The Safari has been waiting for the promise of some sunshine for weeks and at last the weather forecast looked promising. We joined CR for a drive up the motorway to our favourite little reserve where we met IH. Drops of rain at the start of our journey had disappeared by the time we arrived and the sun was trying  to get out from behind the clouds. Time to look for some things with scales...and not before time!  Up in the eaves of the warden's house House Martins investigated their old nests from last year but didn't hang around for any pics. We checked the walled areas of the garde ..read more

The Safari is desperate to go and look for scaly and slithery things but despite it being mid April and six weeks into 'spring' it's still very much winter here. Outside the window right now it's blowing a 40+ mph (65 kph) hooley and only 8C (46F), that's the average daily maximum for February! We need some warm sunshine and soon. Last week we did get a bit of a break in the weather although still windy enough to drive us inland away from our local patch. We headed for the relative shelter of Stanley Park where we soon came across several recently arrived Blackcaps singing their heads off. The ..read more

The Safari had news that there were still two birds present Over Wyre that we could do with for our Challenge tally. It was a pretty miserable morning as we set off but thankfully dried up on route. We gave t'mutt a quick 'pit-stop' on the way at Lane Ends. On the meadow area the Cowslips were looking wonderful with their dripping wet foliage. On the marshes there was a small flock of Pink Footed Geese right close to the car park. They looked a bit flighty so we kept t'mutt well away and let them settle back down with the intention of coming back to them a bit later. There's always one on w ..read more

The Safari was up at Leighton Moss with CR again after a weather induced decision took us away from our prefered venture into south Cumbria where we had hoped to fettle out some scaly things. The weather forecast had other ideas though and told us to expect wintery showers thick and fast throughout the day. So change of venue it was and not to worry as Leighton Moss had a pair of Garganey recently arrived and the prospect of smaller arrivals in the form of Willow Warblers and Blackcaps to look forward to as well as the possibility of an Osprey going over and the resident Bitterns, Cetti's Warb ..read more

The Safari has been wearing a track along the promenade in the hunt for an early Wheatear for days now. The weather has been mostly pants for migration but in between the bouts of rain and strong winds, usually from the 'wrong' direction, there have been short interludes of decent weather. Our 'cliffs' with their (artificial) rocky face are an ideal stopping off area for any hungry Wheatears to stop and feed after passing the habitat free zone of the town centre promenade. Looking South Looking North They like to perch on the upper wooden rail and the concrete sea walls bu ..read more

The Safari has been on the trail of some early summer migrant birds. For the most part we've been traipsing up n down the prom on the search for Wheatears. For the most part we've been thwarted by poor weather conditions though. One grotty, grey morning we saw a small group of Common Scoters sat on the sea not far beyond the low water mark. That's at least half a mile from the seawall but easily the nearest we'd seen this species this year, normally they are just black dots out on the horizon. T'mutt was hastily returned to Base Camp and swapped for the camera, luckily the flock hadn't flown o ..read more

The Safari has been out n about trying to increase our tally for our Challenge, our target for March is just six new species now that the Law of Diminishing Returns has kicked in after our ridiculously fast start in January and coninuing succcess in February. Last week's pair of Lesser Scaup were a nice 'bonus bird', one that was completely off the radar so to speak, so we now only have five to get from our March 'target list'. One of those is Purple Sandpiper, they've successfully eluded us all winter so far so with an errand to run up Fleetwood way it was time for (yet) another attempt for t ..read more

The Safari had a weekend away with Wifey and t'mutt in the Yorkshire Dales. Snow was forecast and the Yorkshire Dales are renowned for being snowy. And if you're going to get snowed in while on a mini-break is there anywhere better to be staying than a 17th century pub? Especially one that's esteemed in literary circles and has really good beer. We were there for some family time but there was the potential for a perhaps a couple of additions to the Challenge tally.  The hoped for snow never materialised at valley level so our picture postcard village pics weren't going to happen. The ..read more

The Safari mentioned at the very end of our last blog that theres not much change in the local birdlife at this time of year, the birds are pretty much settled down in their favoured spots waiting for the winter to draw to a close, saving energy and staying warm are order of the day. Well that was about to change. As all UK based readers will know this winter has been a 'Waxwing Winter' and these birds do move around...some so quickly they've moved on before we'd finished reading the news of their whereabouts on several occasions so far. Then news broke of two not too far away but we couldn't ..read more

The Safari left you on a high last time with the news that we'd hit the dizzy heights of 100 species of birds photographed in January. Well, as we alluded to then, things slowwwwweeeddd right down in February. We set ourselves a rather weeny target of just 15 new species to get during the extended month. How have we got on? Our first safari of February saw us head up north to a rather soggy Leighton Moss where it didn't take long to find the long staying female Ring Necked Duck, as is usual for us it was away across the far side of Lillian's pool. But hey near or far if they're identifiable th ..read more