Underwater moth trapping...in Witch country

 The Safari has been trying to do some moth trapping both at Base Camp and further afield.

Our first attempt was for the Royal Society of Biologists at a nearby Country Park. Good pal CP did a fantastic warm up act for us with a great talk on bats that had one of the attendees in stitches laughing at the thought of Bat Ladders. Then outside as dusk drew darker the bats came out to play and put on a great show for us sending our bat detectors into a heated frenzy of sound...a superb start to the evening. 

We were supposed to put the moth trap up on the green by the gardens once the bat excitement was over. Then everyone could sit round the sheets armed with a pot with which to catch the moths for us to identify as they came to the light. Well that never happened cos down came the rain by the bucketful. So 'indoor' moth trapping it was. The centre has a covered outdoor classroom at the back so it was in there that we set up out of the rain. The trouble with heavy rain is the moths don't like it and won't venture out - and who would blame them? A small number of hardy indivuals did appear, mostly Large Yellow Underwings and a few mico-moths. But we were trapping close to an Apple Tree which had attracted a goood number of Common Wasps. Fortunately we were using the sheet and light technique so could easily see them - it might have been a case of watch where you put your hands had we been coming to empty a box full of cold sleepy ones in the morning.

A few evenings later, after the rains had finished, we set the trap up at Base Camp and caught the grand total of ZERO moths - that's not in the rule books! The following night we tied again, rain wasn't forecast but we heard it lashing it down during the night - not a good omen -- just 6 soggy moths were in the trap come the morning. Things have got to get better, it's July for crying out loud!

For our next event we'd been invited by DSW, Community Engagement Officer for the Forest of Bowland AoNB Connecting People and Nature Project to lead a moth trapping and other wildlify bits n bobs event for one of her community groups...no way we could say no to that so with a car loaded up with all kinds of kit n kiboodle we headed off for the furthest reaches of East Lancashire aand the famous Witch country round the back of Pendle Hill.

We were taken to Clarion House, a community centre up in hills above the tiny village of Roughlee. To be honest the Safari has been to Australia more often than this part of east Lancashire so it's not surprising we'd never heard of the place until now. But what a lovely place and what a gorgous setting up on the hill overlooking the town of Colne down across the valley...that's if we could see that far, it was a grim old day.

Ever the optomists DSW and us set about putting up the moth trap. We decided the most sheltered area behind the building and under a substantial Birch tree was going to be the best option. Heavy rain and strong winds were forecast for overnight so we took the extra precaution of erecting a gazebo over the trap and tying that to the tree to stop it flying off over the hills towards Cheshire.

Back at Base Camp we were woken in the small hours by torrential rain lashing against the window driven by a howling gale. We spent the rest of the night worrying about the electrics-water and hot bulb-cold raindrops combos. Luckily we needn't have worried as in the end all was fine when we arrived back on site in the morning. And now with the group eager to see what had been happening overnight it was time to empty the trap. But before that we had a look on the laptop to see if the trail camera we'd set up overnight had caught anything.

We'd placed it along a track beside a woodland shelterbelt and close to a compost heap, something was bound to wander by, hopefully a deer, a Fox, a Badger, or maybe a Hedgehog or even a Rabbit? Nothing! Our fingers were well and truly crossed there wouldn't be a re-run of our zero moths escapade at Base Camp a few nights earlier given the weather was much worse this time. Thankfully there were moths and we got off to a flying (pun intended) start with a few on the sheet outside the trap.

Scalloped Oak

Lesser Swallow Prominent

The pick of the bunch for us was this Gold Spangle which never having mothed up hill before was a new species for us.

The final tally was a small but better than expected given the weather 21 moths of 14 species plus a few unidentified micro-moths and a couple of escapees.

We'd also taken our bat kit so had a little talk about bats, their biology especially their hunting echolocation and bat detectors and the fact they are predators of moths.

As well as the real live plastic bat we'd brought along a long dead real live dead Pipistrelle for them to hold and get a feel of how tiny they actually are.

This one was found dead trapped in a chimney many years ago.

When we were told that Clarion House had a pond there was nothing else to do but put a load of nets and trays in the car. Never one to waste an opportunity for some pond dipping are we?

 

We found waterboatmen, diving beetles and lots of what weassume from the location to be Palmate Newt efts (newtlets) still with their gills

The grounds of Clarion House have a mix of habitats, rough grass, well mown grass, wildflower meadow with Heath Spotted Orchids, wet meadow and a bit of Heather and Bilberry moorland as well as a small formal garden.

All this attracts a great variety of wildlife even on rainy days.

Heath Spotted Orchid

Heather

Red Admiral

Ringlet

Small Tortoiseshell

The bee we think could be Colletes succinctus, Heather Colletes by vitue of its presence in an upland habitat but we could be wrong. And we added the Greenbottle fly in to show that flies are very important pollinators but often overlooked or even disregarded in favour of bees and hoverflies. This week is Big Butterfly Count Week (that's probally why it's so cold wet n windy!) so we've put some butterfly pics in for you too.

To close here's a lovely arty shot that sums up the day very well.

