Vanity, Vertebrates and a Virus

The Safari has been quite busy with wildlife and other stuff since Christmas, mostly other stuff including another operation on my already butchered hand at the end of January which curtailed safariing for most of February but is now mostly fully recovered. 

A couple of days after the stitches came out - 14 of them

With good news from the Sand Lizard project we've been working on for the best part of a decade we decided to celebrate in hip n trendy style and get ourselves a congratulatory tattoo.

In wildlife news we've been continuing or Photo Year List Challenge with Monika and the gang. This year it's open to all vertebrates and so far we've managed 132 species. This Lesser Spotted Catshark eggcase we found the other day was accepted as a 'Yes it counts' by all in the group to become our 132nd species.

No doubt you're all aware there's a bit of a health issue going round at the moment - seems akin to the Black Death of the Middle Ages - so although not entirely put on hold the Vertebrate Challenge has been replaced by a 2 Week Photo Bird Blitz taking us up to the end of the month. One simple rule - All species must be photographed within a mile of home - a good excuse to get out with the camera, get some excersise see some wildlife and maintain the all important Social Isolation. This Sparrowhawk was soaring over Base Camp yesterday.

2WBB #15

Deadly disease or not the mutt still needs a walk and Chat Alley and the beach are within our mile radius. Neither a bird nor other vertebrate we found these odd cocoons made of sand stuck to the sea defences a couple of days ago. Wonder what they'll turn into, Anyone any ideas.

This morning there was a brisk cool south easterly blowing and a few birds were about especially Meadow Pipits there were a few grounded, one doing its parachuting display flight and most going over more or less due north.

One of the local Pied Wagtails doesn't like the pipits landing on his  patch and chases them off calling noisily as he does. Great to watch the twisting and turning of the chase as the pipit tries to make an escape.

2WBB #16

We named Chat Alley as it turns up chats like Wheatears in reasonable numbers each spring and autumn and occasionally Stonechats too. So far this year we've not come across a Wheatear and today was no exception and also the mean date we first see one along here. However there were a couple of Stonechats, a species we've not recorded along the cliffs for at least a couple of years so we were very pleased to see them

2WBB #17

On closer inspection of the photos when we got back to Base Camp what we thought were two individuals now looks like the same one moving northwards along the cliffs.

The return journey gave us yet more Meadow Pipits.

And finally we stopped off at the Go-Kart track wader roost and found the Purple Sandpiper still present as it had been there yesterday too - the first time we'd looked for it in a while with all the rough weather probably meaning the birds had had to roost elsewhere.

Well that's it for now. We'll try to be more regular in our posts now we.re forced to spend much more time at home.  

Where to next? More of the mile from Base Camp we suppose
In the meantime lets us know who's reappeared in your outback

And don't forget the natural world is a great escape from the problems of today's issues and there's always something to see and new to learn right outside your door or even through your window if you can't get/aren't allowed out.

A pleasant potter around Stanley Park

The Safari spotted some sunshine the other day and without further ado was picked up by CR for a photographic jaunt in Stanley Park. Well why wouldn't you after all the dull and wind and rain we've endured recently a bit of sunshine wasn't to be wasted.

A check of the rail in the lake proved fruitless for Mediterranean Gulls but there were a couple of Black Headed Gulls sporting rings and one of those also had a Darvik ring - White 4FC - a Danish ringed bird reported about annually in the park during the winter since 2013, except 2016 - was it somewhere else or just not reported?

A short walk to the other side of the lake saw us peering up at the old Great Spotted Woodpecker hole where a pair of Ring Necked Parakeets have taken up residence, one was high up in the tree top the other nowhere to be seen until it emerged from the depths of the hole.

The light was catching the Cormorants sat on the rail that partitions off the Conservation Area very nicely.

Lovin those emerald green eyes!

A Great Crested Grebe (102, PYBC #71) came quite close and in full breeding regalia too. It dived frequently but didn't come up with any fish.

From there we moved round to the Heron Island where about 10 birds were sat in or near their nests. There wasn't much nesting activity just a bit of pair bonding and a little stick rearranging, it'll all kick off in earnest in the next week or so, but we got a few snaps in poor light - the sun had gone back in! - to put Heron on our PYBC at #72. We might well go back on a properly sunny day and get some breeding behaviour 'action' shots before the leaves come out and obscure the view.

Always amazes us how those huge feet to stop them sinking in sloppy mud are also dexterous enough to grip the most slender of twigs.

