Base Camp update

The Safari hasn't had the most exciting of times these last couple of days. The weather  has taken a turn for the worse, we've lost the sun and gained a strong and chilly breeze, not really conducive to sitting outside. However it hasn't been all bad it's just that the highlights have been fewer and we've had to wait for them!

The sun was still shining yesterday morning bringing a Large White butterfly into the garden and then another and another, or possibly the same one doing a circuit. Eventually one/it settled to nectar on an Aubretia flower growing in one of Wifey's tubs. It was away withing seconds so no chance of a pic.

One of the pressies we received for Christmas was a year's subs to Birdwatch magazine, every month they have a competition which we don't normally enter. April's competition was different, it was for a Hawke telescope and seeing how Wifey has  been enjoying using her Hawke EDs we entered. After being away for well over a week and then going into hossy we thought we'd best check and delete some emails. One was from Heather, at first we thought it was someone we knew wanting to meet up for an exiting safari somewhere or other; but no  it wasn't that Heather it was Heather from the magazine - we'd WON!!! We never win anything ever, so much so that we probably paid for the 2012 Olympics alone with all our failed lottery tickets...And this was her second email as we'd not responded to the first seeing as how we were mostly incommunicado down in Cornwall. 

Mid-mornig there was a knock on the door we answered to see a cheery chappy holding a reasonably sized parcel...Unpacking it one handed took a good while but we got there in the end.

Thank you Birdwatch mag and Hawke optics

We have a cunning plan for it...

Just about the last of the sunshine brought a dragonfly racing over the fence and hovering far too briefly over the pond before shooting off into the clear blue sky beyond the garage roof. The action happened so fast we didn't get a really good look at it but it was probably a 4-Spotted Chaser, an extremely rare visitor to Base Camp - we haven't even had sight nor sign of any damselflies yet.  

That was the end of the sunshine and any further excitement until the male House Sparrow put in  a similarly brief appearance although he did  land on the mixed seed feeder and grab a beakful so hopefully he'll be back more regularly in the near future...with wife n kids in tow???

While pottering around in the garden with Wifey inspecting her pot plants after tea we heard a Swift screaming nearby but didn't see it. More thrilling was seeing the first bat of the year at Base Camp as darkness fell and we were out inspecting Wifey's multi-coloured forever-changing LED garden lamps. We're not certain but think it might well have come from the bat box our Extreme Photographer put up a couple of years ago.

Tonight's job will be to test our hypothesis...provided the bat(s?) play ball and decide to show themselves - it's pretty darned cold out there today!

So darned cold in fact that we've seen virtually nothing through the window, far too cold to sit outside. Early morning provided the bulk of today's interest when a pair of Greenfinches turned up at the feeders, the male sporting a BTO type metal ring. Getting the number off it could be a project for the 150-600mm lens when we can lift the flippin thing. It might not be as easy it it sounds as half an hour later three more Greenfinches appeared, two males and a female, and none of these were blinged up.

With nothing happening we had  quick mooch round with the macro lens mid-afternoon

Common Speedwell, each flower is no more than 5mm across

The garden's first Ox-Eye Daisy of the summer - we'll get a better pic of the
Fibonacci Sequence as the disc flowers open fully in due course

There's little other news other than the Starlings haven't been back so probably can't smell, or don't like the smell of, the fat blocks we've put out for them. The only one that has returned is a juvenile that came to bathe in our ornamental waterfall.

Not from Base Camp but something that concerns us greatly was recent news of yet another Red Kite being shot in Yorkshire. What are these people on? They're a worm, beetle and dead Rabbit eating scavenger, no threat to anything...apart from worms, beetles and dead Rabbits. We'd love to see them in Lancashire but they seem incapable of crossing the moorland separating the two counties - we wonder why. 

Hall Lane is the short lane the poor bird was found crashing around under a hedge. What a shame - What a foul crime. The by far the most likely culprits are the Neanderthals involved in grouse shooting - ohh look there's lots and lots of ruined upland habitat nearby. For those that don't know rectangular strips of Heather (No, not our friend or the nice lady from the magazine) are burned in rotation to provide new growth for the Red Grouse to eat so there are many more of them to shoot than the habitat could normally hold. 

