Did we peak too soon?

The Safari hasn't had many opportunities to get out other than an early morning sprint round Patch 1 with Monty.

The Peregrine has been on its usual ledge a couple of times and we see at least one of the local Sparrowhawk family almost daily. Ever hopeful of an exotic migrant we scour the trees and shrubs taking a zigzag route through the park for the best coverage possible for spotting a Redstart or a flycatcher or something even more exciting but so far we've only come across the local Coal tits, Goldcrests, Wrens and Robins. On morning we had a good count of Robins but that might have been down to the improved weather conditions that morning rather than a bit of a fall of migrant Robins. Yesterday we had two early morning Red Admirals both flying strongly south in conditions you wouldn't normally expect to see butterflies on the wing in...cold wet and windy! They were undoubtedly migrants on a mission.

At the end of the week we attended a small conference hosted by JW about eco tourism and the future of the Fylde, very interesting if slightly commandeered by the anti-fracking protesters. To be fair there won't be much tourism of any kind round here if we're turned into a huge gas field. Immediately following that event was another we were invited to. Thhis one was insitgated by our local MP to recognise all those people who have helped keep our town Cleaner and Greener' over tthe year. We were invited on to the judging panel - probably in 'revenge' for asking GM to be a judge in our schools' R-U-a-Sculpture Vulture competitions of several years ago. We were happy to oblige but weren't expecting to be nominated for an award too. Unfortunately we were allowed to vote for ourselves as a judge! Who'd have thunk it!!!Any way we didn't win the award but all nominees wwould have been worthy winners so were given a certificate in recognition of the work they'd done. GM and ES from the Civic Trust said some very nice and humbling words about our 27 years in the job we've just finished.

Yours truly with Gordon Marsden MP - pic stolen from his Facebook page

The following morning the Fylde Future team had organised a marine wildlife event. We'd offered to do bit of rockpooling before the tide came in and the serious seawatching started. It wasn't the best of mornings! There was a strong wind driving in heavy squalls and longer spells of torrential rain which meant we didn't get the number of participants we were hoping for, people opting to stay in bed instead.

There's a bit of rain coming our way

But ever the optimists we set up anyway. On the beach before the others arrived we'd seen about 50 Sandwich Terns, a very flighty bunch. One time after they'd upped and landed back down with them they'd collected a smaller darker bird but were a bit too far out to get any detail on it with the bins - we hadn't brought our scope out by that time, concentrating on getting all the rockpool kit set up.

By the time the others (and the sunshine) turned up it had drifted off away from the terns not to be seen again. From what wee got on it grounded and in flight it can only have been a 1st winter Little Gull (171, P2 #57).

Look at that sunshine - not half an hour after the squall pic

The tide allowed us a good half hour's perusal of the rockpools and a tidy selection of marine life found its way in to our tray.

Juvenile Common Starfish and Beadlet Anemones

Common Prawns, Necklace Shell, juvenile Green Shore Crab and a Blennie

Another slightly larger Blennie

 Yesterday was still windy and squally and with the sustained winds in the right quarter it was time to go to look for  Leach's Petrels. We did about 45 minutes either side of high tide seeing just 3 Arctic Skuas, one Kittiwake and a Gannet before we had to leave. Probably the best bird of the watch was a female Common Scoter that flew past only about 50 yards off the wall - they don't normally get seen anything like this close to the land here. It was challenging watching at times with visibility in the torrential squalls down to only some hundreds of yards.

Juts left of centre at the top of the column you can see a Herring Gull. It sat there almost the whole time we were watching so we tried a few phone-scoped pics - we don't have an adapter so they're a bit dodgy.

You lookin at me?

We left too early it transpired as the first Leach's Petrels started to be reported about half an hour after we'd left...grrrrrrrr

This morning we got news that there were decent numbers passing by but couldn't get out until the tide was well down. We arrived at our watch point meeting JS who'd seen about a dozen already - an hour later and not a single one had passed us and we missed the Fulmar. All we had for our effort was a 1st winter Kittiwake. Very disappointing...we do like the tiny waifs that are Leach's Petrels.

