Back to the Southside

The Safari has just about recovered from our hand surgery and we are now fit enough to try some longer shorter drives, if that makes sense. So rattling with Ibruprofen pills we picked up CR and made the hour's drive over the river for a day at the splendid Martin Mere WWT reserve, easily the furthest we've been since getting back behind the wheel. The day was supposed to be sunny but ominous clouds developed right over where we were heading, thoughts of why didn't we bring a waterproof went through our head - well it is the August and supposed to be summer so we didn't grab our jacket on the way out. 

The previous day there'd been sightings of a juvenile Black Necked Grebe, a Red Kite, Hobby and when we arrived and read the sightings board a Curlew Sandpiper, a couple or more of those would be good for our Challenge.We figured that the grebe would still be on site after last night's very heavy rain, the kite could be anywhere in the county (or beyond), the Hobby wouldn't show unless the sun appeared and brought the dragonflies out and the Curlew Sandpiper might still be about so we'd wait for news. The moth trap was advertised as being opened at 10.30 so that gave us just short of half an hour to look for the grebe. We went straight to the Harrier Hide and were immediately told a Bittern had flown past not long earlier; doh if only we'd not been stopped by those traffic lights or that rediculous speed restriction hadn't been imposed we'd ahev seen that. We've been coming here for the best part of 50 years and never seen one here. We were also told the Black Necked Grebe was on the pool but diving repeatedly, we looked in the general direction of where the chap was pointing and voila up it popped in our bins. before we could swing the canera into action it dived. We missed the opening of the moth trap in the procvess of trying to get a decent shot and although it came nearer it never really came near enough so this  is the best we got. Still it's #158 for our Challenge and a 'bonus bird' as it wasn't on the radar to come across between now and the end of the year.

A few Little Grebes were on the pool as well and often confused us by appearing in the field of view where we were expecting the Black Necked Grebe to. One even came up with a small fish, we got a decent pic but then deleted it by mistake while going through the out of focus or dived out of view shots of the Black Necked Grebe. 

From there we went to the 'new' Rees Hide where there were several Lapwings loafing about

and a Green Sandpiper that we probably flushed from very close when we opened the door to enter the hide. It was a bit further away than we would have liked for a such a small bird but did give good views in the bins.

Much further away were a few Ruff moulting out of their breeding finery.

A much closer Snipe proved to be too camera shy, being not very showy to start with then getting up and moving right behind a thick tussock of rushes. We took that as our cue to move on to the next hide. Here we found another Green Sandpiper again a little distant across an arm of the pool.

There's a small island in the pool which today held a family of Black Headed Gulls, we followed the two youngsters begging for food from the adult for ages waiting for the moment of delivery...and missed it when we took our eye off the ball for a second. Here's the one that didn't get the food squealing with rage.

And here's the one that did get fed keeping well out of the way of its peeved sibling.

With possiblities here now exhausted we moved on again on the long treck round to the final hide. We saw the cattle were safely ensconsed in the field to our left not stampeding up the track towards us this time - which was a relief! We chatted about the possiblity of seeing some Stonechats up by the corner and noted that they often sit on the wrong side of the light on the fence, it's much better for pics if they go the other side of the track into the natiral habitat and on the 'right' side of the light - would we see them today and which would they do? They often flush into the dense vegetation behind the fence. Rounding the corner it wasn't the Stonechats atop the fence that caught our eye but three bright orange butterflies at the bottom of the fence, one settled and two whizzing around each other in a blur of wings. Wall Browns, a species we no very very rarely see on the Fylde nowadays.

The stationary one was a female so we assume the other two were battling male sutors. Above them the Stonechats were atop the fence as predicted.

Luckily as we approached they flew to the right side of the path which is the left-hand side and perched on natural vegetation in good light.

It was while taking snaps of the Stonechats we spotted a juvenile Kestrel sitting on the nearby gatepost through the tops of the reeds. Getting a clear shot was tricky and involved a lot of waiting for the breeze to blbow the intervening reeds out of the way.

