June didn't really improve

The Safari received an email from the water board imploring their customers to save water. Well that did the trick it has hardly stopped raining since! And as a consequence our forays with the camera have been somewhat curtailed.

Needless to say though we have been out on safari looking for all manner of interesting wildlife.

Our first trip was down to the docks at Preston to have a look at the tern colony which apparently hasn't been doing so well this year. A Combination of ferocious predatory Coots and ever-present Lesser Black Backed Gulls have meant far fewer Common Tern nests this year. We met up with SB to give her a skull a dog-walking friend's son had found at the bottom of their garden. We thought it was a Fox as it had extremely worn teeth but as soon as S saw it she said Cat. taking up our usual position on the south side of the dock where the light is supposed to be better it was immediately obvious that there were no  tern nests at all on the pontoons on this side. Rather than take the car round the far side and look into what little light there was we walked across to the bullnose within the dock and tried to get some shots of the Common Terns coming and going along the short channel to the lock gates. Had we gone round to the other side and viewed the northern set of pontoons there's a chance we might have seen the pair of Arctic Terns.

Common Tern - PYLC #154. the spikes are to keep the Lesser Black Backed Gulls from swooping down to steal the chicks

Nearby in a gap between the blocks of flats is a small patch of 'amenity grassland' which has  a superb range of wildflowers on it including a sizeable population of Bee Orchids. Unfortunately it had been mown the day before because long grass is 'untidy' not that it was very long anyway. This was the only Bee Orchid to survive the mower out of at least a dozen others apparently in flower a couple of days earlier - what a shame! This out-dated out-moded Victorian 'control nature at all costs' attitude has to stop or be stopped and soon.

Meanwhile the millet CR donated to us is going down a treat with our regular male House Sparrow

so much so that we went and ordered a ginormous bag of the stuff so we're praying he sticks around and brings the wife and kids to the feast in due course too.

A visit to the rock pools at South Shore which we ransacked regularly when we worked down that way was a little disappointing. The loss of the old over-spill pipe along the beach seems to have allowed much more wave action on the wall and there is now far less seaweed for the creepy-crawlies to hide in. 

We struggled to find more than a handful of Common Prawns although this one in berry was a welcome sight.

Green Shore Crabs were similarly hard to find unlike the Periwinkles of which there appeared to be more than we've previously noticed.

One of our main aims of this safari was to find some fish for our Vertebrate Photo Year List Challenge. In the pots we saw a few small Blennies but couldn't catch any, they're just far too quick for us with no seaweed to hide in they see you coming long before you can lift a net. The runnels below the seawall held a a small number of Sand Gobies but agaqin they were too quick for us. Normally another net is required and some team-work to out-wit them; fancy being out-witted by a fish with a brain the size of a pin-head - sad but true!

Further down the beach in the next runnel over the sand-bank we did catch this juvenile Sole (PYLC #155) and some rather large Brown Shrimps that were bigger than it.

Also on the beach were masses of Sea Gooseberries. There were several different strand-lines of them as you went down the beach.

A quick back of the fag packet calculation gave us a figure of somewhere between 10 and 15 million between St Anne's and Fleetwood, based on the density we noted above and there may have been more as photos on the local media sites showed them much more tightly packed than we saw them in various places along the coast.

The following week we had a surprise visitor to Base Camp. A Coal Tit turned up - not seen one here since the end of the winter.

A wander round Heron's Reach starting out in the Woodland Gardens gave us this massive Parasol Mushroom, a real corker!

Once out on the more open track we came across a few butterflies including our first Painted Lady of the year.

Another good find was this hybrid Marsh Orchid spotted in a place we regularly check but have never seen one there before.

An interlude of bright weather had us nipping out to the Rock Gardens to see if the earlier hot spell had brought the White Letter Hairstreaks out. It was a bit blustery and their favourite tree was being tossed around so we didn't hold out much hope after half an hour we gave up and went around the rough fields to see what else we could find - not a lot was the answer. but we did get great views of this hoverfly holding territory in the lee of the big trees at the edge of the park.

