Fun with fungi in the rain

The Safari was dropped off at the nature reserve by Wifey for an hour or so this arvo. She immediately spotted lots of fungi growing out of the grass next to the path to the hide.

Shaggy Ink Caps and some brown ones

Some brown ones and a Shaggy Ink Cap

Old

Older

Brown ones

The same brown ones from above

Small dark brown ones

You'll have noticed we're not too clever with fungi but just because we can't identify them doesn't mean to say we don't look out for them and enjoy them...unlike some people who think all they're good for is smashing to smitherins - as with many other things today ignorance + fear = hate = (all too often) violence.

The only flowering plant we could find in flower in the lawn and immediate longer grassy areas were a few Daisies.

As soon as we got in the hide the wind picked up rattling the tins on the roof and outside the rain lashed down by the bucket load. It wasn't really birding weather. A few gulls bathed (why - they were already soaking wet, could they not have used that water?) in front of us and Coots dived for water weed. It was going to be a difficult hour. Out by the barn a soggy Kestrel gave up hunting and flew through the damaged gable end to shelter inside.

More gulls kept coming in but there were no dodgy ones, the 'regular' Iceland Gull can't be far off reappearing. Most of the gulls were the 'smaller' ones, Black Headed and Common Gulls but a flush by a Heron from our left brought several Herring Gulls and a couple of adult Lesser Black Backed Gulls into view - no Bonaparte's or Ring Billed Gulls driven in by the gales from across the Atlantic unfortunately, Franklin's Gull would be nice!

Below us on the grass running down to the water was a rather soggy Woodpigeon, the only bird to have come anywhere near the lens today.

A flock of Long Tailed Tits whizzed past the window and a Cetti's Warbler sang from the reeds just to our right. Despite the gale force and tropical-style rain winds a Wasp flew past us then back again. Not surprisingly there were no butterflies or dragonflies today.

A couple of distant Reed Buntings dropped into the reeds and a single Collared Dove flew south across the mere then three more but apart from keeping a beady eye on the gulls just in case there was about as much interest as expected in the dire conditions - not a lot! That's not to say it wasn't worth going out, it's always worth going out - if you don't go out you won't see owt, as they say.

Wifey phoned to say she hadn't gone to the shops and was on her way back so we left the hide and walked up the road to meet her. It was then we saw a large Poplar Tree who's deeply fissured bark was covered in a dense coat of lichens and mosses. Lovely shapes and textures.

Where to next? If the duff hand allows, it's been extra duff today, we might try our first short drive up and over the hill to the coast tomorrow arvo on the off chance of a Leach's Petrel, not seen one since the dead one we picked up outside work a couple of years ago.

In the meantime let us know who;s survived the deluge in your outback.

It's never a bad day when...

The Safari's  morning commute to work along the Prom had us practically drooling with anticipation. The sea was flat calm there was light hazy cloud but good light so no shadows – we were itching to get out on to the wall especially after a conversation last night with the folk from Liverpool Bay Marine Life Trust.

