Another early morning safari

The Safari was once again off to the nature reserve just as dawn was breaking, thankfully there was no thick fog today and it was a little warmer. Leaving the car we soon heard the Wetland’s Cetti’s Warbler he seems to be a permanent fixture there now. Yesterday’s still air and blanket of fog must have been amplifying the horrendous traffic noise as it didn’t seem so bad this morning allowing us to pick up the Grasshopper Warbler from a good way off, a Blackcap was in fine voice just outside the reserve’s main gate. Through the gate we went full of eager anticipation – what would the night have delivered for us? A minor detour down to the Viewing Platform gave us an answer, a Reed Warbler, well away from where we heard the one yesterday and a Sedge Warbler (135, MMLNR #88) were singing when you could hear them over the vocal argy-bargy of two Cetti’s Warblers. The water was very quiet with a Great Crested Grebe being pick of the bunch.

Continuing on our way we heard a second Grasshopper Warbler in one of their ‘traditional’ areas on the other side of the path, good stuff! Song Thrushes were noticeably loud this morning an there were several Chiffchaffs but so far we hadn’t heard a Willow Warbler.

Look - no fog!

In the scrub we heard our second Blackcap of the day, both in the same places we heard them yesterday morning. Other than a noisily clacking Blackbird, the cause of the commotion we couldn’t find, the scrub was quiet.

The scrape could be seen today and held a pair of Shelducks and a pair of Shovelers along with eight Teal but no waders. At the very start of embankment we heard our only singing Willow Warbler of the morning, in the bushes we’d just passed and then our third Grasshopper Warbler reeling from by the new ponds and from the reeds on the opposite side the same Reed Warbler as yesterday then a third of those down by the bridge. A scan of the fields was disappointing with only a Magpie and pair of Grey Lag Geese hitting the notebook.

Once again we didn’t do the full circuit but retraced our steps seeing no dew-laden cobwebs bedecking the Teasels today. 

Three Stock Doves did a couple of laps of the island and looking at the back of the scrape, out of sight from the other viewpoint, there were still no waders to be seen. There were at least a dozen Sand Martins hawking low over the water now but still no Swallows or House Martins for us here.
In the scrub a movement at the edge of the path caught our eye, recently fledged Song Thrush which was a nice surprise. Also on the path there was a dollop of recently laid Fox scat…was the owner of that causing the Blackbird’s anxiety earlier?

A little further up the path a male Linnet sang from a trackside shrub but wouldn’t allow a close enough approach to get a decent pic of him.

It is a Linnet - honest!

See!

By now time was running short and we aimed for the car not hearing the second Grasshopper Warbler as we passed. Outside the reserve gate the Blackcap was still singing and a few yards further on we could hear the original Grasshopper Warbler. We spotted LR coming towards us and waited for him close to the Gropper.

After a chat we headed back to the car passing a non-singing Willow Warbler feeding in the allotment hedge on the way. It was back at the car we noticed that the hedge had been heavily flailed so that there wasn’t twig remaining and no cover or shelter along the roadside at all…Noooooooo who would do such a thing now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Txts from SD about Great Northern Divers and Merlins out to sea had us grabbing the scope as soon as we got to work but it was to no avail we'd missed all the action and the sea was deadly quiet by the time we got there. 
It was little better at lunchtime, the excitement was on the beach where a Ringed Plover was performing a super display flight. It wasn’t until a dog walker went past that we realised there was another bird there too, on the sand. This flushed and our Ringed Plover followed it calling like mad as it towered out over the sea – trouble was this second bird was smaller and slighter so probably not a Ringed Plover…so why was it being displayed too??? Have we missed a grounded Little Ringed Plover or was it something else. Further down the beach was a second Ringed Plover but this one wasn’t displaying and was sat with half a dozen summer plumaged Dunlins.

Where to next? There won't be an early morning safari tomorrow but we'll be having a look at something somewhere during the day that's for sure.

