LINCOLNSHIRE: Burghley House

10th August 2016

To celebrate our wedding anniversary Cathy & I went to Burghley House, a stately home in south Lincolnshire. We had a nice look around the house and a meal at the orangery restaurant, but for the purposes of the blog I will mention a few of the insects that we saw within the grounds. As we walked across to the entrance Cathy spotted a pair of Common Blue Damselflies at the side of the road:

In the afternoon we walked through the sculpture garden, taking in a large lake. A Red-eyed Damselfly was seen in vegetation along the edge, and a Figwort Sawfly was on its foodplant close by. The most interesting sighting for me was a Common Furrow-bee (Lasioglossum calceatum) feeding on Water Mint.

There were also a couple of plant sightings of interest, but neither likely to be 'wild'. Firstly I was looking at some ferns in the water garden. I didn't recognise one of them, and as it was growing with Maidenhair Spleenwort I thought it might be native to the area, however as there were lots of planted ferns a bit further on it probably wasn't. The second plant was a Corncockle. These attractive pink flowers used to occur as arable weeds, but are now very rare. The reason you are likely to have heard the name if you are not a botanist is because there was a ridiculous scare story about them in the papers a few years back. They are poisonous, likely many plants, but only if you eat them. As a result, the Telegraph were outraged that seed packets contained Corncockle Seeds. You can still read Patrick Barkham's response in the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2014/aug/26/corncockle-countryfile-bbc-packets-seeds-poisonous

 Unknown and dubiously wild fern sp.

 Corncockle. Don't look at it too long or it might get you.

SOUTH NORFOLK: Tyrrel's Wood

9th August 2016

With a bit of free time in the afternoon, Cathy & I visited Tyrrel's Wood near Long Stratton. It wasn't a site that I had been to before, so I was interested to have a look around. It is widely described as a SSSI, although there doesn't appear to be a citation for it on the Natural England website unless it is called something different.

We hadn't walked far into the wood when we stopped to investigate some squeaking noises. We looked to the side of one of the path and saw six Common Shrews, presumably a family party although two of them were scrapping with each other. They seemed rather oblivious to us, but too fast to get photos of. Buoyed by this early sighting we carried on into the older part of the wood, where we saw Nuthatch and Treecreeper. Sadly there didn't seem to be many open glades, so nectar-loving insects were scarce.

Tyrrel's Wood is looked after by the Woodland Trust, and there were several wooden bridges and bits of boardwalk over some boggy areas. Unfortunately the damp areas also meant lots of midges, and Cathy got bitten quite heavily, so we would recommend strong insect repellant! I got off lightly, with just a couple of bites. There are no specific waymarked trails or maps, which has positives and negatives - the obvious negative being that as we took a winding path back we were never really sure how far from the exit we were!

Two other species seen of note in the woods were a Black Arches moth found resting on a tree, and some Oak Bracket fungus (Inonotus dryadeus), a fungus that exudes water droplets.

WEST NORFOLK: Dagger moth

8th August 2016

After my Whitlingham visit Cathy & I went to West Newton, on the edge of the Sandringham estate, to have lunch with a family friend. After we had eaten I went for a walk around her garden, seeing a young Green Woodpecker and a Nuthatch. I was particularly pleased to find the well camouflaged Grey or Dark Dagger moth. Theses species can't be separated in the field as adults, but the caterpillars do look noticeably different. Incidentally of the two, I have seen many more Grey Dagger caterpillars.

WHITLINGHAM: Swan count and leaf miners

8th August 2016

On Monday morning I headed to Whitlingham to conduct a count of the Mute Swans. Later on in the day Adam Manvell had organised a complete count on the river, so together it would give us a good estimate of the total number in the area. Ideally we were going to check some rings too, but all of the Whitlingham birds bar one sleeping one were on the water, so that didn't work out. I counted 82 adult birds at Whitlingham, plus 5 cygnets across three broods. I tried not to be too distracted by other things, but did note a few leaf miners, including the following:

Cerodontha iraeos (a fly that mines Yellow Flag Iris)

 Phyllocnistis saligna (a moth that mines willows)

Phyllonorycter coryli (a moth that mines Hazel). Note also a Stigmella sp. mine in the bottom centre.

