Hanging on in the Inland North

The Safari signed up to the Patchwork Challenge again this year but after not doing it last year we haven't got a 'Comparative' score.

We're not doing too badly currently (September table) lying in 18th place but only added one species, Short Eared Owl, for the whole of October to bring the 100 up, so with all the good stuff around elsewhere in the country we're likely to suffer a bit of a dip. It's not life or death though (unlike the family stuff we've got going on at the mo) and does make you look/listen at/to every bird you come across and encourages participation in Citizen Science through the magnificent BirdTrack.

All we ask is we try to keep up with young Findlay Wilde who is a few places ahead of us having seen several more species on his patch but who has a far worse 'PPB - Point's per Bird' suggesting the quality of birds at the nature reserve is pretty good! In fact if the table was based on PPB we'd be a little higher at 14th, where Finn is now. All to play for and all good fun.

For Patch 2, in the 'Coastal North' league, we're not going so well languishing near the foot of the table with only 75 species seen but again if it was based on PPB we'd be a little higher at 16th rather than 32nd and the quality of birds on Patch 2 is actually a little better than at the nature reserve! It'll be even better for our October score as we found that Yellow Browed Warbler and gained ourselves 3 'bonus' points. If only we could have found one on one of our very infrequent visits to the nature reserve too - as far as we're aware the species still hasn't been recorded there - but we could be wrong.

Today is the debate in Parliament about driven grouse shooting. Will our elected representatives listen to science, evidence and reason or be swayed by the big money and the Establishment? For the sake of the future of our uplands we hope the former but fear they will pay more heed to the latter and little will be done to protect our uplands from the illegal activities, wanton vandalism and ecocide that is currently being carried out in the name of 'sport'. We are very much saddened by the amount of 'legal' killing of Mountain Hares, Stoats, Weasels, Foxes, Badgers, Crows, Magpies and of course the by-catch that ends up in their snares and traps. The mammals should be afforded the same protection in law as the birds - why shouldn't they? The reason they don't is probably that at the time the law-makers were the hunting, shooting fishing land-owning brigade, so while it was OK to protect a Yellowhammer or a Blackbird it wasn't OK to protect a Stoat or a Weasel or a Pine Marten...don't forget it was sometime after all the other bird species that Sparrowhawks became protected. But this isn't about us v them or plebs v the landed gentry it's about what's right, moral, ethical and for the greater good in the 21st Century. Going to be a long hard fight to get those who are still firmly in the 19th C mindset of hookybeak and claw = vermin to change their ecologically illiterate views particularly as even more money is at stake with super-wealthy Asians and others apparently being invited to join grouse shoots. 

Our uplands should be green, verdant, biodiverse places clothed in stunted, twisted (mainly) Sessile Oak, Rowan and Silver Birch trees and Hawthorn, Gorse and Juniper scrub clinging to steep hillsides, the trees themselves bedecked in a myriad species of mosses, lichens and liverworts and an understorey of (some) Heather, Bilberry and Bracken with Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts and Tree Pipits singing from their branches. The boggy areas too wet for trees ought to be active water retaining, carbon storing peat-bogs echoing to the alarm calls of wading birds dodging the Hen Harriers and Peregrines that have sadly been extirpated in recent years in the Safari's nearest uplands. The only Hen Harrier you'll see in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding (un)Natural (not very) Beauty(ful) is printed on the roadside boundary signs - what a shame - - no it's despicable actually!!!
On our recent trip to Sardinia we had a glimpse of what British uplands might have once looked like and should look like again, although with the caveat that the two climates are very different.. Even these Sardinian uplands are much modified by man and lacking in large mammalian predators but they are so much more attractive and biodiverse than our own where wildlife is almost non-existent bar a few Meadow Pipits, far too many Red Grouse, too much Heather, and a lot of Purple Moor Grass and Bracken.
But the Sardinian upland forests are also productive, for those that like killing things a sustainable harvest of Wild Boar provided quality sausages and hearty casseroles (yummmmm), there were sheep too who's milk was made into a plethora of artisan delicious sheep's cheeses, the flavour and succulence their lamb was far superior to ours too - probably because the sheep had a much wider diet of all manner of grasses and herbs. The trees themselves provided sustainable coppice products and firewood. There's no reason why some ((most) of our uplands couldn't be like that once more as names like Wolf Fell, Wolfhole Crag, Wild Boar Clough suggest.
If the killers really want to kill something why don't they at least do some good by killing (and very preferably eating too) the aliens such as Canada Geese, Grey Lag Geese, Muntjac Deer, Sika Deer (OK they were featured on Autumnwatch but it they really ought to have been native Red Deer in those woods) even Grey Squirrels! At least then their blood-lust would actually have some conservation benefits unlike burning to death hundreds of hibernating Common Lizards, Adders, Hedgehogs, sapling trees that have escaped the nibbling teeth of sheep, all those countless species of invertebrates the ecosystem needs to survive and of course the 'lesser' plants the mosses lichens and liverworts.

