Onward, here, there and everywhere

The Safari left you on a high last time with the news that we'd hit the dizzy heights of 100 species of birds photographed in January. Well, as we alluded to then, things slowwwwweeeddd right down in February. We set ourselves a rather weeny target of just 15 new species to get during the extended month. How have we got on?

Our first safari of February saw us head up north to a rather soggy Leighton Moss where it didn't take long to find the long staying female Ring Necked Duck, as is usual for us it was away across the far side of Lillian's pool. But hey near or far if they're identifiable they all count for our Challenge - #101.

Our attention was soon drawn away from it by a well marked male Marsh Harrier.] quartering the reeds over the far side of the pool.

After a while we'd exhausted the possibilities at Lillian's and wandered slowly down to the Grizedale Hide where the water before us was largely bird free, in fact we don't think we've ever seen it so birdless. A shout from CR pointed us in the direction of a very distant Great White Egret, just about photographable beforee it banked and dropped into a distant channel btween the reedbeds\ #102.

With so little happening there we didn't stop long and retraced our steps past the deserted Bearded Tit grit trays to Tim Jackson Hide. Again high water levels meant the pool was lacking in our feathered friends but at least there were a few more than at the Grizedale Hide including several sleepy Snipe, #103, a species we just couldn't connect with in January.

Once again though we soon exhausted all the possibilities and headed back towards the Causeway Hide where pies would be consumed passing the Feeding Station as we went. Not as busy as it can be there but a Marsh Tit is always a good spot here.

Lunch was eagerly consumed while watching Cormorants coming and going.

And a pair of Teal did us the favour of foraging right under our noses.

Butties and pies scoffed it was time to head along the causeway to Lower Hide. The booming of Bitterns was our soundtrack of the day, we could hear them both sides of the track, at least three and probably four we thought. Four booming males, it's not that long ago there were only 11 in the whole country! Just shows what a bit of positive habitat management can achieve - "Build it and they will come" as they say. Along the causeway we got waylaid by a gang of Siskins feeding on Alder seeds that had been washed out of their cones by wind and rains and floodwaters had accumulated them at the edge of the path.

It's not often you see them on the ground as they usually prefer to feed acrobatically high in the tree tops. A Lesser Redpoll was seen with them but easily eluded our lens. Half way down the wooded path to the Lower Hide is a small bridge and that was a bridge too far for CR and his ankle high boots. WE carried on with IH in our wellies and did managed to get to Lower Hide after an intrepid journey through hell and high water - cold high wtaer at that!

And sadly a bit of wasted journey - the very high water levels meant no birds to be seen apart from a few Mute Swans so back to rejoin CR we slopped. Back on terra-firma we went to Lillian's Hide again passing a far-to-quick-for-us Water Rail and a couple of frustratingly invisble Cetti's Warblers. A stationary Snipe on the tern nesting platform was easier.

A little more Marsh Harrier action coincied with the Ring Necked Duck coming a bit closer.

Not the most productive day for our Challenge but a good day on safari with good friends never-the-less and that's what it's all about. 

A few days later our next safari took us along the icy lanes of Over Wyre. Passing a car that had slid off the road through a fence and into a field had us taking extra care on the narrow ditch-sided roads. We struck lucky in Eagland Hill, spotting the Little Owl we've not seen there for several years - #104.

It's a pity that it was on the wrong side of the tree and facing away but you can't have everything. Further down the lane we couldn't stop at the first Farmland Birds Feeding Station so motored on down to the next one where a Corn Bunting , #105, flitted in and out of the large anti-Pheasant/Grey Squirrel cage.

Obviously we'd have preferedv a pic of it in the tree away from the ironmongery but every time it flitted it flut behind the tree truck and out of sight - the pesky so-n-so! Not much else doing there so it was back to the first Feeding Station which was alive with birds, mostly Chaffinches and Tree Sparrows. Luckily there was a pair of Yellowhammers too, our target species, unfortunately it was right at the front of the viewing area with lots of twiggery in the way so our pic is a bit (well a lot) hmmmm, but you can tell what it is so it's (just about) good enough for our purposes. #106

We  met a couple of birders on the drive back to the main road and told them how to find the Little Owl which they'd not seen, we hoped they did find it as it wasn't where we'd spotted it when we drove past.

