Another safari to south Lakeland and a Sandwich or two

The Safari has been out n about since our last post mostly trying to dodge the weather. We've done a couple of beachcombing and rockpooling events with family groups and of course spent hours staring at an empty sea for National Whale and Dolphin Watch. The latter did give us our record count of 11 Grey Seals in view at one time down at Starr Gate on the first morning, we also manged a distant pic of the 45 or so Sandwich Terns roosting well down the beach for our Photo Year List Challenge #157. 

The Sunday watch never happened due to torrential rain. Then the evening before our Wednesday watch we came across (or more accurately Monty's nose came across) a well dead Harbour Porpoise just before the tide came in to wash it off its resting place at the bottom of the sea wall. Unfortunately dead ones don't count on NWDW. Wednesday's watch was also cancelled, this time we'd been invited to accompany Wifey to attended Yorkshire Day celebrations (Heaven Forbid!!!) in Whitby where here works had sponsored the event. not long before we set off news of Bottlenose Dolphins between Barrow and Fleetwood broke - how annoying! But the journey over the moors near Kirkby Stephen did give us a Red Grouse sat on a roadside wall looking forlorn in the filthy mizzle. It would have looked even more forlorn if it knew it was likely to get blasted out of the sky in a few short weeks time. If you're not happy with the wildlife persecution, animal welfare issues and environmental degradation along with the blatant criminality associated with Driven Grouse Shooting then please sign this petition to have the issue debated in Parliament again and hopefully a lot better this time, it's only open to UK residents only though; others can sign this one.

Over on the east coast there was a thick sea mist reducing visibility to no more than a few hundred yards but on our short drive along the coast to our hotel we did sea both Gannets and Fulmars much closer than we ever do here on the west coast. 

While Whitby was great as ever and we were made to feel very welcome even though we were 'from the Dark Side' actually we though we'd GONE to the 'Dark Side' it was good to get back to the west coast.

Saturday's watch proved disappointingly fruitless on a flat calm sea apart from a couple of Grey Seals, similarly Sunday's watch helped by experienced cetacean surveyor SD was also sadly blubberless. 

The sea did throw up some surprises though, on our family events we came across three new species we've notseen on our coast before. The first we thought we'd found ourselves only to discover later it had been picked up and discarded by one of the young lads - the leg of a Spiny Crab.

Our next new species were also found by the youngsters, Chameleon Shrimps and a lovely juvenile Gurnard possibly a Tub or Grey Gurnard.

Photo by EF of the Lancs Wildlife Trust's Living Seas Team

And so to south Cumbria where we joined JG and AK for another wander round the private reserve to see what we could see. It was AK's first visit so we hoped it would be a good one. The drive through the reserve to the car park proved fruitful with a Roe Deer peacefully grazing away right beside the track.

Our first check on the snake areas was unsuccessful but wandering along the boardwalk and coming to the Moss a bird on the overhead wires caught our eye, checking it was 'just' a Tree Pipit revealed it wasn't it was a Whinchat and apparently quite a good record for the reserve.

Our best pic ever of a Whinchat but we can't add it to our PYLC as it's on a wire - darn that 'No hand of Man' rule

At the wee bridge a very quick Kingfisher flew almost over our heads and a mixed flock of small birds flitting around the scrub on the otherside of the bridge gave us juvenile Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and a cracking Wood Warbler, along with a couple of Blue and Great Tits. The rest of the trail around the Moss was fairly quiet although we did hear a distant Golden Plover calling from the fell tops away to our left and eagle eyed J spotted the tiniest of juvenile Common Lizards and an adult that had lost it's tail.

Back in the snakey area there were no snakes again. Now it was lunchtime and getting our butties from the cars we spotted this Southern Hawker flying around the far side of the car park.

What better way to spend a leisurely lunch-hour than watching the butterflies on the Buddleia and wildflowers in the garden over the wall from the visitor centre terrace and the male Osprey flying around with fish for his youngster.

The ubiquitous 2019 Painted Lady pic

After lunch we took a stroll through the woods down past the lake where we had a brief view of a blue dragonfly, almost definitely a Broad Bodied Chaser. At the pond we were well watched by another Southern Hawker and one of the several Common Darters perched briefly but not long enough for a quick pic on the top of J''s head. 