Good grief a hill with trees on it - who'd have thunk it and a thriving village too

Wouldn't it be good - but don't hold your breath those vested interests and well heeled aren't going to give up their 'fun' at the drop of a hat.
Today Patch 2 it was very misty and we didn't see much, top of not a lot were a Grey Wagtail and six Red Throated Divers one of which was reasonably close, ie less than half a mile!
Where to next? More Patch 2 stuff, could do with some decent vis-mig or better still a bit of a fall.
In the meantime let us know who's committing all the environmental vandalism and ecocide in your outback.

What a squaccing good show

The Safari was chatting to our Extreme Photographer the other night. He was telling us that a Squacco Heron had been found wandering around a private garden not far from his work. Limited access had been arranged by members of the local bird club so off he went. Apparently it was frequenting a large garden pond in a large garden that backed on to the estuary on to which it disappeared for parts of the day.

However he struck lucky and the bird was there when he arrived although he did say that the home-owner was very chatty which put him off getting some better/action shots of the bird. We don't think he did too badly though...

What a garden tick for someone! A bird we've only seen once in Britain long ago in the mid 90s after a mad after work dash across the Pennines to East Yorkshire arriving to see it go to roost just as the light was fading - a great twitch in the old Lada estate.

Back at our Extreme Photographers Base Camp tucked away in the deep depths of the Pembrokeshire countryside he has a Buzzard which often visits his garden on the look out for the Rats that are attracted to the spilled seeds under his bird feeders. He tells us that it is very very wary and extremely hard to approach.

Not at all wary and extremely approachable, actually it approaches him rather than the other way round is his young tame Fox which we think could be curled up on his sofa come Christmas!

Continuing the canine theme and just as cute our little Monty is 10 weeks old today and running us ragged. His sharp puppy teeth are ripping the backs' of our hands to shreds while he is playing...aka fighting - he plays rough!

When he's not playing rough he looks as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - don't be fooled!

That can't be comfy!

He gets his second inoculation on Monday so will be out n about starting his birding list in the big bad world the following week.

Where to next? More motorway birding tomorrow as it's another day of hospital visiting.

In the meantime let us know who turned up at your garden pond from far away places.

Owl's that

The Safari hasn't been out much due to worrying family stuff and some good family stuff. The good stuff happened on Sunday and on Monday we were able to have a morning out with LCV and young H down on the nature reserve.

As soon as we arrived we happened across several Goldcrests. As we walked down the track we had a good look at a Great Spotted Woodpecker high in the tallest trees over by the golf course.

A look across the mere didn't give us any nearby ducks for H to study and learn, there was just a juvenile Mute Swan and that swam away from us. Down on the embankment we met up with FB who was listening and looking for the Bearded Tits that had been seen less than an hour earlier. Eventually LCV heard then caught sight of two of them very briefly - we were away down the track looking the wrong way. We did see the pair of Stonechats and managed just one pic.

The pair were together performing well at the top of an isolated Hawthorn bush but sadly they were on the wrong side of the light and they flew off while we tried to sneak round the other side, the swines!
Dinner time approached so we left the invisible, silent Bearded Tits to their reedbed and the noisy Cetti's Warbler to it's ditch but didn't get far before a Short Eared Owl (MMLNR #100) appeared over the tree tops the Great Spotted Woodpecker was in. It didn't quite come close enough but did fly round over the water upsetting the gulls giving us all great views.

Both pics are heavily cropped and processed so they they do actually look a bit like an owl

These used to be the default owl at the nature reserve until the golf course destroyed their open rough grassland habitat. now the golf course tree and shrub planting has matured the default owl are  the Long Eared Owls and it's almost time to go to look for them once the trees have lost their leaves. Some of the planted trees are now so large that a Tawny Owl is occasionally seen although not by us...yet! 

After chomping our butties we headed off to another site but a phone call from Wifey had us responding to yet another family emergency almost before we got a chance to lift our bins and that was the end of our safari for the rest of the day.

Where to next? More Patch 2 tomorrow, we will strike lucky one day; will it be in the morning?


In the meantime let us know who came as an unexpected visitor in your outback.