Home for the foreseeable future

The Great Crested Grebe had followed us round to this side too. And while we attempting to get duff shots of Herons in trees C managed to get a quick capture of it in the process of swallowing a Roach. 

Retracing our steps we heard the Ring Necked Parakeets again, and this time they were at a different nest hole at the top of the lake.

Back on the rail a cluster of Black Headed Gulls had a different ringed bird, this on White VLJ, another Danish ringed bird and a winter regular first reported here in February 2009 and our last previous report of it to the ringing scheme was back in December 2013.

White VLJ - already an adult when first ringed near Copenhagen in March 2008

Returning to the Ring Necked Parakeets original tree the two birds were out of the hole and engaging a bit of lovey-dovey. The posse of parakeetazi stood beneath the tree told us they'd been watching them for about 10 minutes, now in that time we hadn't seen or heard (and they are noisy beggars when they take flight) fly past us from the 'northern' hole so we're pretty confident there were two pairs...interesting and awaiting confirmation.

The following day we'd arranged to take a group of families out on the beach to see what the recent storms had washed up. It wasn't long before tubs, trays and buckets were full of all manner of interesting flotsam and jetsam. One of the buckets contained the leg of a Spider Crab something we've never seen on this coast before - that always happens - someone finds something we've never seen before in nearly 20 years of looking - just shows you what's out there. Although to the children the Dead Man's Fingers sponge was probably a better story!

Spider Crab leg bottom left by the Oyster - should have got a close-up!

We also had a look at the huge selection of pebbles to be found on the beach. All have fascinating stories, from Limestone full of fossils to bits of old house brick, lumps of coal and granite from ancient exploding volcanoes...and most of it courtesy of the Ice Age...fantastic!

We ended the session with half an hour looking for crabs in the boating lake. It took a while to catch anything but then some rather large Brown Shrimps were brought to the surface.

Moving down to the other end by the bridge proved more successful wit ha bunch of Periwinkles found and lined up in the tray by the children for the inaugural Fleetwood Periwinkle Grand National.

A clear winner is emerging - literally!

More Brown Shrimps found their way in to the buckets and then a Common Prawn was found so we could examine the differences between these two similar species.

The crabbing wasn't going too well, it was more like fishing for bacon as the bait was all that was being hauled up time after time. 

But with minutes to go before the end of the session the cry of "I've got one!" went up. The lad came running over to show the rest of the group his catch and there sure enough was a Green Shore Crab tucking in to a rasher of best smoked streaky.

A bit of wrangling soon had it out of the net for a closer look.

The lad put it back and then returned a few minutes later with an even bigger one - job done as time was up!

In other news a Fox has been heard at Base Camp in the small hours a couple of times so we've put the stealth cam up in the back garden - fingers crossed. House Sparrows (P1 #20) have been heard early morning in the recently butchered (=Tidied) garden across the street which is a relief as we expected the work to have been so severe as to have rendered the shrubs useless for the sparrows and the patch's first Chaffinch of the year was heard then seen flying over (P1 #21).

In the garden we've added Long Tailed Tit (Garden #13), just a single - or did we not spot the others?

A sunny afternoon walk along the cliffs with Monty saw us actually take the bins for once and immediately we pointed them seawards we saw an enormous flock of Common Scoters (103) - really helps when you take your optics!

Conversely we almost didn't need optics on a sunny morning's walk around Marton Mere as there was very little to see, nice sunshine but the strong bitingly cold wind was keeping everything well tucked away. A few yards from the car this Carrion Crow watched Monty warily as he went giddy splashing in and out of the pond and puddle we really should have prevented him from going in by putting him on his lead much earlier.

After yesterday evening's txt from PT saying she'd seen a group of four Roe Deer very close to Wifey's work and only about 1 1/2 miles from Base Camp we took the opportunity to have a look this morning - nothing but brilliant to know such an awesome creature has been seen so close to home!

So you're all up to date now folks.

Where to next? Not sure yet, we've got a lot of family duties this coming week so might not be able to get out on safari much.

In the meantime let us know who's taking over all the holes in your outback.

It's June so it's #30DaysWild again

The Safari has been struggling to get out as much as we'd like due to work and family stuff but when we have got out we have had some great sightings.

A brief look at the sea on Patch 2 the other lunchtime had us watching a flock of about 40 Gannets diving for fish. They were very distant though and the terns with them were little more than a couple of shiny white pixels in the telescope. Chasing them with ultra agility was a slightly larger dark speck, an Arctic Skua (161, P2 #51). Much closer in and away to the south was a bottling Grey Seal.

