NORTH NORFOLK: Fish & fossils

Late July 2021

A pleasant morning spent on a beach in north Norfolk looking for fossils with Adam. Having hardly been to the coast this year, a Sandwich Tern offshore was the first I'd seen in 2021. Fish darted about in sandy pools left by the tidy - mostly Common Goby I think. We found several fossils - mainly Adam to be fair, who has certainly got his eye in, and also some iron pyrites, which were the first I'd seen in the natural environment having owned a small pot of them bought from a museum or visitor attraction as a kid.

WHITLINGHAM: Norfolk Hawkers and fish fry

10th June 2017

With a couple of spare hours and bright sunshine, I went to Whitlingham in the hope of photographing the Lesser Emperor. Conditions were promising, Norfolk Hawkers were everywhere, with 25+ seen along the south shore of the Great Broad, sections of which aren't visible from the path. Four Emperors, two Four-spotted Chasers and at least eight Black-tailed Skimmers were also seen, and four damselfly species. Despite searching and waiting in various viewing points I only got one view of the Lesser Emperor, again a fast flypast with no hope of photographing it. The downside to the large number of dragonflies present seems to be that they are all territorial and seeing off each other!

The other sight of note was the huge number of fish dry in several of the sheltered bays. I'm not sure of the species (or if it can be determined easily at this age).

WHITLINGHAM: Trowse Meadows

23rd August 2016

As the hot weather continued I headed down to Trowse for an hour, to have a look for insects on the meadows. I found a promising place to sit where I could see the river and several species of flower, and phased out the droning background noise of work going on across the river. Fish shoaled in the shallows, and a Brown Hawker patrolled just above my head. I noticed that the figwort was Green Figwort, which was a patch tick, and a Lasioglossum bee fed on some Water Mint. A Small Copper was of note, considering I don't see them every year here.

After a while I crossed the road and headed for a walk around the church meadow. I hadn't been here for years, and there wasn't much to see, with only a bit of Ragwort and Knapweed in flower. I checked some Lime tree trunks, finding a couple of Noon Flies, before heading back through through the churchyard and home.

BROADS: Red-necked Grebe at Ormesby

3rd April 2016

Late afternoon on Sunday Cathy & I decided to go out for a bit, and with nowhere in mind I suggested Ormesby Little Broad. The pathway between the car park at Filby and the lookout point over the broad is particularly scenic, but the main reason for visiting was to see a long-staying Red-necked Grebe. I had a quick look through my records and realised that I hadn't actually seen one since 2011, and had never seen a summer-plumaged one.

We arrived at the car park at around 17:30, and I was a bit concerned to see rather vague signs saying that the car park "may be closed between 5pm and 8am". I decided that as it had gone 5 and the car park wasn't shut, it was probably OK until dusk, when it stated more definitely that you shouldn't park. After a quick scan from near the road we headed along the path towards the lookout point. Last summer we came here for Lesser Emperor dragonfly and the flowers were alive with insects. Today there were no flowers out, and the main distraction were the many fish that jumped out of the dyke trying to catch midges.

We met a man heading back to the car park, who said that when he had seen the Red-necked Grebe it was near the reeds in the corner near the road. Nevertheless we carried on to the end of the path to view out over the broad. The broad was lit up with hazy sunshine, and four Swallows chased and chittered overhead. Most of the birds on the water were Coot, Great-crested Grebes or Tufted Ducks, although there was a female Goldeneye off towards what used to be the Eel's Foot Inn (now the Boathouse). Cathy called me over to look at the huge number of fish (Common Roach I think, though I stand to be corrected) beneath the platform.

We headed back towards the car park, scanning the broad through the trees were possible. A Song Thrush, Goldcrest and a couple of Chiffchaffs were all singing, although I didn't hear any Blackcaps or Willow Warblers, both of which have returned to some sites by now. Initially there was no joy scanning from the road, but just before I called it a day I spotted the Red-necked Grebe whilst scanning through the trees. It spent most of its time preening, but showed relatively well in the end. Satisfied with out bit of nature for the day, we headed home.