Once in the hide we scanned around for any sign of the Curlew Sandpiper to no avail, there were no small waders to be seen. The only close birds was a small flock of Black Tailed Godwits most of whom were asleep, especially the most brightly coloured and nearest as it happened.

We waited for it to wake up but it was spark out so we had to make do with a couple of preening birds stood a little way behind it. We waited for these two to do some synchronised or mirror image preening but they didn't.

There's a bit of synchronised preening going on with the one at the back

Time for lunch so we hit the long trail back to the car to retrieve our pastry-encased scran which we ate in the deserted Discovery Hide, deserted inside and out with only a handful of tatty moulting Mallards on offer and a distant Cormorant sat doing nothing much in particular. The only real action was provided by a few Swallows skimming fast and low over the water before shooting over our heads possibly to a nest(s) in the staff area behind us. All the distant md was scanned for the Curlew Sandpiper but again we had no joy.

From there we wandered up to the Ron Barker Hide chatting to a very enthusiastic and knoweldgeable young lad on the way - good to know our brilliant wildlife is being enjoyed and appreciated by the younger generation, lets hope there's a big recovery in our wildlife so he sees more than we have in the last few years. At the hide it was pretty quite, the flooded marsh had been drawn down to reveal lots of oozy black mud but again no Curlew Sandpiper so we assume it had done an overnight flit to the coast or even beyond. One species the youngster is likely to see more of than we could ever have dreamed of when we were his age is Cattle Egrets, there were 17 of them until more than half of them flew off, and nowhere near the cattle either.

With not a lot happening we cut our losses and headed back to the Rees Hide passing another Wall butterfly by the bridge over the big dyke. This one has the big bold black mark on the wing, the scent brand, so is a male.

At the hide we watched a female Black Tailed Skimmer doing some serious ovipositing.

There were several males around keeping a watchfiul eye on proceedings too.

Close to all this action we spotted some small blue damselflies which kept coming out from the bankside vegetation to our right and settling for several minutes on the floating green stuff. Through the bins we could see they had dark eyes so weren't the norrmal Blue Tailed Damselflies we're very familiar with. If truth be told they were too small and too far away to have any chance of a pic but we fired a shed load of shots off on the off chance one or two might be just about useable. In the end they were all as bad as each other, this one being being the best by the slightest of margins.

If you look very closely you can just about see three blue segments at the end of the abdomen which makes them Small Red Eyed Damselflies, a Lifer for us having not long since colonised our region. We scanned again for the Curlew Sandpiper without any luck and in the distance a Kestrel hovered, possibly the one we'd seen earlier. All of a sudden a falcon was really close and high up, not the kestrel but a Hobby which took a dragonfly as it carreered over the hide and behind us, just a really fleeting glimpse for us and some in the hide didn't manage to get on it at all. That was enough to make us get back outside and do the Reedbed Walk who's wide vistas would offer us the best chance of catching up with any more Hobbys and we might even see the Bittern flying back from its morning outing. The sun had brought out many more dragonflies, hence the sudden appearance of the Hobby, and more butterflies, including a few Peacocks, our first of the day.

A male Black Tailed Skimmer gave us the run around for a few minutes before finally settling in a good spot for a pic.

Up by the rather smelly sewage works a Hobby came out of nowhere and sped past us giving superb if brief close views. Unfortunatley it kept going and eventually disappeared over the treeline nearly a mile away before we could swing the camera into action. Well at least it vindicated the decision to take the Reedbed walk. On we went passing more Peacocks and more Wall Browns, we saw more today than we've probably seen in the last 10 years combined! But as we progressed the expected wide open vista was lost, the Willow bushes had grown considerable since last year and it was becoming more like a woodland walk with no view out. Eventually we came to a warm open area and after seeing several very active Brown Hawkers patroling their territories CR spotted one land, which they hardly ever do! It's one of our most frequently seen dragonflies and yet we cant count on the fingers of one of our mutilated hands how many pics we've ever got of them.