Beginning to run out of time we decided to head back and have another look for the snakes. On the way down the lane we began to notice lots of Dor Beetles on the tarmac, some obviously squished but some up upside down in varying states of disrepair as well as some very much alive and kicking. Their undersides are such a stunning blue.

Dor Beetle underside - Photo by JG

No joy again with the snakes but along the boardwalk several Common Lizards had come out to bask in the afternoon sunshine, flattening themselves against the base of the tree trunks to absorb maximum warmth.

We were hopeful that there might be an Adder or two out hunting them but it wasn't to be.

Checking some Bracken patches for said slitherers we disturbed numerous Grasshoppers

and watched a very small juvenile Common Lizard try to hunt down an ant which got away as it was too big for the lizard's tiny mouth to grab it.

At the edge of the moss we came across a stunningly bright female Black Darter

It was then we noticed that time had pushed on and it was time to head back to the cars - time really flies at this site it's that good even though it's not that big.

The drive back to Base Camp started with us spotting about 20 odd Red Deer mooching in a field with the local sheep down the hill just outside the reserve entrance.

So yet another superb safari to this wonderful reserve with great company even if we dipped the snakes. We'll be back before too long that's for sure.

At the end of last week we enjoyed brilliant naked eye views of a Harbour Porpoise happily feeding away on a flat calm sea only about a hundred yards off the seawall while walking Monty, why can't they make an appearance during NWDW so we can send back a sheet with a positive result on it for once.

Where to next? We've a safari planned with some friends later in the week and if they make it it might be their last chance of enjoying some greenery before they head off to work in sun-baked desert lands

In the meantime let us know who's slithering through your outback

Smaller in Sardinia

The Safari was off to a flying start with the insects in Sardinia when fresh off the plane on onto the coach when we spotted a shieldbug clinging to the outside of the bus's window.

Best we could get with the phone through the coach's tinted double glazed window

Once we reached the hotel we soon saw several butterflies flitting round the gardens, Large and Small Whites, Clouded Yellow and some little blue ones that were very very fast. Anyway they'd all have to wait until we'd shown our milk bottle white pins at the pool for a couple of hours.

In the evening a whizzy thing shot past us and landed on the rocks close by.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth...it would be a few days before we had the opportunity to try to get any pics of them in flight. Eventually we did take about a thousand shots one afternoon one of which might just have come out OK.

We'd have preferred a face on shot but would have to wait until the end of our hols before we managed to get a couple or three that were any good.

They're flippin tricky and even in the 'semi-tropics' you need good light, or at least for them to fly in areas bathed in sunshine rather than in the shadows which they seemed to favour!

Other butterflies flitting around were Painted Ladies

and later in the week a few Meadow Browns.

For once it all came together with the little blue ones which turned out to be the very common and widespread Long Tailed Blue.

They rarely settled so getting an open wing shot was a bonus

On our very last full day we saw two fluttering around together all across a large patch of Rosemary bushes and fortunately both came to rest close by.

And then we spied a totally new butterfly, a tiny brown one. Luckily this one settled just about within range of the lens too. Another common and widespread one, Brown Argus.

One of our sight-seeing trips had us at a beach where Wifey spotted a little skipper basking in a sunny spot in the sand at the edge of the track. It took us ages to see where she was pointing but then we found it much closer than we'd expected, a Mallow Skipper.

There were lots of grasshoppers, seemingly all of the same species and incredibly hard to spot until they moved.

 Until we found a stripey one that stuck out like a sore thumb.

During one of our afternoon rambles with the camera we came across a Dung Beetle doing what they do best. We watched it for ages as it went back and forth collecting fried Rabbit pellets and relocating them under a little pile of twigs.

We didn't see many dragonflies, one large one which could have been an Emperor and plenty of these small golden yellow ones.

Just look at those eyes!

Every day we saw plenty of Carpenter Bees but again they were pretty tricky to get decent shots of and it took us a while.

It's those eyes - no contrast with the face makes for awkward photography, and of course in the afternoon warmth they don't keep still for long.

We've also got a couple of crazy wasps still to process for you.

