The Safari hasn't enjoyed the change in the weather back to more normal summer weather. cool wet n windy.
We have done a few events namely a family holiday club rockpooling down on the beach, great fun but no pics...the sand on the beach and the camera aren't the best of bedfellows.
We also did a moth and bat night for a local friends group at their park. The weather in the few days leading up to event was decidedly iffy but fortunately the evening turned out mild and dry and the bats put on a great early performance for us and then the moths followed suit with a reasonable variety and the ever popular with the children, Large Yellow Underwings - big and colourful.
A breezy morning up Beacon Fell with GB had us taking no photos but we did hear what was possibly a Crossbill but we weren't able to get a view of it through the tree-tops. On the whole it was quiet with even the Goldcrests and Coal Tits were hard to come by. A stop to look for dragonflies at the pond was a bit of disaster as a heavy squall blew through soaking us and then we saw the pool was almost dry.
Monday morning saw us at Marton Mere for a habitat/winter works survey and we were able to get on to the island for the first time in years. The scrape looks good - almost exactly how the team imagined it when the Lottery project was first conceived, just needs a bit of time to develop more invertebrate rich organic ooze.
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| A view of Marton Mere and Blackpool Tower that few folk get to see |
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| Scrape old (close) and new (beyond the green strip) looking good |
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| Volunteers and Interns assessing the possibilities of changing some of the vegetation structure |
The prolonged dry spell has meant low water levels and that has meant some plant species not seen all that often like this Marsh Cudweed.
And an old favourite Trifid Bur Marigold - yes there really is a plant called a trifid!
Then we stumbled across this little blue thing- Skullcap, a species we've not seen there before and that doesn't happen often!
We had to leave early as we had another family group in the afternoon so didn't get a chance to have a look at the grassland and scrub works.
The family group was back on the beach at the rockpools. Lots of shells and some decent sized Green Shore Crabs but the stars of the show were these two Blennies.
Now there's nothing overly special about Blennies we catch them every time we take a group down there but look closely - these two have jumped out of the water and stuck themselves to the side of the tub with their (relatively) huge pectoral fins.
Now that is a bit special as we knew they could do that but in all our years of rockpooling here we've never seen it before. That and the Skullcap at the Mere just go to show not matter how long you've been watching wildlife there's always something new to see and learn. Awesome!!!
After a summer of enforced absence due to having to take Monty (on his lead of course - unlike 99% of other dog walkers- grrrrrr) and there mot being a lot of shade in the red hot sunny recent months we had another visit the following day.
Nothing much was going on but we did see a couple of Sand Martins mooching about. They aren't on our Photo Year List Challenge yet so we stood and waited and waited for an opportunity. While we waited a trio of Wigeon flew over, the first arrivals of the 'winter'?
Eventually after about 100 shots we got one that's just about acceptable for the challenge, well it is identifiable - just! (PYLC #152)
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| It was a long way off on a gloomy day- honest |
The walk back to the car had us passing one of our favourite plants on the reserve, the Perennial Pea that's been there for years - possibly the plant noted as the first record for Lancashire way back in 1966, but we could be confusing it with a different specimen that may or may not still exist.
We had yet another visit today on another grey drizzly gloomy day and not a lot was seen and not a single photo taken...that doesn't happen often!
The weather has put the mockers on the mothing back at Base Camp with the trap only able to go out on a few nights. Quality rather than quantity apart from dozens of Large Yellow Underwings.  |
| Canary Shouldered Thorn - a stunner - - far more stunning than most of our butterflies shame no-one sees them as they fly in the dark of night |
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| Cydia splendana - a rather dark individual which had us guessing a bit |
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| Not a moth but a somewhat scary Ichneumon Wasp |
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| Possibly Ophion obscuratus |
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| Square Spot Rustic |
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| Yellow Barred Brindle photobombed by an Agriphila trsitella |
Where to next? We've got another moth and bat night coming up at the weekend and a safari up the motorway tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know who's doing the sticking in your outback.
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