Your Wildlife Sightings!

Seriatopora hystrix (Birds nest coral)


Zoa coral growing amongst some Clavularia sp (firework Clove polyps)

Another colony of Zoa

A gathering of Ricordea (Florida reefs) mushroom coral

 

2 clown fish in Anenome. It’s been a tough introduction for the white clown. I had him paired up with another mate who was of the same breed (Percula) unfortunately his buddy didn’t make it, he had a gill plate missing on one side and the other gill plate was deformed. Usually fish that have these issues are culled by the breeders but this little fella gave life its best shot. I tried to give it a chance but life took its course and I think it succumbed to an infection. Since loosing his partner in crime I’ve introduced a Ocellaris clownfish (orange and white) The last week or so it’s been a battle of dominance. The white clown has won for now and lays claim to the anenome. Looking like the striped one will become the beta and stay male. The white will become female in the next year and grow 3 or 4 times the size. Hope to see them live a long happy life from here on in as a mating pair for the next 20 years or so

 

Thor amboinensis (Sexy Shrimp/ Anenome Shrimp)

If you look at its tail it looks like 2 eyes. They use this disguise to trick predators into thinking they are being watched. These shrimp can move faster than most fish can swim. Almost impossible to catch. Their tails are fan-shaped and provide an additional burst of speed when flapped allowing them to move up to 20cm in a second. When you scale that up to Human size it’s like doing a length of a pool in the same time

 

2 corals found in the Great Barrier Reef (Indo pacific)

2 very different personalities.

The Blasto is an aggressive coral. It can extend long sweeper tentacles to sting anything it doesn’t like near by. Best to give these a bit of space. They enjoy being fed oyster eggs / mysis shrimp

Duncan coral has no ability to sting / release toxins. They grow very fast and their colony size can grow into 100s of heads. I’ve had mine for about a year. It’s went from 2 heads to at least 20 in that time.

Blastomussa Coral (Open Brain Coral)



Duncanopsammia axifuga (Duncan coral)

 

Tailspot Blenny resting in Toadstool Coral

 

While on the local field this afternoon with Ruby Boxer a cool Male Sparrowhawk flew right over us with a Sparrow in his talons.

Early this morning also with Ruby of course 5 Common Crossbill were hanging around my local patch.

 

Walking back from Mass this morning, I saw my first Swift of the year. I then thought to myself, it's the middle of July and that's my first Swift. I've not seen many Swallows or Housemartins as well. Things can't be that bad.... can they?

 

A few from the last couple of weekends, I didn't get out much lately due to the crap feckin weather we've been experiencing lately, there also seems to be a bit of a drop off in numbers of species compared to last year especially around loch Colgagh, there's a distinct lack of chicks around, i've only seen a few Mallard ducklings, no Cygnets no moorhen chicks or Grebe young either, I got a fleeting glimpse of an Otter last week at Colgagh, I thought they were gone as i hadn't seen one for a long time so i was delighted to see it again.

 

No wildlife this weekend, weather has been atrocious. Got these 2 keeping me entertained though.

 

I saw a Red Kite at my work today . That's 3 or 4 sightings over the last 2 weeks . From a distance you could think that it was a Buzzard , but the Kite is much more dynamic and agile , as well as having a long "V" shaped tail .

 

A few from yesterday evening, I went out to the mudflats at Balisodare to see if there was much around, there wasn't a lot to see bar a few Gulls on the fringe of the incoming tide, I noticed a Shelduck on the far side of the bay but didn't pay much attention to it as it was quite far away, a few minutes later i saw it had a few Ducklings with it (8) and they were coming in my direction, just as they were getting within range of the lens i was using the parent bird saw me and quick as a flash she called to them and they were off running back to the other side of the bay, it was a wee bit disappointing not getting a better pic, but it was good to get my first sighting of Shelduck Ducklings.

 

Beautiful Shelduck family photos Johnie

 

Cheers Pete.

 

Candy Cane Coral

 

Clownfish in Anenome. Incredibly hard to get a decent photo of this due to the contrasting blue and UV lights with the red spectrum colours. Add in the movement of fish and anenome and 99% of the time you have a blur photo.

 

Driving by Richmond Park this morning. I got caught at traffic lights, looked into the park and saw my first Brent Geese for a few years. We've been to this park many times and never seen one of these birds here, so to see one now was unexpected, and superb.

 

A few from yesterday, I booked a week off work this week and headed out to Colgagh early yesterday and this morning, I got to see a couple of Moorhen chicks briefly as they made the short crossing between Reed beds, there was two chicks there yesterday morning but i only seen one this morning (might be a different family) i also got a few pics of a young Little Grebe which i'll post tomorrow, apart from the Moorhens and Grebes its all quiet, i might head down the coast in the coming week and see is it a bit livelier.

 

A few from yesterday.