A little cracker!

The safari took off back to Stanley Park, not for gulls on the lake this time but for a rather unexpected visitor - a Firecrest. We have seen these beautiful little birds in the past locally. A few years ago now there were two at Marton Mere nature reserve.

Today's was nowhere to be seen when we arrived but was definitely in the area as it been put out on the rare bird pagers as being seen an hour or so earlier. A small crowd had gathered and we scanned the likely bushes and trees. A couple of Coal Tits were amongst the visitors to the feeding station, along with the more usual Blue and Great Tits. A Treecreeper 'moused' its way up the trunk of a large Willow tree.

Then on of the very experienced local birders picked up the Firecrest's call from the top of a group of tall conifers, a flit in the uppermost branches - a Goldcrest. this flew overhead into another conifer to be followed shortly afterwards by another - this one was the Firecrest and despite it being hidden for much of the time we got short but decent views. After a few minutes it descended to the Brambles down at eye-level and we got stunning views but again only short ones as it darted in and out of cover. What a cracking little bird, those bronzy shoulders and stripey face are just stunning.

In the bag - excellent!

Where to next? The safari could be mobile for a trip further afield over the weekend.

In the meantime let us know what unexpected treasures have you seen in your outback recently.

News from Woylie-land

Here's a snippet from the project I had a very, very small part in a couple of years ago. Those poor Woylies having blood taken from their tails in the name of science!

Hope the guys down under find out what it is with the population crash and can find a solution before it's too late.

I had a thought earlier today that they could undergo population cycles of boom and bust like Lemmings or Voles but on a much longer timescale so it hasn't really been noticed before. Perhaps linked to some kind of disease. And now with habitat loss, population fragmentation and introduced feral predators the odds are stacked against the little cuties.

Fingers crossed they're gonna be OK - would hate read we lost them forever in a few years time.

Where to next? Weather unpromising tomorrow so probably only a quick safari to check out the sea.

In the meantime let us know who is doing what to save the enangered wildlife in your outback.

Some pics from the weekend's safari

There were signs of spring all around on this weekend's safari.
Blackthorn was starting to flower.

These are Alder catkins, one of last year's 'cones' can be seen bottom centre.

Diffferent catkins - these are from a Willow tree, we didn't check which species.

Even the Hawthorn was beginning to come into leaf. a tad early methinks, March always seems to throw a cold frosty or even snowy week at us which damages or even kills soft new growth like this. I have regularly seen Sand Martins at the end of the month fresh in from sunny Africa huddled together on a wire in a snow storm - probably wishing they'd stayed in Africa another week or so!

Every morning now the local gardens and parks are alive with birdsong, the five coo 'song' of the Woodpigeon is very evident as they are numerous in the vicinity of Base camp.

A pair of Stonechats are always nice to see - they will be off to their breeding territories inland before too long. This is the male, the female was camera shy.

Long Tailed Tits are one of the safari's favourite birds, really tiny, nothing more than a ball of feathers on a stick! But full of character and always none-stop so it was nice to fluke this photo and fortunately its in focus too.

Out on the water at Marton Mere nature reserve the numbers of Great Crested Grebes are building up, here are a winter and summer plumaged pair(?)

As with the Woodpigeons the luscious song of the Blackbird fills the dawn air. They are even more numerous then the former and beat them hands down in the musical stakes, one of the best songs in Britain, if not the best although there may be a lot of votes for the 'bubbling of Curlews over the moorlands.

On a totally different tack, the safari's Land Rover now has its wellington boots fitted, gone are the wussy road tyres in their place are the set of mud terrains from Discovery1. This weekend could see a visit to a quarry for a bit of off road driving practice, mud and fun at a place we've not tried before...looks to be some tricky bits to conquer...

http://www.hillnditch4x4.co.uk/html/gallery_0.html

Where to next? Strong south westerly winds are forecast and could be promising off the prom.

In the meantime let us know what's singing its heart out in your outbacks dawn chorus.

The February Back Garden Bird Count ends.

A late, but welcome, flyover Pied Wagtail brought the final total at Base Camp to 24 species, admittedly most were fly overs but what do you expect in a tiny garden which is mostly pond! I'm sure we could have had more if our neighbours hadn't been so heavy handed with their chainsaws over the past couple of years. We used to be on a habitat highway to somewhere now we are a bit of an isolated island of greenery in an increasingly treeless suburban desert. Is it just me or are other people noticing a general 'downer' on street and garden trees at the moment. Everyone loves rainforests and can't wait to visit woodland beauty spots but come hell or high water that tree in the garden has to go! Shame!

A short afternoon safari to Marton Mere nature reserve had rather mixed results. Surprisingly there were no Long Eared Owls showing, despite the safari and several out-of-towners looking we couldn't find any of them - not even the easy one was on its usual branch. Unfortunately for those that had travelled for a 'tick' there were fresh footprints on the other side of the fence where it looked suspiciously like some numb-nut had earlier climbed over for a 'better' view' and flushed them. Never-the-less wandering back in to the reserve to see if they could be found from another track we passed a nice pair of Stonechats sitting up high, the male in particular was looking very dapper.

The mere itself was very quiet. a moderate gull roost contained mostly Common Gulls but repeated searches revealed no unusual species. A flock of about 25 Shovelers was feeding actively - spinning round sieving out the plankton with gusto. Two pairs of Gadwall are still on site - will they breed here for the first time this summer?

In the distance we could see a couple of large flocks of Pink Footed Geese over their favoured feeding fields and closer in a Buzzard soared lazily in the afternoon sun.

Closer still in the field just over the reserve boundary was a decent flock of about 60 Linnets and a passing Kestrel did us a favour by flushing the first Stock Doves of the safari's year.