In the meantime let us know who's been displaying to the wrong sorts in your outback.

A few more added to the various birding lists

The Safari hasn't seen too much of late and we've not had chance to get the camera out of its bag but that's not to say we've not seen nothing.

Actually it was Wifey who added to her list first with several Rooks (Wifey #50) seen along the side of the motorway on her business trip to London recently. She's also probably seen more Red Kites than we've had hot dinners this year too.

We've been out on Patch 2 for a few minutes most mornings and lunchtimes seeing nothing out of the ordinary apart from three Curlews (P2 #41) a couple of mornings ago. other than those excitement out to sea has been confined to a reasonable count of 159 Sanderlings today and a loose flock of 11 Kittiwakes heading north yesterday, followed by the impressive sight of over 1000 Common Scoters in flight as a flock of them was disturbed by a small boat.

Mornings have been frosty but it's been well worth getting out for the blue skies alone. The snow on the Lake District fells was still there this morning.

Best and deffo the most unexpected sighting of the week was left until this morning. Leaving the front door as usual there didn't seem to be anything amiss, all was as quiet as it gets - too quiet even it's getting far too close to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring round here. But then we heard a cheeky chirruping we rarely hear close to Base Camp, in the small trees. Wow at least three dark shapes, House Sparrows! Great to have them so close to Base Camp...and then one, a handsome male, flew and perched on the gutter on the corner of the house right above us. And we'd just put the camera on the back seat of the car and closed the door dohhhhhhhh. But still House Sparrow (Garden #22) on the garden list is a great addition, we normal only get one or two visits a year and they're in June so we're well chuffed. The one on the gutter disappeared round the back of the house possibly towards the feeders - did it see the House Sparrow nesting terrace on the way??? We didn't see if the others followed it or not. We really hope they come back tomorrow morning!

At work we've set up a small tank with some Frog spawn from the pond at Base Camp for the children to study.

It's only been there 36 hours and already the eggs have grown some shape into miniature tadpoles, it's a lot warmer inside the heated building than in the pond so they're going to develop much faster than their cousins. Once they've metamorphosed almost into Froglets we'll return them. There's plenty more spawn in our pond but the fish will more than likely end up eating it so these will be the survivors.

Where to next? It's the weekend, there's big high tides and we have a cunning plan that involves the estuary.

In the meantime let us know who made a most unexpected and very welcome visit to your outback.

The real Blackpool Airshow dog fight

The Safari has had an eventful weekend since we were last on here. In sort of a reverse order it ended with a garden tick for the year, one the Red Arrows flew directly over our airspace here at Base Camp this arvo as the formation was leaving town after their impressive display...what a racket! But their display of aerobatics paled into insignificance compared to the three Arctic Skuas that were harrying in the terns out in the mouth of the river - now that IS what we call flying skill!!! Never sen a Sandwich Tern so high up, 3-400 feet, trying unsuccessfully to avoid detection. Wonder how many 'g's a skua pulls in a high speed vertical climb with an instant stall and plummet to catch a disgorged meal? All very impressive and exhilarating to watch far better than the man-made noise machines.

Before lunch we'd been on the beach with a family group and they'd only gone and found a couple of thing s we'd never seen before!

A lump of Sabellaria reef had been broken off by the heavy weather ind in it were some worms still alive. We broke open the honeycomb structure that gives the worms their English name. We've never actually seen the little devils out in the open before and didn't realise they were only about an inch or so long and they are truly weird, far more weird than anything we've seen on Doctor Who over the years.

Shrimps are always popular with the little ones

The other strange creature was this blog of jelly. Please tell us what it is.

Heard from marine guru Maya Plass via Twitter - she doesn't know what it is either!!! Have to find it again tomorrow and do a more in depth examination

It was about three times the length of the 1cm spherical blob when it was fully extended. We saw no tentacles and when gently prodded it squirted a pair of jets of water about three or four inches. It's stuck to a broken piece of Sabellaria reef. It could be a Sea Squirt (no idea what colour to do these in as they aren't invertebrates but are they vertebrates?).

