Bird bingo

The Safari joined PT to lead the North Blackpool Pond Trail's Bird Bingo family event last Saturday morning. The birds were on fine form, showing well, it's just a shame the families didn't make such a good showing too. Maybe people are doing other stuff on Saturday mornings and Sunday might be a better day for more people to be able to come along.

The birding is quite easy at Kincraig Lake as the birds are more than willing to come close and grab a beakful of whatever is on offer so you can get some nice portrait shots of old favourites like this male Mute Swan.

The sun shone bringing out the finery of the drake Mallards.

Also present was a very tame Heron which has become accustomed to eating bread - Can't be good for it!

Note its iris, it seems to be deformed and not circular like its other one, an old injury perhaps or was it born like that?

There are three Herons' nests on the wooded island this year but now the spring buds are unfurling they are quite difficult to see unless you can watch the birds flying in to them.

Birds came and went and we saw Woodpigeons display flighting, Collared Doves passing by, Feral Pigeons doing circuits and a lone Stock Dove heading north - never really imagined seeing one of those at this sight, weird or what, it certainly wasn't on the Bird Bingo tick-off sheets!

Woodpigeon

One of the Woodpigeons alighted on the fence to our left so we crept closer for a better look

As we were edging closer a Common Sandpiper (154, YLPC #123) flew past us

And landed on the edge of the viewing area just behind the fence almost right beneath the Woodpigeon.

It was quite wary and flew round several times looking for the best feeding opportunities around the lake which has no muddy margins, eventually after waiting most of the morning it came reasonably close.

Where there's water and bread there's inevitably Coots, this one had a nest under construction close by but wasn't going to pass up a free lunch

And if there's Coots there's inevitably Moorhens

A young father and his very young son had tipped out what looked like some porridge oats, neither the Coot nor the Moorhen could pick up the small pieces left after the Mallards had had their fill of the choices and largest flakes in the conventional downward pecking manner we're used to seeing birds do but resorted to this unusual sideways forceps pincer peck to glean the pickings from the hard concrete.

Ever cautious at any hint of danger or anything untoward even if totally not dangerous the Moorhen would scurry to the water's edge where it waited a while before taking the plunge if necessary, which it rarely was.

From the scrub we heard Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcaps and watched House Sparrows collecting feathers for their nest in the houses across the road.

Wandering around the lakeside path we came across our first Speckled Wood butterfly of the year and then spotted this collection of still sleepy Garden Snails.

Back at the viewing area chat had got round to news of a strange video of a deer sleeping on a dumped sofa - how comfy but how odd. Well knock us down wiff a feaver not twenty yards further on was a dumped sofa but this one had a one eyed cat sleeping on it. You couldn't rite it - well errr - we just did!

After giving us the evils for disturbing it it went back into comfy cat mode

Good to see someone has provided a ramp so it doesn't have to leap so high to get on the arm rest - fly tipping at its most considerate?

Further on out of the woods and back in the sunshine a big queen Red Tailed Bumble Bee was giving the pathside Dandelions a good going over.

Dandelions get such bad press so much so that they are the 'weed of choice' for the garden herbicide advertisers and yet they do so much good for the early pollinators enabling them to build up their populations - we should be celebrating them rather than demonising and obliterating them. Us humans really can't stand anything that thrives amongst us we didn't put there can we. Just think of all those expansive and expensive swathes of yellow Daffodils along the roadsides, we could have Dandelions, Lesser Celandine, Cowslips and Primroses for free - but no we'd probably mow and spray them off as soon as they appeared in the name of 'tidiness' -  what a ridiculous species we are.

Rounding the corner our group stopped to let this female Blackbird finish her ablutions.

Back at the viewing area the Common Sandpiper was still flying round and eventually settled on the remains of an old Willow bush. Not where you'd expect to see one but apparently they have been know to sing from the branches of riverside trees on their territories up on the hillside streams and smaller rivers.

A morning's birding in the sun wouldn't be complete without a raptor or two and we had three...a big female Sparrowhawk soared overhead before disappearing only to be found by the local Magpies in the wooded area when we walked through that way. A Buzzard gave a good display of 'skydancing' as it mooched sort or northeast wards and then this came over. At first when we first picked it up coming towards us being mobbed by a throng of gulls we hoped it might be an early Honey Buzzard, but the jizz wasn't right, then as it drew nearer it looked Osprey-ish for a moment but then was obviously far too long tailed. We tried to get some pics but it was quite high and the camera refused to pick it up against the sky until it was annoyingly well past us. we only got this one poor usable shot and now we're pretty sure it's a immature male Marsh Harrier - answers on the usual post card please.