A pair of Oystercatchers flew over duetting in a display flight and were later 'singing' on the edge of the island.

Another look over the mere revealed seven Great Crested Grebes, although we had been told there were nine on site earlier in the afternoon. A fluke photograph of a Long Tailed Tit was taken which you might see tomorrow if its any good as this computer has started spitting out cameras for no good reason and I am unable to download pics at the moment. Four cameras at Base Camp and the computer has sent them all to Coventry! would you believe it!

Just as we were leaving site we found a flock of about a dozen Redwings, all posing very nicely on a small piece of lawn - what stunning little thrushes they are...that adage that cars make good hides simply isn't true! We wound the window down - the birds flew to the other end of the lawn, quietly we released the handbrake and let the Land Rover roll down the hill and round the corner, back to where we had been...this happened twice more before they decided that'd had enough and flew to the top of the tall Poplar trees and well out of camera range...the swines!

Where to next? Spring is getting nearer but there is a cold spell forecast so anything could happen.

In the meantime let us know what's impossible to photograph in your outback.

Invasion of the rhizome snatchers - updated

The safari went to see more digging by the Environment Agency at Marton Mere nature reserve today. Wow...what a lot of work, new islands, vistas opened up through the reeds in front of the hides, feeding channels for the Bitterns, sneaky hideaways for nesting waterfowl; how good is this going to be in the coming season!

All this digging has broken up literally tons of reed rhizomes eagerly feasted upon by our resident Canada Geese. There are, or at least have recently been, some apparently genuine North American Canada Geese in amongst the Pink Footed Geese on the fields to the north. The Bean Geese, both races, taiga and tundra (or are they full species?), are far more interesting.

Cracking looking birds as Canada Geese are I can't muster up much enthusiasm for them - sorry - nor do I find the feral Grey Lag Geese any more exciting; although the truly wild flocks just over the border in Scotland are fine and dandy.

From inspection of the top picture this male (cob) Mute Swan has murder on his mind. That low hunched posture with wings half flexed means someone is going to get some serious trouble. Probably the Canada Goose at the other end of the frame.

Introductions are a nightmare but re - introductions are are a bizarre thing, thousands of pounds are being spent on Beavers yet there is now talk of remote contaception for the Wild Boar in the southern parts of the country, once indigenous but not very pretty.
I once spent a night alone in a remote mountain bothy in the Highlands of Scotland with only the moon and wind for company, a thin peat and dry heather twig fire flickered miserably in the hearth...all that was missing was the howl of a Wolf pack in the nearby woods - what chance of these impressive animals being re - introduced...none, probably...sad to say!

Forgot to mention that we also had two Long Eared Owls on the nature reserve, the very easy one and a much more tricky one. Managed to get a group of visiting birders on to them, only to find out back at the office that 8 had been seen that morning! And because it was lunch time and we had to get back we drove past Lawson's field which was full of gulls without stopping...one of which was a Mediterranean Gull...I must be loing my touch; I can usually smell 'em!

Where to next? Still a couple of days calm and Porpoises are about before the windy weather returns. Who knows what the wind will blow in, and there was a Waxwing recently in a nearby garden...doh...is the safari not going to have the chance to find any of these 'common' birds (this winter at least) before they disappear back to continental Europe.

In the meantime let us know what's missing from your outback.

Doh the best laid plans...

Every one has a dark side and the safari's, as a commited environmentalist, is motorsport. This weekend the North West Stages Rally is in town doing time trials along stretches of the prom as well as other venues. What a catastophe...I'm stuck at work and all the action will have finished by the time I knock off. See this link for all the news.

Back to more 'natural' news...there is only one week left of the February Great Garden Bird Count. Base Camp is not doing too badly but we could do with some more additions to the list. Every morning I can hear Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush in the dawn chorus, they're close but just not quite spotable from the curtilage of my property. Common Gulls are horrendously numerous on the football field a few hundred metres away but I've not seen one flying over yet, indeed they very rarely do. This morning a small flock of Long Tailed Tits was agonisingly close but didn't venture in. I notice that other web sites are starting to record Meadow Pipits on the move again so that is a morning possible...what will the next addition to the list be?

Where to next? A brief trip to the south side tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know what do you think the next addition to your near outback list will be.

Some good, some not so good

A selection of safari photos from the weekend.

First up a gang of hibernating Garden Snails holed up in a very old looking Hawthorn tree.

Late winter/early spring is the time Gorse starts to flower most prolifically, although some flowers can be found at any time of year hence the expression 'Kissing goes out of fashion when the Gorse stops flowering! '

This patch of Snowdrops not far from Base Camp is stunning, better than the pitiful tiny patches in some more natural woodlands - are these planted or natural - don't know but they are within a very old orchard.

Dunnocks are not often seen far from cover. This one was many yards from the nearest bush fossicking around in some rather sloppy mud.

Found 'em - a couple of Bee Orchids - have to wait until the first week of June to see them in flower though...patience is a virtue.

Another one with only two leaves so far.

Song Thrush - will they ever become common again?

Now for something I never knew! Not that I know much about marine life. This bundle of Whelks eggs came as a bit of a surprise. I saw them but didn't realise they were actually stuck to the sack. Normally they are seen in small tennis ball sized clumps rolling around on the beach. I didn't know that they stuck their eggs to a substrate...and in the absence of Kelp fronds a fibreglass sack will do just fine...you learn something new every day!

This Redshank wasn't for being photographed - it was too nervous to get just quite close enough and wouldn't keep still, better luck next time!

Where to next? Wherever the wind blows I guess.

In the meantime let us know what you haev learned about your outback this week.