Too busy to blog

The Safari has been out looking for wildlife every day this week with much of our time taken up in the evenings with Brownie and Beavers groups. They've been working in the pond and have successfully released a tiny Froglet in to the garden. Our work's pond is raised with high sides so there's no way it could have escaped in to big wide world on its own. There's at least one big tadpole still in there too.

We've been so busy educating the kids in the wonders of wildlife that we've not stopped to take any pics. But then again there's only so many gruesome pics of dragonfly nymphs chomping down on poor unfortunate 3-Spined Sticklebacks you readers can take. 

We've had a couple of brief visits to Patch 1 with Monty to see if we could increase our tally of just a single White Letter Hairstreak. No joy with those as no more have been seen but we did note a large increase in the number of Small Skippers.

While waiting for the WLHs after some afternoon rain we spotted an arty spider's web by our knee.

Mid-week we were down on the beach with school groups for a couple of days. Great fun and some great finds like a small unknown species of Bearded Rockling, a few Blennies and a handful of tiny fry from some unknown fish. Neither of the two groups could catch any Sand Gobies though, imagine being outsmarted by a tiny fish with the brain the size of a pin-head. Yes, catching those calls for teamwork and some serious stealth, something we were sadly lacking this week. 

Much easier to catch was this stranded Barrel Jellyfish.

It's a small one

After doing the health and safety talk to the teachers and children we broke the don't touch any jellyfish rule and picked this one up. Gathering the class around we got two of them to stand next to us for a teacher to get a pic. Fully dangling (it was well heavy - arm achingly heavy waiting for the not so quick class to assemble) it was almost as big as the little Year 1 children! 

They continued to collect their shells and whatever else they could find. Then one child called out 'Jellyfish!!!!!!' exactly as they had been instructed to do. We headed off to inspect it and drawn a no-go line in the sand around it with the end of a net but found it not to be a jellyfish at  all. It was a cluster of Squid eggs. Only a small one and well battered but still the first bunch of Squid eggs we've seen on the beach for a few years. Interesting - what were we saying about the dolphins a couple of posts back...

Unfortunately despite the excellent sea conditions the Bottlenose Dolphins didn't put in an appearance for these children from an inland school. That didn't bother them too much they still had a whale of a time. It's very gratifying when at the end of the day and they're getting on the bus to head back to school one of them says 'Thanks sir, that's the best school trip I've ever been on'...but please note he was only six years old and hasn't been on many school trips! Not to worry we're sure he'll remember it for the rest of his life and tell his friends how brilliant our beach is and what they should do and look for if they come down with their families during the summer holidays.

We've got a little guessing game for you now...sadly that was our last school session ever :-( ...but why? NO - we haven't been arrested!!!

Where to next? Family duties at the weekend but we might be able to get out on Safari somewhere for an hour or so.

In the meantime let us know who's holding up the specimens in your outback

Always a good day when you learn something new about nature

The Safari was a bit disappointed to find so little in the moth trap this morning after recent double whammy NFGs, just 10 individuals, almost half of those were Heart & Darts, of only six species. Riband Wave was the only one new for the year.

Mid-afternoon we were able to meet up with BD to have a look for White Letter Hairstreak butterflies on Patch 1, they'd been reported from a reserve in the nest town so while it was 'early' for them it was worth a look. We heard two Chiffchaffs in the main area of the park and had a look at the bottom lake but other than lots of litter, Duckweed and lots of Poecilobothrus nobilitatus flies dancing there was nothing there. At the butterfly zone there were several Large Skippers and a few Meadow Browns, the first we've seen this year, and a couple of very fresh smart looking Speckled Woods. The butterflies were mostly inactive hiding away as the sunshine turned minute by minute to more cloudy conditions.

With no sign of the White Letter Hairstreaks and the top of their favourite tree being shaken round quite madly by the increasing wind we decided to have a look at what else was on offer then wander down to the rough field.
BD pointed out something we've never heard of before, Sycamore Leaf Aphids spread themselves remarkably evenly across the underside of the leaf, usually we think of aphids as all bunched together at the tip of a plant.

Flitting around the grass nearby and generally refusing to stay still was this colourful Sawfly, Tenthredo sp?