Right at the death a family did turn up but only to feed the ducks...and the Heron!

Isn't urban wildlife great!

Yesterday we had a mooch round Marton Mere with CR calling in at the Woodland Gardens first to see if we could find the male Pied Flycatcher LR had told us he'd found there a couple of hours earlier. Needless to say it had moved on and with not a lot else on show in there we did too.

Our mission was to get some pics of the summer warblers for our challenge but they weren't playing ball, singing yes but showing no. Grasshoppper Warbler, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler all noisy but invisible. The first bird to hit the SD card was a Linnet swaying away in the cold brisk wind on a thin stem poking out above the Bramble thicket.

At the Bird Club hide interest was provided by the first family of Coots we've come across this spring. Our first Swift (155) of the year dropped in with a few Swallows too.

The embankment was cold in the wind and again the Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers were all keeping out of sight, fortunately a Reed Bunting bucked the trend and sang from an exposed perch.

The scrub taunted us with mostly invisible Blackcaps and Whitethroats. C managed a couple of snaps of a Blackcap and a Sedge Warbler deep in cover but try as we might we couldn't get the camera on to anything at all.
That said when all seems lost nature pulls a blinder for you. After seeing not a lot from the viewing platform we turned to leave and C spotted some bee activity around a patch of Nettles catching the sun. Patient watching revealed them as a species of Nomad Bee, we don't think we've ever seen any species of these here before. wit hour birding 600mm lenses getting pics was tricky to say the least. But we both were able to get a few and they look like Nomada flava (based on this one being a male [pale yellow eyes] having all dark antennae) but we could be wrong, they're not an easy group to ID

If the are N. flava they've not been recorded locally before according to the NBN map, Preston 15 miles away being the closest dot. Happy days!

Where to next? Family day on the Southside tomorrow but we might see something if we get a chance

In the meantime let us know who's buzzing around for the first time in your outback

Some more ticks on the bird lists

The Safari is still struggling to get out much although we have added a few more birds to our various lists.

First up was a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Garden #30) flying up the street while putting Monty in the car for a trip somewhere or other. We haven't seen one round these parts for a couple of years, the numpty that cut down the big Sycamore because he didn't like sweeping up the autumn leaves didn't help matters! Next up was a Cormorant (Garden #31) flying inland quite high up, another species that isn't quite annual at Base Camp and again Monty was involved, we were out in the back garden giving him a work out with a flattened water bottle - yes we've spent a fortune on toys but his favourite is a squashed old plazzy bottle. Our final addition also involved Monty, this time a late night out before bed-time. A flight of 13 Whooper Swans (Garden #32) were heard long before they were seen passing right over heard eerily illuminated from beneath with an orangy glow from the street lamps. Bizarrely we had another two before dawn the following morning. Whooper Swans have been annual over the last few years after no records between 2010 and 2013.

This morning the recently rubbish Patch 2 came up with a new species for the year when a flock of 27 Wigeon (P2 #77) flew by just behind the  light surf, best of the rest was a single Dunlin which flew in to join a small number of Sanderlings scampering around dodging the incoming waves.

Yesterday there was a bit of a sunrise going on so we took the camera out to try to do a bit of art but were just a tad miffed by the number of plane con-trails.

Pick a favourite

Later we had another short session while the last of the day's warm sunshine was shining brightly on the Caster Oil plant's flowers. 

Lots of these Drone Flies were slurping up nectar.

There were a couple of other species flying around too but we only managed a snap of one of them.

Any one any ideas? CR may well know, he's pretty clued up on hoverflies.

Where to next? Still in the throes of some pretty stressful family stuff so the weekend might not provide as many opportunities for safari-ing as we might like.

In the meantime let us know who's slurping up the last of the nectar in your outback.

That wind's still a bit cruel

The Safari didn't get too much on Patch 2 this morning, our first double figure count, just - 10, of Sandwich Terns and only three Sanderlings took the top spots, yes it was that good! The sun was bright but the wind was fiercely cold and yet there was an orrible haze from only about a mile out. 

At lunchtime we were out again and there was even less out there because the tide had come in and flushed what few waders there are still hanging around off the beach. 

The view up the Prom was summery...but that wind!!! And yes that is a hailstorm between the pier and the tower.

