A well worthwhile ten minutes on the patch

The Safari was keen to get out because as we drove along the Prom to work the sea looked bob on for spotting a mammal or two. 

We didn't see any mammals but it wasn't a bad quarter hour though. A pair of Red Breasted Mergansers (P2 # 42) flew north in the middle distance, OK for starters!

Apart from the usual 2-300 Common Scoters nothing much was out there until a lone Curlew followed roughly the same track as the Red Breasted Mergansers. It was when we were tracking that that we heard a finchy call and turning round there were seven Siskins (P2 #43) coming our way at about eye-level just the other side of the wall, a great year bird but not only that a Patch 2 Lifer to boot!

Again we scanned for mammals without any joy until we picked up three distant ducks coming our way which turned into two male and a female Eiders (P2 #44) - all good, smiles all round. And then we found another pair sat on the sea beyond the first line of scoters.

All too soon our watch had to end mammal-less.

Lunchtime couldn't compete with that lot and was more or less a dead loss apart from a couple of Red Throated Divers.

Is it just us or are there a lot fewer Coltsfoots around than last year, but that's the beauty of plants and the variety in the seasons; the conditions dictate which plants will fare better than others in any given year.

Where to next? More of the same and the conditions look even better for mammal spotting on Patch 2 but will there be any to be spotted?

In the meantime let us know how who all the migrants were in your outback.

BTW have you seen RL's pics of the Slow Worms he found in the middle of Safariland at the weekend?

A day of mixed miscellany

The Safari was eager to get out and check the moth trap this morning. The season's first attempt so we weren't expecting much but were hopeful of something in there. Nothing! not a sniff!
No more activity in the pond either although the Frog was croaking loudly again last night.

We went in to make a brew when we heard the familiar sound of geese going over, a dash to the front door was just in the nick of time as we saw about 75 Pink Footed Geese disappearing over our short northern horizon. Also out there somewhere out of sight in the gardens on the other side road to our right was a House Sparrow or two chirruping away, close but not close enough...yet!

A leisurely breakfast followed and we spent much of the morning watching not much happening on the feeders.

After Wifey had gone out we took Frank to Patch 1 or at least Magpie Wood, Frank is terribly slow these days sniffing here and sniffing there as he staggers along but that gave us a chance to have a good look at a Goldcrest working its way through a neighbour's hedge.

Round the corner an enormous bumble bee flew past us. 

Not much else was about and even this short walk knackered the old fella out.

The sun came out in the afternoon and it was quite summery. We chopped some more wood and split some kindling with no shirt on before getting the sun chair out and enjoyed a good half hour sunbathe - wasn't expecting that! Loved it!!!

After Frank was rested and the sun was still out we decided to go to the coast and have a look at the rising tide. By now the sun had gone in and conditions for looking for cetaceans were ideal with a shadowless sea with little in the way of swell and waves.

We've increased the contrast on this pic to show the rays to better effect - the eye often sees things differently to the camera's sensor in real life.

Out a sea we didn't see any cetaceans or Grey Seals but there was a huge flock of Common Scoters right on the limit of our bins. A couple of Dunlin flew past as did a small flock of Oystercatchers, later one came off the sea and flew over our heads going inland to feed while the tide was high. 

Plenty of Turnstones were seen feeding on the steep wall of the old boating pool wall but at this range we couldn't tell if there were any of the Purple Sandpipers with them.

We tried some gull in flight shots but it was too dark by now. 

Frank met a lovely young Pharaoh Hound and for the first time in ages actually wanted to play, initiating the moves - he was a grand looking dog and Frank was smitten, not seen him initiate play for ages.

We sat there for over an hour without seeing any blubber and the temperature failing - time to give up and go and get a well earned cuppa.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 where we hope Saturday's two or more Harbour Porpoises are still about.

In the meantime let us know what's all blubbery in your outback

Still winter out there

The Safari was out minutes after 07.00 on our way to the North Blackpool Pond Trail for our first Winter Thrushes survey of the month. It wasn't as cold as the clear overnight skies had suggested but the wind had a bit of a nip to it. Once on the trail we saw that the carpets of Lesser Celandine were full of flower but given the early hour these were all still tightly budded in their slumbers another couple of hours and a bit of sun was needed to get them to open to greet the day.