From the farmland mosses we headed further north for another attempt at the Bewick's Swans. We soon found the flock of Whooper Swans they were probably with but it was so far away across the fields we needed the telescope that we didn't have with us today. With that disappointment we went further up to Plover Scar where another birder was just leaving and told us of a Barn Owl that had been hunting the ditches - we didn't see it but the sound of singing Skylarks in the frosy morning air was glorious. The tide was dropping as we went for a mooch along the seawall to see what we could see. Curlews, Oystercatchers and Redshanks were the most numerous birds but a duck on the water was more interesting...an Eider #107

The following day we were out with t'mutt for his late afternoon walk and what an awful afternoon it was, reet dreich as a Scots person might saw, dark, grey, dingy and raining. Perfect conditions for spotting the Snow Bunting that's been kicking around the cliff/dunes/prom close to Base Camp. We've been seeing it fleetingly about once every 10 days but today it sort of hung around even if a little flighty. No-one in their right mind would carry a camera on a day like that but then everyone has a phone in their pockets these days...The Snow Bunting continued to flit about on the grass bank not too far away from us so ever so cautiously the phone cane out of the pocket. Full Zoom was selected and we held it in the direction of said bird...

Maybe we should have used Night Mode??? Hopefully optomistic we asked our fellow Challengers if they could identify what was in the picture, if they could we could count it towards our tally. The answers came back...a 'shriky thing', nothing, even a Weasel was touted by wildlife savvy IH! So, no we can't count it but would we be able to get a much improved pic before it heads northwards, that was going to be another challenge.

Our next safari saw us with CR and IH at Martin Mere WWT reserve again. It was another grey and drizzly day. Our first port of call was the feeders, on the way we spotted a Brown Hare in the distance guarding the entrance to the Harrier Hide, a nice way to start the day!

The feeders were unusually quiet but as it was raining we stuck it out just in case something of note should show up. Eventually the rain eased and that was our cue to head round to the opposite end of the reserve...the thinking being if we've had at least 60 hours of miserable weather the Barn Owls will be hungry and needing to hunt, the break in the weather is going to bring them out. the hunch was right and we didn't have long to wait. #108 - over half way to our target of 15 for the month now.

After a while hunting the bull's field it swept in front of us and moved over towards the mere to our left.

It then disappeared, possibly circling behind us. Our attention was then turned to the pools in front of us to check all the Teal for any Green Winged Teal that may have secreted themselves among the many hundreds of their Old World counterparts...that's got to be done at this time of year. We couldn't find any, if indeed there were any to be found, We did however find an unexpected quartet of Avocets, a nice little bonus towards our February target. #109. They didn't do much just stood in a line up to their bellies in the water chilling out all day.

Two Kingfishers were also seen but neither were in a photographable location. A shout went up in the hide - someone had spotted the Barn Owl again, only this time there were two. One of which was a little closer than the earlier one.

It even thought about trying  an impression of a Cattle Egret at one point; either that or its eyes were much much bigger than its belly!

But soon it was back to business as usual quartering the fileds for voles.

We hoped one of them would land on a nearby post but neither did, rather they both took themselves further and further away from us across through paddocks. So we took our leave of them and headed back towards the feeders. On the way we called in at the little hide and watched this Little Egret doing its foot-stirring thingy

With little to show for its efforts it decided to swith opools and went for an overland wander rather than take to the wing.

Having a little shimmy on the way.

A brief stop at the Discovery Hide gave us a very close fishing Cormorant. We didn't see it catch any fish but they do swallow small prey items underwater.

For some reason we gave the feeders a miss and continued round to the UU hide where we were kindly shown a Kingfisher. Was this a third one or one of the two we'd seen earlier?

Along the dyke from the Kingfisher and on the opposite side was this bedraggled male Kestrel sat atop his lookout post.

His eyesight must be phenomenal as after a few minutes he swooped down 30 odd yards to nail a worm or other small invertebtrate in the grass

Time for the feeders! The Reed Buntings have found they can collect seeds fallen from the bird table without having to take part in the hustle and bustle that goes on above them.

A female Chaffinch has learnt the trick too.

There was a rattle of camera shutters when a male Great Spotted Woodpecker turned up.

A woodpecker eating Millet - what's that all about? Then a female arrived,

There was a second female too, this second one was a leucistic individual with very pale brown wings, somehow we didn't get a pic of her. We did get the obligatory pic of the pools resident Moorhen though, it's just got to be done; no ifs, buts or maybes.

