The third week of lockdown local wildlife safaris

The Safari has had a rather productive week despite being on Lockdown. Last week ended on a high too with our first ever spring record of a Rook flying over Base Camp, they are very infrequent in the autumn, usually tagging along with flocks of Jackdaws on passage.

An early morning visit to the prom last Monday gave us a distant flock of Eiders heading south and the day got better still when a Chiffchaff dropped into the Base Camp garden staying a while to have a  little bathe in our ornamental waterfall. That gave us just enough time to grab the camera and fire off a few shots through the increasingly dirty kitchen window - time for the mop, bucket and Windowlene. Number 32 on our 1 mile from home challenge which was a two week challenge but has now been extended to six weeks - we get the impression it might be expanded even further yet too.

It wasn't the only bird having a spruce up that day, a Blackbird was in there too.

The following day we were back in the park this time we'd taken the camera to see if we could get a pic of the local House Sparrows that hang around the perimeter of the field where it backs on to the neighbouring gardens. Crikey it took some doing they were either very flighty not allowing any sort of close approach or keeping hidden in the dense Ivy or thick twiggery of the bushes. It took several circuits to finalyy get one submitted to the SD card for #33.

On a further lap of  the fields we heard a commotion of Sparrowhawk yikkering coming from the Butterfly Zone. We headed over that way to see what all the racket was about only to find the pair mating in one of the Sycamores at the edge of the scrub but requiring a very tricky shot through plenty of intervening branches and twigs.

Flamin out of focus twigs!

Job done and off...

The female

Never seen that before and very lucky to witness we guess. 

Nearby Green Alkanet was flowering in a sunny glade

Bright sunshine, warm too, brought a Peacock to nectar on the Aubretias in the garden tubs. Our first and so far only butterfly pic this year.

The fine weather got us to thinking about doing a bit of gardening so out came the stout gloves and secateurs and we ventured into the Bramble-infested no-man's land behind the garage. Now Brambles aren't that bad and provide habitat and food for a humungous number of invertebrate species but in a very small garden it's easy to have too much of a good thing. While doing a bit of snipping we heard the gulls go up in alarm and looking up we saw about a dozen of them chasing an Osprey almost directly over our head, tantalisingly close to being a Garden Tick but at least we'd joined the Osprey-from-the-garden-during-Lockdown club. We dropped the secateurs and tried to remove our gloves as we sprinted back down to the kitchen where the camera lay waiting. Too late - by the time we'd grabbed it the Osprey as nowhere to be seen, obscured by all the neighbouring houses. We called CR but sadly he missed ti too. There's a moral here - if you go up to the furthest reaches of the garden take the flippin camera with you!!! A Blackcap was singing very close to Base Camp much of the day too but never ventured in to the garden.

That takes us to Thursday. Leaving Base Camp for the early morning quick dog walk we had a skein of about 90 Pink Footed Geese fly over us. Later, on the proper exercise/dog walk we heard or first  Coal Tit for a long time, singing away in the line of tall conifers by the water tower and further on in the park the Chiffchaff and Blackcap now seemed to be settled in the Butterfly Zone which incidentally is so far devoid of butterflies.

Base Camp's moth trap has been dire, a combination of the Super Moon, neighbouring high intensity security lights and severe local habitat destruction aka garden tidying has butchered the local moth populations. A tatty Hebrew Character was a welcome find but we're getting to the stage of How many kilowatt hours per moth!

The Super Moon - we were out too late to find it in all its pinky glowing glory

Good Friday was a good day on the prom early morning, out on the beach we came across a Green Leaf worm in a little puddle, not something you see ervyday and it soon buried itself in the soft sand. A few yards further on a recently deceased Lesser Spotted Catshark lay on the beach. Probably a victim of the anglers that are still out angling abeit in much smaller numbers than usual.

When we got up to the top of the cliffs at the furtheest point of our walk there was a bit of passage going on. We counted at least 35 Meadow Pipits and 21 Linnets going northwards, five Pink Footed Geese heading NW out to sea, got our first Swallow of the year, quite late we've ususally come across one in the earliest days of April rather than into the second week and a Blackbird was singing from a promenade rooftop - most unusual, the first we've heard along here in several years of 'treading the beat'.

Back at Base Camp several Nomad Bees were flying around and a Sparrowhawk soaring away to the north got the gulls going and our pulse racing again.

Easter Saturday started well with 50 Pink Footed Geese going north and a few minutes later we heard our first Willow Warbler of the year, which, like the Swallow, was quite late for us. We heard the conifer Coal Tit singing again and followed it up with a second this time in the big conifers in the park.

Most unexpected, although at migration time birders should always expect the unexpected, a pair of Shelducks flew towards the sea just east of the park - a Patch Tick!

In the garden a female Light Brown Apple Moth graced the trap and up to four Greenfinches graced the feeders.

