Another mammal-tastic day and some scales for balance

The Safari was out on the seawall early doors but it was all bit of an anticlimax. There was very little about, best by a mile were the seven Sandwich Terns sat on the new green buoy. We had no opportunities to get out in the garden during the morning, we're on the hunt for solitary bees on the Dandelions and/or any other plants as they begin to flower. It would appear that we have no Viper's Bugloss coming up this year which is a shame as it's great for the bumble bees.

At lunchtime the tide was in, the Sandwich Terns were still on the buoy and at first glance it didn't seem like there was much about. But we persevered and found three Grey Seals and a Harbour Porpoise so deffo worth sticking it out for a few more minutes. We gave it a bit longer, really only in the hope of getting another look at the Harbour Porpoise which had done their usual sudden disappearing act, and picked up a couple of birds in the distance3 coming towards us across the bay. It took an age for them to get close enough to ID and they were still directly face on. We had an inkling of what they were but had to wait til they turned broadside and headed up the coast before we could confirm they were a couple of Whimbrel (P2 #62) as we predicted. Is it just us or are Bar Tailed Godwits in short supply this season, don't think anyone round these parts is seeing many?

In the afternoon we had another class from the local school to do their science investigation of our pond and of course have a bash with the nets. We set everything out for them and had a little look to see what we could see in the pond. There was the flippin Goldfish that some bright spark had put in was swimming up and down seemingly unconcerned by our presence. Cautiously we grabbed one of the nets and gently put it in the water well ahead of it and it did us a favour by almost swimming straight into it, just a little swish and it was in with no escape!

It's now been relocated to the pond at Base Camp where it won't be the biggest fish in a much smaller pond. At last this ecological nightmare with its huge mouth and appetite is gone from our wildlife pond. Hopefully there'll be much more pond life and much better variety for the kids to explore later in the summer.

In other scaly news we had a very excited txt from our Extreme Photographer the other evening telling us to check our emails.

What we found was a couple of pics of a creature he'd found at one of his work sites. Just basking in the sun and as docile as you like! He told us he only had his phone to hand being at work.

A real beaut, the biggest he's ever seen he says. All he needs now is one swimming across the wild pond in his garden!

Shame we don't have any left round these  parts - - or do we???
Where to next? Back to Patch 2 tomorrow but no school groups
In the meantime let us know who's the slipperiest character in your outback.