Well that was unexpected

The Safari had a wander out east with GB the other morning. Before we met him off the tram we took Monty for a quick stretch up the prom where, while he was having a merry old sniff, we spied these two interesting clouds which we guess were hailstone cells but we're no meteorological wizard not by a long chalk.

GB's tram arrived on time and Monty gave him his usual over-exuberant welcome. Once in the car we started chatting and one of the first thing he mentioned were the weird clouds he'd seen from the tram.

Half an hour later we turned in to the car park at the River Brock and very atmospheric it was too. Just before we reached the last turn before the car park gate a Jay flew over the car and a second was already perched in the roadside tree it flew too...still not got them on our Photo Challenge but that seemed like a good omen. A Buzzard also cruised the field possibly what flushed the Jay...not the best place to be a Buzzard hope it stays safe and well away from any gamekeepers.

While we were putting our boots on we could hear a Nuthatch calling from somewhere around the feeders and then a second in the trees behind us.

By the time we were shod a bit of a mist had settled over the river looking all picturesque where the sun was shining through the trees.

Further round in the sunlight we found one shaft picking out an epiphytic fern quite high up on a tree bole.

The woods were livelier with birds than they often are, GB picking put a Goldcrest with a second one a couple of spindly trees further back. A Treecreeper was spotted too. But more was to come; down by the old mill we heard a sort of familiar but very seldom heard monotone rattle, and then a few seconds later there it went again...this time it really did sound like a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker calling from the tall trees on the other side of the river. WOW!!!! But could we see it up there, sadly not. We've never heard (or seen) one there before but 20 odd years ago there were a few sightings by Bird Club members in the woods a mile or so further up stream. It's a while since we've visited those woods and decided to have a peek today. Blimey the road/track has deteriorated since we were last there and was impassible to the 'normal' car we have now, the old Discovery wouldn't have had any problems - it looks like this...or did several years ago when we filmed it but you don't really get the full impression of how steep the drop to the river and climb out are

It was an interesting reverse out today as we couldn't get down the lane as far as the turning round space. The woods look much as they always did but what they look like to our eyes and what they are really like to the various species that inhabit it now, is it better, worse, same???

Round the corner is Beacon Fell where GB treated us to a coffee while we sat out close to the feeder they have there. It was busy with Blue, Great and Coal Tits with a Robin hanging around and a couple of Chaffinches coming in and out. 

The sun was still out and creating harsh lighting conditions at the feeder where the benches aren't in the best place for photographers but are great for all other folk just sat out on the benches having tea and a bun.

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

Great Tit

A great way to sit and watch and shoot for as long as it takes to drink a cuppa...Time to go and get some pies in! one the way to the pies we were on another single track road when two vans appeared coming the other direction as we reached a tight corner...good job we'd had that bit of reversing practice coming out of the woods earlier.

Pies successfully scoffed we headed back to Fleetwood to take GB home passing the Marine Lake on the way to see if there were any Red Breasted Mergansers on there, GB, Fleetwood born n bred, has never seen them on there and doesn't believe they actually exist! Once again he was right there weren't any; but there were three Goldeneyes close to the roadside, a male, a first winter male and a female. While we were searching for the mythical mergansers a Black Headed Gull with a yellow Darvik ring unfortunately we weren't able to get a read of it as the letters were round the rong side of the leg and then a passer-by came along and it flew off and although we waited a while it dodn't return...shoulda saved some pie crusts!

In other news the big lens is back but we don't know if the workshop has been able to resolve the intermittent problem it was having, they cleaned up all the contacts and tightened up all the screws but it didn't misbehave for them...will it for us tomorrow - hope not and we hope that's the last of the problem too.

Where to next? The Marton Mere Otter has been seen daily so we'll try a wander round there early doors tomorrow...with the big lens.

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

Non-stop safari-ing

The Safari has had a hectic start to the week with young Beavers coming to visit and a school group all day today. More Brownies tomorrow evening - can our ears survive the strain all those excited young children make a lorra lorra noise!