Last weekend we had a visit to the nature reserve to try to add some more species to our Year Bird Photo Challenge. We had in mind Blackcap and Reed Warbler with the hope for Swift if conditions were right. Standing nearr the end of the causeway at the wetland we had stereo Reed Warblers but in the damp and windy weather they were staying low in the reeds and we couldn't see them. The slightly iffy weather did mean there were parties of Swifts moving through most of the time we were there but trying to get a pic proved difficult especially as we were on the wrong side of the light for photographing fast moving dark shapes against a pale background. Male Blackcaps seemed to be singing from every other bush but again we didn't see a single one.

Along the reserve's embankment we managed a pic of a singing Reed Bunting but the numerous Reed Warblers down there still eluded us, one teased us by showing well at the edge of the reeds for a few second, until we raised the camera of course.

At the bridge we were slightly better positioned with regard to the light to get some Swift shots, which we did. (YBC #137)

Crikey they're tricky! So flippin quick!!! Eventually we got the pic we wanted but at ISO stupid it's still not perfect

With Swifts in the bag and little else doing we went round to the big park to look for the Treecreepers. We're not sure there's any left in there after so many of the larger trees full of nooks crannies and niches have been removed but word on the street is there is still one pair left. Of course we didn't find them but did see a few cheeky Grey Squirrels demanding peanuts from everyone passing by.

A trip out to the countryside with Wifey and Monty had us failing to find any of the hoped for Tree Pipits, although the time of day was wrong. There were lots of lens voiding Siskins but no Green Hairstreak butterflies, we might have missed those by a week or so, it was a lovely afternoon so they should have been on the wing.not far away there's a lovely riverside walk where we took Monty for a splash to cool off. While he was playing in the very low stream a Grey Wagtail dropped in on the rocks on the far bank to collect food fore its youngsters.

Back at Base Camp thundery weather brought screaming Swifts (Garden #27) into earshot but they were very very high. That is one of the quintessential sounds of summer but has sadly just about gone from Base Camp now. A decade ago it was heard daily with small flocks racing round the rooftop in the evening the last couple of years we've heard them  just once or twice a summer and the wheeling flocks are long gone - very sad and our home life is very much the poorer because of their loss. young children growing up round here now will never know them and think that is normal - all part of the Shifting Baseline syndrome and collapse of bio-abundance.

Best not get too maudlin as there is still some great wildlife to enjoy, what we need to do is appreciate and cherish it so that the baseline starts to shift upwards rather than downwards and the biodiversity we keep hearing about becomes ever more abundant.

At Base Camp male Greenfinches have suddenly appeared gorging on the sunflower seeds they've ignored all winter - there must be some broods of chicks not too far away.

And at work we spotted a tiny Nomad Bee/Potter Wasp buzzing around the Ox-eye Daisies went to get the camera but it had gone never to be seen again by the time we got back. We did see a different solitary bee collecting pollen from the Ox-eye Daisies.And by eck did it collect a lot of pollen!

At first we thought it was probably Colletes daviesanus but it was eventually identified via Twitter as Halictus rubicundus by none other than Steven Falk, author of the recently published field guide to bees. Amid the drivel, nonsense and adverts on social media it's great to have almost instantaneous access to real experts who are willing to give their time and expertise to help out anyone who asks.

It's now June and once again the wildlife Trusts are asking us to find and explore our inner wild and share our experiences on social media. With all the guff around the General Election it's a blessed relief to have some uplifting posts about people interacting with wildlife braking up the time-lines. Only one of the parties mentions the environment yet without a healthy environment to support us all their other policies and especially GDP so loved by the tories (SPIT) are nothing - why can't they see that???

So show the politicians of all persuasions that the environment is important to you by getting stuck in to #30DaysWild and sharing your experiences.

Here's some of the suff we've come across so far

Mating Small Whites on Meadow Cranesbill in the work's wildflower area

What's round the next bend? Let's explore

This beautiful lady was!

Yes we do have a licence to molest them like this

There were also a couple of Toads and a single Smooth Newt under that piece of rubbish. Always worth turning over anything that's been lying around awhile but remember to turn it back once you've finished.

Yesterday afternoon we took a half term family group down onto the beach to do a bit of rockpooling, their best find was this huge Mermaid's Purse

Eggcase from a Thornback Ray

Where to next? We'll be out looking for something wild today - what will it be??? We hope you'll be out in your outback looking and sharing too.

In the meantime let us know what you've already #30DaysWild-ed