Late night update

The Safari has successfully avoided the nonsense that is pan European singing m'larky - trash for the masses to keep us from thinking about the bigger issues?

Little news from today other than a quick nip to the big park to look for Garden Warbler (dipped) and Spotted Flycatcher (160) but only one of the three there where found in the rain.

Where to next? Foreign parts tomorrow, should be able to keep you up to date - what will we find?

in the meantime let us know what's been hit and missed in your outback.

Almost crackin the flags!

The Safari was out in the garden chatting to our Extreme Photographer on the mobile blower last night when a very unexpected solitary Sand Martin flew over...Garden #32.

Frank had us up at ungodly o'clock...the numbers on the digital clock began with four! When yer dog's gotta go you've gotta get up and go with him...and we're quite glad we did as the cool morning air was filled with the song of a myriad of Blackbirds, there didn't seem to be much else singing, a Robin here and a Wren there but it was almost wall to wall Blackbirds and made all the better for the almost complete absence of human noise pollution...the milkman went by as did a couple of taxis but other than them it was a natural sounds all the way.

We'd put the moth trap out last night on the promise of a decent overnight weather forecast but almost as soon as we turned the  lamp on the rain, well only light drizzle, started. we made the decision to leave it out believing the good forecast and were relieved this morning to finds it bone dry. worryingly a blog of small bird poo was on one of the perspex sides to the 'funnel' has something twigged there's free scram to be had - would the trap be empty...

No it wasn't empty but it was hardly full either...just one Hebrew Character was all that was in there - it's got to get better than this. Is the weather, is it the local gardeners and their habitat destruction, is it the other local gardeners who go to the garden centres and buy bee and butterfly friendly plants whose compost is doused in neonicotinoid pesticides? Probably a mix of these and more but it truly is a very poor mothing season so far. Last year we didn't get any Hebrews in May they'd finished by the end of April.

After thoroughly searching through the egg boxes in the trap again to check we hadn't missed anything - we hadn't - we went back to bed until sensible o'clock.

Before Wifey got up we were  making her brekkie and noticed the female Blackbird went unto the Crab Apple tree and thence under the eaves into the garage so the nest we showed you yesterday is in use after all - nice! One of the three holes in the House Sparrow 'terrace' is occupied by a pair of Great Tits, we don't think there'll never be a House Sparrow in there.

Our third nest of the day wasn't a bird but a bee. Above the kitchen door is a crack in the brick work and a large White Tailed Bumble Bee was seen to go in a couple of times during the day...a day during which the sun shone very warmly at times, or at least in our sheltered garden it was. Much of the day was spent doing garden improvements with new tubs bought and new climbing plants to fill them, in the process of all this we brought the tub with the Clematis in from the front to put up in the corner of the garages and accidentally nudged the old hanging basket with the Wren's nest in it and out shot a very indignant Wren - so it looks like that's in use too - hope it's all right after all today's disturbance, tomorrow being forecast to be wet and windy should be a much quieter day for them.

So four nests at Base Camp - well chuffed - - big cheesy smiles all round!

Perhaps we should hav gone birding today rather than doing the garden as locally a Hobby and, more remarkably, a Bee-eater were seen nearby, what else might have been about?

Where to next? Little chance of the mothy being put out tonight and we'll be lucky to get anywhere tomorrow...but you never know.

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

PS Frank went to 'Fat Club' this arvo cos he has to lose at least 5kgs...and the first thing we have to do is give him more food! Almost double what he gets now; but very little in the way of treats, not that the broken pieces of rice cake he gets now are much of a treat for a growing dog.

Tiny hands = sharp eyes

The Safari was out on Patch 2 briefly this morning checking access fore the little ones. A quick look over the sea only gave us about a dozen Sandwich Terns and not a lot else, two dark looking interesting things approached from way to the south but we lost them in the haze before they got close enough for an ID. 

The little ones hit the beach and their grasping hands were soon filled with all shapes and sizes of shells, they particularly liked the rubbery horseshoe shaped ribbons of Necklace Shell eggs.

They found a few empty Masked Crab carapaces whose occupants are hidden deep in the sand somewhere else.

We had a skutch round the pots with the net and found a few Common Prawns and a single live juvenile Green Shore Crab. The littlies found the tiniest Brittle Star which when put in the water revealed itself to be still well and truly alive.

A sharp eyed child picked up this mangled shell of a Hermit Crab, Pargurus bernhardus, it's a lot bigger than the ones we usually find, the big claw is about three inches (75mm) long. It's actually another shed skin.

Better was to come when a small hand gave us a snotty blob of jelly...we haven't seen anything quite like it before and giving it a squeeze a jet of water squirted out at one end...giving us a very big clue! 

It's a Sea Squirt of some description. Early thoughts leaned towards Molgula manhattensis but those clever iSpotters later suggested it could be Ascidiella aspersa.

What ever it is it's a new one for us.

We didn't get a chance to have a shuffy at Patch 2 at lunchtime but a walk with Frank at teatime gave us some nice patches of Sweet Vernal Grass and our first Lesser Trefoil of the year, the local patch of Common Figwort is coming along nicely...but where are our Swifts?