Late on Sunday afternoon realising we weren't going to be able to get out we had a last mooch round the garden at Base Camp looking for the Blue Tailed Damselflies to see if we could get any more super close-ups. They weren't playing ball as the sun had gone in and a cool wind had picked up so we had to be content with flowers. Last summer there was hardly any Herb Bennett in the garden, this year there are a few plants. That's one of the joys of having  a wild garden you just don't quite know what's going to come up where year by year.

If there were any hoverflies about they'd love it but we've seen very few so far this summer.

Herb Robert is much more forthcoming and maybe you can have too much of a good thing when it starts invading Wifey's special planting tubs.

We noticed some had little orange specks on them, some times just a few and others had several. They were randomly placed so we deduced they weren't something the plant had produced.

 Then we spotted this tiny fly which may or may not be the culprit of what we suppose are eggs.

Big eggs if that little insect did lay them. Maybe they only lay two as most seemed to be in pairs and several insects have laid their eggs on one flower - isn't nature great there's always something new to see and learn, one question leads to a whole bookful of others.

Last night we were with the youngsters on the beach looking in the rockpools, it was a lovely summer's evening warm with hardly a breath of wind - a perfect evening for exploring on the beach. The recent offshore winds might be great for keeping the sea calm and helping our Dolphin spotting but it does mean there's not a great deal of shells and the like washed up. That didn't stop us finding some good stuff though like this Thornback Ray egg case.

Lots of the Common Prawns were in berry - except this one!

Star find as far as the Beavers were concerned were a couple of medium sized Common Sand Stars.

After we'd got back to Base Camp and had tea we were chatting to our Extreme Photographer on the phone when we notciced the sky start to build up some odd looking clouds. He had similar ones too 200 miles to the south. Once we'd finished chatting we got a couple of snaps with the phone, apparently they are Cirrus fibratus and Twitter friend @MaryJasper2 had similar all the way down in SW Cornwall.

Impressively wispy but were better than this a few minutes earlier

All day today we played host to a local school doing pond dipping and mini-beast hunting. The pond is still a bit slow probably due to the iffy weather in May and early June but they caught a reasonable selection of snails and plenty of 3-spined Sticklebacks, none as bright and energetic as 'Spineless Simon' though. The biggest surprise came in the form of a small dragonfly nymph, we very very seldom see adult dragonflies in the work's garden but there must have been some last year

Of the terrestrial invertebrates this bright, long and skinny Centipede was our favourite but the kids' favourite was probably the huge spider they found and many were brave enough to gently hold it - well done them!

Talk of our Extreme Photographer he's sent a few pics from his garden out in the wilds in the last week or so

Drinker moth caterpillar

Hedgehog

Great Diving Beetle larva - you wouldn't want to mess with those fangs!

Where to next? More Patch 2 dolphin hoping - there was a Humpback Whale not so far away just out of sight over the horizon last week!!!!!!! and there be more netting shenanigans with the kids too.

In the meantime let us know who's sucking the juice out of who in your outback.

A day of mixed miscellany

The Safari was eager to get out and check the moth trap this morning. The season's first attempt so we weren't expecting much but were hopeful of something in there. Nothing! not a sniff!
No more activity in the pond either although the Frog was croaking loudly again last night.

We went in to make a brew when we heard the familiar sound of geese going over, a dash to the front door was just in the nick of time as we saw about 75 Pink Footed Geese disappearing over our short northern horizon. Also out there somewhere out of sight in the gardens on the other side road to our right was a House Sparrow or two chirruping away, close but not close enough...yet!

A leisurely breakfast followed and we spent much of the morning watching not much happening on the feeders.

After Wifey had gone out we took Frank to Patch 1 or at least Magpie Wood, Frank is terribly slow these days sniffing here and sniffing there as he staggers along but that gave us a chance to have a good look at a Goldcrest working its way through a neighbour's hedge.

Round the corner an enormous bumble bee flew past us. 

Not much else was about and even this short walk knackered the old fella out.