A Song Thrush sang from the remnant bit of hedge between the horse fields and another answered it from the Community Orchard, a third non-singer was seen foraging on the ground in the orchard. Overhead a Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed loudly but we couldn't find him in the tangle of branches. Chaffinches,Wren and Dunnock sang too.

The Snowdrops at the orchard have finished after their dazzling display and now it is the turn of the Daffodils to show, as much as we like them we rarely see bees or other insects visiting them so we'd much rather people would plant Cowslips or Primroses if they want a bit of roadside yellow; far more beneficial!

We noted Blackbirds in their usual and not so usual places, indeed some of the usual places were unoccupied today. A Grey Squirrel was in the cemetery and it was watching that that we saw two Mistle Thrushes that if flushed, a few yards further on a Song Thrush was heard singing in the distance.

The cemetery has a fine display of Crocuses which will be coming to the end of their season soon so we were pleased to capture the glorious techicoloured show.

If we're being hyper-critical we'd say they were planted to close to the track, a mowers width back would have been better but we wouldn't say no to being dumped under that lot when our time comes.

The soundtrack to our walk was the dainty ditties of Dunnocks and the chittering and dzweees of Greenfinches, of which we saw six in one bush.

The first of the roadside Dandelions was also seen. fantastic plants for wildlife being an essential source of nectar for early emerging insects and loved by bumble bees and butterflies, so please Say No to the Mow and let this common but severely under-appreciated wildlfower have its moment of glory livening up our roadsides and providing much needed food for our invertebrates.

In total we counted 39 Blackbirds along with the two Mistle Thrushes and single Song Thrush on our route. Another uncounted several Blackbirds on the pre-survey part of the NBPT probably brought our total for the morning to over 45.

The last few yards of the return journey gave us a Lesser Black Backed Gull (Garden #20) soaring over Base Camp with its mu

A look at the pond once back at Base Camp showed us that despite our Frog's nocturnal croackings no more females had turned up to lay their eggs - he was giving it some welly when we went out for a listen, will have to get the torch out tonight. Might even get the moth trap fired up for the first time this year - which reminds us we've been naughty and still not sent in last year's meagre records...meagre or not they still need reporting!

A dry and mild early afternoon gave us the chance to get some more wood cut for next winter. Wifey's getting to be quite useful with the old chainsaw.

Not happy with the footy today with Everton crashing out very unceremoniously of the FA Cup and 'Pool losing at home yet again - relegation is now far too close for comfort - we had hoped for seven points from the next three games this morning; well three of those are now long gone and the chance of getting one away at league leaders Leicester City looks beyond an impossibility.Over 10 games without a win now :-(

After the shock of the footy we decided to bury our disappointment by digging a hole and planting a Buddleia in it, we've been growing two tubs of cutting since last spring; the other is promised to a local school's nature area.

Before we could go out we had to wait for a finch invasion to move on - no wonder we're going through Sunny seeds at a rate of knots...where have this lot come from? At least seven Greenfinches and five Goldfinches!

Hopefully the cuttings will continue to grow and become a wildlife attracting hedge to replace the rotting fence. While digging the hole in the remains of a former compost heap we disturbed three juvenile Field Mice - not the ones we see on Stealth-cam, wonder how many there really are? Either the local cats are useless or we desperately need an owl or two.
Earlier today we shared a horrific picture of an Orang Utan, one of the planet's most gentle and  inoffensive creatures, which had succumbed to the ravages of habitat destruction to provide space for Palm Oil. Sadly the hypocrite that we are is having Aunt Bessie oven chips tonight - yes you've guessed it they're drenched in Palm Oil...at least the company has the bottle to label it unlike many others who put the confusing 'vegetable fat/oil, but hey-ho tasty as they are they're off the shopping list now!

Where to next? Well it must be summer cos the moth trap has gone out tonight. We can't wait to have a shuffy in the morning then we'll take Frank for a slow walk round a small part of the nature reserve...or we might take him a little further afield.

In the meantime let us know who's invaded your outback in unprecedented numbers today.

A bit of filming today

The Safari didn't get out until late today due to our final physio session, so we suppose we're now officially cured. 

It wasn't until lunchtime came round that we saw anything remotely connected to wildlife despite looking out of the office window more than a couple of times, there was no sign of yesterday's Magpie or Robin.