A fantasic safari at a superb location we hope to visit again with a great bunch of people we hope to meet again soon. Huge thanks to DSWfor inviting us and providing some of the photos as we forgot our camera, although were too busy to take pics anyway, and to group member B for the use of her pics too - thank you very much.

Where to next? The Safari will be heading north into the wilds of South Cumbria.

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

Trying to make the most of the last of the sunshine

The Safari got out for a long lunch yesterday. Patch 2 was very quiet so we took the camera for a stroll round the work's garden. We were looking for butterflies, one species in particular but the sun had gone in by now and that make our target species might be a bit trickier.

There were still several Ragwort plants with Cinnabar moth caterpillars munching them bare.

Above them in the hedge the local House Sparrows were noisy and active.

Near to them we heard the high pitched begging calls of nestlings but it would be a while before we learned their identity. Butterflies were plentiful with Small Whites the most numerous.

Followed by Meadow Browns.

The hoped for Grayling hadn't made the few hundred yard flit from the dunes to the south. Or if one did it wasn't around when we were looking.

When we got to the end of the hedge and associated wildflowers we turned round to see a Dunnock on the lawn a ways off. It hopped around a bit grabbed a morsel and took it to the hedge from where we heard the heard the begging youngsters again - mystery solved.

Still keeping our eyes on the flowers, just in case of a Grayling, we saw plenty of Red Tailed Bumble Bees mostly on the Ragwort. Watching them we spotted another much smaller bee working the flowers.

We're fairly sure it's the tiny Colletes daviesanus which we've recorded here in previous years.

Today we've had a day off pending an adventure northwards this weekend. We concentrated on the flowers blooming in the garden

Wish you had smellavision - this one is delicious

Purple Loosestrife buzzing with bees

Oregano

Salad Burnet - in a pot donated by a local botanist

Honey Bee on the Oregano, lots of them being busy today

In the afternoon we had to take Wifey up town for an appointment and while we waited we set for the big park with the big camera and met up with BD for a couple of hours to see what we could find.

We haven't processed those pics yet so here's a cute cygnet off the phone - shame about the bag of turd in the top corner.

Sadly there were far too many people walking round staring at phone screens playing Pokemon, they were passing inches away from amazing real creatures all with awesome super-powers, if only they could be made as interesting and 'important' as the digital nonsense...how can we do that before it's too late?

Where to next? You'll have to wait to find out about our adventure to the north.
In the meantime let us know who's buzzing around in your outback.

Terrible busy

The safari has been terrible busy; terrible busy we tell you! So posts on the old blog have been a bit few and far between recently. Hopefully are schedule will calm down a bit in the next couple of weeks and we'll be here a little more regularly with news of the brilliant local and not quite so local we have round these parts.

After a couple of days of missing the Bottlenose Dolphins we actually caught up with them late this morning, a bit distant but wow were they going for a it a real feeding frenzy with diving Gannets all round them.Great stuff always good to see them and next it would be good to get some pics when they are closer...and they have been much much closer, to see if any can be matched to individuals on the ID catalogues.

Last night we entertained our last Beaver pack of the season and they were good enough to bring along lots of materials to help fill our Bug Hotel, they added three layers and filled lots of gaps.

The little ones even had a go at sawing and hammering nails and they weren't too bad at those engineering skills either.

Earlier we'd been invited to give a short guided walk to an office conservation/wildlife group around their nature area.

Super, special, smashing is how we'd describe their site. Grey Partridge, a pair of soaring Sparrowhawks, a hovering Buzzard, a Kestrel being mobbed by a Magpie and all those from the office window!

While we were waiting for the party to arrive we sat on a bench by the front door and immediately potted a Ruby Tailed Wasp investigating the brickwork by the doorway to show them as they arrived.

Gatekeepers and Meadow Brown butterflies were all over the place. Annoyingly we dropped a Ladybird before we could count its spots, they seem to be very scarce round here this summer.

Most  remarkable was a patch of striking purple flowers along a bank by a car park.

It's only Betony - not the rarest plant in the world but there's only three local sites given in the North Lancs flora! So it's more like -  it's ONLY Betony!!!

The pond had a superb sighting - a young Moorhen waddling, or should that be wobbling around, on the Water Lily leaves.

All too soon our time there was up, we hope to be invited back later in the year for an autumnal look.

At work our wild garden is going over a bit now 

but still attracts a fair few bees, hoverflies and butterflies including a scarce visitor here, a Meadow Brown.

The bees are having a great time in the pollen laden flowers. This Red Tailed Bumblebee is having a whale of a time.

Perhaps a little more 'interesting' was this tiny little bee

All the above taken with the phone-cam during brief escapes from the desk.

We've been told it could well be Colletes davieanus but it might not be. If it is it will be a new species for town, but it has been recorded further up the coast out of our borough.

Where to next? Can't tell you what's happening tomorrow - top secret but will be fun and hopefully we'll get a few minutes Dolphin watching in before the excitement starts.

In the meantime let us know who's been buzzing around unnoticed and ignored in your outback.