A life on the ocean waves

The Safari set off after a light breakfast in lovely sunshine and light winds - today was gonna be a good day!

We arrived at the small dock about an hour later and told the lady we'd booked the all dayer on the interweb, to which she said "it's off!!!" Due to the wind direction and swell landing on the first of the islands wasn't possible and the other island isn't open for landing until late lunchtime so now we had a three hour or so wait for the trip to start in a no-horse town. Not to worry; she suggested driving down the coast a couple of miles and a short walk along the beach to a tern colony. Needing to kill the time that's what we did. A five minute drive and an ominously large swathe of beach to cross...it seemed miles more than the she inferred!The beach was very clean with Lugworm casts aplenty and no litter just strands of Kelp and a single Mermaid's Purse. In the dunes we saw a Stonechat, only our second of the year.

Half an hour later we were at the ranger's hut looking at the2500 or so Arctic Terns on the beach and were told that they'd only laid the first eggs of the colony amongst the dunes that very morning. Some birds were still pairing up, some cementing their bonds with Sand Eels and some fighting for territories.

The rangers had their scopes set up on a different part of the beach where a few pairs of Little Terns (163) had chosen to nest (or been forced) on the edge of the Arctic Tern colony.

A very pleasant way to spend the morning and all too soon it was time to trek back across the sands and get to the quayside for our boaty ride.

We were deffo over-dressed and got a good sweat on but would probably need those layers once on the open water despite the blistering sunshine!

It's a little over two miles to the nearest island and a Minke Whale had been seen in the Sound earlier in the week - long gone by now though but unfeasibly early in the season for this coast.

The passage was flat calm and we soon added Puffin (164) to our Year List Challenge list and then Shag (165) fell too, both seen about three quarters of the way across on the sea but we'd no doubt get much better views.

The boat steams round the islands getting up close and personal with the breeding cliffs, the aroma of the guano is 'interesting' we don't find it too unpleasant but others on the boat found it wretchlingly offensive!

Guillemots, including one of the 'Bridled' form

Shag

Aren't Kittiwakes great  - look at those colours

The stars of the show aren't the birds though, it's the Grey Seals, there were loads but high tide had washed them off the rocks and they were in the water where it was very difficult to photograph due to the large swell.

Fortunately a big bull was still hauled out on the rocks - what a beast.

No cetaceans today which would have made a great day even better.

Hope the pics are OK; it's difficult processing them on Wifey's laptop, and the light then cloudy conditions along with glare off the sea and guano encrusted rocks were playing havoc with getting the camera settings right  for every shot.

Where to next? Back in a bit with news from the island.

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

Tales of the riverside

The Safari went to the beach yesterday and boy was it murky. Last time we were here there were Gannets diving just off shore they may have been there today but there was no way of knowing!

As we walked Frank on the beach we spottted a surfer! The water temperature is no more than a bone numbing 8C.

The beach was being moved - a storm had thrown up thousands of tons of sand against and over the wall so it was being taken back down the to the water's edge.

They've been shifting the sand for six weeks apparently. Each trailer load was about seven tons.

This morning we had a lovely early walk along the river. We were out by a couple of minutes after 05.00. The walk down to the river was cacophonous with birdsong. All your favourites were in full voice, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Wrens, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, a Nuthatch and Stock Doves. Across the fields on the other side of the lane we could hear Skylarks and Yellowhammers...all very nice aswas the heady aroma from the Wild Garlic (aka Ramsons).

 Down at the river all seemed normal, the resident Gosaanders were as flighty as ever - really hard to get close to them. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary o we decided to amble downstream to the Sand Martin colony. Turned out to be a good move!
Sedge Warblers were numerous in the bankside vegetation and crossing the little bridge over the brook we chances]d upon a Roe Deer thrashing his antlers through a small sapling a mere 20 yards away - we were in the open and trying to raise the camera as sneakily as we could we weren't sneaky enough he saw us and for a moment stood his ground but then turned an ran barking fiercely in indignation.
A little further on there is an arch way beyond which the riverside becomes a little wilder. We passed under it and could hear some squeals above the water tumbling over the low wier. Scasnning the far bank we soon found the noisy little devils, a mother Otter with two cubs have a last play before bedtime...brilliant!!!