Volucella pellucens - a bumble bee mimic

Back at Base Camp the first juvenile Blackbird of the season turned up. Rather late, either a second brood and we'd missed the first or the first broods failed when it was so dry that the adults couldn't get food.

In poor weather the driest, cleanest place to walk the mutt is along the cliffs where there is far less opportunity for him to become a mud-mop. So far this year we've not had much success with Grey Seals so it was a nice bonus to have one bottling not too far offshore although another 50 yards closer to the lens might have been better - can't have everything that'd make us spoilt and no-one like s a spoilt brat!

With Lockdown restrictions easing still further we arranged to meet CR for a mooch round Marton Mere. Gee it's different (good/better) in the summer when the dreadful caravan site adjacent is closed, no numpties, far fewer dogs around and no booming music from the clubhouse.

A good selection of wildlife was enjoyed

Freshly emerged Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet  moth

Small Skipper - who's going to first to find an Essex Skipper on the Fylde?

A species we had hoped to see well and until now had had only fleeting glimpses, nothing to point the camera at was the Reed Warblers. But from the Fylde Bird Club Hide we were entertained by a family flitting around the reedbed for about half an hour, just great to watch.

Reed Warbler - PYLC #156

We left the Reed Warblers to their business and carried on the circuit. After a few yards C says look at this...there was a small mammal we assumed (never assume nothing!!!) was a Short Tailed Field Vole. We fired a few shots off but even the best one's not that brilliant but does show a pointy nose rather than a blunt one so it's a shrew not a vole and from the tail length it's a Common Shrew (PYLC #157). Not a species we expected to see out in the open and certainly not one we'd have expected to add to our challenge tally.

 Further on still we could hear nearby Cetti's Warblers but as usual they were all doing remarkably well at staying hidden and out of camera sight. While waiting for a particularly loud and therefore close one to show - it didn't - we spotted this awesome nest of Peacock butterfly caterpillars.

For the final week of June the weather was more like March although we did get a couple of hot days (see previous post about our safari to Lunt Meadows).

First up we headed back out to Marton Mere inspired by our previous visit. This time it as much duller and much quieter. we'd got half way round before we'd come across anything to point the camera at and when that happened it was at this very distant but still lovely and brightly coloured male Linnet.

Nothing else made it on to the SD card, which has got to be a record, there's always something worth pointing the camera at there.

The following day we were back, this time with CR. We'd hardly left the car behind when we came across this very confiding Sedge Warbler. he was totally oblivious to our presence flitting from song post to song post and giving a us a chorus of his extensive and loud repertoire.

A few Swifts were about too.

But again the weather wasn't conducive for a lot of the wildlife to be on show, particularly the invertebrates.

Back at Base Camp we tried a different tack with the mealworms trying to entice the local Starlings to come into the garden. no Starlings just this brute polishing the mealworms off in a matter of seconds again. We're sure he can smell them, there's no sign of him when we put them out but within a matter of minutes he's turned up.

An early morning dog-walk round the rough fields at the Rock Gardens had us see some ginger movement close to one of the big Bramble thickets. We only had our phone with us at that time of the morning and were very surprised that the Fox sat and watched us fumble in our pocket for it, turn it on and point it in her direction AND the dog was sniffing around very excitedly where she had been only moments earlier. We had to use full zoom and couldn't see the screen for the low early morning sun  hence the rather grotty pic. But hey it's identifiable (just) so goes on our Challenge tally as #158 - Result

And so ended June.

Where to next? Well the rain continues into July but we've already got a few wildlife moments to share with you next time.

In the meantime let us know who's sitting still watching in your outback

And don't forget to stay safe and socially distanced.