Best sighting of the day was a female Orange Tip butterfly, really scarce here, flying through the gardens just round the corner on our very quick lunchtime dog-pee walk. In the afternoon another good sighting was had, a Red Mason Bee, a new species for the garden, was discovered when we ventured behind the garage to bash some Bramble again.

A Common Quaker and a large Crane Fly were in the moth trap on Easter Sunday.

And a review of the stealth-cam revealed the Hedgehog is still about if only an occasional visitor this week. we've repositioned the camera to see if we can get a better view of him for next time.

In other news the sunny week has given us lots of invertebrate photo opportunities at Base Camp - here's a selection of what we've seen.

Buffish Mining Bees - from the 'colony' at the corner of our street

Several Eristalis Drone Flies take up positions around the garden. We've not had a proper look at them but guess they'll be E. pertinax.

Some of our plant pots have more moss than plant!

In the latter half of the week Gooden's Nomad Bees became regular visitors but they're a nightmare to photograph as they just won't settle for more than the briefest moment - here's a few of the hundreds of pics we've tried to take of them.

Another good find in the 'Bee-line' was this Tawny Mining Bee sunning itself on the fence, a rare find in the garden.

While watching our first Zebra Spider of the year clamber about on the the trellis 

we spotted this tiny Hoverfly flitting around the flowers by our knee - no idea which species, one of the Sphaerophorias perhaps.

Where to next? More of the same - here's hoping the weather stays fine for daily Base Camp safaris and there's still the opportunity to take the dog for his walks round the park and occasional visits to the beach which he loves.

In the meantime let us know what's in your very much restricted outback. Stay Safe - Keep your distance!!!

The second week of safaris under Lockdown

The Safari like everyone else has been stuck at home. We have been able to walk the mutt around the local fields early morning but haven't taken the camera as yet. 

The days have been cold and windy but there has been some sunshine and in those sunny spells saw some Buzzard passage, we saw several but all too far away until the last one which came right over the garden not too high up.

Overhead Buzzards we like but overhead Ospreys are better. So far everyone and his uncle around here seem to have had one or more, some people or soooo greedy, over their gardens except for CR and ourselves. We've got a hotline between us in case one ofr the other hears the gulls making a racket but so far no joy but there's still time...

The sunshine also brought out some invertebrates including our first 7-Spot Ladybird of the year.

A check of the stealth-cam left out in the garden for 10 days gave us the hoped for Hedgehog. It appeared on several consecutive nights always around the same time - until the batteries died. Hopefully it'll have been recorded since we replaced the batteries but we won't know until we bring it in at the end of next week. In the meantime we'll try sneaking out to see if we can spot it for real.

Our morning walk to the park to give the mutt a run passes a garden with a little wild patch tucked in the corner obscured from the other side by some shrubbery. A couple of Violets have appeared, not sure which species as we can't reach them to have a look at the rear of the flower and pick out the leaves from the other plants growing there. Nice to see all the same.

But mostly we have been confined to the garden and towards the end of the week the weather warmed up enough to bring out some more invertebrates and on Sunday there was an explosion in the number of Eristalis Drone Fly hoverflies, one, I presume a male, held a territory perched on the laundry drying on the washing line. From there it would make sorties after other Drone Flies chasing them relentlessly if another male or mating in flight if a female - An action packed half hour and fascinating to watch until the sun went in and they all disappeared.

They weren't the only insects soaking up the rays. There were a few solitary bees about from the 'colony' in a neighbour's dry stone bank and a couple of these big black Flesh Flies.

The feeders have been fairly busy but we've not had many photo opportunities. These Goldfinches had to be snapped while sitting at our desk at the far end of the living room from the window.

We've had the usual feeder suspects, Great and Blue Tits, the latter investigating our recently erected bird box but only from the outside so far as we know, not sure they're entirely convinced it's the 'Des Res' they're after just yet. A pair of Greenfinches are regular visitors several times a day and a Robin has a quick in an out a couple of times a day and we still have occasional visitors from the female Blackbird that thinks it's a Blue Tit but we've not been able to get a better pic than last week's.

Less welcome is this chap.

A trip to the shop was combined with a dog walk on the beach at low tide and after a bit of breezy weather we had a couple of interesting finds; our first Sea Gooseberry of the year,

and a Wentle Trap Shell, these are pretty scarce along this section of beach, this is only the second we've found here in hundreds of hours wandering along the strandlines searching for anything a little out of the ordinary.

We'll leave you with Lord Snooty looking down his beak at us from his lofty perch atop next door's chimney pot.

Woodpigeon

Where to next? More of the locked down same from from the park, the occasional visit to the beach as shopping trips allow and loads from the garden we hope.

