30th May 2020
I wanted to go out for a short walk at the weekend, but rather than going to Whitlingham I decided to head a few miles down the road to Arminghall. A couple of other naturalists had seen lots of insects along this stretch of the Boudicca Way, including several rare bees, so given its proximity to the city it seemed like a good idea. Upon arrival there was an impressive display of Milk Thistles, and lots of mating Fairy-ring Longhorn Beetles on Ox-eye Daisies. Skylarks sang, Buzzards soared, it was a lovely (albeit already quite hot) day.
I walked along the cross-field path towards the hedgerow, then followed it uphill with the quarry to my right. I started checking the umbellifers and brambles, and managed to see several examples of Andrena proxima, a scarce species in Norfolk, but not it's even rarer nomad bee which had been seen in the past week. I did notice quite a few different species of sawfly, including Tenthredo mesomela, a new one for me.
I had a quick check along a shady bit of path too, and this paid off when I found a couple of cases of the micro moth Coleophora badiipennella on hedgerow Elms. Aware that Cathy and Rose were still at home I retraced me steps, but before heading home I searched along the hedgerow, aware that there was meant to be some Small Eggar caterpillars in the area. I managed to find a web of them, which was pleasing as although I've seen both the adult and caterpillar of Oak Eggar, Small Eggar was a new one for me.
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