There's always something to see if you look

The Safari wasn't able to get out until nearly lunchtime yesterday, when we did we went straight to the nature reserve where we hoped there'd be some new summer migrants in. There were, it wasn't long after leaving the car we heard our first Chiffchaff singing, then another and another and so it went on.

For some reason we decided to give the Long Eared Owls a look, dunno why as they'd not been reported, or reported as absent, for several days. However as we walked up towards their favourite place three birders were stood there looking as though they were watching them. By now we'd had at perhaps as many as eight singing Chiffchaffs too! 

They were looking at a Long Eared Owl until one of them said she could see a second, it was only inches away from the first but tricky to see if you weren't in exactly the right place, We told them there  has been a third and after a long while eventually found it well hidden at the back of a particularly dense patch of scrub and only small parts of it were visible depending where you stood.

AM rolled up on his bike and we had a chat, he telling us he'd had a Willow Warbler in the big park. We were quite surprised hearing this that we'd not heard one on the walk down to the owls as it's a good spot fro them, he'd also had a Blackcap singing there so spring is deffo springing.

We left to enjoy the owls and wandered off to have a look to see if there were any waders on the scrape, there weren't, just a few Teal and a Moorhen. We left the scrape and retraced our steps before heading along the embankment listening to Cetti's Warblers and Reed Buntings and scanning the fields for White Wagtails and Wheatears of which there were neither. Sat on the last bench waiting for a passing Osprey and a pinging Bearded Tit were MJ andd EP so we joined them for a wait and a chat. Before too long a small flock of Sand Martins drifted high over the far end of the reserve but soon moved through. Behind us on the flood in the field were eight Gadwall feeding away in the shallows, we've never seen them over there before. The gulls went up in a panic, not an Osprey, 'just' a Buzzard this time way down beyond the far end of the reserve. More were seen nearer over the fields and TS picked up two sat at the very top of a pylon miles away. Flying across the mere from the north we spotted a Jay (MMLNR 83) a good spring record here but unfortunately the other two didn't pick it up before it was out of sight behind the trees along the south bank.

More Sand Martins came and went, our count was up to at least 50 by now but still they stayed high and down at the far end not coming anywhere near the lovely nesting bank that's been made for them. The regular pair of Oystercatchers came in noisily from the fields followed shortly after by a pair of Lapwings, it was a joy to watch and listen to the male displaying over the island and mere - if only they would settle to best on there that would be awesome! Really the vegetation on the top plateau of the island could have done with ripping off during the winter but with the very high water  levels  it probably wasn't possible to get a machine over there to do the work.

With still no Ospreys in sight we left the warmth of the bench, well it was warm when the sun shone but that wind was still at bit braw when the sun went behind a cloud. Off to the hide we went again to check the scrape for waders, none again apart from the Lapwings and Oystercatchers. The Teal were looking very dapper and we counted now nine Gadwall and seven Shovelers along with 15 Cormorants on the remains of the bund. We'd been hearing a Little Grebe calling from the reedbed in this area all afternoon and finally it showed well but all too briefly for the camera. The feeders here were busy too with Reed Bunting, a pair of Chaffinches, a Great Tit, a Blue Tit and a pair of Long Tailed Tits. One of the latter took a sunny seed from the feeder into the nearby Willow bush and promptly hung upside-down by one foot while pecking at the seed which was held firmly aloft in the other - bizarre behaviour which PE tried to get some pics of, we've not seen them posted up yet so they may not have come out too well in the dull conditions, we'll post the link if they do appear - it's worth seeing - Most unusual, especially when the second bird looked as though it might muscle in for a sneaky peck at the exposed seed too!

Meandering on we had a look at the gulls from where the old 'Gull Hide' has been removed from, it;s now easier to see them standing on the remains of the footings, if your tall, as you're higher than the tops of the reeds which you weren't when sat down in the hide. There were plenty to be seen but sadly no sign of the Iceland Gull, can't be long before it departs back to Greenland - yet another great birding misnomer! When we put the hide in all those years ago there weren't any reeds to see over.