We do know what a Green Leaf Worm is even though we don't see them that often.

 We have no problem IDing Beadlet Anemones either.

What a fantastic beach we have - shame far too many of the visitors who obviously like or otherwise they wouldn't come don't respect  it.

First thing this morning we joined some of our colleagues on the monthly staff volunteer beach clean up. Seems to be the same stalwarts every time - come on guys where are the rest of you????

Prior to that we'd woken upto the realisation it was the very ingloious 12th - the day Red Grouse live to die for. Now don't get us wrong we aren't against the sensible sustainable harvesting of wild species for food and there is alot ofd good quality free range food out there be it for humans or pets - EAT THE ALIENS! what we do have a serious problem with is driven grouse shooting which almost demands the destruction of native habitats and species. Moorland is an important international habitat found in few places outside the British Isles but grouse moorland bears little resemblance to natural moorland and the destruction of wildlife that goes with it is not only criminal but morally corrupt - like the government ministers who condone it or at least lean on the authorities to ignore it...if Vicariously Liability does ever reach the statute book then Benyon would be my first choice of arrest with his not outlawing the possession of the banned poison carbofuran when he had the chance and there's plenty more who should have done and hasn't, not just hasn't but has domne the opposite of what the environment expects of him - well he is supposed to be minister for it not against it. Talk about vested interests! The man's a sham 
Hen Harrier Day today shame the weather of the last two seasons has done the gamekeepers' final dirtywork for them and every last one in England has turned it's toes up.
We had a busy weekend with the North Blackpool Pond Trail bioblitz folled by a National Moth Night event in a park we've never been to before. It took a while before the moths decided to put in an appearance but one of them was one we've never seen before...Iron Prominent

Ruby Tigers are always good value spawning the park's newsletter headline 'Tigers on the loose in the Park'.

The bioblitz found well over the target of 500 species and that includes us not being able to find any remnants of the Bee Orchids! While sweep netting a small caterpillar in a larval case made of seed pods was found, a bit like a terrestrial caddisfly larva. It's still to be confirmed but it looks like it's probably Coleophora trifolii.

We'll be back with more bioblitz and marine news tomorrow.

Where to next? More mariney stuff with another family group and no doubt more Patch 2 action to report on hopefully.

In the meantime let us know who's murdering what they shouldn't be in your outback.

One out - all out!

The Safari (somewhat sadly) avoided the cetacean survey from Birkenhead to Belfast with fellow naturalist Ed Drewitt, we were looking forward to working with him but have now learned that the ferries are running over two hours late due to the horrendous conditions out at sea so we've probably had a bit of a lucky escape.
Today absolutely nothing approached the fully filled feeder. We had the offer of nipping round the corner to CR's place to photograph the two Reed Buntings that graced his bird table...we had to decline cos we've totally run out of cut wood for Little Bertha and a garage full of bagged wood needed the attention of a saw! Eventually just before it started going dark a Magpie dropped in briefly, the only bird we saw in the garden all day.

Later this evening is Earth Hour when we will be turning the lights off for one hour. We've already had an extremely tasty vegetarian meal...and of course we are being warmed on this most awful of 'spring' nights by wood that would have otherwise gone to landfill.
If you can see it keep your eye on this iconic landmark.

 It might look like this

But a pull on this...yes it is the real Blackpool Illuminations Switch-on switch as pulled by mega-celebs like Jane Mansfield (1959, within days of our birth) and local horse Red Rum which we used to watch training on the beach while doing one of earlier jobs...and even Jeremy Clarkson!

And it should look like this.

If  you look out of the window between 8.30 and 9.30 tonight and can't see it, when you normally can, all is well and good!
Where to next? hopefully the wind will have dropped enough and the last of this morning's snow melted to be able to do our Winter Thrushes Survey and then maybe somewhere else...not been to Chat Alley for a while.