All good stuff if hard work at times but we enjoyed the challenges the Mediterranean invertebrates gave us.

Where to next? Some scaly and other stuff for you tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know who's too quick in your outback.

A late start but a good finish

The Safari wanted to be out earlier today but had to wait until almost lunchtime. We weren't sure where to go, the nature reserve would be pretty rubbish after yesterday's gale force westerlies and heavy rain so we headed to the local estuary and the chance of a year bird. Things were looking good when we met SD in the car park, he was coming back from his walk and told us that he'd seen a Curlew Sandpiper and a couple of Mediterranean Gulls 'at the far end'. That meant a wander past the boat yard and decks.

One of the hulks has been there a few years now

Here's what the Good Hope looked like in 2009.

Across the river a lone tree stood sentinel on the top of the knoll.

We walked on towards the corner where we could see tiny dots scurrying across the the mud. Getting nearer we found a gap between the boats and scanned the flock. It took a while but eventually we found a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper (168) among the three or four hundred Dunlins and 100 or more Ringed Plovers. We couldn't find the Mediterranean Gulls but as the tide was rising quickly we'd spent most of the time looking at the waders while the gulls had shifted off to roost on higher ground much further up the river so we'd probably missed them passing by.

With the tide just about to cover the mud we turned back passing some tall Sow Thistles on the way. One one of the flowers was a very bedraggled bee. Is it just a Common Carder Bee looking worse for wear?

A Marmalade Hoverfly joined it for a while.

A Painted Lady scooted low across the saltmarsh, our first of the year. A good hour or so out. With the day still young(ish) where to next?

We decided to take a gamble on the nature reserve. Would it be a good move? The walk in was very quiet, there was nothing flying at all and nothing flitting through the bushes. Getting in to the nature reserve our fears were confirmed - it was mayhem with people ransacking the bushes for fruit, there'll be none left for the migrant thrushes in a few weeks time at this rate - dogs were running and barking all over the place and the hides were full of scrotes up to no good with drink and strange smelling ciggies. A quick look from the bench across the mere didn't give us much so we wandered on down towards the bridge passing the scrape which was empty except for a juvenile Moorhen.

Approaching the bridge we saw that tracks had been cut through the long grass around the new ponds, of we went for a look. Well worth the detour, there was less wind down below the embankment and it was considerably warmer. On the top of the embankment another Painted Lady had sped past us but we didn't see where it went. Down in the calmer conditions there were several butterflies, mostly bright Small Tortoiseshells but there were two Painted Ladies as well.

Two pics of the same individual

However, the dragonflies were what we were more interested in. There were Common Darters everywhere, the new pond must be perfect for them. There were a few Brown Hawkers down there too.

No it's not chewing a brick!

None of them would keep still long enough for a flight shot, it was still a bit gusty down there even though the wind was much less strong than up on the top. Above us a flock of about 250 Lapwings came in from the fields and settled briefly on the old scrape before lifting off and returning to the recently cropped field. A really good sized flock for here, just need it to stay all autumn and bring down some Golden Plovers now.

We retraced our steps past the mayhem of numpties feeling good from the ponds experience but depressed from the hammer the reserve was getting - what happened to the old adage "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints"? As for dog walkers actually reading a sign - - can they actually read???

Passing the scrape again we saw a pair of Moorhens and a Teal, they weren't  there earlier. And then we saw another teal swim in to view. Something about it didn't look right but the light was shocking. We fired off a few shaky shots and back at Base Camp were able to lighten them up a bit. Doesn't half look like a Garganey (169; MMLNR #96) now and several of our Twitter chums thankfully confirmed it.

Oh that it was a bit nearer and less windy...and the light was with us - excuses excuses!

From there there wasn't much at all so it was back to the car where we swapped cameras and headed off in the opposite direction with a plan in mind.

The sunny glades along the path held lots of Speckled Wood butterflies.

Again it wasn't butterflies we wanted to find. There were more Common Darters too but it wasn't dragonflies we wanted either. We arrived at the appointed place and lo and behold there were two of our hoped for/wanted little beauties. Both females.

Lovely painted toenails!

