Bits from Base Camp and lots from Pembrokeshire

The Safari has been plagued by heavy thundery rain showers for a couple of days, so much so that it's been too dull to get many pics.

And we've had slight interruptions to wildlife watching due to the footy.

We did get one dry night and were able to put the moth trap out although could only use the 'little' lamp. Only 14 moths of 12 species were in the trap in the morning.

Barred Fruit Tree Tortrix

Diamondback moth

Marbled Beauty

Marbled Orchard Tortrix

A couple of Caddis Flies and a small 'Front Swimming' Water Boatman were also in the trap.

The birds have been fairly quiet, the male House Sparrow being noticeably absent in the back garden now but we;re continuing to hear the cheery cheeps from the street, the ringed male Greenfinch and juvenile Starling keep appearing from time to time but refuse to show their rings to the camera (can you say that!).

Yesterday we had a not so well grown fledgling Great Tit with an adult and later a couple of very young fledgling Blue Tits came into the garden but not onto the feeders. A new juvenile Greenfinch was being fed from the feeder though.

ISO stupid through dirty kitchen window

Luckily for you our Extreme Photographer has been able to get out n about around some of his local sites looking for rare and exotic invertebrates and he's come across some beauts. Don't ask us where he's been as we can neither pronounce nor spell any of the places he visits, apart from St Davids.

Banded Demoiselle

Fly killed by fungus

Ruby Tailed Wasp

Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Small Red Damselfly

Hypera sp Weevil larva in its case

Zebra Spider with prey

Where to next? We're into our last week off work so will be continuing to keep an eye on the garden and maybe try some driving a little further a field...weather permitting .
In the meantime let us know who's extreme in your outback.

A bad miss and a jewel

The Safari sort of continued the Garden Bioblitz yesterday, poking around in the garden for anything new or that we might have missed. It was deliciously sunny with temperatures over 25C, that hot was a real rarity when we were a nipper, only the oft quoted summer of 1976 and the odd very hot summer's day every few years could match it, now it seems to be a regular(ish) occurrence. 80F (now 26C) used to make the newspapers in the old days!

There was bad news about the ongoing plight of the Hen Harrier today too, seems like they have been persecuted to within an inch of extinction again by those psychopathic driven grouse shooters. It's time to get that environmental and wildlife carnage banned for good. There's no point trying to talk to them or compromise cos they're just sticking two tweed-clad fingers up at us. Only a complete ban on the 'sport' will do. If you haven't signed the petition please do and get your friends and family to do so too, this needs to be taken to the very top of our environment-hating Establishment. Don't know much about Hen Harriers, family and friends never heard of them?, then ask yourselves why we don't see Peregrines, Golden Eagles, White Tailed Eagles or Red Kites in our English uplands - Answer - - they all disappear the same way! 

And now back to the garden...

While bioblitzing yesterday we spotted some leaf mines on the Buttercups and Cowslips. There's a great website for you to have a go at trying to identify these tracks through the leaves.

Possibly Phytomyza ranunculivora on Meadow Buttercup

Possibly Chromatomyia primulae on Cowslip

With the sun shining on the feeders most of the morning we took the opportunity to see what was about and take some pics. Mostly Blackbirds and Goldfinches.

The Blackbirds in particular are eating more suet now than they do in the winter, possibly because it's been very hot dry for a few days and they can't find any worms or snails. We've never seen one at the seed feeder before although it soon realised this wasn't really suitable food and went up to the suet block.

The Robin has learned that it's easier to stand on the top of the sunny seed feeder than try to cling to the wires to get the fat.

The Blue Tits usually pick out a single sunny seed and dart in to cover to eat it out of sight but this tatty one has taken to nibbling away at the fat block. It looks to have white outer tail feathers - is that something seen often in Blue Tits - any ringers out there?

The male House Sparrow came in for a couple of brief visits but throughout much of the day we could hear the happy ssound of chirruping from not far away - are there some fledglings somewhere, it's about this time of year we expect to see them in the garden, usually only once or twice and then they disappear for another 12 months. Will this year be different now that male has been back and forth to the feeder...we certainly hope so.

We had the shock of our lives at tea time when we turned the telly on to watch SpringWatch Unsprung to see young SB holding up a bunch of Goldfinch feathers - well done her for setting this weeks quiz!

Talking of enthusiastic and dedicated young naturalists we were in electronic conversation with EM much of the day, chatting about wildlife, conservation and politics. We'd told him we had a challenge on our hands here at Base Camp as the Ruby Tailed Wasp we've sen many times just won't stay still for a pic, as soon as we see it and grab the camera it does a bunk. We had to do a bunk from our conversation because we'd spotted a Base Camp MEGA. A blue damselfly, not one of the regular Blue Tailed Damselflies that breed in the pond but either a Common Blue or an Azure Damselfly, neither have been recorded here before! It settle briefly before flying off over the kitchen roof before we could get a proper look at it and we thought that was the end of it. But about half an hour later it reappeared and yet again settled too briefly for us to get a good enough look it ID it before it took flight this time over the garage roof. That was it! Indoors we went to get our net, it wasn't going to get away a third time! Unfortunately it didn't come back a third time.

We did manage an arty shot of a Blue Tailed Damselfly.

And a close up.

Our Northern Marsh Orchid is just about at its best now too.

The luck was better for the Ruby Tailed Wasp. We saw it flying around its usual haunts and this time it stuck around and even landed on the trellis and started to crawl around for a while. We were out of our chair, camera in hand, as quick as a flash and this time we had some success! Happy days!