In the meantime let us know who's up and about in your locked down outback. Don't forget it's migration time and anything could appear anywhere so eyes to the skies folks - and wherever you are Stay Safe!

A Week of Wonderful Wildlife While under Lockdown

The Safari like a lot of folk has been mostly confined to barracks this week.We have been able to get out on Patch 1 for a short walk with the dog every morning but so far haven't taken the camera just the phone for any pics. We've seen a nice variety of wildlife like a small flock flock of migrating Jackdaws, a the female of a pair of Sparrowhawks narrowly missing catching a Wood Pigeon, a kettle of four soaring Buzzards, which is the same number as seen in total at the nearby Marton Mere NR between 1950 and 1991 - how much more common are they now persecution has almost stopped - and a Blackbird which looks to be nesting in the big Gorse bush in the middle of the field that is now smothered in bright yellow flowers - it's such a shame that thsi field will probably be built on before the end of the year. 

So far we've only heard singles of Chiffchaff and Blackcap but we're sure we'll clap eyes on both of them before too long.

For vast majority of the time we've been poking around in the garden, taking snaps of the regular garden visitors doing their usual thing.

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Collared Dove

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Blue Tit

One regular visitor was seen doing something most unusual. Our resident female Blackbird was quite often seen perched in the Crab Apple tree pecking chunks off the suet block hung from one of its lower branches. On odd occasions it was able to perch on the feeder, this was seen when the suet block begin to get smaller and smaller. What we didn't expect was it to cling to the sunflower heart feeder once the suet block had been finished. In all our five decades of birding, feeding the birds in a variety of gardens and watching bird feeders in 101 locations throughout the land we've never seen this behaviour from a Blackbird before. We were lucky to get a pic as it's quite shy and flies away at the slightest hint of movement from either indoors or out. But it has been back to repeat the performance on at least one occasion.

Our unique female Blackbird

Has anyone else seen a Blackbird (or any other of the typical thrushes) do this?

We've had some half decent sunshine and that has brought a few invertebrates out, mostly queen bumblebees - we've had a Tree Bee and a few Buff Tailed Bumblebees and a queen Common Wasp. A large 'colony' of the solitary Buffish Mining Bees (at least that's what we think they are) is on the street corner a few doors down where they burrow between the stones in a revetment banking and butterflies have so far been only represented by Peacocks.

The moth trap has been on all week but so far only one night has produced any moths and then just these two, a Common Quaker, the pale one, and a Hebrew Character (this is an old pic)

The only other news we have spotted an absolutely butchered Holly bush in the park in Patch 2 and to quote a senior arboriculturalist friend "Sack them - Pr*ck with saw alert!" or if it was done by volunteers some serious training is required. But the big question is why on earth do you need to chop a Holly bush in half in the first place. But then there's been some serious devastation to trees and shrubs in the park since we last visited at the beginning of the winter with some good trees having disappeared reduced to a pile of woodchip but again for reasons which seem inexplicable to us like an old gnarly Hawthorn and a standard Cotoneaster waterii that was full of berries among others.

Some seem to have been taken out to open up the view to the huge pylons that carry the electricity cables across the Wyre and beyond to the huge organised wildlife crime scene that is the Forest of Bowland hills. Whatever the reasons it looks like they're trying to purge any and all wildlife from the park. We're just a bit gutted...and the little pond has been cleared so the Moorhens have vanished but the Typha will grow back so they will probably return in a year or two if the clear out doesn't become an annual thing, it is full of Frog spawn though, acres of the stuff and we're hopeful there'll be a Smooth Newt or two still lurking in there too.
Word on the street is that the Roe Deer is still in the vicinity, one of our dog walking friends reporting it second hand as being seen on the golf course across the road and another saying he disturbed it in the park at 05.00 taking his dogs out before going to work a few days ago...it wold be great to get a pic of this Roe Deer only a few hundred yards from our front door.

Where to next? For the coming week the weather has turned wintry cold again but we'll keep you posted with what we find on our early morning walk and any offerings from the garden. 

In the meantime remember - Keep your distance, stay safe and don't forget there's loads of fantastic wildlife to enjoy and learn about right outside your door or through your window.

Waiting for the Wheatears

The Safari hopes everyone is well in these trying times. We've been eagerly awaiting the first of the spring arrivals walking the cliffs watching  every little flit most of which were Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails as usual. We've also kept an eye out to sea too - the mild weather has made for flat calm seas and obviously we were looking out for some blubber, either a Grey Seal or a Harbour Porpoise. Unfortunately neither bothered to put in an appearance for us. Some seabirds have but only distantly like this pair of Eiders about a mile out. But hey-ho they count towards our 1 mile from Base Camp challenge in that we were within the mile even if the birds weren't.

A drake Common Scoter was much more obliging coming in from way way out before turning North a few hundred yards offshore

Somewhere between the two was a flock of Shelducks.