We were right to itch too. It only took us a matter of seconds to find a big bull Grey Seal close to the wall a little way to the south. Through the scope there was a bit of haze out on the horizon that we couldn’t see from the driving seat but it wasn’t that bad. While looking at the seal we say a large splash out on the horizon and then another with a dark shape. Focusing out there we soon got on a couple of Bottlenosed Dolphins half breaching in several feeding rolls – get in!  Can’t start the day better than that! Actually we did we found a third a little way away behind the others. Would have been better had they been a bit nearer but you can’t have everything.  After a few pretty good views they disappeared. There may have been more than three but that’s all we got at one time. Once they’d gone we went back to look at that nearby Grey Seal and found another four bobbing around behind him.  There weren’t many Common Terns from the dockland colony out fishing and we thought the dolphin feeding frenzy might have attracted the attention of the 10 or so Gannets that were cruising around.  Three Manx Shearwaters wheeled over the top of the dolphins, it’s not often we see them that far into the river mouth but they didn’t stick around.
A flock of nine Shelducks came past and made their way into the river, after they'd gone by it all went a bit quiet so we called it a day and headed back to the office for a celebratory cuppa.
Still it was only a few hours til lunchtime...which duly arrived but by now the tide was well out and the sea was somewhat disappointingly as dead as the proverbial Dodo so off we went round the work's garden in search of some #30DaysWild inspiration. There was an interloping school group on the back field - cheeky so-n-so's coming in to our garden from outside the borough without booking a session with Yours Truly, who do they think they are? Anyway they were having some fun and games in the sunshine before getting the bus back to school in the 'hinterlands'. A couple of the girls were making Daisy chains, something we don't see many kids do these days, in fact many kids don't know that Daisy is the name of the little white flowers with the yellow centres. They've all heard of them but wouldn't be able to point one out which is quite frightening and worrying! These two wee lasses did and made good use of the plethora of material available.

A little later an unexpected trip to the outside store had us walking past the wild garden where we spotted a Cinnabar moth flying around. We dashed back inside found a glass in which to catch it and went to get the camera aka phone.

It's wings are a bit wonky but it could fly alright.
#30DaysWild is all about interacting with nature so we gently put it on our finger and got a proper interacting with nature shot - aren't they stunners.

We wondered if it had not long emerged in the morning sun and perhaps had been disturbed before its wings had fully opening and stiffened.
A pretty good day but then any day with dolphins is a good day unless you're swimming with them in a captive environment like a hotel pool on your hols then it's very much not a good day - if you don't know why watch a film called The Cove to find out how they get to your hotel pool and never ever swim with them again.
Where to next? It's the weekend and we have a couple of local target species to aim for.
In the meantime let us know who's just too colourful for your outback

One good tern didn't deserve that

The Safari's day started quite badly-ish, picked up a little then ended in near catastrophe!

Yesterday was a misty wash out which was infuriating in more ways than one, the mist was low over the sea making visibility absolutely awful but wasn't very deep as above us the sky was crystal clear - a right old sea-fret. Added to that we were tied to the desk as news of a Cuckoo then an Avocet at the nature reserve broke. It's a long time since we've seen a Cuckoo there which is very sad since they have 'nested' there in the not too dim and distant past using a pair of Sedge Warblers as host. The nest wasn't far from the path and very conspicuous when the youngster was large, it was so obvious and called so loudly that any other birds passing nearby with food for their own broods diverted course and fed the ravenous monster.

And we need Avocet for our nature reserve life list - cruel!

The mist gave bright but not direct lighting conditions so we had a go at some arty Daisy and Dandelion pics on the back field ewhich is looking a picture at the moment.

This morning we were greeted by our little friends outside the office window.

Over on Patch 2 the mist was once again atrocious and we could barely see the sea across the low tide beach. On the sands there were a few gulls and a slightly larger, >100, Oystercatchers but nothing that does a lovely seven whistle trill.

At lunchtime the tide was in but so was the mist making visibility very poor still. A few scans didn't produce anything until we found a bull Grey Seal just about on the limit of vision. While watching him bobbing around on the gentle swell a small dispersed flock of eight Common Terns (146, P2 #57) waltzed leisurely past.

On our way back in to the office we spotted something unusual with the front lawn.

What's with the line of Daisies and why aren't there any to the left of it up to the hedge but a sort of normal scatter to the right of the dense line. The concrete ring is just a pad with a ring to which our wind turbines down for maintenance and isn't connected to anything. But there is a definite line of Daisies about two feet wide running the length of the garden, you can see it can't you?

No sign of the Avocet today so we didn't call in on the way home, the Garganeys are still there though which is very hopeful. A couple of Little Ringed Plovers are seen from time to time on the nearby flood, same ones or different pairs dropping in??? We might have to have a bash at them on the way to work tomorrow morning.