The sun came out in the afternoon and it was quite summery. We chopped some more wood and split some kindling with no shirt on before getting the sun chair out and enjoyed a good half hour sunbathe - wasn't expecting that! Loved it!!!

After Frank was rested and the sun was still out we decided to go to the coast and have a look at the rising tide. By now the sun had gone in and conditions for looking for cetaceans were ideal with a shadowless sea with little in the way of swell and waves.

We've increased the contrast on this pic to show the rays to better effect - the eye often sees things differently to the camera's sensor in real life.

Out a sea we didn't see any cetaceans or Grey Seals but there was a huge flock of Common Scoters right on the limit of our bins. A couple of Dunlin flew past as did a small flock of Oystercatchers, later one came off the sea and flew over our heads going inland to feed while the tide was high. 

Plenty of Turnstones were seen feeding on the steep wall of the old boating pool wall but at this range we couldn't tell if there were any of the Purple Sandpipers with them.

We tried some gull in flight shots but it was too dark by now. 

Frank met a lovely young Pharaoh Hound and for the first time in ages actually wanted to play, initiating the moves - he was a grand looking dog and Frank was smitten, not seen him initiate play for ages.

We sat there for over an hour without seeing any blubber and the temperature failing - time to give up and go and get a well earned cuppa.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 where we hope Saturday's two or more Harbour Porpoises are still about.

In the meantime let us know what's all blubbery in your outback

Strange change in the sky

The Safari hasn't had much in the way of anything much these last couple of days. Yesterday the wind was an icy Arctic blast and the sea very choppy. this morning was much milder but still scrape the windscreen frosty and the sea was very misty hazy and we couldn't see far. Top of the list were three crisp white adult Gannets cruising past close inshore. A eye out of the side window on the drive down the Prom hasn't given us a Wheatear of Ring Ouzel, neither have scans along the top of the seawall.

At least one more Osprey might well have flown over the office roof unbeknown to us after crossing the river from the South-side.

Best sighting of the week was a pair of low flying Mistle Thrushes (Garden #28) over Base Camp while we were bringing in the laundry off the line this evening.

Frank wasn't interested in going far this evening and only took us about 25 yards up the hill and there was us thinking he'd be wanting to race back to Patch1 where a Chiffchaff might be freshly arrived...no chance.

Walking the 25yards back down the hill we noticed that the sky was a funny pinky shade of grey. Now a week or so ago that colour of cloud would signify imminent snow but today being a little warmer it looked for all the world as though a bit of a thunder storm might be about to be unleashed...if you saw that sky in June or July then you'd want to looking for some shelter from the impending deluge...but it never happened this evening.

The driver of the white car waved and gave a very cheery smile as he drove past, nice to see someone happy and enjoying a bit of fun.

Pics are off the phone and we have to say we're pretty impressed with the quality and we haven't got it on its top setting, could possibly rival our 'normal' camera if it was!

Taken at range, heavily zoomed and cropped in dull conditions

But will we be able to digi-scope with it...something to try at the weekend maybe.

Talking of the weekend there is a Lizard walk with local expert RL starting at 10am on Saturday - details here let's hope the sun shines.

Where to next? We've got the little ones back on the beach tomorrow - wonder what wonders they will find for us this time.

In the meantime let us know what's flying over the laundry drying on the line in your outback

Crash bang wallop

The Safari had a short ten minutes on Patch 2 this morning. A few Gannets, Common Scoters and Sandwich Terns were going through at varying distances.

For the first time in a long time it actually felt cold standing there in the wind – which being southerly should have been warmer.

Seawatching stalwart MJ was stood a few hundred yards away but we didn’t get a chance to go and chat to him so will find out what we missed later...please, please, please not another Sabine’s Gull.

Half way through the morning there was a right royal commotion from the gulls outside that had ‘raptor’ written all over it! Like a flash we jumped from our desk and dashed outside; everything was in the air, the Starlings were bunched up tight, feral Pigeons wheeled round unsure whether to land or not and the gulls circled still calling loudly but we saw nothing that might have been the cause of the disturbance.

