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.
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.
2 comments:
I've just clicked through the show on Iplayer & seen your bit, fame at last, nice one Dave.
What next Davyman, a personnel appearance on Unsprung :-)
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