We also found a bee that had made a grave mistake!

Not much nectar there mate!

It had probably got caught out by the sudden much cooler, cloudier and windier weather. 

Down at the far end of tthe field BD showed us something else we've not seen bef ore or certainly not noticed if we have seen it before. After looking at a few Yellow Meadow Ants' nests, one of which was huge, maybe about 3 feet (1m) across, he found some Ragwort plants being sucked by aphids white Black Ants in attendance milking them for their honeydew. A closer look revealed the ants had build their nest around the base of the plant, all the better to defend their 'herd'.

The whole base of the plant is completely encrusted with the ants nest

He also found us the first of this year's Grasshoppers and we showed him the local plant specialty Ploughman's Spikenard although it'll be another week before it comes into flower. As in previous years it was sad and upsetting to see wheelbarrow loads of garden rubbish tipped here, as usual mostly all over the big patch of Birds-foot Trefoil smothering most of it so not so many Common Blue butterflies this year - Yet another reason why basic education about the natural history, ecological relationships and what can be found in your local area is so vital.

With no butterflies on the wing now we walked back through the park to the car as a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew past us, the first sighting we've had here since their nesting tree was felled. It flew across the field and landed in the trees at the edge of the park where a Sparrowhawk immediately attacked it and it was lucky to escape - an amazing sequence of events to witness. Going through the wooded edge of the field BD spotted some weird looking fungi growing out of an old felled tree stump.

Later identified by the world famous and font of all knowledge woodland and beyond AB @HesistantWeasel - well if he isn't world famous he should be - as emerging Dead Mens Fingers. The Council's budget cuts have made it necessary to do much less grass cutting and the lower area of the park is no longer a cutting priority and has been left - it looks great, lots of different colours and textures of grass flowing like waves in the gentle breeze under the trees. There were even some kids enjoying playing in it!

Mostly Yorkshire Fog

Just needs a more flowers to make it that little bit more exciting, but after decades of being scalping twice a week through the summer there's probably precious few taller species left in the turf.

From Patch 1 we drove a couple of minutes up the road to a site we've only visited a couple of times before. It has - or at least had - Common Lizards but the area they were last seen in is now perhaps too well vegetated, if they are still there hopefully they'll have been able to move somewhere more suitable. Seeing the Common Lizards would have brilliant but they weren't what we were hoping for, that was something altogether rarer and harder to find and probably hasn't been at this site for tens of the best part of a hundred years - well you can dream! What we were after was a Grass Snake! Earlier in the week PT had told us one had been seen at a pond near here and the lad that found it had somehow tried to drown it??? That pond is very isolated so was the ID good, where had it come from, how many are there, are they anywhere else nearby - questions questions. Apparently the ID was correct but the other questions still stand...was it a pet someone had released - where do you get and how could you keep a pet Grass Snake, maybe they didn't like the smell? Anyway we didn't find it, the weather was against us as it stayed cold and cloudy and the sun didn't come out to encourage any that might be there to bask. The pond had a family of Coots and a family of Moorhens as well as a sinister looking Heron - not good news for any nearby Grass Snakes! It was the longest of long shots and of course we were unsuccessful, but it's a site that warrants closer and more regular inspection. 

In the grassy area we found a Meadow Brown that was far more accommodating than those at Patch 1.

And a Nursery Web Spider 

By the pond as we walked through the bankside vegetation we disturbed many Blue Tailed Damselflies and some bright blue ones all of which that stayed still long enough to ID were Azure Damselflies.

From there we went the couple of hundred yards to where the Grass Snake was seen and had a quick look round but the most exciting thing to be seen in the pond was a bicycle wheel.
All good things come to an end as did our time and we turned for Base Camp after a very enjoyable coupla-three hours out on safari not seeing what we hoped we'd see but seeing other wondrous stuff instead.

Where to next? We'll be out n about on safari somewhere tomorrow - but where, that the $64,000 question and probably weather dependent.

In the meantime let us know who's not slithering around in your outback.

 

A day devoted to insects

The Safari had a plan today provided the weather behaved itself. It didn't last night, we went to get the moth trap out of the garage only to find it was pouring down so yet again no mothing. This morning when we took Frank out early the rain was still  failing and the ground suggested it had been most of the night, cruel - we really want decent night's mothing everyone else seems to be doing quite well at the moment after a poor start to the season.