This evening all was normal at Base Camp, we had a shuffy round the garden at the flowers blooming in the tubs and all was good, no watering required after rain overnight and this morning. we took Frank out and he had a good half hour's sniffathon but when we got back there was a unusual sound of running water, not at all like the waterfall at the top of the pond, looking out of the kitchen window we saw water gushing from under the garage door -- something had gone horribly wrong with the pond filter! In the half an hour since we last looked the return pipe had become blocked with newly grown scummy stuff and blocked up making it overflow the sides as the pump dumped half the pond into the garden, about 550 litres in all. So much for trying to conserve water! Good job it happened when it did and not while we were at work or overnight as the fish would have had to evolve very quickly!

Where to next? We're on the beach with a school group in the morning but doing rocks and soils rather than anything to do with biodiversity but we'll have the camera and there's bound to something wildlifey to catch the children's eye.

Well that put paid to gulling

The Safari's hopes of some gulling died the death today. We more accurately we got in the Land Rover to go and didn't - the battery was flatter than a steam rollered PV cell. So in to the garage we went for the battery charger and a long extension flex.

Nothing to do but to have a change of tack and saw some wood instead. It was pleasant in the garden listening to Woodpigeons singing in the distance and this Goldfinch singing in the big Sycamore tree while his chums raided the feeders.

We are relieved this tree is still here, all around us is tree carnage, not from fallen trees from the storm but more from the fear that garden trees might fall so they're being horrendously hacked or removed altogether. The sound of chainsaws, both petrol and electric, was scary. There won't be a tree left before too long. Our Silver Birch is barely stable not sure if it is holding its post up or the post is just about doing its job but both are still standing.

We were cutting our wood when another disaster happened, the blade on the bow saw snapped - talk about nothing going right!

Having said that there was no news of the possible Thayer's Gull, no news of the Iceland Gull at the nature reserve and BD told us he was hot on the trail of a full summer plumage Mediterranean Gull in the park, always good to see the best bird in the book but we couldn't go and check it out.

Frank wanted to go out so we took him up the hill where we passed the flowering Cowslips, if that's what they are exactly, ours are still dormant. 

 The same garden has some lovely mosses growing on the wall right by the path at shoulder height.

All today's pics except the Goldfinch are from the phone-cam.
We were happy to be out even if only tottering slowly to Magpie Wood - Frank's furthest jaunt these days. You don't have to go to a nature reserve to get a daily fix of nature, we'd seen loads already and we'd only got 50 yards so far. Dunnocks, Robins a Blackbird and a Song Thrush were singing even though it was mid-afternoon; not the typical time for birdsong.
Frank skirted round Magpie wood and demanded to be taken on a full Patch 1 walk in to the park - trouble is would he be able to get back home.
It was pleasant enough but not too warm for him so we risked it. Nice in there it was too. Honeysuckle was on its way into leaf.

In the park Magpies squawked and a Mistle Thrush was singing but other than that birdwise it was quiet, not small children quiet though. A gaggle of youngsters was having a great time without the need to wreck any of the trees shrubs or plants which makes a refreshing change. Why is it the kids you do see out in the wilds are tthe ones who really shouldn't be allowed outside and the ones who'd benefit from it most don't seem to be allowed outside, possibly because the antics of the former. 
A couple of the trees at the bottom of the hill are beautifully covered in Lichens, adjacent but almost completely different. 

This was half way and Frank was now pooped and kept lying down refusing to budge as much as another inch. Every so often something would peek his interest and he'd stop chewing his stick

The walk back was a slow affair but near the Honeysuckle we spotted a cluster of Cow Parsley breaking through.

At yet another stop we spotted a Daisy, the phone-cam can't deal with the exposure unfortunately, but spring looks like it's trying its best to get a head start.

