WEST NORFOLK: Snettisham C.P. - Great Reed Warbler & interesting inverts

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.