NORTH NORFOLK: Burnham Overy flora & fauna

7th August 2016

On Sunday I joined a group of botanists at Burnham Overy for a 'Wildflowers Revealed' walk. These sessions, of which there are usually one or two a year, are an opportunity for naturalists with an interest in plants to accompany experienced members of the Norfolk Flora Group to survey a particular habitat. The Flora Group are a well-oiled recording machine, with GPS units for checking grid references, tables of previously recorded species and years of experience, but these combined sessions tend to strike a good balance between recording, seeing scarce plants and helping less experienced botanists to learn how to separate similar species.

Upon arrival at Burnham Overy the tide was at its highest, which was fortunate because it was a big tide and had flooded most of the car park. Having parked up and been treated to some almond puddings made by Jo, we headed off along the sea wall towards the dunes. As well as the botanists we were also firtunate to have Sarah, Holkham's conservation manager, accompanying us and she told us a bit about the site as we went along. The landward half of the path was coloured pink and yellow by a mixture of Common Mallow and Black Mustard, with lots of Sea Beet adding greenery. As we neared the dunes the mallow and mustard were replaced by large areas of Bristly Oxtongue and Creeping Thistle. Other plants pointed out along the sea wall included Sea Wormwood, Upright Hedge Parsley and Tall Melilot.

At the start of the dunes we looked at a few plants that I was familiar with like Common Centaury, Lady's Bedstraw and Common Storksbill. A bit further along we saw Wild Cotoneaster, which was a new one for me. We also had a good look at a sweet pea, although my photos came out blurry due to the strong wind. It was identified as Lathyrus heterophyllus, sometimes called Norfolk Everlasting Pea. Mike made a strong case for not using this name, as it is a non-native species with no real connection with Norfolk other than first being recorded here as an introduction. Whilst looking at the pea I spotted a small Natterjack Toad heading for the vegetation - my first 'adult' having only seen large tadpoles before.

Continuing across the dunes we stopped to look at some dainty Fairy Flax before heading down into some damper dune slacks. I stopped to watch a Wall butterfly, and retraced my steps to watch a Hummingbird Hawk Moth that some of the group had found. A Grayling butterfly nearby was also of interest. Walking eastwards there was lots of Sea Spurge, some seedheads of Marsh Helleborine, Distant Sedge (Carex distans) and Sand Cats-tail (Phleum arenarium). The latter two were unsurprisngly new species for me as I know very little about sedges and grasses. Some flowering Sea Holly was nice to see, and we walked through a swathe of flowering Rosebay Willowherb before stopping for lunch.

 Fairy Flax

 Sea Holly

 Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Our lunch spot, a sheltered area on the edge of the pines proved to be very good for insects. Before sitting down I found my first Tachina grossa, a large black tachinid fly. Whilst eating we were surrounded by Ruddy Darters, and in a sunny area of bramble we could see Common Blue, Small Copper and Brown Argus butterflies. At least one Dark Green Fritillary flew past too. After lunch we continued along the dune/pine interface, finding some Blue Fleabane. We then headed into the woods to see the Creeping Lady's Tresses, which have had a good year here. I hadn't seen this species since I was in my teens and regular at Holt CP, so it was good to get reacquainted with it.

 Blue Fleabane

 Creeping Lady's Tresses

We walked south through the pines to join up with the main path, where Mary pointed out pale patches of White Cushion Moss (Leucopbryum glaucum). Three Red Longhorn Beetles were observed on a fallen log. Walking back towards the dunes we stopped at a sunny glade, where Hemp Agrimony was attracting lots of insects. A fritillary flew past, and it turned out to be Silver-washed, a recent arrival at Holkham. Whilst waiting in case it settled nearby, I noticed a Purple Hairstreak fly down and briefly settle in front of us.

Emerging back out onto the dunes we had a quick and unsuccessful look for Ant-lion pits, before heading westwards to look for Jersey Cudweed, a rare species found at only two sites in Norfolk. We found several flowering spikes on a private part of reserve, and also saw Strawberry Clover and Creeping Willow nearby. On our way back we saw some gone-over Autumn Gentians, unusual for the site, and also the unusual 'string of sausages' lichen Usnea articulata.

 Jersey Cudweed

 Strawberry Clover

 Usnea articulata

Thanks to Sarah for guiding us, and to the members of the Norfolk Flora Group and NNNS for their expertise.

WHITLINGHAM: Soldierfly searching

4th August 2016

Tim Hodge had let me know that he had done some wildlife recording at Whitlingham at the weekend, and one of the species he had seen was a soldierfly called a Banded General. I've not seen any of the 'Generals', so after work on Thursday I took advantage of some early evening sunshine to go and have a look at the flowers along the riverbank near the woods.

