Tuesday 29 November 2016

Searching the seashore

The Safari managed to get out on to Patch 2 for some fresh air and head-space time at lunchtime yesterday. The light out to sea was awful and the tide was out so most of the birds were distant silhouettes. On the wall nearby there were three Pied Wagtails catching the cold immobile flies.
They were very skittish and almost impossible to sneak up on. They're used to passers-by and allow quite close approach but only if you don't stop...if you stop they fly off miles along the wall meaning a good walk to catch up with them again. Nightmare! But with a little patience and a lorra lorra luck we managed this one, although it is a heavy crop.
In the sunshine the Buff Tailed Bumble Bees were busy on the Castor Oil plant's flowers too.
Duff pics in the dull shade
Today we were out at lunchtime again and once again the light was horrendous to the south where the Common Scoters were. No sign of the wagtails today but we did meet one of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust's marine lasses. She was looking at the state of the tide with a view to starting a ShoreSearch training session for the marine biology students from the local college. While looking down the slade to see how far the tide still had to drop before her group could start work we spotted a dozen Turnstones  feeding a little way above the splashes from the breaking waves.
After chatting we went back inside but came back out latter to meet the team. They were busy working on their transects and recording what vegetation, and how much of each, was found in their quadrats.
It was warmer down on the beach than it was up on the prom!
In other news Monty has reached Patch 1 twice now. Last night he added a couple of Goldcrests to his life list and this evening he counted about 30 Magpies going to roost close to where he'll be watching the White Letter Hairstreaks next July.
Where to next? More Patch 2 and back to Patch 1 later too probably.
In the meantime let us know who's searching for what in your outback.

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