Lunchtime came round and we popped overt he road again. It was much warmer now but along the horizon loomed a huge sinister looking, brooding dark blue-grey mass of cloud.

It didn’t look good out there but the sunshine picked out a distant flock of terns dancing for fish in front of it. After several attempts at counting we got at least 79 terns, a dozen or so Gannets and three darker spots were, from their jizz, skuas. Small parties of Common Scoters ‘fled’ from its path, mostly southwards. None of ‘our regular’ dolphins could be seen although at that range it is possible they were around but unseeable. Best of all was the flash of lightning, not often you get one of those in the scope’s field of view...a taste of things to come!

The wind was south south-easterly but the cloud drew ever closer from the west as the wind changed and once over the beach we could see its ominous form – it looked a real devil...better get some pics then!

 We went out to the front and then the back. 

Whilst stood at the back door a friend turned up to show us the truly awesome picture with his phone from the other side of the road, looks like we’d come in a few minutes too soon. As we were chatting a flash of lightning struck very close by, no time to count 1000, 2000...before the thunder crackled then boomed.

A few more flickers were more distant as the storm rolled inland where it looked like they were getting a pasting. We just got a short heavy shower. Then the sun came out and it was summer at last!

After the sun had been out for an hour or so walking down the corridor we noted a Small Tortoiseshell and a Small White nectaring on the Ragwort on the other side of the window. By the time we’d done what we had to do and gone back to the office to get the camera they’d both gone but the large numbers of hoverflies entertained us for a few minutes. A very quick and probably highly inaccurate count revealed at least 110 individuals of a variety of species including bees and one very small unusual looking hymenopteran – no pots in the pocket today :-( . 

A comparison count on the ‘tidy’ side towards the car-park gave us only 19 insects, almost all of those on a large Yarrow we planted as a small wildflower plug a couple of years ago that has somehow survived the ravages of the ‘tidy brigade’. Beneath it and just coming in to flower is a small patch of Sea Holly which again should be much larger but has variously been dug up and sprayed as a weed but has still just about managed to hang on and is doing quite well so far this year - the patch should be huge by now though!

Untidy but buzzin with birds n bees n hovers n butters etc etc - those Formiums will have to go sooner rather than later though

Tidy but more or less lifeless

Yarrow

Sea Holly - 7 years old and this is all there is due to 'weeding' & spraying!

Where to next? Hopefully more good stuff on Patch 2.
In the meantime let us know what's enjoying the nectar in your outback.

Summer sun - for a change!

The Safari caught wind that we'd forgotten World Turtle Day yesterday. See here for some info from a couple of years ago. Fairly sure, or at least a definite maybe, we saw one close in off the wall towards the end of last summer, or was it the year before - time don't half fly when you're havin fun.

Today was spent mostly in the garden preping up for the builders next week -gonna be good - hope they finish before the long weekend and this glorious weather holds. Long weekend/glorious weather perhaps shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence in advance...kiss of death and all that!

After works were completed we did a bit of weeding and tying up the Wisteria, that's when we noticed there were a few teneral Blue Tailed Damselflies around the pond. We downed tools and grabbed the camera.

 Tried sneaking up on some

 And got pretty close despite the heat. This one had just landed on the garage wall after its maiden flight of about 5 yards.

Full size straight out of the camera just a crop to frame the face...a real beaut...really pleased with this pic!!!

Frank had us playing footy later on and we heard a Lesser Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and a couple of Blackcaps in the park; another Blackcap was in the Golden Triangle. Would have like a Spotted Flycatcher but they've probably all moved through quickly in this good weather.

An interesting looking isolated cloud formation developed on the way back down the hill.

Whilst out in the garden we kept an ear out for the gulls but they blatantly refused to find us a Honey Buzzard - the so-n-sos

Where to next? Moffy is on tonight...Lime Hawkmoths in the vicinity!

In the meantime let us know what's bubbling up in your outback.