Where to next? We'll try again tomorrow morning but the wind has veered round to the wrong quarter so we might well be out of luck again. We've a rockpooling session in the gloom of late evening - that could be fun!
In the meantime let us know who's passing you by in your outback

A couple of grand days on the beach

The Safari has been entertaining a lot of children on the beach this last couple of days. And what a cracking couple of days they've been! They've found some superb creatures (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't call them critters - yuk yuk and double yuk). There were several fairly large Green Shore Crabs brought out of the pools. This chap has lost both his pincers so we're  not sure if he'll survive his next moult as he'll be unable to feed - we know he's a he from looking at his underside.

At the edge of a pool on the beach right at the bottom of the slipway was a rather battered Common Sand Star. At first we thought it was dead but after a few children had handled it its finger tips began to curl up and it started to extend its tube feet so we reckon it was probably relieved to get back in the water of one of our buckets.

We always hope to find a loose Beadlet Anemone and this one was a big one. It's taken a long time (= years!) to find one that would sting us with enough of its tens of thousands of microscopic nematocysts to hold its one weight by stinging us.

Stung we were but it's OK as the stingers are so tiny they can only grip the very outermost dead skin cells so we were never going to be able to feel anything, not even so much a s a little tickle.  

Even better was to come, as the children were busy with Common Prawns, Brown Shrimps, little Blennies and a shed load of tiny Green Shore Crabs we had a walk along the not very impressive strandline looking for seaweed with Mermaids' Purses. We didn't find any but did find this striking little shell...

So what is it? Well that's the rub we didn't know, we've not seen one like it before. It's similar to the very rare Grey Top Shell - well it's very rare on our beach we've only found one in the all the years we've been doing this type of event.  

We had to wait until we got back to Base Camp and browse through some field guides that we learnt it was a Painted Top Shell and there aren't too many local records for them...No wonder we've not seen one before. It's been washed and is in our collection tub now!

With a bit of a thunderstorm and some horrendous rain last night we were worried that today's event would be called off but the rain gave up early and the sun came out to give a cracking day in the end.

That was the cue for the one of the biggest turnouts we've ever had...we were bombed!

A great afternoon followed. Lots of everything but strangely lots of very small juvenile starfish of hich we only saw a couple yesterday. 

Some of the parents were very persistent when it came to getting the biggest crab or a tricky fish, our friend in the first pic was caught again. One young mum's persistence paid off with a little bit of help from her friend when she netted this absolute dobber of a Five Bearded Rockling, it's nearly a foot long, the ones we usually catch struggle to two inches!

Second best 'catch of the day' came right at the end of the session when a shrimp fel out of a pice of Hornwrack - not a normal Brown Shrimp but one like a freshwater Gammerid shrimp, Gammarus salinus, not a species we find very often at all.

And so ended two very enjoyable afternoons with some real quality finds - isn't our beach just splendidly brilliant!

Sadly those were the last children's events we'll do after 35 years, we've done hundreds over the years and enjoyed every single one and almost all the children have enjoyed them too...all we ask is that they've remembered something they saw, learnt something new and told their friends who weren't there how much fun it was.

Where to next? Helping our local MP sort out some winners for his environmental awards tomorrow but probably no chance of getting out in to the environment.

In the meantime let us know who's found the biggest dobber in your outback.

Summertime bird lull

The Safari has been up to the nature field with Wifey and Monty in the evenings. By that time of the day most of the enormous numbers of butterflies have gone ot roost even Monty and his pals charging through the grass only manage to disturb small numbers of Small Skippers and Meadow Browns. The birds too are mostly inconspicuous except for the gulls flying over, the Woodpigeons flying about and the House Sparrows roosting noisily in the big Blackthorn thicket.

There's ususally something to point the camera at though.

And if you like beetles there must be trillions of these Red Soldier Beetles.

Ass the evening draws on small numbers of Swifts congregate loosely overhead catching the last of the rising insects. They are usually too high for the 300mm though.

Monty likes a game of rough n tumble with his doggy friends and if there's no-one about his ball will have to do.

A sunny Sunday afternoon in the garden was reallly too quiet for insects, hardly a hoverfly to be seen - where are they all??? At CR's just over the road apparently he's had Wool Carder Bees and Hummingbird Hawk Moths in recent days. We've really struggled to find subjects to point the camera at although there's always a few Lucilia Greenbottles around the bins which gave us a chance to experiment with the extension tubes.