Flower power

The Safari arrived at work to a beautiful sunrise yesterday. It didn't last very long and didn't develop any further than this.

But the light morning and lack of wind encouraged us to get out asap. From the wall the sun rising behind us was illuminating the clouds in the distance out to the west.

The promised sun continued to shine most of the day which brought out a Red Admiral to nectar on the Castor Oil plant with the multitude of hoverflies. A Grey Wagtail flew over the gardens, not a rare sighting but neither are they regular here.

Our lunchtime visit to the sea wall gave us a decent count of over 500 Common Scoters but not a great lot else save for a low flying male Eider headed down towards the estuary.

As we were leaving work at the end of the day we spotted a few more than several little snails sat perched up in the flowers of the French Marigolds. We can't ever remember seeing that before - surely we have, have we?

This morning there was some Blackbird and Robin activity in the garden and we also thought we heard a Chiffchaff but we were looking after Monty and couldn't get out for a proper look. We did however get a good look at a flock of about 60 Jackdaws that came in from the south east and circled the water tower several times. They'd flap round and round for ages then one or two would start to glide followed almost instantaneously by all the others. This happened a few times, never noticed them do that before, have we? After about half an hour they drifted off together to the north east.

Not a lot happened for the rest of the day, much of the time young Monty was firmly affixed too our foot or ankle - is he a puppy or a hairy Piranha? At least legs are repairable which the furniture isn't...no doubt he'll eat the furniture once he's eaten us!

Where to next? Not much chance of getting out tomorrow due to puppy duties again but we'll keep our eyes and ears open, not for any wildlife but for the snapping jaws of the man-eating pupster!

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

Big influx

The Safari didn't manage to get out yesterday, totally thwarted by adverse weather early morning and at lunchtime. In between we were working in the garden with our volunteers but neither heard nor saw owt of note or interest other than a few chunky Eristalis tenax hoverflies still taking advantage of any sunshine on the Caster Oil plant flowers.

If there were any passing Leach's Petrels, as there was across the bay, we had no chance of getting out to look for them in the driving rain and high tide sploshing over the wall. The Black Browed Albatross seen 'just round the corner' the other day turned south rather than north ending up doing a tour of the Scilly Isles and far west Cornish coast. B*gger!

This morning was much brighter and our quick visit to the sea wall gave us a horde of Lugworm diggers down at the low tide. We do worry about the amount of worms these guys take. One took eight in five minutes which works out at 96 an hour or nearly 200 in the two hours the tide is that low and he was one of a dozen diggers which is nearly 2500 worms and they and others will have been out on other low tides this week so x7 is getting on for the best part of 20000 worms lost out of the ecosystem. How sustainable is this considering it is now spawning season for them? Indeed there is a survey for you to get involved with going on right now! Is there any regulation by anybody, has anybody ever even considered any regulation? However, it would seem that they have a high capacity for recovering this amount of loss and the beach here is huge so there will be plenty of unworked areas with worms but it does beg the question how does removing this amount of food from the ecosystem affect other species, for example the rapidly declining Curlew, not to mention the impact of disturbance from several humans in (often) bright clothing on birds that need to feed during the low tide period. Having said that the gulls, which admittedly are much less bothered about humans than many other species, approach quite close but ignore the buckets full of worms preferring to find their own food. The Oystercatchers too, although much more wary than the gulls, don't seem to be over bothered by the presence of people, perhaps it's because they don't move quickly or far and have apparently predictable movements.

Talking of Oystercatchers this morning there were a lot more than we've seen in recent weeks, well over 500 within our patch and many more further south towards the river. Sanderlings too were numerous with at least 300 of them with about 50 Dunlin mixed in with them. By far the most waders we've seen for a long time.

The sea was choppy so getting an accurate estimate of the numbers of Common Scoters out there was impossible and other than a small flock of Cormorants we didn't see anything else.
This afternoon we were able to grab a few minutes and have a bash at getting some pics of the hoverflies before the sun went round and cast the bush in to shade.

Where to next? More Patch 2 gawping tomorrow, the wind should have died down a bit by the morning so searching through the Common Scoter flock for an odd one out might be a bit easier.
In the meantime let us know who's ransacking your outback without a care in the world.






 

New arrivals

The Safari has been a bit occupied these last few days. Most of our time has been spent wiping the floor with a wet cloth! The little chap has a lot of learning to do and how can such a small animal hold so much pee???