Back in the garden we had a look in the sheltered areas for any solitary bees on the Dandelions, there weren't but there was a Red Tailed Bumble Bee. Dandelions are essential for early spring pollinators and other insects helping them get their season off to a flying start - Please do NOT DIG/HOE/SPRAY them - leave them alone!!!

After lunch we were out on site looking at siting some new eco-built bat boxes. If you're doing bat box schemes please consider using these hand crafted items designed and built by a local lass; they're a similar price to the 'market leader'.

Once our site meeting was over and suitable trees selected we had the opportunity to have a look at some newer trees that were planted only a few years ago. We also hoped there might be a bird or a butterfly about in the warm sunshine...but in that wind it was still cruel! There were some signs of spring but then again winter still had a firm grip on the place.

Red Dogwood stems

The ground flora isn't particularly spectacular here except when the Buttercups are out but there was some interest today with patches of Germander Speedwell scattered here and there under the still open canopy.

Of the trees the Silver Birches were the most advanced followed by the Rowans.

But only a few yards away there's no sign of life on the Teasels we didn't see any new rosettes.

So what about the 'Big Two', Oak and Ash? Are there any signs of life and if so from which? If the Oak is out before the Ash we shall have a splash; if the Ash is out before the Oak we shall have a soak - if you believe these old sayings!

Ash - no sign of life yet

 And what about the closest nearby Oak only a few feet away?

BINGO - Buds are opening - dry summer coming???

Many of the Oaks had been attacked by Oak Apple Gall Wasps, the hole shows that the inhabitants have left.

By now we'd realised there weren't any birds around other than the local House Sparrows and Starlings nicking about taking beakfuls of food to their nests in the roofs around the site and gulls going over. We saw no invertebrates at all. And then we heard the gulls start squawking and looking up, hopefully for an Osprey, to find a Sparrowhawk gliding low over the rooftops, probably a local bird rather than a migrant. This site is close to the coast and has a good open vista to the south so should be good for vis migging raptors and finding grounded passerines, maybe we should spend more early mornings here instead of thrashing the nature reserve at every opportunity.

To the east there are restricted views between the houses to the distant hills, the Yorkshire Dales National Park showing a dusting a snow...brrr, told you it was chilly out there.

We just had to get a gull in the pic didn't we!

Where to next? Back on Patch 2 in the morning, will it have improved?
In the meantime let us know who's defying the winter chills in your outback.

We've come over all arty-farty

The Safari neglected to mention we added another species to our Year List Challenge with Monika who has been very busy with all things Orca (we hope you will offer at least moral support for her cause) but she's still ahead of us after her trip to Southern California and no doubt has added a few more she hasn't blogged about yet. Anyway we had a meeting in the big park the other afternoon which the previous day had been visited by a Spotted Flycatcher, we weren't hopeful it would hang around though. On the day of our meeting news broke around mid-morning that there wasn't just one Spotted Flycatcher there now but FIVE! BD was soon on the case wanting to get some decent pics and we were fortunate that by the time we arrived there mid-afternoon he had one nailed down for us. We only had a few minutes but enjoyed slightly obscured views as the Spotted Flycatcher (155) vied with a Blue Tit for the best morsels in the top of tree. The Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins feeding low over the lake were impressive too. Almost as good as the flycatcher and probably better for the soul was the first screaming Swifts of the year - what a great sound, THE sound of summer.But will they find our nestbox, not seen any over Base Camp yet this year.

After our meeting we went back for a better longer look but had no luck, couldn't find any of them in the ten minutes or so we had available so we have to thank B for putting us straight on to it earlier.

The responses to our poo quiz have offered Fox as the most likely depositor not Hedgehog as we originally thought, must only be a cub though as it's not a very big dollop.

With the possibility of Foxes being about we put the stealth-cam out overnight but only got masses of pics of Woodpigeons and a few Blackbirds during the day and nothing, not even a cat, at night.

As the sun moved round the evening gave us some very arty effects - simple but hauntingly beautiful, very reminiscent of the chiaroscuro that Rembrandt and other great artists used.

No light and shade for this next pic which we took in the summery sunshine yesterday afternoon although we did struggle to find a patch of sky without hazy cloud from all the jet plane vapour trails. Without them the sky would have been this blue all over almost all day.

There's not been much happening at a much cooler and blusterier Base Camp today. We'll try again with the stealth-cam tonight.

Where to next? Tomorrow we will be mostly playing Buzzards v Kestrels.

In the meantime let us know who's come over all arty in your outback.