We rattled off a few shots which are far from the best pics of Otters you'll ever see but to be fair they were a long way off and it was still before the sun had climbed over the eastern hills. While watching their antics a Kingfisher flashed over the top of them. This was becoming a pretty good morning!
Eventually they disappeared into the overhanging vegetation and we moved on. The river was pretty quiet and we began to think that there were no Sand Martins this year as we hadn't seen any or even any Swallows hawking over the river. We needn't have worried. climbing over the last stile in to the sheep field which has the colony's sandy bank there they were in abundance high over the fields rather than over the river.
We stopped to take a pic of the river looking back upstream.

Across on the far bank we could hear Song Thrush, Sedge Warblers, a Whitethroat, a Blackcap, we hoped we might hear a Cuckoo but instead heard a Garden Warbler (161) singing from a dense patch of Willow scrub from who's cover a Heron stealthily fished the margins of a area of slack water.
All was as peaceful as it gets, until the anxious chitterings of the Sand Martins alerted us to a predator, we span round to see a raptor cruise against the backdrop of trhe far trees, Buzzard - not common in these parts, we're not far from 'Buzzardgate' land - but no wait a minute better views shows as it came over the river showed it wasn't a Buzzard at all - Osprey!!! (162). Seriously hitting the jackpot now! We fumble with the camera as it turned and disappeared round the bend in the river before we could press the shutter button.
The river is noted for its Salmon and the fishermens' boats were tied up at regular intervals. We hoped to see one jump at the weir but the only one we found was floating downstream pretty much deceased.

As you can imagine there was a very definite spring in our step on our walk back to temporary Base Camp. And there was more to come. At the old walled garden we saw a bird flit out of a hole in the crumbling stone work - it looked sort of sparrow like but there are no sparrows here - oh yes there are! Getting on it in a flower filled Wild Cherry (aka Gean ) tree it was nothing less than a Tree Sparrow!
A Brown Hare was in a different field to yesterday's two which were still in their field later in the morning when a Buzzard - shhhhhhhh don't tell the local Pheasant brigade - flew over being seriously mobbed by the local Rooks and Jackdaws.
After a light lunch we headed out to the seaside again, a different beach this time. Frank had a ball to play with for the first time in almost a year. We were cautious with his knee and didn't let him do too much but a splash in the breakers was a real treat for him!
Birdwise it was quiet. A pair of Pied Wagtails combed the beach while out at sea on the horizon Gannets dived and closer in in the swell several small flock of Eiders bobbed about.
Then we picked up a broad winged raptor well out to sea somewhere off Lindisfarne and watched intently as it drew nearer the coast, what was it? Too far to tell, Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Osprey, Holy Grail (aka Honey Buzzard)??? Frank decided to flip out and have a bit of frutch about and taking our eye off it we lost it never to refind it!!!! A check of Birdguides back at tBase Camp showed nothing of note had been seen from Holy Island or the Farnes Islands at that time so probably not one of the latter two, or the watchers at those locations missed it. An immature Peregrine flew past us as we about to load the car and leave.
The beach had some impressive fossils in the rocks of something perhaps a bit like a Woodlouse or Sea Mouse.

Back at Base Camp the sun was shining and Frank wanted to dry off outside which gave us the opportunity to miss a really nice pic of a Green Veined White butterfly although we did get the trickier shot of this Common Dog Violet(?).

Can you tell the species from the sepals?

Just chillin

Where to next? Boaty ride to the Farne Islands tomorrow and with no Frank we can actually land and have a mooch about on them.
In the meantime let us know what no-one else seems to have seen in your outback.

The Safari was suprised not to see any raptors at all during our 4 1/2 hour drive up here. A stop at the motorway services gave us a Lesser Redpoll and overhead wires provided a couple of Yellowhammers once in Scotland - not the most exciting of journey's wildife-wise!