In the distance we could hear that it was getting near time for the mayhem to begin...otherwise known as the afternoon swan feed. Off we went to the Discovery Hide to get our ring-side seats. 

While the Ranger got herself organised we fired off some point blank shots at the usual suspects.

You can't beat a bit of vermiculation and those found on Pintails and Pochards are exquisite.

The Ranger went out with her barrow of grain, the decibels rose, a flurry of scattering wings soon returned when she threw the first couple of scoops of grain.

After the third scoopful was launch the scrummage began in earnest.

Birds arrived from further out on the lake pitching in wherever there was a  few square inches to get they feet onto - it was bedlam, a seething mass of forward moving feathers...unstoppable in their quest for the free grub.

In the thick of the ducks was a wader, a Black Tailed Godwit with a horrendous looking injury.

Look closely at the foot on the damaged leg, it's horriblby swollen and has lost the claws - yuk!

Then we spotted what we'd been hoping for, a Ruff had joined the party #110

It was now just about time to leave but we couldn't go without a couple more Pintail shots - what a bonny duck.

We were now at two thirds of our February target for the Challenge and only one day into the second week, things were going well but could they/would they continue???

Where to next? There's little change in the local bird world at this time of year, would the water levels in our favourite wetlands remain (too) high, could we get those next five species? 

In the meantime let us know who's doing the scrummaging in your outback.

The ton is up

The Safari left you on a cliffhanger at the end of our last blog, would we or wouldn't we get 100 species of birds photographed by the end of January. Well it's now the end of the first week of February and we're on 103 but have been plagued by two weeks of seriously grotty weather...did we or didn't we...read on...

Desperate for a safari away from our usual haunts with some better shelter we had Pennington Flash near Wigan suggested to us. Now we've not been there since 2019 mostly due to the fear of getting caught in humungous motorway traffic jams on the way back to Base Camp at the end of the day. These road works have been going on for years now and we have been stuck in them on non-safari days, once for five hours! So you can understand our reluctance to venturte that way...But after umming and ahhing at IH's suggestion we plugged the post code into the sat nav and knock us down with a feather it suggested an alternative route we could have been using in all those intervening years...dohhhhh. We picked up CR without further ado and followed the sat nav's very easy route to our destination with IH turning up from the Southside a few minutes later.

A bitterly cold strong wind was blowing across the lake but we headed for the shelter of the wooded areas passing a well watched Siskin in a bankside Alder tree.

The Feeding Station was awash with Grey Squirrels, at least a dozen of them. There was plenty of food for the birds but with that many squirrels gorging themselves on it it wasn't going to last very long...and there was a similar number of Mallards enticed off the adjecent pond by the copius free handout too. The smaller birds flitted in and out as best they could when the opportunites arose.

But there was no sign of the one we really wanted to see, the local Willow Tits. After a very enjoyable lengthy watch we moved on down an extremely muddy track to the next hide passing another small feeding station of four small bird tables secreted in the edge of the scrub. This was very active with Blue, Great and Coal Tits but still no Willow Tits. The hide overlooks a fairly large pool with an island in the middle much favoured by the local Goosanders.

Everything else on the pool was tucked up in the margins on the far side Tufted Ducks, a couple of Pochards, Little Grebes, Teal, a few Shoveler and Mallard, a nice selection of waterfowl. A Wren acted like a mouse along the side of the ditch below the hide window diappearing under the thick layer of fallen grass in the hunt for whatever invertebrates it could find but no Kingfishers were perched on the ditchside twigs nor flew along it. Continuing our circuit the wooded areas were indeed pleasantly sheltered but sadly lacking in birdlife. The next hide was good though with eight Herons stood on the bankwith one Little Egret, it's not often you see more herons than egrets these days. Then a flash of blue shot by followed by a second and this one perched in a nearby tree but well hidden by intervening twigs and branches requiring that scariest of photographic techniques - manual focus!

Not the best but Kingfisher became bird #94, Little Grebe at the previous hide would have been had it not been so far away as to only about three pixels in the frame. By now it was lunch time so back to our vehicles to collect the butties/pies etc. Lunch was devoured at the small hide we'd not visited on the morning lap. It overlooks a different part of the pool we saw the Kingfisher and probaly one of the same two from early appeared in a slightly more open position in a nearby bush.