A lengthy 500 yards retracing our steps followed. Turning in to our little street we saw Wifey had returned from her duties and using the jump leads it took only minutes to get the Land Rover back in to action - dohhh.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 in the morning, a battery charging drive down the Prom where the sea looked as calm as glass...hope it's like that in the morning.

In the meantime let us know how far you didn't get in your outback.

Been side swiped recently

The Safari wasn't able to get out too much over the weekend due to chores, building works, rain...mostly rain and when we have we’ve not seen enough to warrant putting pen to keyboard, pretty much useless really.

We’ve been at Patch 2 and seen a few Manx Shearwaters and Gannets but our hunt for more skuas has been singularly unsuccessful with nothing at all out of the ordinary found despite the stormy conditions which we expected might have produced as they have at numerous locations up and down the coast but sadly not here. Sorry that was a rather long and tongue tying sentence...

This morning was no different. A very early start with Frank, pre 05.30 only gave us a single very cold Swift shooting through; they still haven’t arrived at their breeding sites near Base Camp.

A later than normal start on Patch 2 saw us staring hopefully at the low tide. A couple of Oystercatchers and half a dozen Sanderlings were on the beach. The tide line held a line of expectant gulls, waiting for Pipefish???

Very little was out to sea, certainly not the skua-fest we would have liked.  Just six horrifically distant  Gannets, a distant Sandwich Tern and two 'Commic' Terns were all we could muster this morning. Closer in sat a pair of Common Scoters and a male Eider flew past - hardly riveting!

Lunchtime was just as grim perhaps even worse with very little happening, and the wind had dropped considerably.

It took us over half an hour to find a male Eider going the opposite way to the earlier on - the same bird? - three fishing Sandwich Terns, three equally distant as this morning Gannets and a Manx Shearwater with them - even less riveting!

Work’s garden is looking a picture with the dandelions and the daisies in the lawn creating a real riot of colour...no doubt the mowers will be along to get rid of those nasty weeds how dare they grow in grass it’s not natural! 

Please let the lawn ‘weeds’ flower, Daisies, Dandelions, Self Heal, Violets, Clovers, Trefoils, Medicks etc etc they are all vitally important to the bees butterflies and moths so don’t over exert yourselves with the mower, chill out relax it’s not the end of the world if there’s wildflowers in your lawn.. No need to have a bowling green if you’re not bowling on it. Just keep the lawn edge neat and remove the cuttings when you do mow...oh and if there’s a dry spell raise the height of the cut which will keep your lawn looking greener. Leave the ‘tidy brigade’ behind – be brave embrace ‘untidy’ and remember untidy doesn’t necessarily mean unmanaged or uncared for but it does mean that wildlife has got some chance of surviving in our gardens which sadly in many cases are becoming more and more wildlife unfriendly with hard landscaping replacing natural features like lawns, flower beds and hedges...our biggest nightmare is the rise in sightings of artificial turf...just how lazy are some people getting? Or is it part of the great dumbing down and people haven’t got the know-how to look after a ‘natural’ garden.

 Early afternoon we had a txt to let us know a Spotted Flycatcher was in the big park, unfortunately we could get down there for at least a couple of hours. As soon as we were able we picked up Frank and headed through demonic traffic - how many road works??? - and arrived too late. We met MJ and FW who had been looking for only a few minutes but between us we had no luck...so another one successfully dipped!

Where to next? Day off tomorrow to look after frank while Wifey is away so there might be some safari-ing to be done as long as we finish the jobs we have to do.

In the meantime let us know what's catching flies in your outback.

Work is the bane of the birding classes

The Safari dreams of being able to be in the field 24/7, well nearly 24/7...do need some sleep now and then, particularly on days like yesterday when it was all happening all over the place; those lucky enough to have the time were totally spoilt for choice about where to go and those that were mobile enough to visit a few sites probably had as good a days local birding as your going to get – we on the other hand were driving a desk in the morning but doing some (hopefully) useful and important teaching in school in the afternoon.