We knew we weren't going to be able to get out until after lunch but the weather brightened up mid-morning and although the wind was still a bit brisk it looked good out there. Calls to CR and BD made for an excursion to our former Patch 1. CR offered to pick us up on the way as he was passing. We waited on the corner for him and got a mega surprise. We've only heard Swifts screaming once at Base Camp this summer and they were way high and just passing through. Today we got to the corner of the street and immediately heard a Swift scream overhead. Looking up we saw three wheeling around just above the rooftops. We watched in awe as they sped round, we lost two but the third surprised us even more, it sped along the eaves of the nearby house then did a loop and shot without slowing straight under the eaves into the nest cavity Swifts used last year - dare we hope they're back and will stay around now?

The sun shone warm and bright but it was still a bit too windy for what we were hoping for. As soon as we got to the site we heard a grasshopper stridulating and eventually tracked it down deep in the grass.

Large Skippers and Meadow Browns were all over the place and we also saw a really bright Comma which didn't stay still long enough for a pic. 

There were loads of Grass Bugs (Leptopterna dolabrata) flitting about too.

Down beneath the bug was a Nursery Web Spider's nest covered in rain drops.

We had a rummage round the now horrendously well vegetated bit to see if our main quarry was about. It wasn't but a Red Admiral flew by and we saw a couple or three Speckled Woods as well as a nicely settled Large Skipper.   

Who knew butterflies had eyelashes? We didn't but they certainly do!

While we were moochiing arund more (or the same) Swifts flew circuits overhead and two Siskins (171) passed over, They've been on the move along the coast some mornings recently but we never expected them heading inland in the middle of the afternoon. 

BD joined us and it was time to stand around THE tree hoping the main event would take place.

A second BD and all round butterfly aficionado joined us.

It took a while but eventually after a few probables we did get to see White Letter Hairstreaks dancing around the tree top. Our best count was three but we only saw one settled through the binoculars but it didn't stay long enough for a pic and the tree would have been shaking around too much in the wind anyway. Great to see them again and right on cue too.

The younger BD did get a pic of one which magically appeared nectaring on a Bramble right by him.
There were so many insects we just didn't know where to turn, bees, butterflies, bugs, beetles, hoverflies, parasitic wasps, the lot - the place was buzzing! Not buzzing were the Cleggs that seemed to be homing in on CR. If they weren't so vicious they'd be almost beautiful.

What do they see through those bizarrely patterned eyes, throbbing veins probably.

A Wolf Spider guarded its eggsac against all comers.

We tried to get a better angle

 And then it saw us and legged it

Time to try another site for something completely different.

We were hoping for Short Winged Coneheads and Ruddy Darters. We found neither but there were several 4-Spotted Chasers and an Emperor Dragonfly. At the edge of the pond there was a good show of Tubular Water Dropwort, a rare plant that's doing OK round these parts. 

Disturbing the vegetation with the sweep net kicked up lots of tiny insects including a bright shiny beetle, Alder Beetle?

It's so shiny you can see our reflection on its carapace

Small as it was it dwarfed the so small it was impossible to photograph tiny red beetle we found.

Lots of damselflies were around including Common Blues and Blue Tailed Damselflies. We think this is an immature female Blue Tailed Damsel. 

On the walk out we spotted a Wasp apparently curled up asleep nestled in a Thistly cradle. It wasn't asleep but dead. And when we looked at our pics we noticed the black blob next to it...something parasitically sinister???

walking back to the car through the cemetery we saw that many areas hadn't been mown and there was a plethora of wildflowers on show. We hope this is a deliberate policy decision by the cemetery managers cos it's brilliant.

In there are White Clover, Self Heal, a Hawkbit sp, Ribwort Plantain as far as we can tell.

So ended another great afternoon on safari with good friends no more than a mile from Base Camp.
Where to next? Not sure what's happening tomorrow, maybe mostly family stuff but there'll no doubt be something to see if we keep our eyes and ears open.
In the meantime let us know who's sucking all the blood in your your outback.