Nothing with a hooky beak or sharp claws must get in the way of those 'grice'. How can you help stop this carnage, not only of Red Kites but Peregrines, Goshawks, Hen Harriers, Buzzards, Ospreys, Golden and White Tailed Eagles (in Scotland), Foxes, Stoats, Weasels, Badgers, Pine Martens (in Scotland), Wild Cats (in Scotland - yes they even kill the rarest cat on the planet!!!) even seemingly innocuous Mountain Hares suffer horrendous and probably unsustainable slaughters (they carry ticks which could spread disease to the grouse). 

If you haven't already please sign this petition and pass it on - if you have get a friend or two to sign; lets get beyond the 100,000 signatures required to bring about a debate in Parliament and please everyone spread the word to your non-wildlifey friends, it affects them too through higher water bills (peat stained water has to be cleaned before it gets to our taps), higher home insurance (through increased flood risk) and increased carbon emissions (through burning on what should be active wet peat bogs) and more!

If an industry can't operate without the need for regular illegal activities it needs to be shut down ASAP. The more people who know how bad it is and how it affects them directly and indirectly the better. Our uplands deserve better than this shower of sh*tes!

Where to next? More sitting at Base Camp staring through the window - unless the sun comes out of course.

In the meantime let us know who's got the best numbers in your outback.

Well if you're not using the seat I will

The Safari was driving up the hill we saw a blob on the tower so turned into the street and pulled up in the alleyway to see it was a nice male Kestrel not a Peregrine, they seem to have abandoned the tower now we’ve not seen one up there for many months. It was eating a bird as we could see feathers falling. Nearby on the grass there was a pile of feathers very close to the row of tall conifers but given the location they were perhaps more Sparrowhawk plucky than from the Kestrel’s kill. Not the Peregrine but still a good find for Patch 1 they’re not particularly regular over this way.

The sea didn’t look that promising for a Patch 2 look as we drove down the Prom, the tide was well out and the sea very lumpy in the strong cold wind. We gave it a go all the same and were rewarded with a handsome adult Yellow Legged Gull wandering around on the sand with a few Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls looking for whatever tasty morsels the tide had left behind. We got to wondering if it was the same individual that we saw a few years ago during the National Whale & Dolphin Watch in the town centre http://lalows.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/duck-broken-sort-of.html

A few Manx Shearwaters passed by in the middle distance, then half a dozen more really close in only a few yards behind the surf, it’s not often we see them that close. A Gannet cruised by and as we were scanning back to see if there were any more in the direction it had come from  we picked up and all dark long winged bird coming towards us again only a few yards behind the surf. Splendid views of an immature Arctic Skua were enjoyed as it came slowly northbound past us. Once again it’s not often we see that that close in.

Lunchtime was disappointingly poor by comparison with barely anything other than a few Herring Gulls seen. We went out again at tea-time before our Beaver group arrived and were rewarded with five Gannets fishing very actively close in shore and not far to the south. Fantastic it was watching them stoop and dive into very shallow water; sadly it was too choppy to see if they brought anything to the surface. We counted how long it took between entering the water and popping back up again. Not unsurprisingly most dives were over in a matter of seconds seeing as how shallow the water was but a few were around 10 seconds and the longest 15 seconds with the bird reappearing quite a way from where it entered the water so must have had quite a chase to catch its fish, maybe it didn’t. After a good 20 minutes of intense feeding their dives became more infrequent and irregular before they all drifted away into the distance over the silvery sea.

The Beavers came and ransacked the pond, finding another Darter dragonfly nymph a little smaller than yesterdays. There were a lot of snails but not a lot else, the cold spring really has slowed the pond life down this year there should be much more in there. The mini-beast hunts were poor compared to yesterday too. Yesterday we got sunburnt arms from being in the field with the children all day, today we could have done with a thicker jumper and a woolly hat – it was freezing! At least the rain had stopped before they arrived but finding bugs other than Woodlice and Pill Bugs was difficult. Another fairly large spider was potted and again several of the youngsters were brave enough to have her crawl on their hands while their leaders ran for cover!

The earlier rain had brought lots of Garden Snails out of hiding so a good old fashioned snail race was enjoyed.  