The little wet meadow had several clumps of Snakeshead Fritillartes starting to flower, there were too many people about to sneak in for a pic, it would just encourage the 'Great Unwashed' to venture in all heavy footed to see what we'd been interested in - not worth the risk, the Cowslips were starting to come out too.

More Sand Martins came from nowhere to circle over head then 20 minutes later even more, we reckon we finished the day with a count of at least 120 but no Swallows for us today. Away over on the far side of the mere was a Great Crested Grebe and we could hear another growling unseen in the reeds nearby, was this one on a nest perhaps?

There were plenty of Small Tortoiseshells and a few Peacocks enjoying the warm sunshine but the rare and elusive Brimstone, they are rare and elusive here at least didn't put in an appearance.

We went to the viewing platform for a last look over the mere coming across a family having a whale of a time with a dog a ball and a ghetto blaster in the 'Paddock' - ah pillocks in the paddock! We politely told them they were in a nature reserve and asked them to leave indicating towards the huge area adjacent where all manner of  play is permitted. The father(?) told us to F Off and mind our own F-ing business and anyway he hadn't seen any nature so there wasn't any of the 'F'ing useless stuff' there anyway - he might have had a pojnt cos we'd lugged the camera around all day and found nothing to point it at except the 'easy' Long Eared Owl - which was just as well as we'd brought it out with a dud battery and not put the freshly charged one  in our pocket - too eager to get out and see all that useless nature!

So ended another quality afternoon on the nature reserve. When we got back to Base Camp we learned we'd missed an Osprey away to the east probably while walking back to the car...dohhh!

This morning we were on opening up duty at work and only had time for a ten minute look over the wall at Patch 2, nothing much there in that briefest of looks, a Great Crested Grebe on the sea, a Red Throated Diver going high to the north and four Eiders, two pairs flying south fairly close in, but nothing new like a Sandwich Tern which have started to be recorded along the coast.

Once back behind the desk we learned that had we been able to stay out a little longer we might have seen a local Mega, a Black Guillemot was spotted from the southern end of the Patch about quarter of an hour after we'd had to go.

During the first half of the morning we heard the gulls go up with a panic twice but on dashing outside saw nothing. LR phoned to say he and IB had just watched an Osprey fly over the nature reserve which was then reported a little further north too...dohhh - will we connect with one this year?

The sea was very quiet for  our lunchtime look, a few very distant Common Scoters a distant Gannet and a nearer but still distant enough Grey Seal were all that was on offer; still no Sandwich Terns!

A bit of bright sunshine mid afternoon saw us taking a break with the camera to see if there wer eany butterflies in the wildflower meadow, there weren't. The Cowslips, there's not so many as last year, haven't quite opened yet but there are some fully open at Base Camp which catches less sun.

Plenty of Coltsfoot flowers are available for the bees and butterflies but no takers today, there's no Dandelions showing yet though.

Where to next? We've a trip out of work up the coast aways for a quick look at the remedial works in the park along the new sea defences tomorrow morning which could prove interesting.

In the meantime let us know who needs a wash in your outback.

A change of scenery

The Safari got out of bed way to early today and we perhaps should have gone out for an early morning look-see but we didn't we waited in to make Wifey her breakfast when she woke up.

We did get out just before lunchtime and made a detour to the large park rather than  head straight to the nature reserve. There were plenty of gulls on the lake but nothing out of the ordinary. A Great Crested Grebe was top of the bill on the more open part of the lake. The other part of the lake had a few Shovelers and a few more Tufted Ducks. It wasn't waterfowl we were here to look for though, we were more interested in what might be in the trees. Last week CR had had good views of Treecreepers which we've missed at the nature reserve this winter and now they'll be back on the much bigger trees here. A Great Tit sang non-stop for several minutes while we checked the tree trucks for mouse-like birds.

A movement high above us caught our eye, not a Grey Squirrel this time but something more interesting and bluer...a Nuthatch, then we lost it as it flew to another tree. This was good as they have been reported only very infrequently this winter. Fortunately it reappeared after not many minutes.