Two Great Crested Newts - result

So not a bad day in the end, just a few too many infuriating humans to make it a perfect day.
Where to next? Back to a wet Patch 2, what will we find...we've got a list of impossibles!
In the meantime let us know who dropped in unexpectedly in your outback.

There's one - up there!

The Safari was lucky today, we managed to get an unintended day off work. We had the gas boiler engineer booked for shortly after 09.00 which gave us an hour and a half to get out and have a mooch around. We started off at the small park right near the cliffs at Chat Alley with the hope of coming across a waif from Siberia, but there wasn't a Yellow Browed Warbler to be found. There wasn't much happening and with the clear blue sky any vis mig was out of sight and out of earshot. All we saw was a flock of six Greenfinches which dropped and circled but decided not to stop and continued southwards, a Heron come over from the north west, another coasting like yesterday's or another feeding on the beach during the hours of darkness? A Grey Wagtail went south too but all that was 'grounded' were a few each of Dunnocks, Robins and Blackbirds and we don't know how many of these were residents in the park, a Goldcrest called a couple of times too, that was certainly a migrant.

Once we'd exhausted the possibilities in the park we drove the mile or so north to meet up with ringer AD again. This time we took a full walk around the field/woods and enjoyed the beautiful sight of thousands of cobwebs being lit up by the low morning sun.

Our wander round the site gave us a couple of Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff but it was quieter than yesterday with no sign of the Blackbird movement today. AD told us the Meadow Pipits weren't going over in anything like the same numbers as yesterday either but had caught and ringed a couple before we arrived. He'd also seen a Sparrowhawk and a Blackcap.

The appointed hour for our appointment drew near and we had to shoot off. On the way back to the car (we nearly typed Land Rover there!) a butterfly crossed the path several yards in front of us and at first we thought Speckled Wood but then  our brain registered it was too big and pale to have been one of those so with not seeing flit between the trees we approached the spot very cautiously to find a Painted Lady.

Back at Base Camp we'd been warned the gas man was running a bit behind schedule so we were able to do a bit of vis migging from the garden but again the skies were still far too clear and we only had a couple of Meadow Pipits and a Chaffinch and a singing Dunnock. Best by a mile though were two Rooks (Garden #37) that came over from the direction of the waterr tower and were the first seen at Base Camp since at least  2010.

The gas man came but by the time he left it was almost lunchtime so we phoned the office and booked a day's leave, well by the time we'd eaten lunch and driven to work it would be almost time to turn round and come home again! So we ate a quick lunch and headed out back to the little park again. In the sunniest corner a patch of Michaelmas Daisies was alive with literally hundreds of hoverfies and butterflies - it was stunning! There were Red Admirals, Small Whites, Small Tortoiseshells and a Comma vying for the best flowers. We wandered round the shrub beds recording an absolute minimum of nine Red Admirals, two Speckled Woods, five Small Tortoiseshells, seven Small Whites, a Large White and at least 10 Silver Ys. The majority being found on a patch of Ice Plant Sedum in a sheltered sunny spot. All these were being enjoyed by other folk in the park, one couple telling us we should see Peacocks too, but they didn't show today.

The birds, however, had gone very quiet so as to be almost non-existant!

Walking back to the car a small dragonfly caught our attention as it settled on the edge of the path. A teneral maIe Common Darter just beginning to colour up. It was then we discovered that, yet again, we'd left the camera's SD card in the laptop on the desk at Base Camp...dohhh - good job phones have cameras these days!

With no bird action we decided to give the nature reserve a go. Almost as soon as we got out of the car (remembered it is only a car this time and not a Land Rover) we  saw a huge mass of gulls wheeling around in the distance. We soon saw what we assumed to be the reason, the Police helicopter was hovering over the fields not far beyond them. That wasn't the reason for their panic though as we also spotted a couple of Buzzards circling below them - that would do it! The Buzzards gained height and slowly drifted towards us then came almost directly overhead still drifting west offering the best opportunity we've had for Buzzard-in-flight shots which we managed to spectacularly waste. The pic below was by far the best of a very disappointing bad lot!