Out on the beach we found the eggcase of a Lesser Spotted Catshark that still had the embryo inside. After a request for adjudication we were allowed to add it to our Vertebrate Photo Challenge, #132.

We were hoping to find some other fish like Sand Gobies and Blennies but cold only find a few Blennies and they hid far too quickly for us to get a pic.

Meanwhile what about the Wheatears? Well we predicted we'd get on on the 15th looking at the weather charts. Well we didn't but they were seen south of the Ribble that day but obviously stopped short by 20 odd miles. They didn't turn up in the Fylde until the 17th and that was somewhat annoyingly to the north of us. We didn't get or first one until 23rd, a couple of days later than our average first sighting for the last 10 years, when three showed up together along Chat Alley. They were very flighty quickly moving north along the cliffs taking some effort to keep up with them.

Vertbrate Challenge #134, 1 mile Challenge #26

On the way back we passed a couple of anglers one of whom was into a fish so we waited to see what she had caught - a nice sized Dab came over the seawall. It was quickly unhooked and returned to the sea. And it counts as it was only temporarily captive and returned to the wild, #135

And after that came the Lock-Down. Thankfully the fields at the Rock Gardens haven't been built on yet (a real travesty given how biodiverse they are) and are slowly drying out after being a total quagmire for months, which is why we've been avoiding them with the mutt who is a total mud-mop, so we do have somewhere to wlak to and explore the wildlife in these 'interesting times' but migration is happening Spring is sprunging and anything can happen - watch this space.

Stay safe folks, keep your distance and above all look outside and enjoy the wildlife all around you - the birdsong is so much easier to appreciate without the abominable traffic noise and the sky-scape is much better without all the con-trails from the planes so there are some silver linings even if at times it might not feel like it. 

Where to next? We'll be regaling you with tales from Base Camp and beyond...well up to a short distance away.

In the meantime let us know what you've been seeing in your very much restricted outback.

Vanity, Vertebrates and a Virus

The Safari has been quite busy with wildlife and other stuff since Christmas, mostly other stuff including another operation on my already butchered hand at the end of January which curtailed safariing for most of February but is now mostly fully recovered. 

A couple of days after the stitches came out - 14 of them

With good news from the Sand Lizard project we've been working on for the best part of a decade we decided to celebrate in hip n trendy style and get ourselves a congratulatory tattoo.

In wildlife news we've been continuing or Photo Year List Challenge with Monika and the gang. This year it's open to all vertebrates and so far we've managed 132 species. This Lesser Spotted Catshark eggcase we found the other day was accepted as a 'Yes it counts' by all in the group to become our 132nd species.

No doubt you're all aware there's a bit of a health issue going round at the moment - seems akin to the Black Death of the Middle Ages - so although not entirely put on hold the Vertebrate Challenge has been replaced by a 2 Week Photo Bird Blitz taking us up to the end of the month. One simple rule - All species must be photographed within a mile of home - a good excuse to get out with the camera, get some excersise see some wildlife and maintain the all important Social Isolation. This Sparrowhawk was soaring over Base Camp yesterday.

2WBB #15

Deadly disease or not the mutt still needs a walk and Chat Alley and the beach are within our mile radius. Neither a bird nor other vertebrate we found these odd cocoons made of sand stuck to the sea defences a couple of days ago. Wonder what they'll turn into, Anyone any ideas.

This morning there was a brisk cool south easterly blowing and a few birds were about especially Meadow Pipits there were a few grounded, one doing its parachuting display flight and most going over more or less due north.

One of the local Pied Wagtails doesn't like the pipits landing on his  patch and chases them off calling noisily as he does. Great to watch the twisting and turning of the chase as the pipit tries to make an escape.

2WBB #16

We named Chat Alley as it turns up chats like Wheatears in reasonable numbers each spring and autumn and occasionally Stonechats too. So far this year we've not come across a Wheatear and today was no exception and also the mean date we first see one along here. However there were a couple of Stonechats, a species we've not recorded along the cliffs for at least a couple of years so we were very pleased to see them

2WBB #17

On closer inspection of the photos when we got back to Base Camp what we thought were two individuals now looks like the same one moving northwards along the cliffs.

The return journey gave us yet more Meadow Pipits.

And finally we stopped off at the Go-Kart track wader roost and found the Purple Sandpiper still present as it had been there yesterday too - the first time we'd looked for it in a while with all the rough weather probably meaning the birds had had to roost elsewhere.

Well that's it for now. We'll try to be more regular in our posts now we.re forced to spend much more time at home.  

Where to next? More of the mile from Base Camp we suppose
In the meantime lets us know who's reappeared in your outback

And don't forget the natural world is a great escape from the problems of today's issues and there's always something to see and new to learn right outside your door or even through your window if you can't get/aren't allowed out.