Look at that, it's got a sunny seed. It was stashing them in the cracks in the bark for a rainy day. Following it back as well we could through the twigs and branches we soon found where they were finding them. Many kind souls bring seed and fill a variety of homemade feeders and this was where the two, yes two, Nuthatches were finding the seeds.

Not the best of pics the light was dodgy (poor excuse we know) and they are quick little devils!

The seed ran out and they soon disappeared but PL came by with some in his pockets and scattered it around for the other small birds and the ever greedy Feral Pigeons. The Nuthatches didn't come back. They were, however, a tick on our Patchwork Challenge Marton Mere list but it won't go on our 'official' Mere list, the site boundaries aren't the same.

There's always a Robin or two on the prowl

And they aren't shy of accepting free offerings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered through the park with PL coming across some Gadwall at the far end near the heronry, not many Herons were in residence today. this one was at the water's edge sunning itself.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming but we didn't locate it in the tree tops. We left the park crossing the road to the ornamental woodland. Here we heard a Goldcrest but again couldn't find any Treecreepers. At the old log PL put down more seed from his pocket and down they came in their droves as if they'd been expecting him including this female Blackbird.

Out of the wood we had a look under the wooden sheets to see if there were any early waking Great Crested Newts, there weren't but there were two sleepy Toads.

Wandering on we checked out the nearby Bee Orchid patch at the side of the path, we found four rosettes which was nice. 

Now the nature reserve was beckoning, we looked unsuccessfully for the Stonechat at the wetland on the way. Instead of going in we went round to look for the Tawny Owl, no joy but it's probably long gone. There was a family looking for the Long Eared Owls, they'd been told were to look from by another birder but couldn't find the owls in the bushes. We were able to put them on to one of them straight away, the other two were tricky.

The easy one, facing away as usual

We met up with PL again. this time with TS and spent some time watching several Buzzards soaring in a 'kettle' on a thermal reaching an prodigious height. Away beyond the distant woods a white flash from a flock of birds was seen over the trees. A look gave us a flock of Lapwings and then the white flock again - Golden Plovers, about 200 of them. Another Patchwork Challenge tick - you can count birds seen from your patch boundary, but again not an 'official' patch tick,, far too far from that patch boundary. Another 100 or more Lapwings were on the flood the other side of the dyke and two Shelducks on the nearer flood in the corner of the field. The Lapwings weren't calling and displaying today despite the sunshine and we heard no Skylarks. There were a couple of dozen Fieldfares in the nearer field but we still can't find a Redwing.

A look at the Bee Orchid area which has been mown, fortunately sparing the two Bee Orchid rosettes we found a few weeks ago. Coltsfoot was in flower at the edge of the meadow, the first we've seen this year.

A quick sprint back to the car in the park took us past the wooded area to look for Treecreepers again - again no joy but we did nearly step on some Dog(?) Violets we hadn't noticed earlier in the day.

What a cracking day out on safari.
Where to next? Back to see what's happening on Patch 2 tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know who's been playing hide and seek in your outback.

Spring's a -coming now

The Safari was out on Patch 2 for a bit this morning having a look at the waders on the beach, there weren't many but our first sub-Saharan migrant of the year, a Wheatear (122, P2 #38) came in off the sea a few hundred yards to our left.

There were no opportunities to take a pic for our #another100daysofnature Twitter meme today, the rotten weather put paid to that. 

Yesterday we saw our first Coltsfoot of the spring but it was still all furled up again the weather was grotty. 

Son before fathers is a great name for this species.

Footy tonight - COYB

Where to next? More Patch 2 perhaps and maybe the briefest of looks at the nature reserve later on.

In the meantime let us know who;s springing forth in spring in your outback.

Good day all round

The Safari had an early physio appointment this morning so missed out on Patch 2 which was a shame cos news on the desk when we arrived at it there was a message telling us of what wee think is the first Grey Seal of the year along our coast, a Red Breasted Merganser and some Little Gulls, a tidy little pre-work haul for SD.

Our walk back to the car park from the hospital gave us a clump of Winter Aconite coming in to flower.