Non-birdy wildlife at Marton Mere followed by a good bird day there

The Safari was able to get an unexpected sneaky visit to Marton Mere yesterday morning.There were a few birds about the first notable one being a Cetti's Warbler in one of the ponds at the wetland on the way in. That was followed by a Sparrowhawk circling over the north western corner of the reserve. A few Skylarks were going over calling but unseen the continued on and off all morning, no idea how many were involved all together. 

We decided to go round anti-clockwise taking us to the Feeding Station first where it was quiet with only two Pheasants and two Chaffinches. A volunteer was mowing the path edges behind us and the noise was upsetting Monty so we high tailed it out of there, wasn't owt happening anyway. We'd just got out through the caravan site gate when four Redpolls (MMLNR #82) went over. They'd come from over the mere so hadn't been parked up in the Alders behind the Feeding Station. 

Moving further down the bank we didn't see much on interest until we came upon a smashed up mushroom.

Why do folk do that - fear of the unknown we guess going back to the 'all mushrooms are edible - some only once'. But if no-one's going to eat it why smash it up with a stick? Some folk are absolute numpties, so disassociated with wildlife and nature and sadly that's the norm now.

No more than a couple of yards away were two Shaggy Inkcaps which must have popped up after Mr/s Destruction had gone otherwise they'd no doubt be smashed up too despite being edible - and good...although we weren't going to take a bite out of these as they were very much in a dog zone!

While we were getting down n dirty with the Shaggy Inkcaps Monty's nose had taken him off to our left and he was pulling hard on his lead making us take notice of him again - good job we did he'd pulled himself within range of this Fox do-do and was just about to drop his shoulder for a good old roll in in it...Nooooooooo - only an idiot would have a dog!!! Fortunately we managed to drag him away from it before it was smeared all over his back - why do they do that - YUKKKKK

From the fence we could see there wasn't muxh by way of waterfowl or gulls in front of the Fylde Bird Club Hide so we opted to keep moving instead of going in, good move cos if we had have gone in we'd have missed the two Swallows scudding across the grassed area going westwards at a rate of knots.

With Redpolls and Swallows of interest spotted already we thought it best to call in at the visitor centre and report them officially. On the way up there we saw a cluster of Common Inkcaps - unsmashed and yet these can give you a seriously dicky tummy if eaten and you have alcohol in your system...best avoided unless your a total tee-totaller.

After a quick chat at the VC we continued our circuit. At the gate by the bridge over the outflow stream we found an interesting pellet sat on top of the rubbish bin. It's about the size of our thumbnail and almost spherical. We're not sure what it might have been produced by, Little Owl, Blackbird (bit big for one of those?) something else??? The snail is intriguing, we're no good at snail ID is it a terrestrial species or is it from the adjacent stream?

Some of the black bits look very much like beetle elytra (wing cases) which would point towards Little Owl, or maybe Kestrel perhaps - can anyone shed any further light on the ID? So far on Twitter we've had no response and on Facebook a 'Big Gun' is gunning for Little Owl. Thoughts anyone...over to you.

Our walk around most of the rest of the reserve was pretty uneventful apart from a couple of small flocks of Pink Footed Geese dropping in to the fields to the east but landing out of sight behind a rise in the ground and a handful more Cetti's Warblers scattered around the site. When we reached the path to the Viewing Platform we spied this rather impressive fungus at the side of the path, must be 18 inches end to end - a real beast! No idea what it is though.

At the Viewing Platform we hoped for a Bittern but it wasn't to be, 'just' a small flock of Long Tailed Tits working their way through the top of the recently pruned Willow tree to the left of the bench - great stuff as there is now a sweeping visita right around the northwest corner of the reedbed - just right for spotting any Bitterns popping up out of there and heading towards you.

Just as we were leaving a huge pall of thick black smoke came up from behind the barn just beyond the reserve's eastern boundary - doesn't look good but who ya gonna call? Fire brigade or the Environment Agency? Probably shoulda called the latter.

