefly again about half an hour later and a couple of miles further north.

A little later a Harbour Porpoise was spotted very close in, so close it was over what would be the bottom end of the beach at low tide. Again it was hard to get folk on to but fortunately it seemed to be going up and down just behind the surf-line and most of the watchers got a glimpse of its small rolls.

Not a lot of birds were out there, a fair few gulls, a flock of five Shelducks went south, half a dozen Great Crested Grebes, a handful of Red Throated Divers and an unIDd auk. Not many Common Scoters today but a close flock acted as a useful marker in a sea otherwise devoid of 'landmarks'.

In the afternoon we went to the nature reserve on a mission but didn't stay too long and saw not a great deal. A nice flock of Long Tailed Tits, weird to think that when we started working there they almost unknown there. Thrushes were well represented with a lot of Blackbirds, some Redwings, good numbers of Fieldfares passing through and a solitary Song Thrush.

We didn't have much of a look on the water but noted a small number of Wigeon and couldn't find the female Pintail we'd been told about. A comedy moment was relived when we watched a Little Grebe fly half the length of the mere - last time we saw that a gale was howling and the poor bird was being blown ar*e over breakfast across the waves.

Mission over we called it a day before the Starlings had even thought about gathering - Base Camp beckoned.

Where to next? While the Whiting feeding Harbour Porpoise still be about tomorrow? Will the now distant bait shoal still have its Bottle Nosed Dolphin(s)?

In the meantime let us know what's doing the fishing in your outback.

Almost berry disappointing

The Safari loaded up Frank and headed off in an easterly direction this morning. 20 minutes later we were parked up with a dozen or so other birders in a back street of terraced houses overlooking a small park with some swings a bit of grass and half a dozen berry-laden Rowan trees. Word on the street was we'd just missed two Waxwings but they were likely to come round again fairly soon.

We waited and the local Blackbirds and Mistle Thrush tucked into the food that should have been left for the exotic voisitors. The Mistle Thrush was particularly noughty vigorously keeping the other birds away from 'his' berries.

Time passed and we waited and waited until three more flew over almost immediately joined by nearly two dozen more. They circled and looked like they were going to drop when - whoooosh - a Sparrowhawk tazzed through them - they were off like a shot - - darn it!!!

Nothing for it but to keep up the vigil and guess we'd have to wait about half an hour before they'd show again.

A pair of Coal Tits moved through and the Mistle Thrush continued to defend his berries against all comers. More interesting was a male Chaffinch that dropped in from quite high and proceeded to neck down berries on the most isolated of the trees.

Eventually a flock of 12 Waxwings appeared minutes before we'd planned to leave as we had chores to do....pppphhheewwwww!!!

Sadly they stayed right at the top of the highest tree in the park and refused to drop down on to the eye-level berries.

This is where they should have been...

Still we left well happy..much better views than the bizarre flyover we had at Base Camp in the spring.

Talking of bizarre we were on a forum and the chat concerned Magpies dangling off feeders like Blue Tits. Something we've witnessed at Magpie Wood and the nature reserve but not very often. Frank dragged us past Magpie Wood where luck would have it in the garden of the corner house was a Magpie with its beak stuck in the port of a hanging seed feeder dragging out the contents like there was no tomorrow! How weird was that? 

Also on the walk round Patch 1 - yes he got all the way round the park and played with a couple of long lost friends - was the Peregrine on the tower and a Goldcrest in the line of tall evergreens.

Where to next? The small matter of the Dolphin Watch tomorrow morning, wind permitting.

In the meantime let us know what's swallowing all the berries in your outback.