YARE VALLEY: Buckenham Carrs fungi

7th October 2017

On Saturday Ian & I made our way down the Yare Valley towards Hassingham, where we were accessing the private woodland at Buckenham Carrs. The owners are keen for naturalists to record the wildlife on their estate, and the NNNS have made it a research project for the next couple of years. There had been two visits so far, one of the research committee and one from the Norfolk moth survey, neither of which I could attend, but on this one we were looking at fungi.

We met up with a slightly depleted group in the car park (Tony and Neil were both busy elsewhere) and after a quick briefing as to where we could go, we set off across an area of grassland to a small arboretum. There were a few Mycena and Blackening Waxcaps in the grassland but numbers started to pick up in the woods. An early highlight came in the form of some Stubble Rosegills. These large white toadstools were new for some of the group, although I had seen them once before at Holt. I was puzzled by a strange noise coming from the vegetation nearby, and it only became apparent what was making it when a Reeve's Pheasant wandered by.

The next phase of our walk took us into some wet woodland and this area was productive, with Dark Honey Fungus, a small purple Cortinarius, Ochre Aldercap and Blue Roundhead. In a nearby bit of Alder carr we saw Lilac and Fiery Milkcaps, Jellybabies (now seemingly a regular find) and some Olive Oysterlings. We headed back to the cars for lunch, stopping on the way to look at some Mistletoe growing at eye level. The final find before lunch was some Apricot Clubs on the lawn.

The rain began to fall a bit harder, so we ate lunch in the cars. After a short break we then headed off to look at another area of woodland. The fungi here was different to the areas we had checked earlier in the day, with Common Puffballs, Upright Coral, and a nice patch of Aniseed Funnels. Peeling Oysterling was another good find here, before we left the woods and found some more grassland species, including Wood Pinkgill.

Before calling it a day we took in a third area of wet woodland. Yvonne managed to find two very small but interesting fungi growing on plant debris. Mycena pterigena is a small bonnet with red gill edges that grows on fern debris, whilst Marasmius limosus is a parachute found on reed. After a quick walk to the end of the path to look out over the broad, we returned to the cottage. We had a brief chat with our host, who talked up a Kingfisher that flew in and perched on a bridge nearby.

In total we managed over 80 species in a relatively small area, so another successful foray.

YARE VALLEY: White-tailed Eagle!

3rd May 2017

Cathy & I were on the way home from work when we received a call from Justin to say that him & Steve had found a White-tailed Eagle at Buckenham! With no optics on me I had to choose between saving time and heading straight there, or calling in at home for binoculars and 'scope and risking it flying off in the meantime. Justin had said that the eagle looked settled, but I had been told the same thing about a Black Tern at Whitlingham the previous day, which flew off 5 minutes later!

I decided to go home, and after a swift turnaround Cathy & I were heading towards the mid-Yare. Parking up at the station we crossed the railway line and I scanned the marsh on the off-chance that the White-tailed Eagle would be visible. To my surprise it was! The advantage of looking for a very large bird in a fairly flat landscape. After taking a good look we carried on along the track, until Gary & Alysia drove up. After showing them the bird in the scope, they gave us a lift down to the fishermen's car park where we joined a small crowd watching the eagle.

We stayed for around an hour, during most of which it sat serenely on a gatepost whilst hares wandered non-plussed around it. The eagle was less inclined to tolerate a Chinese Water Deer however, which wandered up to the gate. The eagle raised its wings, and whilst the deer appeared to bare its tusks (as much as it could), it soon thought better of it and ran! At about 19:40 it flew off slowly towards Buckenham Carrs, scattering the Greylags off the marsh. An excellent evening, and thanks again to Justin.

YARE VALLEY: Strumpshaw fungi & Buckenham corvid roost

9th January 2016

Having looked unsuccessfully for the Firecrest, the next thing on Saturday's to do list was to visit Strumpshaw. Last February Ben had found a rare type of earthstar (Weathered Earthstar, Geastrum corollinum) on the reserve, and he had offered to keep an eye out in case it fruited again this year. On Friday he had found an earthstar in the same place, but wasn't sure if it was the same species. I had planned to drive us there, but on Friday night the car started making some unsettling banging noises when I started it, so Margaret kindly agreed to take us.

It started to rain as we arrived at Strumpshaw, but luckily it wasn't too heavy. After calling in at the reception hide we headed off and soon located the earthstar. As Ben had suspected it was an old specimen of Collared Earthstar (Geastrum triplex). It is not unsual for more than one earthstar to grow in the same location, presumably many of them have similar habitat requirements. We spent a bit of time looking around nearby, finding more than 10 species of fungi, which was good for the time of year. These included Scarlet Elf Cup (Sarcoscypha sp.), Crystal Brain fungus (Exidia nucleata) and Tripe Fungus (Auricularia mesenterica).

By now it was around 3 o'clock, so we headed down to Buckenham to see the corvid roost. As we drove down some nearby lanes there were already some flocks of Jackdaws gathering in the fields. Having parked up near the station and walked back along the lane, we waited for the corvids to fly in. Some large flocks flew around and covered the larger trees, but showed no sign of heading to roost. Eventually after sunset passed they rose up and flew towards Buckenham Carrs. I thought it was impressive, but fewer birds than I expected, until another birder told us to look past the church. Rising up from beyond the woods were thousands more corvids, rising up to form a blanket of black shapes. The calls merged together, sounding like rushing water. They finally began to land, coating the tree tops. A spectacular sight, and definitely worth the visit if you haven't been. This spectacle is also the focus of Mark Cocker's book Crow Country.

Cantley to Strumpshaw

22nd December 2010

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Adam had the day off work so we agreed to get the train to Cantley and have a look at the Lesser White-front. I may on occasion moan about the trains, so it is only fair to say that this one was running on time and was not affected by the temperature or snow. Taking the path down from Burnt House Lane we located the Bean Geese, but due to the lay of the land we couldn't see them all. Moving further round we got a better view, and eventually found the Lesser White-fronted Goose with a group of 90+ Bean Geese. There was also one White-fronted Goose with a smaller group of Bean, providing a pitfall for the unwary.

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As well as admiring the snowy landscape, we continued scanning as we walked along the riverbank to Buckenham. We saw a ringtail Hen Harrier, two Peregrines and a Buzzard at the Cantley end, whilst a Barn Owl ghosted across the path nearer Buckenham. Large numbers of Wigeon were on the river, as was a Black Swan. At least four Chinese Water Deer were wandering in the snow. We checked out the new hide at Buckenham (it looks nice, but is there really a need for one here?), and saw two Dunlin flying over. In the woods at Strumpshaw we saw a couple of flocks of Redpoll fly over and had a chat with Ben, before walking on to Brundall where we got the train back to Norwich.