Where to next? Woooohoooo we're on our hols and anything could happen, might even get the moth trap out tonight...best check the forecast...could be a chance to steal a march on Monika arch-rival in our annual Year List Challenge...it's very very close between us at the moment

In the meantime let us know what the tiny hands are grabbing at in your outback.

 

It's the little things in life

The Safari woke up to heavy rain this morning...last night's forecast was for occasional light showers so we made the mistake of putting the moth trap out. First up check the electrics! Then pour the water out of it. Then check for drowned moths...none and no swimmers either...useless!

The rain didn't abate all morning which was OK as we had a few jobs to do and errands to run. By mid afternoon it had stopped and we'd finished our indoor work and had just one chore still to do, get some rubbish out of the garage and by eck there's a fair bit in there!!!

Opening the door and getting out some of the stuff we'd stashed for quick removal allowed to get further back into the dimmest darkest recesses, it was then that we noticed the big untidy nest in the corner - well we hadn't seen that being built, wonder if it's occupied. The local pair of Blackbirds are taking food in to next door's garden so it's not going to be them. Perhaps it was a failed attempt and has been abandoned...we'll keep an eye and an ear on it.

Looking at the straggly mess maybe they thought it would collapse under their weight and gave it up as a bad job! The Wren's nest seems to have been a 'cock's' nest as there hasn't been any activity around it for a couple or more days although we still hear the loud little fella regularly.

With all jobs successfully completed apart from the most important one - Wifey's birthday present - we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves and the sun had come out.

Wifey was back from the Big Smoke and we had a potter around the garden noticing some tiny flies, about 5mm long, coming and going to and from the top of our recycling bin. A few landed on the stonework nearby but the majority seemed to prefer the shiny blue plastic.

Nothing else for it but to get the macro lens out and have a bit of invertebrate close up fun, it's been a long long time since that lens has been out  of its case.

No idea what the species is, will try those clever iSpotters later.

Enjoy...if that's the right word

 

You can even see the vibrissae on the hair on the antennae - awesome!

Can't believe all the iridescence, there must be light bouncing around all over the shop - at least there was light for a very refreshing change.

Where to next? Last day at work tomorrow before we head off for some safari-ing in far flung corners of the globe. Gonna be a busy day though starting early doors with the wee kiddies on the beach...wonder what their tiny hands will glean from the sand

In the meantime let us know what needs magnifying in your outback.

Been side swiped recently

The Safari wasn't able to get out too much over the weekend due to chores, building works, rain...mostly rain and when we have we’ve not seen enough to warrant putting pen to keyboard, pretty much useless really.

We’ve been at Patch 2 and seen a few Manx Shearwaters and Gannets but our hunt for more skuas has been singularly unsuccessful with nothing at all out of the ordinary found despite the stormy conditions which we expected might have produced as they have at numerous locations up and down the coast but sadly not here. Sorry that was a rather long and tongue tying sentence...

This morning was no different. A very early start with Frank, pre 05.30 only gave us a single very cold Swift shooting through; they still haven’t arrived at their breeding sites near Base Camp.

A later than normal start on Patch 2 saw us staring hopefully at the low tide. A couple of Oystercatchers and half a dozen Sanderlings were on the beach. The tide line held a line of expectant gulls, waiting for Pipefish???

Very little was out to sea, certainly not the skua-fest we would have liked.  Just six horrifically distant  Gannets, a distant Sandwich Tern and two 'Commic' Terns were all we could muster this morning. Closer in sat a pair of Common Scoters and a male Eider flew past - hardly riveting!

Lunchtime was just as grim perhaps even worse with very little happening, and the wind had dropped considerably.

It took us over half an hour to find a male Eider going the opposite way to the earlier on - the same bird? - three fishing Sandwich Terns, three equally distant as this morning Gannets and a Manx Shearwater with them - even less riveting!

Work’s garden is looking a picture with the dandelions and the daisies in the lawn creating a real riot of colour...no doubt the mowers will be along to get rid of those nasty weeds how dare they grow in grass it’s not natural! 

Please let the lawn ‘weeds’ flower, Daisies, Dandelions, Self Heal, Violets, Clovers, Trefoils, Medicks etc etc they are all vitally important to the bees butterflies and moths so don’t over exert yourselves with the mower, chill out relax it’s not the end of the world if there’s wildflowers in your lawn.. No need to have a bowling green if you’re not bowling on it. Just keep the lawn edge neat and remove the cuttings when you do mow...oh and if there’s a dry spell raise the height of the cut which will keep your lawn looking greener. Leave the ‘tidy brigade’ behind – be brave embrace ‘untidy’ and remember untidy doesn’t necessarily mean unmanaged or uncared for but it does mean that wildlife has got some chance of surviving in our gardens which sadly in many cases are becoming more and more wildlife unfriendly with hard landscaping replacing natural features like lawns, flower beds and hedges...our biggest nightmare is the rise in sightings of artificial turf...just how lazy are some people getting? Or is it part of the great dumbing down and people haven’t got the know-how to look after a ‘natural’ garden.