We were out at about 06.30 with Frank to find it was very misty.

Dew on a cobweb

Not Gorillas but Brown Hares in the mist

Mist across the fields

Misty River Tweed

Primroses

Nothing over-exciting yet apart fro m a Goosander flying out of a Beech tree.

Nothing on stealth-cam either but we'll try again tonight and the motthy will be going out too.

Where to next? Back later with more news from Bonny Scotland.

In the meantime let us know if your outback has changed location.

Late night update

The Safari has successfully avoided the nonsense that is pan European singing m'larky - trash for the masses to keep us from thinking about the bigger issues?

Little news from today other than a quick nip to the big park to look for Garden Warbler (dipped) and Spotted Flycatcher (160) but only one of the three there where found in the rain.

Where to next? Foreign parts tomorrow, should be able to keep you up to date - what will we find?

in the meantime let us know what's been hit and missed in your outback.

Almost crackin the flags!

The Safari was out in the garden chatting to our Extreme Photographer on the mobile blower last night when a very unexpected solitary Sand Martin flew over...Garden #32.

Frank had us up at ungodly o'clock...the numbers on the digital clock began with four! When yer dog's gotta go you've gotta get up and go with him...and we're quite glad we did as the cool morning air was filled with the song of a myriad of Blackbirds, there didn't seem to be much else singing, a Robin here and a Wren there but it was almost wall to wall Blackbirds and made all the better for the almost complete absence of human noise pollution...the milkman went by as did a couple of taxis but other than them it was a natural sounds all the way.

We'd put the moth trap out last night on the promise of a decent overnight weather forecast but almost as soon as we turned the  lamp on the rain, well only light drizzle, started. we made the decision to leave it out believing the good forecast and were relieved this morning to finds it bone dry. worryingly a blog of small bird poo was on one of the perspex sides to the 'funnel' has something twigged there's free scram to be had - would the trap be empty...

No it wasn't empty but it was hardly full either...just one Hebrew Character was all that was in there - it's got to get better than this. Is the weather, is it the local gardeners and their habitat destruction, is it the other local gardeners who go to the garden centres and buy bee and butterfly friendly plants whose compost is doused in neonicotinoid pesticides? Probably a mix of these and more but it truly is a very poor mothing season so far. Last year we didn't get any Hebrews in May they'd finished by the end of April.

After thoroughly searching through the egg boxes in the trap again to check we hadn't missed anything - we hadn't - we went back to bed until sensible o'clock.

Before Wifey got up we were  making her brekkie and noticed the female Blackbird went unto the Crab Apple tree and thence under the eaves into the garage so the nest we showed you yesterday is in use after all - nice! One of the three holes in the House Sparrow 'terrace' is occupied by a pair of Great Tits, we don't think there'll never be a House Sparrow in there.

Our third nest of the day wasn't a bird but a bee. Above the kitchen door is a crack in the brick work and a large White Tailed Bumble Bee was seen to go in a couple of times during the day...a day during which the sun shone very warmly at times, or at least in our sheltered garden it was. Much of the day was spent doing garden improvements with new tubs bought and new climbing plants to fill them, in the process of all this we brought the tub with the Clematis in from the front to put up in the corner of the garages and accidentally nudged the old hanging basket with the Wren's nest in it and out shot a very indignant Wren - so it looks like that's in use too - hope it's all right after all today's disturbance, tomorrow being forecast to be wet and windy should be a much quieter day for them.

So four nests at Base Camp - well chuffed - - big cheesy smiles all round!

Perhaps we should hav gone birding today rather than doing the garden as locally a Hobby and, more remarkably, a Bee-eater were seen nearby, what else might have been about?

Where to next? Little chance of the mothy being put out tonight and we'll be lucky to get anywhere tomorrow...but you never know.

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

PS Frank went to 'Fat Club' this arvo cos he has to lose at least 5kgs...and the first thing we have to do is give him more food! Almost double what he gets now; but very little in the way of treats, not that the broken pieces of rice cake he gets now are much of a treat for a growing dog.

