Friday 11 July 2014

Terrible busy

The safari has been terrible busy; terrible busy we tell you! So posts on the old blog have been a bit few and far between recently. Hopefully are schedule will calm down a bit in the next couple of weeks and we'll be here a little more regularly with news of the brilliant local and not quite so local we have round these parts.
After a couple of days of missing the Bottlenose Dolphins we actually caught up with them late this morning, a bit distant but wow were they going for a it a real feeding frenzy with diving Gannets all round them.Great stuff always good to see them and next it would be good to get some pics when they are closer...and they have been much much closer, to see if any can be matched to individuals on the ID catalogues.
Last night we entertained our last Beaver pack of the season and they were good enough to bring along lots of materials to help fill our Bug Hotel, they added three layers and filled lots of gaps.
The little ones even had a go at sawing and hammering nails and they weren't too bad at those engineering skills either.
Earlier we'd been invited to give a short guided walk to an office conservation/wildlife group around their nature area.
Super, special, smashing is how we'd describe their site. Grey Partridge, a pair of soaring Sparrowhawks, a hovering Buzzard, a Kestrel being mobbed by a Magpie and all those from the office window!
While we were waiting for the party to arrive we sat on a bench by the front door and immediately potted a Ruby Tailed Wasp investigating the brickwork by the doorway to show them as they arrived.
Gatekeepers and Meadow Brown butterflies were all over the place. Annoyingly we dropped a Ladybird before we could count its spots, they seem to be very scarce round here this summer.
Most  remarkable was a patch of striking purple flowers along a bank by a car park.
It's only Betony - not the rarest plant in the world but there's only three local sites given in the North Lancs flora! So it's more like -  it's ONLY Betony!!!
The pond had a superb sighting - a young Moorhen waddling, or should that be wobbling around, on the Water Lily leaves.
All too soon our time there was up, we hope to be invited back later in the year for an autumnal look.
At work our wild garden is going over a bit now 
but still attracts a fair few bees, hoverflies and butterflies including a scarce visitor here, a Meadow Brown.
The bees are having a great time in the pollen laden flowers. This Red Tailed Bumblebee is having a whale of a time.
Perhaps a little more 'interesting' was this tiny little bee
All the above taken with the phone-cam during brief escapes from the desk.
We've been told it could well be Colletes davieanus but it might not be. If it is it will be a new species for town, but it has been recorded further up the coast out of our borough.
Where to next? Can't tell you what's happening tomorrow - top secret but will be fun and hopefully we'll get a few minutes Dolphin watching in before the excitement starts.
In the meantime let us know who's been buzzing around unnoticed and ignored in your outback.


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