No more Hobbys appeared and neither did the Bittern as we nearer the end of the trail but while looking across the pools for any sign of the Black Necked Grebe we saw a Great Crested Grebe sat on a nest, quite late in the season we thought. Looking closely you can just about make out a little lump on her back which is a little stripey faced chick.

Time was now nearly up but we were able to get a few more minutes back in the Rees Hide where there were now two Green Sandpipers and another very keen youngster to keep us entertained until it was time to leave.

In the end there was only one new species snapped for our Challenge but that didn't take anything away from a really good day out on safari.

Where to next? It could be anywhere and it'll most probably be weather dependent.

In the meantime let us know who's perching up bold as brass in your outback.

Mothing Patching and Twitching

The Safari out the moth trap out after we'd got back to Base Camp from our trip up north. We were eager to have a look inside the following morning but saw that it had rained over night so decided that a very (aka reasonably) early visit to the nature reserve might produce something of note...and we still need that pesky Garden Warbler for our Patchwork Challenge. Unplugging the moth traps elecrics we left it to go birding. It turned out to be a good move. Within minutes of arriving at the reserve we had a Curlew (MMLNR #94) go over. There wasn't much small bird activity in the scrub other than a Blue Tit or two and a Blackcap tacking away so we went to the viewing platform and had a look over the water. Not a great lot happening it was a peaceful early morning scene, the Great Crested Grebe youngster is now nearly as big as its parent and the young Mute Swans had a practice flap showing their fully feathered wings. 

On the way down the track we had a Whitethroat flitting around in the thick Brambles and then had the idea of having a look from the Panoramic hide/screen where we had a total surprise. Two juvenile Black Terns (181, MMLNR #95) were hawking insects over the water across on the far side. We knew they'd been there while we were oop norff but hadn't expected to see them as they'd been reported as 'left'.

Not the best pic of Black Terns you'll ever see!

We watched them until they took off high to the east and were lost to sight. Moving through the scrub we had a Lesser Whitethroat, more Blackcaps but no Garden Warbler! The new 'Channel' scrape held a few Teal but they all fluched when a dog-walker quietly dressed in a fluorescent day-glo yellow work jacket came past...all but one bird went, the remaining one was a/the Garganey. 

It was quiet along the embankment a wagtail flew over us but it was 'only' a Pied and not a still not seen there Grey Wagtail. A bit of rain was in the air so we wandered along to the FBC hide to avoid getting wet. Again it was quiet, no sign of the Black Terns now were much closer to where they'd been - typical!!! But a large bird coming south over the barn caught our eye, Heron? Buzzard? A gull? No, an Osprey (MMLNR #96), it didn't even look at the water down to its right it just kept a straight purposeful line due south and was soon past us.

We retraced our steps along the embankment an heard a total of four Cetti's Warblers including one on the 'wrong side' of the dam. From the scrub a Chiffchaff sang and we saw a couple more Blackcaps, a Song Thrush was battering seven shades out of a snail was a species we've not seen there for a while, don't they go quiet and secretive during the summer...and still no sign of that pesky Garden Warbler!

We got back to Base Camp and made breakfast for Wifey but before we could open the moth trap she asked if we were going out somewhere with BD...well if you allow us like that we'll take advantage!!! Half an hour later we picked up BD and headed over the river on a twitch with two targets, one easy the other not so.

Our first twitching target was spotted from the driver's seat as we drove up the track. There on the wires across the field was the juvenile Cuckoo that's been hanging around for a couple or three days...in exactly the same spot as one a couple of years ago. Overflying, coasting, juvenile Cuckoos must come across this field and it cries out to them as being very likely full of food, or they spot the caterpillars as the fly over.