Upon arrival I was saddened to see a dead Sparrowhawk along the edge of the woods. There was no sign that anything untoward had occurred, so after checking for rings I left it where it was and carried on.

There were Peacock and Red Admiral butterflies on the Buddleia near to the car park, and a Volucella zonaria hoverfly on some brambles. Approaching a lime tree with lots of flowers, I could immediately see lots of bees and hoverflies. A smaller relative of the previous species, Volucella inanis was resting on one of the leaves. A third Volucella was also present - I thought at the time that it was V. inflata because of the large black middle to Tergite 2, but I was concerned about the dark scutellum, and having spoken to the county recorder he says it is an atypical Volucella pellucens.

 Volucella zonaria

 Volucella inanis

 Volucella pellucens (more typically this species has a complete band)

With no sign of the Banded General I headed along to Whitlingham Marsh. Here I did see a new patch hoverfly, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, although it flew off before I could photograph it. Walking alongside the A47 I saw a new leafhopper (Eupteryx aurata) and a Willow Emerald damselfly. I was keeping a look out for a spiky shrub with fine-leaves that Tim had mentioned earlier. When I found it I noticed that one had green blackberry-like fruits, and wondered if it could be a Rubus species. This turned out to be a good guess, it was Parsley-leaved Bramble (Rubus lacianatus).

 Eupteryx aurata

 Willow Emerald

 Parsley-leaved Bramble

It was beginning to drizzle, so I headed back to the car, calling in briefly at the lime again. I saw a bracket fungus growing from an Ash tree along the riverbank, and realised it was Shaggy Bracket (Inonotus hispidus), a new patch fungus, to round off a productive hours walk.

THORPE MARSH: Bat walk

3rd July 2016

On Wednesday evening the Norwich Bat Group ran a walk at Thorpe Marsh. I had previously attended events at Whitlingham, but not done anything across the river. We met at the footbridge at 20:30, and as it was a light evening the bats were rather slow in emerging. We stopped near the recently created pools north of the broad, and watched as a Little Egret flew off.

Further along, and with still no bats, I took to scanning for Noctules off towards Thorpe St Andrew. The first few things I picked out were the last of the evenings Swifts, but scanning further round I found a Noctule, joined at one point by a second individual. Buoyed the knowledge that we had at least seen some bats, we headed round to the wooded area along the river, where we detected and then had good views of a couple of Soprano Pipistrelles.

After watching the Soprano Pipistrelles we carried on to look over the river, which paid dividends with several Daubenton's Bats skimming low over the water. A Common Pipistrelle was detected flying along the path, although by now it was too dark to see it. Further round we saw more Daubenton's, including some snatching food from the water surface. Our final bat of the evening was a Nathusius's Pipistrelle, which was detected strongly a couple of times but again wasn't seen.

Thanks to the Norwich Bat Group and particularly Richard Moores for leading the walk. The next Norwich Bat Group events are at Scarning on Saturday 27th August and Train Wood (the start of the Marriott's Way in Norwich) on Wednesday 31st August - see the website for more details.

SUFFOLK: Minsmere Swamphen

1st August 2016

On Sunday afternoon news broke of a Purple Swamphen at Minsmere. You could be forgiven for not knowing what a Purple Swamphen was, because they used to be called Purple Gallinules, and after a bit of splitting this particular species is now known as Western Swamphen. The RSPB Minsmere account tweeted that the bird was ringed, and therefore probably an escape, so I went shopping and didn't think much more about it. I returned to see that there had been a retraction - it wasn't ringed, and information was emerging that there had been a movement of several other individuals through France this summer, away from their breeding area along the southern French coast.

The seemingly increased chance that this was a wild bird, and therefore a first for Britain, along with the excellent photo of the recent French bird here: http://www.faune-bretagne.org/index.php?m_id=54&mid=23405 made me want to go and have a look for myself. Figuring that Minsmere would be packed that evening, and having work to do during the day on Monday, it was Monday evening before Cathy & I headed down to look for the Swamphen.