The rail the gulls sit on along the lake edge is just about near enough to check them without the naked eye, lots of Black Headed Gulls, a handful of Common Gulls plenty of Herring Gulls but no sign of the Mediterranean Gull that's been seen in there a few times recently.

Our brief lunchtime session could hardly have been better, it's not everyday the first birds you see are a couple of Little Gulls and a Kittiwake. Three more Little Gulls moved through - by eck they're bonny! Five or six hundred Common Scoters showed how calm it was but we could only find three Great Crested Grebes and half a dozen Red Throated Divers. A speck of black and white was a distant unidentified auk and we did find a nearer Guillemot. Needless to say we were quite happy with that little lot for our 20 minute watch...the Grey Seal would have been the icing on the cake.

Minutes after going back in we were out again, this time on route to the nature reserve via the little wetland for lead a guided walk. 

We waited by the gate in glorious sunshine while a gentle shower passed over giving us a splendid rainbow to enjoy. A male Kestrel worked the wetland, resplendent in the sunshine. Scanning watching him we spotted a distant Bumble Bee and then saw a stump ended squat medium sized bird shooting over the houses, didn't get the bins on it but the first thing that came to mind was a Woodcock! Whatever it was the local Feral Pigeons weren't impressed and flushed off the rooftops.

A wander across the wetland didn't produce any Snipe of any kind which was unusual but three Meadow Pipits popped up out of the long grass.

Making our way to the reserve we heard Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, Woodpigeons singing  and Long Tailed Tits buzzing about unseen.

The reserve was louder still with Song Thrushes, Chaffinches, more Woodpigeons and a couple of sporadic Cetti's Warblers all in song. The warm sunshine, lack of wind and birdsong made it feel very spring like out there.
We watched the water having a look at the waterfowl, a very nice mix with FW's Pintails being STILL present three pairs and a single male, 58 Shoveler was a good count, three female and a male Goldeneye, loads of uncounted Wigeon, 100+, and even more Teal but most of them were hidden in the reeds.

Three Great Crested Grebes had argy-bargy and the Coots have started their chases but we didn't see any fights breaking out.

We kept checking the gulls gradually increasing the count of Lesser Black Backed Gulls (MMLNR #63) to 23 and then we spotted the jackpot, the local Iceland Gull! (MMLNR #64) It came into bathe unseen and stayed at least 20 minutes giving good but distant views and poor record shots.

Enough of the gulls, try as we might we couldn't find a Mediterranean Gull we wander off down the path to see if we could find the Long Eared Owl. We stopped on the semi-circle of grassland that hasn't been cut and raked yet but we still managed to find some Bee Orchid rosettes within a few feet of each other.

Coltsfoot was also coming into flower nearby.

No sign of the Long Eared Owl(s) though and we were helped by a couple of other birders. We gave it a concerted effort to no avail and moved on, now we had a decision to make do we go round to view the lake again  or cut up round the back of the reserve to have a look for the Long Eared Owls from the back-side. Before we had the chance to make that call we saw a white thing flit over the embankment towards the sopping wet fields to the east and our brain picked out Little Egret from the memory banks...wrong...it reappeared closer and in profile, a cracking Barn Owl. Now the chase was on to get good prolonged views of it and maybe a pic or two...no joy it had done one probably across the thick hedge to the next field to the north. Nice to see them in the middle of the afternoon but it does mean they're struggling to find enough scram which isn't so good.

Round at the second Long Eared Owl spotting place we couldn't find it/them there either but we did see some Blackthorn in flower.

Spring is deffo trying to get the upper-hand, further on we found more evidence of the perennial of battle the seasons. Hawthorn buds opening...

More singing Song Thrushes, Robins and Dunnocks completed the spring-like scene.

What a great afternoon for a safari! Full of great sightings and surprises.

Where to next? More Patch 2 and hopefully a Dolphin (= Harbour Porpoises) watch tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime let us know if spring is doing its best to sprung in your outback.

Still springy still surfless

The Safari wasn't liking the fog at all this morning which meant that searching for the Surf Scoter was impossible. We could only just about see across the beach and the low tide was quite high today if that makes sense. The beach held a modicum of interest with eight Sanderlings and a single Ringed Plover.

