Early June 2022
A brief pop in to Whitlingham was notable for the finding of a Box Tree Moth caterpillar on Box bushes near the ruined hall. This non-native species gets through a large number of generations throughout the year, stripping garden Box bushes, so it's presence is certainly not a good thing.
Early June 2022
We visited Sheringham Park early in June to see the Rhododendrons at their peak. We also lingered by the pond in the secret garden for a while, seeing a range of species including some small golden beetles, Helophorus sp (probably H. brevipalpis), one of the large soldierflies - Ornate Brigadier and some tiny relatives of the water cricket, Microvelia reticulata.
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Late May 2022
I had planned to spend a day in west Norfolk around Whitsun to look for the scarce hoverfly Microdon devius (in turn because I hadn't got round to it last year!), but with showers forecast and having not seen a new bird for several years I decided to change plans and head instead to Snettisham C.P. where a long-staying Great Reed Warbler was in residence. Arriving at the car park I almost instantly heard Turtle Doves calling, which was a nice start to the visit. I cut across an area of scrub, noting some aphids and the psyllid Cacopsylla hippophaes on the Sea Buckthorn.
After quite a long walk along the embankment I reached the place where the Great Reed Warbler was singing from. There was only one other birder present, and the bird showed brilliantly perched near the top of the reeds as it belted out its song. Cutting back down onto the country park I noticed the aphid Brachycaudus tragopogonis on Goatsbeard.
Next I checked out the edges of some brackish pools, noting Saltmarsh Rush, Sea Club Rush and False Fox Sedge.
I spent lunchtime along the seaward side of the dunes. I spent some time looking at patches of Marram hoping to find the Marram Pseudoscorpion, and Stork's-bill for another one of my target species, Dalman's Leatherbug. I found neither, but did see plenty of bugs Trapezonotus sp (based on habitat T. arenarius), the beetle Phylan gibbus, spider Xerolycosa miniata and Fallen's Leatherbug.
I finished my visit by checking Viper's Bugloss plants for larvae of a case-bearing moth, but ended up finding an adult of a different species, Bugloss Bent-wing, Tinagma ocnerostomella.
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Late May 2022
A family visit to Hickling Broad, and despite several squally showers we managed to see two Swallowtails, the latter of which flew through the garden near the visitors centre. My elder daughter enjoyed looking for caterpillars as we went round, with over 20 Garden Tiger and 12 Drinker moth caterpillars found. It was also a good day for Black Colonel soldierflies, whilst new species included Creeping Thistle rust (Puccinia punctiformis) which was abundant on thistles along the long track to Whiteslea Lodge, a case-bearer on willow Coleophora lusciniaepenella, a mating pair of Platychierus fulviventris hoverflies and the psyllid Chamaepsylla hartigi on birch.
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Late May 2022
A handful of new aphids found around Norwich in May, including Macrosiphum gei on Herb Bennet, Myzus ligustri making leaf rolls on Privet, and two species on apple - Dysaphis plantaginea and Eriosoma lanigerum.
Late May 2022
Another miscellany of Norwich sightings. Having seen pictures of it recently, I decided to look out for a distinctive grass called Water Bent (Polypogon viridis), and found it straight away. I had similar success looking for cauliflower galls on Ash (caused by the mite Aceria fraxinivora), which I located on an Ash tree near New Mills. Rhinoncus pericarpus and Rhinocyllus conicus were casual beetle finds in Wensum Park, as was a Black-horned Gem (Microchrysa polita) nearby.
Mid May 2022
A clear avian highlight of the May WeBS count was a flock of four Common Sandpipers flying around the far shore of the Great Broad, sadly way out of camera range.
In terms of invertebrates there was a good range, including a case of Forest Case-bearer (Coleophora ibipennella) on Oak, Blood-vein caterpillars on Dock and the aphid Thelaxes dryophila. I also noticed some chrysalises that had emerged from cut willow stumps, but have no idea what species they might relate to.
Mid May 2022
Worth a post of its own, if only because I had been actively looking for this species. A while back I had found a species of birch aphid that is unusual because it occurs on the upperside of the leaf, not the underside. Whilst researching it I found that the only other commonly found UK species that does this was one on Walnut. This aphid, Panaphis juglandis, is quite distinctive and forms rows down the midrib of a Walnut leaf. There are Walnut trees growing in several Norwich churchyards, and whilst most of the leaves are not viewable I managed to find some low enough down to check, and lo-and-behold I found my target aphid.
Mid-May 2022
A selection of mostly invertebrate highlights from my walks to and from work, in particular looking out for new aphids around the city.