Having arrived at Minsmere for the second time in four days (usual visit frquency about once a year) we headed down to south hide, where there was a large crowd of people along the path. The height of the vegetation meant that the favoured pool wasn't completely viewable from anywhere, so we picked a spot with a limited view but of the area where the Swamphen had last been seen. Despite showing well on Sunday and Monday morning, it hadn't been seen for at least 45 minutes before we arrived. An hour and a half later and the novelty of staring at a Little Egret was beginning to wear off.

Fortunately, before we gave up (or got hypnotised by the Egret), a very tall man beside us announced that he'd got the Western Swamphen, walking out of the reeds. A few seconds later and it became visible to us too, walking behind the Little Egret we'd been watching. It was a cracking bird to see - imagine putting a Moorhen on steroids until it grew to twice its size, painting it bluey-purple, stretching its legs and toes and painting them red, then shoving a Puffin's beak on the whole setup. The main group of birders hurried over to us to see it, but many still couldn't see because of the vegetation. Seeing that Cathy had already ducked out to give her place to another birder, I did the same rather than wait to get a rubbish record shot, so no photos I'm afraid. If you haven't seen it (and I'm guessing most readers will have done) then there are some good photos of it on Craig's, Peter's and David's blogs. 

Also of interest was a pale pink flower growing in large clumps along the path to the hides. This is Marsh Mallow, which in ye olden days was eaten and may have been some sort of prototype for todays marshmallows.

WHITLINGHAM: Lime Cosmet moth

31st July 2016

There is such a large and diverse number of species around that however long you have been interested in wildlife, there will always be species that you have not seen, never heard of or just overlooked. I tend to come up with many of my target species by looking through books or reading articles written by fellow naturalists, but increasingly I find out about 'new' species via the internet (usually wildlife blogs or sightings on Twitter) or word of mouth.

On Friday I had called round to James Lowen's house to see Yellow-legged Clearwing, and he had shown me a photo of a small, interesting-looking micro moth called Chrysoclista linneella. This brown moth has a panel of bright orange, studded with silver on each wing. It is scarce in Norfolk, with less than 10 records prior to this one, but one of the reasons for the lack of records is that it is usually only found by checking the bark of mature lime trees. The photographed individual had been seen at Earlham Cemetery, one of my favoured local haunts, and I decided that I would have a look for it on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday came round, and my plan was to get the food shopping done then head to the cemetery. I had just finished lunch when I received a text from Mark, a local naturalist, to ask if I had ever seen Lime Cosmet (the English name for Chrysoclista linneella)? I assumed that he had also heard about the Earlham Cemetery moth, so I said no, but I hoped to soon. He replied that he was watching one at Whitlingham! Whitlingham has a row of big lime trees forming an avenue south from the ruins of Trowse Newton Hall, and Mark, having heard about the habits of the moth had gone, looked and found one.

I headed straight down to Whitlingham, where Mark was standing near an old Lime tree. As luck would have it, the moth had disappeared, so we walked down the rest of the avenue, checking the trunks. Many of the trees were too smothered with fresh growth to look at properly, and in the end I returned to the original tree and saw the moth! Whether it had flown back, or been hiding out of sight amongst the gnarled bark I don't know. It was a great looking moth to see, and also a timely reminder of the amount of species that are present that I just don't know how to search for yet. Thanks of course to James Lowen for telling me about it in the first place, and to Mark for telling me about this one. Incidentally the distribution of records for this moth in Norfolk mainly centres around Norwich, so if you live here then maybe have a good look at the trunks of any lime trees near you.

BRECKLAND: Weeting Castle & Cranwich Camp

30th July 2016

After leaving Brandon Country Park we headed back into Norfolk. I wanted to look for a couple of scarce breckland plants, but firstly we diverted down a small track at Weeting to visit the remians of Weeting Castle. Like several Norfolk 'castles' this one was actually a stately home with a moat, but nonetheless it made a pleasant diversion.

After looking at the ruins we carried on to Cranwich Camp, an area of dry grassland managed by the NWT. The first (and rarest) plant I wanted to see was Proliferous Pink, and I found one almost straight away near the car parking area. Later on I found some more out on the camp, although it was starting to go over. We walked around one edge to look for the second plant, Spanish Catchfly, but at first couldn't find any. There was a range of other interesting plants, including Wild Thyme and Restharrow. Re-tracing our steps we headed off along the other edge. I had been looking for a rare micro-moth, Powdered Grass Veneer, and having spotted one I then looked round and found that it had led me to an area of Spanish Catchfly. 