 Early afternoon we had a txt to let us know a Spotted Flycatcher was in the big park, unfortunately we could get down there for at least a couple of hours. As soon as we were able we picked up Frank and headed through demonic traffic - how many road works??? - and arrived too late. We met MJ and FW who had been looking for only a few minutes but between us we had no luck...so another one successfully dipped!

Where to next? Day off tomorrow to look after frank while Wifey is away so there might be some safari-ing to be done as long as we finish the jobs we have to do.

In the meantime let us know what's catching flies in your outback.

Shockingly poor then excitingly better

The Safari saw that sea was very rough and the visibility poor on the drive in to work. The rising tide always gives hope of something but today it was a false hope. The strong westerly wind hadn’t driven anything inshore at all, our quarter hour watch only producing a single Sandwich Tern over the surf and a very distant white dot that was all too soon lost in the heavy seas; a Gannet?

That was the sum total of our session apart from a pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls poking about on the beach just below us – useless...we’d have liked a Pomarine Skua or two as they were on the move at other locations up the coast this morning.

At lunchtime the tide was full and with the wind some spray was coming over the wall but our watch-point was dry enough. A couple of Sandwich Terns drifted past and we noted a few Gannets cruising in the distance. Before long a smattering of Manx Shearwaters were found some going north and some south, the same ones doing a circle, as the numbers seemed to tally? But then as we followed some of the northerly moving ones we came to a bit of a feeding aggregation with about 10 cruising round, it was very difficult to count them accurately as the waves were big and some were sitting on the water. As we watched Gannets started to arrive as if from nowhere and more Manx Shearwaters came in from all angles, we do love watching these nautical travelers. These were joined by a couple of Kittiwakes...do these ever eat anything? In all the time we watched them they dipped here and hovered there but never seemed to actually touch the water...a lot of energy for no reward it seemed.

The Gannets were taking no prisoners as soon as they lifted off the water a quick circle or two later they were diving again. Fromm the low height they were diving from, only about 10 – 12 feet above the waves their prey must have been close to the surface perhaps driven their by a marauding school of Bass.

We searched for a skua and only found one distant auk sp before three Razorbills passed by fairly close in. As we followed them southwards a dark bird a little beyond them caught our attention. Concentrating on that and trying to second guess where it would appear between the waves next we eventually had reasonable views of a barrel chested dark morph Pomarine Skua (159, P2 #64) particularly once it had passed us and could seen flying along the troughs. It paid no attention at all to the activity a few hundred yards to its left. Excellent stuff!!!

The bait ball dispersed as quickly as it formed leaving four or five Gannets still mozeying around waiting for the shoal to reappear.

All in all a good twenty minutes out there and worth the several waves in the face!

And it was good skua day all along our coast with all several individuals of all four species being seen in the bay this morning.

Where to next? Not at all sure where we'll be on safari to this weekend.

in the meantime let  us know whose holding the spoons in your outback.

Who let winter come back?

The Safari's little ones didn’t get much time on the beach today as they were a bit late starting and the tide was already close. Their sharp eyes did find a nice selection of shells in their all too brief visit. Brief was probably a good thing cos the wind began to howl (can’t beat a bit of Bob Dylan (prefer the Jimmy H and Savage Grace versions though, not that Dylan’s original is in any way inferior)) and there was no sun making it rather chilly out there. 

Four Sanderlings soon disappeared as the tiny rabble appeared t the last step

Tiny hands grasped a large Edible Whelk but it was too cold on the ears to have a listen to see if we could hear the sea in it. A large Common Otter Shell was ooohhed at and the small Common Razors were cast aside in favour of the much bigger Pod Razors. Common and Prickly Cockles were collected and the sharpest eyed little girl picked up a tiny Thin Tellin.

A Grey Plover in all its summer finery flew past in to the wind.

All too soon the tide was upon us and it was time to climb the steps to terra firma. We had taken the camera but there wasn't really the time nor the opportunity to get any pics for you :-(

By lunchtime the wind had picked up and sporadic showers blew through. Heavy cloud enveloped the horizon and the waves were giant and beginning to foam. Without gloves it was cold on the hands and we wished we had our woolly hat on rather than a peaked cap that annoyingly nearly blew off several times, hard to keep the scope still with one hand on your head!

We had a constant possession of Sandwich Terns jinking and darting in the strong wind, further out a flock of 10 Dunlins flew south then ten more followed by a single a little later, they have been very few and far between on Patch 2 this year. Another Grey Plover headed towards the estuary and way out in the edge of the cloud we watched six Gannets trying to feed, the height of their dives suggesting that that the fish were quite deep today. Two Manx Shearwaters bucked the trend and flew northwards with the wind.

All too soon our gloveless hands were too cold and throbby to stand any more excitement and a warming cuppa was urgently required.

Where to next? Will the persistent wind and heavy showers have dropped anything on Patch 2 by tomorrow?

In the meantime let us know who’s picking up what in your outback