Framers eh? Sometimes we think they dshouldn't be allowed in the countryside - and we're from farming stock!

The walk back to the car gave us the same number of Goldcrests as we had all last weekend at Spurn - one, in the allotment hedge at the wetlands.

This morning dawned cold and clear, the sun hasn't risen now when we're out on Monty's early morning walk and today there was a crisp frost on the grass and car windscreens. As ever we look for the Peregrine on its usual (now unusual) perch but yet again no sign of it. But high up in the cold steel grey ether we heard another Brambling, none for 14 1/2 years then two in a couple of days! P1 #51)

Coming back on to the main road and looking down the hill we could see a huge swirl of Jackdaws, about 100 of them which we guessed must have roosted somewhere nearby.

Back at Base Camp we were pleased to find about half a dozen Blackbirds in the garden feasting on next door's Rowan berries and our Pyracantha bush.

Blackbirds we expect, maybe not as many as six but they are daily visitors but Starlings are another kettle of fish altogether, very rarely do they come in to the garden so to see three drop in begs the question are they local birds or migrants from afar that have possibly traveled on the coat tails of the Blackbirds...you decide.

Either way it was great to see them in the garden.

A flock of about 85 Jackdaws went over going south west, almost definitely not the 100 we'd seen earlier.

And with the sun shining we decided on taking Monty for another spin round Marton Mere. The walk started as yesterday with a/the Cetti's Warbler at the wetlands. We'd not gone far when we heard the unmistakable woosh woosh sound of Mute Swans' wings carving up the air. Two of them came low overhead making for Stanley Park lake.

So close we could only fit one of them in the frame.

We opted to give Monty a bit more of a run before putting him on his lead so went round the outside of the reserve along the bridlepath, here a patch of sunshine had warmed the place up enough for a Common Darter to fly past and alight on the fence to do a bit of basking and catch a few rays.

We carried on on our way and into the reserve (with Monty now on his lead) and set off along the embankment where we met TS. We'd gone that way on the off chance we might see the Bittern fly over the reedbed and/or hear the pings of a fresh-in Bearded Tit, there's been a bit of an influx along the north west coast line and our reed bed is as good as anyone elses!

While we were chatting we both saw a large black bird we both at first glance thought might be a Raven but when it banked it turned into our first Marsh Harrier here since before 2010. Unfortunately it stayed down the far end before dropping in to the reedbed somewhere near the scrape putting about 60 Teal to flight. We hoped that when it got up again it would come our way and we'd get some spectacular views of it wafting over the reedbed in front of us - no such luck it went down the far end again and then set off high to the north east and away.

We also noted a steady passage of Skylarks and a few Chaffinches from our spot on the embankment. Behind us were more Pink Footed Geese than we'd had yesterday and more still were going over further east.

TS went on his way and we stopped a few more minutes to watch a Sparrowhawk speed by and listen to Water Rails squalling and Cetti's Warblers exploding but not a peep out of any Bearded Tits that might have been but probably weren't lurking in the reeds.

We followed on in TS's footsteps passing a family who think it's acceptable to come in to a nature reserve and take away the birds and animals winter food supply - armed with a long pole to reach the Apples no-one else could reach - how many hundredweight of invaluable winter food is lost to these numpties each autumn - all for the sake of saving a few pence at the supermarket. We're only taking  two or three they told us, each with one of those large 'indestructible' carrier bags in their hands.

Tw*ts

Fortunately the morning picked up soon after that when we heard the soft 'peeuu' call of a Bullfinch and then watched a female lift out of the scrub fly a short distance and then drop back in again. That's the first sighting since early April. 

Our offer of a king sized Mars Bar for the person who gets a decent pic of one still stands, got to be better than our two paltry efforts so far to get that prize though.

Then we had 'bad news' from MMcG we'd just missed a Jay and a Bittern he told us, but we did get on to the two Whooper Swans that were cruising round the far end of the mere, our first actually on the water for several years.

