Bait balls at last

The Safari got a few minutes on Patch 2 this morning and it was pretty good too. A full scan gave us three Grey Seals and about a dozen Common Terns, the latter fishing successfully in shallow water bringing out small fish from only just under the surface. A large flock of presumed Sanderlings, they were a bit far out but we couldn't see any obvious black bellies, flew low over the water and out to sea going to Greenland or Canada perhaps.

In the shimmer out on the horizon we could just about make out the fluttering white dots of gulls and diving Gannets at a bait ball, well it was more spread out than a ball but there was a bit of a feeding frenzy going on and then a couple of miles further round another one! This second one had few Gannets in attendance, both were too far away to see if there were any mammals there.

Closer inshore a small trawler trawled with about 500 gulls following it. A look on Marine Traffic told us it was within the 'new' Marine Conservation Zone.

This track is from later in the day - been to port and come back out again

That's the boundary of the MCZ - they'd be far more effective if they were 'no-take' zones

Another smaller boat was much closer inshore but without a transponder so we couldn't see it on the map, probably shrimping so dragging up anything living in the sand on the seabed.

We didn't get much in the way of opportunities to get out with the camera on a gloriously warm and sunny day but we did go to thee shops! The local supermarket was knocking these beauties out for far less than you could make them for. We got there fairly early but the shelf had obviously been ransacked, lots of space and price markers below but only these two left - good on folk for buying them! 

And finally a couple from the yesterday and our trip to the beach with the little ones.

Sea Gooseberry by our colleague RK - not often you can see the detail of their internal structures.

 Where to next? Calm seas mean it's gotta be Patch 2 again in the morning.

 In the meantime let us know who's scooping up what in your outback

Wots in yer net mister?

The Safari's day started during Frank's early morning walk. We spotted the Tree Bees again but this time in a Copper Beech near yesterday's Sycamore...this time we were prepared and had phone-cam with us but the results under the foliage were poor. Fortunately they were still there an hour later when we set off for work with the proper camera. Only when we downloaded the pics at work we saw they weren't Tree Bees but one of the White Tailed Bumble Bee species, Bombus hortorum?

They were deffo after the honeydew left behind by the Whitefly on the underside of the leaves - anyone else noticed this behaviour? We've passed these trees almost daily for five years and not seen it before - what's going on???

Then it was out on the sea wall with the scope for a few minutes. Not a great lot doing, a cruising Gannet, a diving Gannet and at least three Common Terns (P2 #69) including one taking a fish visible at least a mile away back to the nesting colony at the docks up -river. Three Grey Seals, all a bit too distant completed the session.

The school group arrived and we set off armed with the usual nets and pots. A nice selection of beach life was found including some sizeable Green Shore Crabs.

 They also found this season's first Sand Goby.

One of the children struck gold with this Red Headed Cardinal Beetle although was determined to put it back in the water where it 'belonged' took some convincing it was aland creature that had got a little lost!

Then one of the teachers came over with a blob of jelly asking what's this? Well we didn't quite know so we put in a tub of water and waited for it to do something which eventually did

But we were still none the wiser, thinking it might be a Plumose Anemone.

Photos were sent to iSpot and DB our friendly marine biologist was over for lunch and she also thought it was probably a Plumose Anemone.

 So far no-one has come forward from iSpot but Maya Plass has confirmed the ID via Twitter so it probably is one then - we'll let the school know that they've found only the second record of this species along our coastline - nice one!!!

Another brief seawatch at lunchtime wasn't particularly productive.

But our second beach group of the day - Dad's n kids this time found more or less the same as earlier but also found a few small Blennies hiding in the higher pools; Dads allow themselves to climb up ignoring our snooker-esque one foot on the sand at all times elf n safety rule. Sadly none of these beautiful little fish could be tempted out of their hidey-holes - bacon needed next time we think!

Also up there were lots of snotty burgundy slug-like things...aka Beadlet Anemones.

A great day in the sunshine until it clouded over...and we sincerely hope that we've kindled a permanent spark in at least one of the little tykes today...now that would be a success.

Outside the Blackbird fledglings are still being fed deep in the shrubbery, and families of Great Tit, Goldfinch and Greenfinch are visiting the feeders, the Wrens are still in the nest and a Robin is singing at the far end of the garden - all is good but where are the screaming Swifts scything through the evening sky, that's a big loss to bear.

This Poppy is pretty intense though

Where to next? Day off tomorrow (no chance of an update for you, exciting things non-wildlify happening) and with it being warm still and muggy the mothy is going out.

In the meantime let us know what's being hoiked out by the netful in your outback.

A dire wet sort of a day...must be mid-summer

The Safari got home from work and while prepping dinner we saw that the Wren was coming and going fairly frequently...time to get the camera organised. We put on the big lens to get the reach but the light wasn't good for mid June.

Still a heavy crop! 

We've been racking our brains but can't remember having a Wren's nest in any other garden we've had over the last 45+ years we've been watching wildlife. A little bit of high spped joy on an otherwise dismal day.

Another ray of sunshine was provided by this Poppy that has appeared in a tub, certainly not planted by us and the tub hasn't been dug over; it's one from last year that had geraniums in that were never going to survive the winter. Now its home to 'weeds' aka wildflowers, Ox-eye Daisy, Common Forget-me-not and Herb Robert along with the aforementioned Poppy.

Phone-cam pic

An Oystercatcher almost went over Base Camp's airspace and a Pied Wagtail flew up the hill in between the traffic while we were out with frank dodging cloud-bursts.

Patch 2 threw up a bit of a late surprise, we spotted a Greenfinch during a jaunt across the garden on an errand and realised that although we'd seen one whilst waiting for a meeting to start the other evening we hadn't twigged that it was the first of the year for the Patch (P2 #68).

The sea didn't give us too much but it's always good to watch Gannets fishing, glide...slow dow....glide...stall...bank...twist... half close wings...plummet...splash...(watch thee spot and wait)...back to the surface...splishy-splahy take-off...gain height...and off we go again; could watch them all day long quite easily.

A couple of Shelducks flew past but little else was seen.

No sign of the litter infested Pigeon today.

Where to next? Not sure what the weekend will hold, wet n windy probably but no doubt we find summat to scribble about (if you can scribble on a keyboard) in between the showers...might try for better pics of the Wren if the sun does deign to shine on us.

In the meantime let us know who's dodging the cloud-bursts in your outback.