Other than those we almost had to resort to arty pics of the flowers!

At last we found a hoverfly but it was the only one we saw all afternoon apart from a tiny black one that was being buffeted around in the wind too much for any chance of a pic.

While trying to get pics of the hoverfly a small bee was seen among its larger Red Tailed Bumble Bee brethren. Some kind of solitary bee, possibly Halictus rubicundus again.

Then 'Catch of the day' arrived. A bright yellow 'wasp' flew past and landed. Unfortunately it landed in deep shade and the camera was set up for sunny flower tops. We managed one dodgy shot and a couple of totally useless ones as it disappeared down a gap in the timbers around the pond with its prey. One of the Ectemnius species of wasps - but which one? Is that why there's no hoverflies???

It's always good to see the little flies that dance on the Water Lily leaves in the pond. They are Poecilobothrus nobilitatus.

Psyching itself up

Stretch and ready....

Going for it!

Trying to chase off a rival - the females don't have the white tips to the wings

On Monday we were office-bound but parking the car by a demolition site the rough grassy mound held an interesting variety of wildflowers and a couple of Meadow Brown butterflies, some solitary bees as well as the chirping calls of numerous grasshoppers, a great way to start a day sat in front of the 'puter.

Yesterday early morning saw us scoping Patch 2 with LGB for half an hour. We found our first Golden Plover (P2 #53) of the autumn but missed the Kestrel half a mile or or more out to sea. Otherwise it was quiet out there with just a few Sandwich Terns going back and forth seemingly struggling to find any fish although one did catch a decent sized Sand Eel right in front of us. Thinking we'd improve our Year Bird Challenge pic of a Sandwich Tern we got the camera out and they promptly disappeared leaving us the first returning Common Gull of the autumn to photograph badly instead.

Later in the morning we played host to the local nursery kids and took them down on the beach to see what they could find. We didn't have long with them but long enough to get a few prize specimens in the bucket for them to have a look at.

At lunchtime we were joined by DW from a local beach care group and together we had a bit of a beachcomb collecting some more specimens for the afternoon's children.

All good stuff!

In the evening we had a group Rainbows visit the pond who found all the ususal stuff and then pulled out a dragonfly in real trouble. A strong wind had blown up in the afternoon and this poor creature must have been blown into the water while it was drying its wings. Duly rescued we put it in the last of the sunshine to dry out and then moved it to a sheltered spot where he morning sun would warm it -provided it didn't get blown away in the overnight gales.

Where to next? A day off work and a trip to the Southside on family duties but with the opportunity to do get some pics for our Year Bird Challenge.
In the meantime let us know who's on the way back in your outback.

It was there but...

The Safari was able to get out to the big park before family duties kicked in on Sunday. It only took us a couple of minutes to find the Chough. We'd expected to see a large crowd giving us a clue as to where it was but there was no-one with bins and scopes to be seen. However, as it happened it was only a few feet from where it had been seen the previous day.

With the dreadful conditions and long range our pics weren't up to much and this dire effort is the best of a very bad bunch. Still a Chough (115) is a very welcome addition to our Year Bird Challenge, indeed it was our 100th species photographed giving us a 'hit rate' of 87%.

Monday's weather was much better but sadly we were stuck in the office driving the desk and unable to take advantage of the sunshine.

During the week we had the opportunity of a quick scamper down on to the beach to investigate an interesting looking piece of driftwood that may be useful as a feature for the refurbished gardens at work.
We had a good look at it but it was far too heavy for us to drag off the beach unaided. A good poke around it revealed a large Plumose Anemone secreted in a crevice so it would be a shame to remove it from the marine environment.

It would be good to see this specimen fully open. At the steps off the beach on our walk back to terra-firma there were a lot of starfish washed up from the previous day's heavy weather. We quickly found three different species, Common Starfish, a Cushion  Star and a Brittle Star, possibly Ophiothrix fragilis. It was good to be out on the beach again even if only for a few minutes, you just never know what you might come across down there.

Today we left Base Camp to the lovely sound of a Song Thrush singing loudly from the end of the street. We can hear the ones from Patch 1 in the distance but this was the first we've heard this close for a good number of years.