The wind had picked up a fair bit overnight and although it was sunny there was bit of a bite in the air. Several scans of the sea gave us nothing but Common Scoters so we gave up with the scope and went to get the camera instead with the intention of doing a bit of video for you so if you're not familiar with seawatching you get an idea of the conditions here at Patch 2. Todays wind was coming from slightly north of straight out and was fairly steady around 15 - 18 mph, not much in the way of gusts today. So mothiing out of the ordinary wind-wise.

The first bit of footage is shot at around 55 - 60x and the second one fully zoomed up at about 90x magnification or 2200mm equivalent. Still get a better view through the 30x scope but these short films give you an indication of what goes on on the other side of the sea wall. Best view full screen so as you can actually see ttthe black dots that are the Common Scoters.

Back at Base Camp we heard Long Tailed Tits at the bottom of the garden so checking the feeders we discovered that a kilo of food has been chomped - crikey after them hardly eating a thing over the winter they're now going through Sunny seeds like a dose of salts!

We had a sneaky peak in the pond fro the Frog, didn't see him but we did see a few blobs of newly laid spawn - oh happy days.

Happy days providing the fish don't get hungry as per usual! Think there seems to be five separate clumps there which would mean five females have snuck in under the radar.

So that's it for today, short n sweet but it is the weekend tomorrow.

Where to next? First thing tomorrow we'll be out on another Winter Thrushes survey...might be the first frosty morning we've done! Should be time for more safari-ing too, maybe even a butterfly at Base Camp in the afternoon sunshine.

In the meantime let us know who's getting seasick in your outback.

It's great when a plan comes together

The Safari has had a cracking day wildlifing today and it even started last night! We went out to put some recycling in the bin when we heard a Frog croaking from the pond - everyone else has been getting them so it would seem so we're relieved ours have returned.

Good so far...and then this morning even before we got to the office a movement through the corridor window by the bushes caught our eye - a Magpie (P2 #40) a real rare here, we didn't see one on Patch 2 last year and those that we do see are usually fly pasts along the seawall once or twice a year.

We dumped our bags in the office and grabbed the camera but someone with a dog wandered towards it and it flushed. Back in to the office we went and there it was through the window feasting with a few Black Headed Gulls on some bits of bread someone had thrown down! Phew!!! So a few pics were taken through the gloom and salt encrusted window.

The white post is one of several that are supposed to stop the mowing gangs going too close to the hedge and allowing our sandy-ground wildlflowers to bloom

The Magpie was flushed by another dogwalker and again we thought we'd lost it but again it reappeared and this time started to play with some twigs, weird given that it's a long way to the nearest tree.

Then another movement caught our eye deep in the hedge, a Dunnock hopped out but what we'd seen didn't seen 'right' for one of those. The mystery bird hopped back out and landed on one of the white posts but immediately was flushed by yet another dogwalker. Normally the local Robins are ambivalent to people and dogs if they are that far away but this one was really skittish. Eventually it sort of came out into the open - first of the year (P2 #41)

After a celebratory cuppa we had to go and find some specimens for our afternoon group. The plan was they would be out on the beach but the weather had closed in and we weren't sure if the forecasts were right and it would brighten up later or not. We got soaked but found some good stuff anyway so all was not lost. A couple of weeks ago we were on the beach and a big deep pool held lots of interesting things but today the sand is back and the pool is long gone, plenty more sand needeed to bring the beach back to its normal levels but the process has started.

Our group came and had their lunch then it was time to go exploring. To be honest we were a little apprehensive that we wouldn't be able to fill the time we had and weren't sure the children would enjoy it. We needn't have worried on either count. We ambled down the promenade listening to the sea and arrived at the end of the wall where we sat down and got out our boxes of tricks.
First of all we had a look at the rocks that are found in the shingle bank. Lots of interesting textures, colours and shapes. The one top left is the most interesting in that it's a piece of Old Red Sandstone- we don't normally find that here as our stones come from the north and most of the outcrops of that are to the south of us - like these little islands

There's lots of interesting felspars of  different colours and sizes of particles.
Then we had a look at the marine life we found on the strand-line including different types of seaweeds.