From there it was round to the Feeding Station again, crossing our fingers that Willow Tit would turn up. None did although there were plenty of Reed Buntings to keep us entertained

It was soon time to have another look at those small bird tables. The usual suspects were still there.

And then...BINGO...a Willow Tit appeared...#95

Followed soon after by a Great Spotted Woodpecker annoyingly keeping round the back of the tree at first

Before showing itself in all its glory...#96

Discression is the better part of valour so it is said and this time we left the little feeding station by the way we came instead of traipsing through the thick mud again. This time the 'Goosander Island' Hide came up trumps with the Little Grebes now more active and had moved a lot closer although still a bit distant for 'proper' shots.

Leaving the Goosanders to their island

we moved on passing a tiny pool, not much more tha na puddle really which was well illuminated by the afternoon sun. "It would be good if a Kingfisher was sitting on those well lit branches" said CR not realising a few feet away in the gloomy side of the pool there was one!

We edged forwards as stealthily as possible

The pics would have been so much better had the bird been sat 20 feet to the left. We managed to get a couple of passers-by on to it too which was good. Continuing on in to the sheltrered wooded area either CR or IH spotted a Siskin high in the tops of the trees but we couldn't find it and before we'd finished searching one of them had spotted a Goldcrest low in the trees on the opposite side of the track. This was in the better light...at times!

A nice bonus for #98 as we'd missed one up Beacon Fell a couple of days earlier.

We had another look from the hide where we first saw the Kingfisher and this time watched a female Bullfinch acrobatically stripping buds from a Hawthorn tree close to where the Kingfisher had been sat erlier.

As time was now pressing and it was getting gloomier by the minute there was just enough time for a last look at the little bird tables. We did see another Willow Tit but it was in and out too fast for us.

And then like this Nuthatch it was time for us to leave.

Another great safari in the bag, loads seen and another few added to the Challenge tally; now standing at 98 with five days left, surely we can get the last two in that time...but the weather had other ideas and poor conditions kept us stuck at Base Camp although we did bump into another Snow Bunting while walking the dog yes you've guessed it - no camera! It wasn't until the penultimate day of  the year we were able to get out for an impromptu safari picking up CR on the way to Middleton up north. The sun was shining and we had the morning ahead of us. Arriving on site CR said he could see our target even before we'd drawn the car to a stop...Glossy Ibis - not a bad 'from the car' tick. After getting out of said car we couldn't see it for a while - we were looking too far away and the bird was hidden behind a fence rail. But then there it was in all its multi-coloured finery shimmering the sunshine.

What a beauty for #99 but could we get the ton up today? With a bit of  time to spare we had a look at the nearby Heysham nature reserve and Red Rocks while giving the pooch a bit of a run at the same time. It was deadly quite apart from a singing Chaffinch, the first we've heard this year. We were hoping for something like a Jackdaw or maybe the Brent Geese on the rocks but the tide was out there and there were very few birds within any sort of range. Maybe we should havev gone round to Half  Moon Bay but unfortunately we didn't have enough time and had to high tail it back to Base Camp with the tally stuck on 99 with one day to go. That evening we saw two Snow Buntings fly into the remnant dunes on the prom in the very last of the daylight, we tried to get a phone pic of one of them but it flitted off to somewhere unseen before we'd got the phone out of our pocket...One day to get one species - we had a plan!

The 31st was an average grey sort of a January day without much wind thankfully. We loaded up the camera, dog, and half a loaf of bread and headed to the shopper's car park in the nearby village of Poulton-le-Fylde. St Chad's church is a well known Jackdaw haunt. We did see some on a roof top not far from Base Camp while en route but the pics weren't great, it's a bit awkward pointing a long lens towards bedroom windows while sttod beside a busy road.

We'd got our ton, happy days, but could do with a better pic so we carried on to Poulton where the Jackdaws were indeed in the churchyard and showing much better than the roadside ones earlier.

One of them even got to sample the bait we'd brought just in case...

Mission accomplished 100 species of birds photographed during January and with about 6 hours of daylight to spare - Result!!!

And then reality hit home. All that hard work will mean progreesing with our Challenge during February and into March isn't going to be easy, we've sort of shot ourselves in the foot a bit. Well we've got to give the other challengers time to catch up before the summer visitors arrive in the spring.

Target for February will be 15 and only 5 more for March...how will we fare?

 

Where to next? Another safari northwards beckons.  

In the meantime let us know who's got the taste for bread in your outback.