 Proliferous Pink

 Spanish Catchfly

Although the plants were the main objects of my searching, I was also looking for Marbled Clover moths. There were lots of macro moths on the knapweed particularly, but most were 6-spot Burnets and the rest were Ear Moths, the latter a bit odd for diurnal observations. The meadow area looked good for invertebrates too, but my casual glance gave up just the one new species, the bug Calocoris roseomaculatus. I did keep an eye out for Smooth Rupturewort too, but I think that it is actually found at a nearby area called Cranwich Heath rather than Cranwich Camp.

BRECKLAND: Brandon CP Bioblitz

30th July 2016

On Friday and Saturday NBIS ran a Bioblitz at Brandon Country Park, just over the border into Suffolk, as part of the second year of the Breaking New Ground project. Bioblitzes are very popular at the moment, and as a result experienced recorders tend to have to pick and choose which ones they can attend. I had been asked if I was free to attend this one, and as Cathy & I like Brandon we had agreed to help do some recording on the Saturday.

The first event of the day was going through the moth trap, so having said hello we went into the walled garden where Teresa and Tim showed several families the moth catch from the previous night. There were three Pine Hawk Moths and a Poplar Hawk Moth to please the children, along with others including Black Arches, Lesser Swallow Prominent and Scalloped Hook-tip. The most attractive moth in my opinion was a Maiden's Blush showing much more red than the ones I'd seen before.

Next up was a fungus walk led by Tony Leech. Again the participants were families with young children, so Cathy & I headed off into the woods and brought back fungi for them to see, Cathy finding more than I did! One of them was new for me, Entelome hebe. A Brimstone flew past, a Red Longhorn Beetle rested on some nettles and back near the cafe I found some Rosemary Beetles on the lavender.

 Parasola leiocephala

 Rosemary Beetle

After lunch we headed out for a look around the woods and lake area. There were a lot of dragon and damselflies, including Emperor, Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Emerald Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly and lots of Ruddy Darters. A robber fly has been identified for me as Golden-tabbed Robberfly, a species whose East Anglian distribution is largely restricted to the Brecks. Another highlight was the hoverfly Xanthogramma pedisequum, which had been caught and brought to the table for ID. We stayed until the end when we went round to check the mammal traps, seeing a Bank Vole that somehow escaped out of the back of a trap.

 Ruddy Darter

Golden-tabbed Robberfly

SUFFOLK: Minsmere Pantaloon Bee

29th July 2016

On Friday afternoon Cathy & I headed to Minsmere to see some bees. The weather had been good up until Westleton, when it began to rain. Arriving at Minsmere the rain was heavy, and no self-respecting insects were likely to be out and about. We headed for the cafe for some cake, and luckily the rain subsided. Our first stop was the Ant-lion pits near the visitors centre. This rare insect has a seldom-seen adult form like a large lacewing, but is best known from its larvae. These are large grub-like creatures with powerful jaws, that construct small pits in sandy soil and eat invertebrates that slide down into their pits. There were no suitable prey-items wandering around today, but as we looked across the sandy soil Cathy spotted one flicking sand out of its pit. In the end we saw four, all doing the same thing.

We took the path towards the north wall to look for our main target, the Pantaloon Bee. This slightly whimsical name has understandably taken over from Hairy-legged Bee, and the discovery of some alongside the path at Minsmere had proved popular with recent visitors. It is only the females that have the hairy legs, and we only found one - aptly excavating a burrow right up against a sign telling visitors to look out for them. We watched her repeatedly backing out of her hole before dashing back in again.

There were lots of bee/wasp holes nearby, and it appeared that most of them were occupied by Bee-wolves. I had first seen this species in the castle gardens in Norwich several years ago, although in a brief visit this year it appeared that their habitat had grown up too much (they need bare soil to burrow into). Whilst watching them, a Sand-tailed Digger Wasp flew in and landed on my hand - perhaps my tan makes me look temptingly sandy. We then watched a digger wasp excavating the entrance to its burrow, so furiously that at times it was almost flinging the whole body over its head.

 Bee-Wolf

We decided to walk as far as the sea, stopping to look at the tame but often myxamotis-looking Rabbits and Cinnabar caterpillars. Despite the recent rain I was surprised that this part of the reserve was almost deserted, which was slightly ironic given the increased visitor numbers from Sunday. We saw lots of Six-spot Burnet Moths, a Common Scoter and 12 Gannet before returning back to the car.