 The numbers are as follows:-
1 - Edible Whelks eggs
2 - Edible Whelk - still can't get our head round that the huge blobs of eggs come out of the much smaller shell.
3, 5 & 7 - Thornback Ray egg-cases
4 - Rayed Trough Shell with Necklace Shell predation hole
6 - Common Otter Shell
8 - Dead Man's Fingers
9 - Necklace Shells, common and Adler's
10 - Common Cockle
11 & 14 - Prickly Cockles
13 - bits of a Green Shore Crab, all we  could find of that species
15 - Common Razor
16 - Masked Crab carapace
17 - Pod Razor
18 - inside of a Rayed Trough Shell

And the rain held off, the wind wasn't windy and it was very mild - a perfect day for exploring the beach. All to soon it was time for the gang to go back to school - what a great session we'd had all thanks to the wonderful wildlife found on our brilliant beach.

We drew up back at Base Camp and opening the Land Rover door and heard a Mistle Thrush singing - excellent! Looking up we saw him on the neighbours TV aerial and luckily he didn't fly off as we got out with the camera.

What a great and very rewarding day!
Where to next? Back to looking at the Common Scoters on Patch 2
In the meantime let us know who's enjoying the marvelous wildlife in your outback

Struggling for an opportunity

The Safari has been out and about a bit but not come across much of great interest for you this week. Patch 2 has provided little out of the ordinary over the very low tides in the mornings, nothing more than a handful of Curlews, plenty of Oystercatchers and about 100 or more Sanderlings daily.

Even the gulls are well down in numbers now the shellfish wreck has waned away to next to nothing. The only real highlight was a Skylark (P2 #39), we saw none on Patch 2 last year.

Out at sea at both high and low tide we were limited to just a few hundred Common Scoters and precious little else.

Back at Base Camp we have a very loud and very welcome Song Thrush still singing away from across the gardens, a Wren was giving plenty this morning so we hope they'll nest somewhere close by again - no chance in the hanging basket they used previously as it's disintegrated.

Last night we took Frank out for his last sortie before bed and as soon as we were out of the door we heard Whooper Swans (Garden #20) passing almost overhead. A good one for the garden list!

It wasn't over by a long chalk - within a minute we watched a Fox trot across the road as casual as you like, it stopped on the pavement and looked at us, probably giggling at Frank rolling around legs in the air like a dying fly in the window. Luckily the dying fly didn't see or get a scent of it otherwise we'd have never got him back inside. Jupiter and the stars were looking good too.

Where to next? More of the same with deffo some beachy photo opportunities tomorrow as we have a group out in the afternoon.

In the meantime have a look at young Finn's blog today and let him know what you're doing/going to in your outback

World Wildlife Day

The Safari was pleased that today 3rd March has been declared World Wildlife Day but bear in mind we're still in the Decade of Biodiversity (2011 - 2020). You wouldn't think it given the scale of the War on Wildlife that's going on at the moment driven either by corporate greed and/or ridiculous ignorance in some parts of the world.

Our own Defra tweeted "for working for a future where people and willdlife coexist in harmony" - does that include calling a total and unequivocal halt to the ludicrous Badger cull and giving direction to Natural England to go for the throat of those in the Establishment that illegally persecute our raptors? So the war is here right on our own doorstep!

Talking of doorsteps one local supermarket chain has started selling 'dirty' Tuna! Surely in the 21st entury our supermarkets should be offering us the most ethical food by default not having to be named and shamed for what is basically malpractice. Said supermarket didn't even bother to take part in the MSC's survey - why not, what did they think they had to hide and why did they even have anything to hide?

Rhinos, Elephants, Tigers, Pangolins, Sharks, Rays, Sea Cucumbers, Wolves, Rain Forest, rare Parrots, farmland birds, pollinating insects, the amazing Monarch butterfly migration you name it there's a war against it - it's all getting a bit scary.

But extinction is forever and every time the least creature goes extinct then a link in the chain that sustains us is broken and all the others are strained just that little but more...and one day we'll cut the wrong link and no matter how much money we have it won't make two hoots to the outcome!

Where to next? Something more positive tomorrow - although we did see a distant Grey Seal wresting with a large fish ?Mullet, this arvo with BD, our first of the year.

In the meantime let us know who's trying to prevent the war in your outback