We've been having fun though, he's already leaned his name, Monty and is beginning to get the hang of recall already which is impressive for such a young puppy, we just hope he keeps it up and gets really good at it. It came in very useful at tea-time today when we lost him, you only have to take your eye off him for a couple of seconds and he can be gone! He'd managed to sneak into the front room through the barrier we'd put up and where he's not allowed, luckily he came running from places unknown when called - phew we thought he might have got out under the back gate and out into the big wide world where he's not safe until he's had his next vaccination jab.

Day 1

Day 5

We were trying very unsuccessfully to get some video of him playing ball for the first time this arvo when a few Redwings (Garden #29) looked like they were thinking about dropping into our Crab Apple tree which is covered in succulent bright red berries.
As dusk fell wee went to put some recycling in the bin and saw the small murmuration, about 30 odd) of Starlings was happening again just up the hill from us, wonder if it'll build up into any more than just the local birds. Other small flocks were passing overhead aiming to the traditional North Pier roost.

Where to next? There's a Black Browed Albatross wandering the Irish Sea now that would be something to find on Patch 2 tomorrow morning.  

In the meantime let us know who's turned your outback upside down.

Thought it best to get out and bash some bushes

The Safari set off for work slightly earlier than usual this morning with the intention of finding one of those Siberian Sprites that have graced our shores this last week or so. We stopped off at the park where we'd seen the one last week. It's been a hotspot for good birds for many years with all manner of rarities turning up but the only Yellow Browed Warbler recorded there before last week's bird was one that had got itself trapped inside someone's house and caught in a big sweetie jar and released there. 

We had a good mooch about but trying to hear anything calling was difficult with the horrendous traffic noise, it really is an awful thing; how on earth does wildlife put up with it? We did manage to hear a Chiffchaff call from one of the groups of trees in the middle of the park and then a Goldcrest piped up. We sort of did a zig-zig across the middle of the park taking in the scattered groups of trees stopping for a listen every so often, apart from the traffic it was very quite! A couple of Robins and a Wren were normal fare for a suburban park and it wasn't until we were almost back at the car that we heard then saw something more interesting, a flock of Long Tailed Tits working their way through the  roadside tree tops. A good 'carrier' flock so stopped in front of them and waited for them to pass. There's still lots of leaves on the trees, we haven't had a decent autumn blow to knock them off yet, so counting and keeping up with the Lotties was tricky. There were at least 10 of them but the only other bird we could find with them was a Blue Tit. further back in the direction from which the flock had come from we heard two more Goldcrests call and with the clock now pushing on it was time to leave.

Instead of having a look at Patch 2, which could have been a silly decision as seven Bottlenose Dolphins were seen across the bay yesterday, we had a wander round the work's garden - all very quite save for two Robins (down from six over the last couple of days) and the almost mega rare Wren is still here.

A mid-morning tea-break saw us out in the garden for a very quick shuffy again, this time we had three Robins but nothing else.

Lunchtime came and again we decided to hit the garden with the camera this time just in case a Robin pic more than anything. We headed out of the back door and went past our wild garden, at the end of the building we heard the loud penetrating inflected 'tsweet', it can only have been made by a Yellow Browed Warbler so we followed the calls round the corner and stared at the hedge for a few moments. More excited calling, a flit, a brief glimpse and then it was up and away across the road. Thankfully the hedge isn't too tall and there aren't that many bushes by the tram tracks so we were able to see where it landed. 

A tram traveler waiting for his ride saw our bins and camera and asked what we had seen. It was calling again and now we had two pairs of eyes looking for it if it should show itself. A House Sparrow popped out to chew on some fallen Dandelion seeds.

Eventually, after what seemed lake an age the minuscule warbler did break cover right on the top of the shrubs and we both got a quick but half decent view before it went back in to cover. It didn't stay there long a couple of minutes later it popped up again this time on the promenade handrail where it showed really well - enough for our new friend to exclaim 'wow it has got a yellow brow hasn't it!' before it shot off over our heads to the next bushes to the south. We shot off after it leaving our friend to catch his approaching tram.  We had one more brief glimpse of it flitting low down on the backside of the bushes before it was lost forever. No chance of a pic but we're well chuffed that a self found Yellow Browed Warbler (P2 #76) is on the list. We tried a quick look at the bushes further down the track but could only find this rather sizeable Common Wasp sunning itself.

Back at Base Camp excitement has reached fever pitch with the arrival of the puppy, Monty. Our lives have changed forever...we wont tell you how many times he's peed on the carpet already, only been in the house two hours!
Where to next? More scouring of the work's bushes and we have a group of youngsters out on the beach rockpooling late afternoon so hopefully they'll find some interesting stuff to tell you about.
In the meantime let us know who's causing mayhem in your outback.