What a beauty!

Where to next? We'll have some more jewels if you don't mind. It loks like the weather is cooling down a bit so we might not be so fortunate...but with wildlife you never know what's in store!
In the meantime let us know who's bedazzling you in your outback.

Funny sort of a day

The Safari was woken early by Frank as usual but when we took him out it was very windy and the wind had a bit of chill about it, far from cold but certainly not balmy like it has been. Once he'd had his brekkie it was time to check the moth trap. You guessed it it was fairly empty. Only eight moths and half of those where Heart & Darts and a quarter were a new species for the year Dark Arches with another Clouded Border and a largish micro we needed help with.

 The micro turned out to new for the garden, Epiblema rosaecolana.

Not the world's best pic!

The female House Sparrow was seen briefly on the mealworm feeder but a gang of Starlings appeared and flushed it before we could grab the camera.

Not a lot else happened all day, the sun was warm but the wind was a right royal pain. A couple of Speckled Woods came through as did a Small Tortoiseshell.

Best finfd of the day was while we were having a brew outside when a Ruby Tailed Wasp landed right next to us, one our fave creatures. It flew off after a second or two but careful watching of the sun drenched garage wall had us relocate it again...jsut knew it would turn up there.

What a beauty!

While watching the Ruby Tail we spotted the solitary bee sneaking into the hole in the neighbourr's gate post again, might have to stake that one out.
Another walk with Frank gave us our first 2-spot Ladybird of the year. We wouldn't have seen it had we not stopped to look at a small solitary bee working away on a Hebe bush, tiny it was only about 3mm long.

Another dodgy pic - dunno what was up with us today

The return walk had us looking up at the tower to see a bird sat on the Peregrine's ledge but it didn't look very Peregriny, yesterday it was a Woodpigeon but this one looked a bit Kestrely wwhich would have been the first seen round these parts this year. By the time we'd got speed of the wind Frank back to Base Camp and grabbed the scope the bird had flown.
Last night had us watching a different kind of wasp, this one was collecting wood for a nest somewhere - oooh errr where???

Where to next? Mothy is out again and then we have a bit of a family day.

In the meantime let us know if the faves came out to play in your outback.

The sun shines on...

The Safari commuted by bike again today. We're still trying to beat the 20 minute barrier. Trouble is we've worked out our speed over the distance and it's only fractionally quicker than our brother runs his marathons and there's no way we could ride for 26 miles! 

We've been working on an upgrade of the work's displays over the last couple of months and finally the first of the new items have been fitted today.

Hopefully there'll me more new stuff in the near future, at ground level for the children to have a play with and learn some stuff while they're having fun.

Meanwhile another school turned up but we couldn't take them on the beach as the tide was too close to the wall already. But that was bye the bye, we still had plenty of fun looking at the art works on the prom - bet the kids didn't think they were going to see a purple illuminated dinosaur when they left home this morning!

In the afternoon we get them pond dipping and mini-beast hunting. All manner of beasties were potted but we have to hand it to one of the teachers for the best find of the session...and we quote "if Carlsberg did insects this would probably be the best insect in the world!" Like it! How can the children not get a good education with teachers with a sense of humour like that!

As we were putting all their kit away after they'd got back on their bus, we spotted the best invert of the day - shame. Ruby Tailed Wasps are always top dollar value!

Where to next? Ohhhhh 10 or more Bottle Nosed Dolphins have been seen not too far away so Patch 2 it is in the morning.
In the meantime let us know what was sneaking round the periphery of your outback.

Short but sweet safari

The Safari spend most of the morning and early afternoon trying to get to grips with the wilderness that is the wild area at the bottom of the garden. We had wanted to go back to the dock yard but early news on tinterweb suggested our intended quarry had relocated northwards and out of range

Eventually we got a chance to wander up the hill to Patch 1. On the way we spotted a Ruby Tailed Wasp.

The Philadelphus hedge smelt divine, it must be awesome at dusk, full of bees too, how many moths must visit at night?

One of our neighbours hasn't shorn here Privet hedge (thankfully) and the flowers (why does everyone cut the flowers off Privet hedges) and it was smothered in moths of several species...without a torch or net we couldn't say which.

Some nice stuff in the park including our friend BB, a hoverfly expert, armed with his sweep net.

We were just armed with bins and camera which was pointed mainly at butterflies in the absence of the Tree Bees, as per usual!

Lots of other stuff about too like this one of several very hoppy Frogs.

 Plenty of Large Skippers were on the wing and lively in the calm heat of the Butterfly Zone.

 Not many birds about although a Chiffchaff and Blackcap sang almost all the while we were out.

Back to the butterflies...

Small Skippers are just starting to be noticed

 Lots of Speckled Woods were flitting along the glade today.

Still no White Letter Hairstreaks yet though.

This Robber Fly wouldn't face the front.

On the way back to Base Camp we saw a tiny ladybird. Without our specs we couldn't tell if it was a 7-spot Ladybird or not so taking a pic was the only way of getting an ID - as you can see it is 'just' a regular common or garden 7-spot Ladybird.

Nearby on an adjacent leaf was a cool hoverfly, not cool as in trendy but cool as in the cloud had come over...one of the Drone Flies.

Back at Base Camp we found the other species that imitates Common Carder Bees.

Where to next? Could be an interesting week with some beachy stuff and the dentist which may offer the oportunity to do some twitching out of town.

In the meantime let us know what didn't show in your outback.