Mid morning an old friend, well he's a lot younger than us but we haven't seen him for many years, popped in for a visit. We chewed the fat for a while before havong a look at each others Land Rovers, his is far snazzier than our knackered old Disco...a new model Freelander - very swish! Anyway walking back he spotted a movement in the shrubbery and then we both heard the chittering of a Wren (P2 #45), a hard bird to get at work, only saw one last year although we missed one that the Young Un's saw.

Nearby the first Coltsfoot flowers of the spring were growing in the first flower bed.

Lunchtime on the wall wasn't much better than the early session. The fog had lifted to become a hazy mist but the real bug-bear if we can call it that was the sun again - arrrghhh far too bright! And again the huge majority of the scoters were to the impossible-to-look-into south.

Then we had a bit of a surprise - a Swallow was seen along the North Blackpool Pond Trail by the Project Officer - early as you like, hope it survives any cold spells that might lurking on the horizon, plenty of midge-like flies enjoying the sunshine this arvo for it though.

Where to next? More searching sewarching searching and associated stuff in dare we saw cloudy conditions...ooohh errr might not have really wanted to say that!

In the meantime let us how spring is coming along in your outback.

A sunny day on the beach

The Safari lay awake waiting for the alarm clock to go off listening to the dawn chorus which is getting louder and more impressive every day now; no summer migrants yet though.

We reckon it’s the best its been for a coupla three years or more– despite the recent ravages of garden habitat locally during the last two or three summers – no ‘Silent Spring’ here thankfully. The Song Thrush could be heard from the Golden Triangle which was good as we’ve not heard him for a few days or more.

We didn’t get far on Patch 1 for the usual upside down dog reason; only far enough to watch the Goldfinches leaving their roost in a neighbours Holly tree.

Patch 2 gave us a hazy couple of hundred Common Scoters and two Red Throated Divers. A Skylark (P2 #51)  calling unseen overhead was a useful addition to the patch total

The morning was taken up with a very excited school group who found just about everything on offer between them. Namely...

Molluscs

Sea slug eggs- looked like a soft spotty horseshoe

Common Periwinkle

Common Whelk

Edible Mussel

Thin Tellin

Baltic Tellin

Bean-like Tellin

Iceland Cyprine – one of the worlds longest lived animals

Common Otter shell

Common Cockle

Prickly Cockle

Striped Venus shell

Rayed Trough shell

Banded Wedge shell – very important for the 10,000+ Common Scoter ducks that spend the winter just offshore

Common Razor

Pod Razor

Curved Razor – quite a good number of these which are not often found, perhaps because it has been so calm recently and they normally get broken up, being very fragile, in rougher weather.

Worms

Honeycomb Worm – stuck to the seawall, a nationally scarce animal

Spirorbis spirorbis tubeworm – inside an old pod razor shell

Pomatoceros  triqueter (?) tubeworm – inside an old pod razor shell

Sand Mason worm – only empty cases of silk stuck with grains of sand and bits of shell

Arthropods

Acorn Barnacles – not ID’d to species level for Year 2 children!

Green Shore Crab

Common Prawn – but no Brown Shrimps for comparison

Bryozoans

Horn Wrack – looks like pale brown seaweed but is actually a colony of thousands of tiny animals a bit like coral

Sea urchins

Sea Potato

Fish

Common Blenny

Sea weeds

Gut Weed

Sea Lettuce

Purple Laver

Spiral Wrack

Edible Whelk - no one home!

Green Shore Crab

Green Shore Crab

After they’d been the tide came in an erased all trace of their presence. With the tide we had two Guillemots both still in winter plumage and the same Common Scoters were out in the haze.

The children had their lunch our gardens and while they were out there we saw they were making Daisy Chains and 'admiring' (=picking!) our Coltsfoot.

Daisy - from Day's eye; so called cos the flower follows the sun from east to west during the day

Coltsfoot - so called because the leaves are hoof shaped

Also known as Son before fathers as the leaves appear after the flowers

Where to next? More of the same without the gang!

In the meantime let us know who's been ransacking your outback