At the Feeding Station we met up with MMcG who'd just filled the feeders and almsot as soon as his back was turned the birds returned including a couple of Coal Tits (MMLNR #103). A Sparrowhawk zipped in landed briefly spotted us and zipped out all in the blink of an eye and accompanied by two not very impressed Magpies.

Out on the wider reserve there were butterflies and dragonflies everywhere, don't think we've ever seen so many dragonflies here on any one day in the last 25 years! When you put it like that we also can't believe we've been coming here for almost half our life - doesn't seem that long somehow!

There were Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers whizzing every which way many in tandem, the sun catching their twinkling gossamer wings like sparkling jewels of motion. Occasionally there'd be a Brown Hawker with it's bronze wings glistening in the sun and just once there was something else large that went past so fast we didn't really get a good enough look at it but was probably a  Southern Hawker or an  Emperor.

At the FBC hide a family of numb-nuts from the holiday camp had broken through the fence and were sitting in front of it so we gave it a miss but did hear a Cetti's Warbler  sing briefly from not far away. Continuing our circuit we didn't see the Grey Wagtail in the stream but once over the bridge we heard it call then turning round we saw it drop in so we're not sure if we flushed it or it had  just that second arrived.

A Kestrel pounced on something in the cut Barley field and stayed down a long time in stubble, on the other side of the path, in the reeds, a Water Rail screamed. At the far end of the embankment a large pale bird swooped low into one of the larger Willows and landed just out of sight, didn't look 'right' for a Woodpigeon so we stood and waited a minute until a Jay flew out...and then a second, two Jays could be a site record for us!

We bumped into MMCG again who'd walked the opposite way round to us and he had nothing to report but there was a volunteer group getting stuck in to some vegetation bashing by the Panoramic Hide (which will have a new name soon as local children have come up with new names for all the hides). As luck would have it with the work party nearby the hide was open so we took advantage and sat and watched the world (mostly dragonflies and gulls - nowt wrong with that!) go by.

A Chiffchaff moved through the Willows to our left then into the reedbed in front of us, another Cetti's Warbler sang nearby and two Water Rails screamed at each other, unseen but very close. We heard the 'wink wink' of approaching Pink Footed Geese and through the end window watched a skein of about 80 travel south over the fields to the east. Also over that way were a good number of Jackdaws and Feral Pigeons, the pigeons balled up and the Jackdaws whiffled down suggesting a/the Peregrine might be about but if it was we didn't see it. Later they did the same when a large female Sparrowhawk cruised eastwards. We spent a good hour in there while the volunteer party finished of and then took their tools back to the store in which time three sets of folk arrived, none came in to the hide but all stopped for a look. 

There's the hide all doors and windows open and inviting, there's even a screen for when it's locked up - where do you think all those folk stood? Yes you've guessed it - round the front of the screen - what absolute dipsticks! We decided to take a pic of the next person to do it for a Numpty of the Week award but no-one else came until Ranger IB came back to lock up.

While we were chatting about how best to secure the front of the hide against the numpties another Jay arrived and flew across the mere - three in a day; deffo our site record! Another Buzzard drifted north east too and we heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker call.

We were having a fantastic afternoon in the warm sunshine but once again time ran out and back to Base Camp we had to go.

We pulled up outside the house and young OC was playing out in the street on his own. He's a cheery young lad, still in primary school, and always chatty so came over to see what we'd been up to when he saw the bins round our neck. We told him we'd been out bird watching at the nature reserve and asked him if he'd ever seen an eagle (we meant Buzzard but was fairly sure he wouldn't know what one of those was but would understand 'eagles'). "No" he said, "do we get eagles round here?" "Look at this" - we showed him the pics of the Buzzard on the back of the camera - "cool, where was that"...we pointed skywards in the direction of the nature reserve. Then he said "like that one there" pointing to a dark bird heading north over the rooftops. "That's just a 'seagull'" we said then looked at it with the bins - that was no seagull that was another Buzzard - the eagle-eyed  youngster was right!!! We gave him a look through the bins and he watched it fly north over his house and turn round and come back right over Base Camp - awesome!!! - - What will he find next?

His other friends came out to play and he drifted off with a calling Goldcrest being heard from the end of the street above the din of their game.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 tomorrow.

In the meantime let is know who's got the eagle-eyes in your outback.