Hot week roundup

w/c 17th May 2010

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I don't like the heat. As someone who does a lot of walking, the last thing I want is to arrive at my chosen location already sweating and dehydrated. But hey ho, its Britain and it will probably hail next week (I don't like hail either. Maybe I'm just very hard to please?).

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Whitlingham

No new bird arrivals. A Whitethroat has taken to singing from a tree adjacent to the main carpark, which is a nice serenade as you walk around the broad. A pair of Blue Tits are nesting in a hole in the visitors centre, and several piles of fluff could be separated into huddles of Greylag, Canada and Egyptian Goose goslings. On the river Great Crested Grebes had three young, including one piggybacking. A Redshank was wading in the shallows across on Thorpe Marsh. A number of damselflies have emerged, including two Banded Demoiselles and some Common Blue Damselflies. My first Small Copper of the year was flying in the conservation area.

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Earlham Cemetery

There really should be Spotted Flycatchers here, but I couldn't find any. Several blue butterflies (unable to id them in flight) were flying around the trees.

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Lakenham

Cathy has asked me to highlight her contributions to wildlife finding, so I would like to point out that she found my first Hedgehog of the year in her back garden.

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Venta Icenorum

A walk around the old Roman Town. The short "breck-style" grass still hasn't been colonised by Stone Curlews, mores the pity. A Meadow Pipit and a Yellowhammer were the best birds, despite scanning old trees looking for Little Owls. The River Tas was crystal clear, enabling me to pick out a Pike lurking amongst the weed.