We hung around chatting to the Ranger and volunteers for a while hoping the Bittern might show itself again - it didn't and they disappeared in to the reedbed to remove a substantial Willow growing on a bit of an island so went back towards the Feeding Station. We'd only gone a few steps when BOOM a flock of nine Coal Tits flew over us and went across to the trees in the caravan site - awesome as those over the other side of the pond say. No other species were in the flock and nine is at least six more than we've ever seen on site before!

Best of the rest were the shed loads of Jackdaws, must seen 1000 all morning up to now and a Great Spotted Woodpecker going east over the wetlands.

It was quieter back at Base Camp after lunch but thee were still a few Jackdaws on the move. After the school traffic had died down we took Monty out to the park, Patch 1, but without a camera - shoulda took one as as soon as we got there we spotted a Jay coming in from the east, very very seldom do we see them round here.

Sparrrowhawk and a Small White butterfly were best of the rest until we got home and had a Red Admiral perched up on one of our down pipes at Base Camp.

Where to next? An all day safari over to the Southside with CR tomorrow

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

A Welsh week on Anglesey

The Safari had a busy week with family duties but did have the chance to stop off at Marshside RSPB to have a half hour look to see if there was anything about. There were plenty of Wigeon and Black Tailed Godwits but on the whole there wasn't too much about. The water levels with all the rain and melting snow were a bit on the high side. The other side of the reserve gave us a walk down to Nels Hide from where the Scaup were nowhere to be seen. Several flights Pink Footed Geese left the freshwater marsh flying low over our head over to the salt water marsh as we walked down to the hide. 

We were asked if we'd seen the Avocets, which we hadn't but as we were being told there were a few about two flew past the window (123, PYLC #101)

They joined a small group of others doing their best to shelter from the ferociously cold wind behind a low island. There's precious little shelter when conditions are bad here.

The left hand bird is Yellow flagged but we couldn't read the code

With nothing else on show, the Scaup were reported from a different area of the reserve we didn't have had time to visit, we had to call it a day.

The following day we took the big camera on Monty's early morning walk along the cliffs and had the success we hoped for with just one Wheatear (PYLC #102) briefly on the lower rocks.

Then we hit the road down to the lovely and sunny island of Anglesey off the north coast of Wales.

As we always do on a road trip we tallied up Buzzards versus Kestrels along the way with the result in favour of Buzzards yet again 5:1 but second dead Kestrel on the side of the road too. Other roadkill wildlife included a single Badger and what looked seriously like a Polecat.

Once we'd unpacked at our temporary Base Camp we hit the beach where we soon found a Grey Seal bottling on the flat sea. Also out there was  a nice variety of birds, several Shags (124) fished offshore while on the beach there were a few Sanderlings, Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin or two scattered among them. Out to sea we found five Great Crested Grebes and watched what turned out to be the first, of only two, Sandwich Tern (125) of the week fly past. A pair of Red Breasted Mergansers split up, the male flying inland and landing on a small creek behind the beach. Several auks were too far out to be able to identify but that didn't matter too much as there would be plenty of opportunities to catch up with them at close quarters later in the week.

Saturday morning out with Monty brought us overflying Ravens, distant drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Sparrowhawk that looked like it was on a migratory mission. A trip up to the gorgeous little inlet of Porth Eilian later in the morning had us watching more Shags and a Black Guillemot (126) while Monty had a swim but they were both always a little too distant for decent pics.
On the drive out just up the hill in the village a Red Squirrel scampered along the roadside towards gardens bedecked with feeders. Great to see one, Anglesey is a superb conservation success story for this enigmatic species and we didn't see any at all when we were here four years ago. The drive back to Base Camp also gave us our first dead Hedgehog on the road of the year, that one hadn't survived long after coming out of hibernation.
After tea a final sprint round the beach with Monty brought a bit of a surprise in the form of a flock of Pale Bellied Brent Geese (127, PYLC #103) we hadn't brought the camera so only had our phone to get some pics with and were doing quite well sneaking up on them slowly but surely inching closer until the Monster came charging up behind us and flushed them, they seemed far more wary of dogs than people.