Which ever way it is this one had no problem seeing caterpillars in the grass and was swooping down to collect them every few minutes, big chunky ones with spikey bits; we've no idea what species of caterpillars but we do know that if we got on our hands and knees and thoroughly searched the field we'd probably not find a single one.

Time to look the other way, out to sea which was rapidly approaching on what was a very high tide. There were a lot of gulls present, mostly Black Headed Gulls but not so many of the larger species, one of which was what/who we were after. A good scrutiny of all those present gave us a large number of Great Black Back Gulls and a few each of Herring and Lesser Black Backs, our quarry didn't seem to be present. We scanned again and again as the tide rose but to no avail; we did see a trickle of Wheatears going through on the rocks below our feet, the marsh held four Little Egrets and a host of Redshanks and Lapwings. As the tide rose ever higher large flocks of Oystercatchers came by, flushed off their favourite sandbanks further out in the river-mouth.More gull-looking had us finding a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, a second year bird with a little black in the wingtip and an adult. We were able to get other birders onto these. As the tide rose most of the larger gulls flew off round the corner out of sight but one held back a few minutes and could have been the Caspian Gull we'd come for, photo-evidence from BD's long lens will be required to prove us right or wrong, most of the time it had it's back to us facing the wind.

A flock of about 30 Linnets swirled around and Sandwich Terns flew deep into the bay to roost, we heard the 'shreeepp' of Dunlins and watched the Golden Plovers jockey for position on the last parcels of dry(ish) land.

A lone Linnet landed on the rocks not too far away, hang on a mo, that's got a yellow bill...then it flew revealing a different wing pattern to the Linnets and when it flew past it made the typical squeaky call Twite make. Great stuff and BD had only just asked if there were any about and we'd said it's too early.

It was good for butterflies too including a now very scarce round these parts a rather worse for wear Wall.

The Sea Asters by our feet had a Peacock and a Painted Lady nectaring on them and BD showed us a couple of very fresh basking Small Tortoishells, he'd also seen a Small Copper and Common Blues along with a Large White, other White sps and numerous Grasshoppers.

With gathering omminous looking black clouds gathering we looked at  the time and discovered we'd long overstayed our allowance, time to head back to Base Camp and have a look in the mothy.

Another Willow Beauty was nice, as were two (Svensson's?) Copper Underwings.

A couple of micros had us scratching our head, both of which we ought to have known.

Phycitodes sp

Worn White Shouldered House Moth

This morning we had an extra day off to go to the docs later but that gave us another chance to get to nature reserve for a couple of hours or more.

Again it was pretty quiet, no sign of the Black Terns over the water from the viewing platform and not much moving or calling in the scrub, a Water Rail did scream from the reedbed though. We took our time and watched and listened as we walked down to the Panoramic Hide we spotted a movement in the pile of dead brash. We looked hard at the flits until a Lesser Whitethroat came in to view and then another, the bird still obscured was obviously darker browner. Then it came out and briefly showed itself very well, the elusive Garden Warbler (MMLNR #97) was no longer elusive...at last! In the scrape there were three Snipe fresh in. We met up with TS and had a chat as our second Curlew of the year here flew over at great height.

We went our separate ways and then both of us independently saw the Black Tailed Godwit (MMLNR #98) flying over. Not much more was noted other than three Cetti's Warblers. We didn't go round to the FBC Hide as we'd done yesterday as the Tuesday Group were leathering in to the reeds with an assortment of heavy duty cutting tools.

By the bridge we spotted a bright orange fly which we know to be a Turnip Sawfly.

There was nowt else of note on the way back to the Land Rover other than a singing Chiffchaff and a coupe for Migrant Hawkers, neither of which would settle for a pic. It was quite warm but with an increasing and increasingly cool wind there weren't as many dragonflies around today.

Where to next? Back to work, wonder what Patch 2 will give us.

In the meantime let us know who's spotting the invisible caterpillars in your outback