Once school had finished we collected Frank from his work and for a change he wanted a walk and not play football and took us all round Patch 1. Lively isn’t the word for the place even considering it was late afternoon.

There were Willow Warblers and Blackcaps everywhere – shoulda taken the cameraaaa – At least two Chiffchaffs sang and the Wrens (still not had one on patch 2 – the one the Young Uns saw a while back musta been a migrant)  we as loud as Wrens can be!

Nothing unusual in the migrant line was found but we did hear the Sparrowhawk and think we’ve found the nest high in a tree close to last years but further investigation is necessary for proof.

This morning we had a shuffy at the Fylde Bird Clubs sightings and discovered there had been/still was? a male Redstart in there, which woulda been a Patch 1 lifer....ouch that hurts...now was it there since first light and Frank’s ‘I’m going nowhere’ early morning paddy-fits have denied us? Shed loadsa Whinchats about too as we predicted and went hunting for – only to find we shoulda gone to the start of Chat Alley not the end....doohhh :-(...or been able to stay out longer and mooch round further.

A Willow Warbler singing from the back garden/school playing field was the only thing of note on a very very short Patch 1 safari.

The sea looked promising on the drive to work, calm but not as flat and glassy as yesterday. We paid particular to R’ouzel Puddle but there was nothing on it nor any of the other puddles.

Getting out to the wall we saw that a couple of other birders were already ensconced a little way along from us. Our first few scans gave us very little and it was a while before we found our first Sandwich Tern. Nothing much was doing until we eventually found a couple of Swallows out to sea and beyond the m a distant Gannet cruising by. That was about it!

A| mid morning brew break gave us the opportunity to have a quick blimp in the gardens and we found another Willow Warbler silently skulking away in the Tamarisk bushes – two days running WOW.

Lunchtime was even more grim. Apart from a couple of blogging Swallows whizzing up and down the wall and a heard only Sandwich Tern the excitement was confined to a very low Hercules transport plane heading north east this side of the wind farms being followed by what looked like a fast navy cutter which tazzed past a twin sailed yacht. Neither of the vessels had a AIS  so weren’t able to be identified here.

Another brew break mid afternoon gave us another chance to look round the gardens. An Oystercatcher flew over low calling loudly, possibly nesting on the flat roofed flats across the way...another thing to keep a watchful eye on.

The Dandelions and Daisies in the lawns look absolutely fabulous at the moment, don’t anyone dare say they’re ‘just weeds’ they are serious insect attracting bone-fide wildflowers!

The Honesty that’s appeared as if by magic growing in one of the raised beds isn’t a genuine wildflower but still attracts plenty of insects (on a sunny day) including Orange Tip butterflies; if we had any in this part of town that is.

A party of four Goldfinches became Patch 2 tick no 74, not entirely sure how they’ve avoided the list for over four months – oversight or have they really been absent?

We learned that the Wood Warbler was still in the big park so we stopped there on the way home for half an hour.

Wandering around the area it had been seen we  fired off at a Grey Squirrel perched in the crook of a tree enjoying a nut.

 At the lake the gulls are always unphased by the close approach of camera wielding hominids.

Across on the rail separating the kiddies boating pool there were two Common Sandpipers.

The ducks beg for grub totally unafraid of people or more likely this  ones about to mug us.

Of the 33 Mute Swans (were did they all come from) many were sporting Darviks so they should be easily traceable. The ones out of the water were easy to read but without a notebook (naughty... swapped coats forgot to transfer it) there were far too many to remember so we photographed as many as we could.

The ones in the water were trickier as the birds had the uncanny knack of infuratingly turning round the wrong way! We missed a good few!

 No Wood Warbler though...we went back a bit later met up with the Young Uns who had just arrived for a listen/look - again no joy but as soon as we got home we got a txt - they'd scored...b*mmer!!!!!

Where to next? Will there be any snakes in our grass?

In the meantime let us know who’s tazzing past what 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