Here's a few pic from the work's garden

Fox & cubs

Ox-eye Daisies, Creeping Buttercups, Perennial Cornflower, Fox & cubs

Viper's Bugloss

White Campion

Merodon equestris - we've not seen this all dark form before

Chrysotoxum festivum - perhaps

Where to next? More Patch 2 dolphin hoping tomorrow, apparently there's about 50 out there,
In the meantime let us know who's sitting in whose seat in your outback

Sunday afternoon in the sun

The Safari was garden-bound almost all day but got out for a couple of hours late on.

Pottering around in the garden we found the solitary bee has started a new brood tube in a hole in the fence rather than the bee hotel.

Nearby was on of our many Ox-eye Daisies.

The Goldfish were active in the warm sunshine - they were lucky they couldn't feel the bitter wind. 

Our safari out late afternoon had orchids on the menu.

The Bee Orchids aren't quite out yet - we could only find two, this was the smaller but easier to access of them.

Down on the nature reserve there's an unprecedented number of Marsh Orchids, over 170 now!

 OK so they're some of the most common orchids there are but aren't they stunners!

We went ot have a look over the water and heard a Lesser Whitethroat singing on the short walk. About 30 odd Swifts were scything over the mere easily the most we've seen this year and we've still not seen one at Base Camp.

There was something very unusual on the grass - an Oystercatcher feeding away totally unphased by people and dogs! how bonkers, we've seen them on there when it's been really quiet in the winter but not like this on a busy weekend.

A very pleasurable couple of hours mooch and meander and we saw our first Common Blue butterfly, briefly, and a mature Blue Tailed Damselfly, again only briefly.

Where to next? Patch 2 again in the morning.

In the meantime let is know who's sneaking through the fence in your outback.

Garden Bioblitz 2015

The Safari wasn't expecting to get out today but did want to get involved with the national Garden Bioblitz.

Overnight heavy rain was forecast so we didn't put the moth trap out so missed a species or two there, then our attention got diverted and we forgot to put the stealth-cam out - dohhh!

We started with the plants as they're pretty reliable. When we moved here a dozen or so years ago the garden was just a mass of concrete and it took a couple of years to get it all broken up, removed and the soil dug over. since them the larger trees, shrubs and climbers have been planted along with a few perennials, the rest have been 'donated' by the birds, the wind or the seeds in the seed-bank.

There are British Bluebells, Spanish Bluebells and hybrids, all arrived of their own accord. These are proper job British ones.

The planted Cotoneaster has just about covered the garage wall and when the sun came out it was covered in Honey Bees and a few Tree Bees too.

Herb Robert is everywhere!

Ox-eye Daisies are variable in their abundance, some years there's loads others not so many. This year is one of those 'other' years. This one is the most open one in the garden, they're quite late this season.

Invertebrates were hard to come by and we thought our best chance of success would be to check out the other garage wall where the sun was shining. Always a good spot for finding jumping spiders and Ruby Tailed Wasps. There were neither but a bee started buzzing around our ear, stepping back to get a better look as soon as we were out of its way it went into the bottom corner bamboo tube in our 'bug hotel'. It's been there three years and until today there's not been a bee near it! So as you can imagine we were pretty chuffed.

We set up the camera and tripod as near as we could and stood back with the remote control release.

We still haven't got it quite right but now we know it's there we intend to have some more sessions in the next few weeks.

In the afternoon the wind picked up, the clouds rolled in and temperature dropped so the lack of invert activity was even less likely to improve. Anyway Wifey started doing a job that required nits n bobs of assistance so that was the end of our bioblitzing for the rest of the day. We didn't get much done but at least the bee in the bamboo was a really big highlight.

Where to next? Tomorrow looks like being windy but not as wet as originally forecast so we might get out somewhere.

In the meantime let us know who's crawling down the holes in your outback.

Down on Patch 1

The Safari hasn't been able to get outside today, too busy and even if we hadn't of been the rain was persistantly heavy all day, downright miserable. Luckily just outside the office door there is a small Ragwort patch which has been visited by a Cinnabar Moth. There's a lot of caterpillars and not alot of Ragwort so there's going to be either a bit of starvation or a bit of cannibalism going on later.

Back at Base Camp we have some good news to relate - we have baby Dunnocks! Not sure where the nest is, perhaps in the tangle of Clematis on the pergola over the front gate.

In other birdy news juvenile Godfinches are now regular visitors to the feeders.