A duff pic but never mind we'd get them with the big lens in the morning.

On Saturday evening we were joined by LCV and his family so on Sunday we planned a big family excursion to the RSPB South Stack reserve and Lighthouse. Reports earlier had shown thousands of guillemots etc back on the nesting cliffs and even more exciting a Snowy Owl had been on the mountain behind the cliffs for much of Saturday.

The morning walk before setting off had us listening to our first Chiffchaff (128) of the year in the cottage's garden and the Brent Geese were on the beach again but we didn't have the camera, two Razorbills (129) were close in too.

South Stack gave us awesome views of a flock of at least 15 Choughs with lots of calling and aerobatic display going on but not photo opportunities, they kept dipping over the edge of the cliffs or flipping up over the skyline and out of sight before we could raise the camera. A Kittiwake (130) cruised the cliff edge below us but again was out of sight before we could get a pic, astonishingly this was the only one we saw all week. The Guillemot nesting cliffs were deserted. It seems the bad weather of the Beast from the East mk2 had sent all the cliffs' residents back out to sea and from Ellin's Tower viewing point they were indeed empty apart from a few pairs of Herring Gulls and Fulmars (131, PYLC #104) - All very worrying, hopefully the huddled masses will return before too long and have a good breeding season. our look for Puffins in 'Puffin Gully' was unsuccessful too, although we learned later in the week that the first Puffin to be seen there this year wasn't until the following day. Despite hordes of birders out on the trail of the Snowy Owl there was no news of that either.

Overexposed Fulmars

While the kids had a run down the million steps to the lighthouse we stayed up top and watched a Meadow Pipit poke about the rocks by the track.

There were very few small birds about giving a hint that there had been no recent migrants on the move. A camera-shy Stonechat on the walk back to the car was best of the rest and more than likely a local bird.

A stop at Porth Eilian before going back to Base Camp gave us more Shags (PYLC #105) and a couple of duff Black Guillemot pics (PYLC #106)

At Penmon Head the next day LCV soon picked up a Harbour Porpoise fishing a few hundred yards offshore. There were plenty of birds but all distant. All the auks missing from the cliffs at South Stack seemed to be here. Lots of Guillemots (132) and Razorbills (PYLC #107)

Some Shags floated close by giving us the chance to better our earlier PYLC pic.

The flock of Eiders weren't so obliging.

LCV picked up a couple of Puffins (133) loafing, appropriately, just off Puffin Island, so far to far for a pic, then he found another half dozen or so a couple of hundred yards further back.

While having tea and a bun in the tea-rooms with the family a Sand Martin (134) flew over us and eagle-eyed LCV picked up the second Sandwich Tern of the week out in the straits. 

Playing ball with Monty a Rock Pipit flew past us and landed close by but by the time we'd gone for the camera it was long gone too.

Tuesday was a wash out with rain and we'd come down with a bug too.

Wednesday saw us feeling a bit better so we headed out across the island to see if we could find some Red Squirrels in the forest at Newborough. We'd only got as far as the first village off the main road before seeing one on the side of the road again. Which was good as the woods were very quite and notably devoid of squirrels, in fact notably devoid of almost all wildlife apart from a smattering of Great Tits and Blackbirds and a soaring Buzzard that was a bit too high for our little lens.

Back at our beach Monty had a good time as we successfully failed to get any pics of the Brent Geese again.

Our last day had us photographing a pair of Red Legged Partridges (PYLC #108) through the kitchen window which we spotted while doing the last of the washing up. We've counted it on our challenge list but as per usual we don't add these multi-millions released for shooting without so much as a by-your-leave to our regular year list.