Tiny hands = sharp eyes

The Safari was out on Patch 2 briefly this morning checking access fore the little ones. A quick look over the sea only gave us about a dozen Sandwich Terns and not a lot else, two dark looking interesting things approached from way to the south but we lost them in the haze before they got close enough for an ID. 

The little ones hit the beach and their grasping hands were soon filled with all shapes and sizes of shells, they particularly liked the rubbery horseshoe shaped ribbons of Necklace Shell eggs.

They found a few empty Masked Crab carapaces whose occupants are hidden deep in the sand somewhere else.

We had a skutch round the pots with the net and found a few Common Prawns and a single live juvenile Green Shore Crab. The littlies found the tiniest Brittle Star which when put in the water revealed itself to be still well and truly alive.

A sharp eyed child picked up this mangled shell of a Hermit Crab, Pargurus bernhardus, it's a lot bigger than the ones we usually find, the big claw is about three inches (75mm) long. It's actually another shed skin.

Better was to come when a small hand gave us a snotty blob of jelly...we haven't seen anything quite like it before and giving it a squeeze a jet of water squirted out at one end...giving us a very big clue! 

It's a Sea Squirt of some description. Early thoughts leaned towards Molgula manhattensis but those clever iSpotters later suggested it could be Ascidiella aspersa.

What ever it is it's a new one for us.

We didn't get a chance to have a shuffy at Patch 2 at lunchtime but a walk with Frank at teatime gave us some nice patches of Sweet Vernal Grass and our first Lesser Trefoil of the year, the local patch of Common Figwort is coming along nicely...but where are our Swifts?

Where to next? Woooohoooo we're on our hols and anything could happen, might even get the moth trap out tonight...best check the forecast...could be a chance to steal a march on Monika arch-rival in our annual Year List Challenge...it's very very close between us at the moment

In the meantime let us know what the tiny hands are grabbing at in your outback.

 

It's the little things in life

The Safari woke up to heavy rain this morning...last night's forecast was for occasional light showers so we made the mistake of putting the moth trap out. First up check the electrics! Then pour the water out of it. Then check for drowned moths...none and no swimmers either...useless!

The rain didn't abate all morning which was OK as we had a few jobs to do and errands to run. By mid afternoon it had stopped and we'd finished our indoor work and had just one chore still to do, get some rubbish out of the garage and by eck there's a fair bit in there!!!

Opening the door and getting out some of the stuff we'd stashed for quick removal allowed to get further back into the dimmest darkest recesses, it was then that we noticed the big untidy nest in the corner - well we hadn't seen that being built, wonder if it's occupied. The local pair of Blackbirds are taking food in to next door's garden so it's not going to be them. Perhaps it was a failed attempt and has been abandoned...we'll keep an eye and an ear on it.

Looking at the straggly mess maybe they thought it would collapse under their weight and gave it up as a bad job! The Wren's nest seems to have been a 'cock's' nest as there hasn't been any activity around it for a couple or more days although we still hear the loud little fella regularly.

With all jobs successfully completed apart from the most important one - Wifey's birthday present - we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves and the sun had come out.

Wifey was back from the Big Smoke and we had a potter around the garden noticing some tiny flies, about 5mm long, coming and going to and from the top of our recycling bin. A few landed on the stonework nearby but the majority seemed to prefer the shiny blue plastic.

Nothing else for it but to get the macro lens out and have a bit of invertebrate close up fun, it's been a long long time since that lens has been out  of its case.

No idea what the species is, will try those clever iSpotters later.

Enjoy...if that's the right word

 

You can even see the vibrissae on the hair on the antennae - awesome!

Can't believe all the iridescence, there must be light bouncing around all over the shop - at least there was light for a very refreshing change.

Where to next? Last day at work tomorrow before we head off for some safari-ing in far flung corners of the globe. Gonna be a busy day though starting early doors with the wee kiddies on the beach...wonder what their tiny hands will glean from the sand

In the meantime let us know what needs magnifying in your outback.