The recent bout of 'hot' dry weather has meant water must have been at a premium locally as there is always a bird in the waterfall having a drink and a bath.

Flowers in the garden have been putting on a show too

Ox-eye Daisy

With a hoverfly

A tiny Thyme flower

Tubular Waterdropwort

A pretty tub of something bright - no idea what thougbh

Last Sunday - seems a long time ago - we spent a sunny hour with our Extreme Photographer on Patch 1. We had a good spell inverting coming up with all manner of nice finds including several Meadow Grasshoppers.

The top, smaller pond, had a good colony of Iris sawfly caterpillars chewing away on the Yellow Flags. Unfortunately just a few inches beyond comfortable (ie no risk of falling in) arm's length and the light was fading so pics aren't as sharp as we'd like.

Butterflies were good in the sun, loads of Meadow Browns and Large Skippers with a few Speckled Woods thrown in for good measure.

Down at the bottom end of the rough field there were a few Small Skippers enjoying what the Brambles had on offer too.

Another trip out there, this time with the Brownies was in dull conditions and butterflies, the pack's quarry for the night, didn't put in much of a show, although just as they were arriving a Red Admiral flew past us but didn't reappear for them.

There were however far too many of these evil little monsters

A bit ropey - taken from a safe distance through the side of a pot

What is it with their eyes? What exactly do they see with all those patterns? What ever it is we wish it wasn't!

Where to next? National Moth Night (3rd - 5th) has been a windy washout so far but here's hoping it dries up in an hour or so the mothy can go out.

In the meantime let us know who's getting you all scared in your outback.

What time d'yer call this?

The Safari's mystery find yesterday was identified as Sea Chervil Alcyonidium diaphanum, not a sponge but a bryozoan. Good old iSpot!

Last night the Hedgehog put in a very early appearance at only 8.30, more late afternoon than evening at this time of year! We missed it then as it saw us through the kitchen window but came back an hour later by which time we lost a lot of light...and the kitchen window's mot the cleanest after last weekend's storm.

This morning we were at the nature reserve a few minutes after 05.00. The Grasshopper Warbler was singing in the distance and near the cabins a Lesser Whitethroat rattled away. We waited for CB to return from his net round ready to do the scribing while he concentrated on processing the birds.

This Reed Warbler was the first juvenile of the site of what we hope will be very many.

 Sedge Warblers always look good, even when their starting to fray a little around the edges.

A walk down to see if we could find any Bee Orchids revealed a load of Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Great Tits, Song Thrushes, Reed Buntings and another very showy Sedge Warbler in the ever-increasing Bramble patch.

We found two quite large Bee Orchids. Crikey the vegetation has grown up densely despite the best efforts of the Yellow Rattle keeping the grasses in check - it's all the wildflowers that have gone bananas especially Hardheads and this Tufted Vetch.

At the cabin chatting while waiting for the next net round we had a male Kestrel and male Sparrowhawk go over, the latter was very seriously mobbed by an Oystercatcher - at one point it looked as though the Spar was going to be speared by that blood-orange bill! Had to have been defending young somewhere but the Kestrel was probably a bigger threat to them. Two Curlews flew towards the sea, one was significantly smaller than the other.

We helped do a bit of remedial work to the nets and very unsuccessfully attempted to extract a Dunnock, will need to take our specs next time so that we can see what we're doing!

Back at Base Camp there wasn't much to point the camera at but that's thing with wildlife there's always something of interest if you look long or hard enough.

Ox-eye Daisy with Herb Robert in the background

Ox-eye Daisy with a 2-spot Ladybird...Phone-cam

Close-up with big camera + extra lens

We weren't expecting our next subject. A teneral Blue Tailed Damselfly was chased around the garden until it clung to the laundry hanging on the lined. we thought that they'd all have emerged from the pond by now.

Still with the extra macro lens we struggled to get plant pics in the increasing wind but this tiny Thyme flower-head stayed just about still enough long enough.

After tea we put the mothy out and would you believe it the rain started within minutes! Hopefully it'll blow over quickly.

Where to next? What time will Hedgy appear tonight and will there be anything other than water in the mothy in the morning? If the sun dares to come out tomorrow afternoon we might even have a stab at finding some butterflies, either on Patch 1 or the North Blackpool Pond Trail...or both!

In the meantime let us know what put in a totally unexpected appearance in your outback.