Then we had a lovely surprise, we went to throw the last  remnants of a loaf out on the lawn for the Carrion Crows when we spotted this little chap snuffling his way through the short grass.

Once back at Base Camp we were able to have a look at the Stealth Cam's captures. After seeing a Hedgehog in the flesh we weren't surprised to see one had triggered the camera and possibly a different one as it looks a bit bigger, the daytime one appearing to be only just large enough to have survived hibernation.

Monty found a Fox turd to roll in in the garden on his way back from his walk one morning yuk, yuk and double yuk!!! So again it wasn't a surprise to see the camera had been tripped by one.

But we didn't expect to see this 'orrible and frightening beast staring at us. Could it be the fabled Welsh Yeti?

So all in all a rather mixed week but great to share the best two days of weather and health with the kids.

As a bit off an aside to the safari we were given the loan of a snazzy all-wheel drive motor for the week. A plug-in hybrid Mitsusushi Outlander - a rather comfortable car to drive with all bells and whistles - or at least all lights and things that go ping. We've never known a car to make so many noises in the cabin!

There's a bit of rigmarole to turn it on, the computer systems like all computer systems need to fire up; no turning the key rev the engine and go...no you have to wait for the 'ready' notice on the dash but it doesn't take that long, it's not going to delay your journey...

We weren't given the plug-in lead so couldn't charge it up overnight from the house electricity so had to use the engine to charge the battery. There are three modes, electric motor travel, electric motor travel while the engine charges the battery and helps if necessary and save the battery for eg fast or hilly driving where the engine does all the work, all can be switched at any time by the push of a button on the centre console.

Due to the nature of the terrain and distances we were traveling we normally used the charge the battery mode, then either using the charge or saving it dependiong on where we were and how far there was to travel. For nipping down to the beach with Monty or round to the local village shop electric mode was great. This vehicle is a 2017 model and only has about 20 miles of electric power depending on the terrain, great for a short daily commute - the owner can get to work 5 days a week without using any petrol and can charge it up at work if necessary (rarely). The current year model has been given a big mileage boost to 40 miles on a fully charged battery.

At high speed on the motorway legs totally on petrol it didn't fare very well at all only giving us about 25mpg, hardly surprising with 2.4l engine and a 2 tonne car with the aerodynamics of a brick. Adding on the time in electric mode the total mpg for the trip was bumped up to 30mpg so a reasonable saving. The electric mode came into its own in a stretch of serious motorway congestion, the half hour or more delay used no petrol at all as we inched forward, in our old Disco we'd have been watching the fuel gauge plummet and getting twitchy if it dropped below a quarter. Also very convenient in the traffic jam was the Auto-hold (foot)brake.

We didn't get the opportunity to use the Super All Wheel Control 4x4 system although did note that the manual warned you not to go off road on to mud or sand in case you got stuck (not surprising given the tread pattern on the standard tyres) and the suspension could be damaged by rough tracks - a bit different to the Land Rover manuals which show you how to get the best out of the 4x4 system on your vehicle.

The dash has more lights than the average Boeing 747 and we're certain we didn't see them all! Slightly disconcerting are the pinging and orange flashing BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE warnings when there's no obvious danger, the sensors having picked up a passing leaf or something blowing in the wind, or worse come on AFTER you've taken evasive action eg on narrow streets avoiding on-coming traffic.

To be fair though we think all this super-technology is all part of the trials in the run-up to driverless cars...and we really like the reversing camera how on earth did we ever park before??? Great for making sure you just within an inch of the double yellow lines!

Would we dash out an buy one, no. Will our next car have some of the technologies this one has - yes but it'll be much older so they'll be a lot simpler. Can we wait for driverless cars - NO - - they'll be perfect for going to the pub!

Where to next? Back to more familiar territories this week, will there be nay migrants to find - that weather is still very wintry rather than springy!

In the meantime let us know who's scampering along the roadsides in your outback