A quick morning look at the sea at Patch 2 while the computer was booting up and the kettle boiling gave us a flock of 33 Whooper Swans (P2 #32)  flying out to sea on their way to Iceland for the breeding season and a flock of 10 Eiders much closer in going towards the river mouth. All the while we could see little bouncing brown dots heading northwards most of which were well out to sea, Meadow Pipits, there were hundreds of them although we heard very few calls overhead. A little later in the morning we found out that 'thousands' had gone over the point to the north of us, JS had obviously been able to do a proper watch not just our ten minutes or so. All the same it was really good to know we'd witnessed a tiny part of a much bigger migration spectacle.
After work we took Monty to Chat Alley as Patch 2 would be still far to soggy after yesterday's nonstop deluge. he had a great time and we spotted a cracking male Wheatear (116) on the rocks down on the lower walk.We did get a pic for the YBC (#101) but it was with our phone on full zoom at considerable range so although we've added the pic to our album as it is jsut about identifiable we're too embarrassed to put it up for you to see...yes it is really that bad!
Where to next? Hopefully there'll be some sunshine and something to point the camera at.
In the meantime let us know who's on the move in your outback.

Non-stop safari-ing

The Safari has had a hectic start to the week with young Beavers coming to visit and a school group all day today. More Brownies tomorrow evening - can our ears survive the strain all those excited young children make a lorra lorra noise!

Late on Sunday afternoon realising we weren't going to be able to get out we had a last mooch round the garden at Base Camp looking for the Blue Tailed Damselflies to see if we could get any more super close-ups. They weren't playing ball as the sun had gone in and a cool wind had picked up so we had to be content with flowers. Last summer there was hardly any Herb Bennett in the garden, this year there are a few plants. That's one of the joys of having  a wild garden you just don't quite know what's going to come up where year by year.

If there were any hoverflies about they'd love it but we've seen very few so far this summer.

Herb Robert is much more forthcoming and maybe you can have too much of a good thing when it starts invading Wifey's special planting tubs.

We noticed some had little orange specks on them, some times just a few and others had several. They were randomly placed so we deduced they weren't something the plant had produced.

 Then we spotted this tiny fly which may or may not be the culprit of what we suppose are eggs.

Big eggs if that little insect did lay them. Maybe they only lay two as most seemed to be in pairs and several insects have laid their eggs on one flower - isn't nature great there's always something new to see and learn, one question leads to a whole bookful of others.

Last night we were with the youngsters on the beach looking in the rockpools, it was a lovely summer's evening warm with hardly a breath of wind - a perfect evening for exploring on the beach. The recent offshore winds might be great for keeping the sea calm and helping our Dolphin spotting but it does mean there's not a great deal of shells and the like washed up. That didn't stop us finding some good stuff though like this Thornback Ray egg case.

Lots of the Common Prawns were in berry - except this one!

Star find as far as the Beavers were concerned were a couple of medium sized Common Sand Stars.

After we'd got back to Base Camp and had tea we were chatting to our Extreme Photographer on the phone when we notciced the sky start to build up some odd looking clouds. He had similar ones too 200 miles to the south. Once we'd finished chatting we got a couple of snaps with the phone, apparently they are Cirrus fibratus and Twitter friend @MaryJasper2 had similar all the way down in SW Cornwall.

Impressively wispy but were better than this a few minutes earlier

All day today we played host to a local school doing pond dipping and mini-beast hunting. The pond is still a bit slow probably due to the iffy weather in May and early June but they caught a reasonable selection of snails and plenty of 3-spined Sticklebacks, none as bright and energetic as 'Spineless Simon' though. The biggest surprise came in the form of a small dragonfly nymph, we very very seldom see adult dragonflies in the work's garden but there must have been some last year

Of the terrestrial invertebrates this bright, long and skinny Centipede was our favourite but the kids' favourite was probably the huge spider they found and many were brave enough to gently hold it - well done them!

Talk of our Extreme Photographer he's sent a few pics from his garden out in the wilds in the last week or so

Drinker moth caterpillar

Hedgehog

Great Diving Beetle larva - you wouldn't want to mess with those fangs!

Where to next? More Patch 2 dolphin hoping - there was a Humpback Whale not so far away just out of sight over the horizon last week!!!!!!! and there be more netting shenanigans with the kids too.

In the meantime let us know who's sucking the juice out of who in your outback.