NORWICH: A late May miscellany

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.

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen galls and invertebrates

Late July 2021

Wheatfen would be up there in my top 10 favourite places to spend a relaxing few hours wandering around seeing what I can find, and I spent a morning there in late July, finding various obscure species including several new galls, an ichneumon and a Polymerus nigrita, a bug associated with Goosegrass.

Swollen seeds of Meadow-rue - a gall caused by Ametrodiplosis thalictricola

Golden-haired Robberfly

A pouch gall on rose caused by Dasineura rosae

Gambrus carnifax

Green Colonel soldierfly

Polymerus nigrita

The egg sac of a small spider, Theridiosoma gemmosum

WHITLINGHAM: July visit summary

July 2021

I squeezed in three visits to Whitlingham during the month, hoping to hear or see a Ring-necked Parakeet that had been seen periodically around Thorpe Island. If they continue to colonise Norwich at a similar rate to the past few years then I'm sure it won't be long before I see one here, but for the time it eludes me. Not much else to report in the way of birds other than a few Swifts lingering and a pair of Linnet, although two Canada Geese had some extra white on the face (thought to be a pigment deficiency rather than signs of hybridism with Barnacle Goose).

Interesting non-avian sightings included several Brassica Bugs (aka Crucifer Shieldbug), a Lesser Stag Beetle, galls of Contatinia solani on Woody nightshade and Eucallipterus tiliae (an aphid on Lime trees)

NORWICH: January week 2 - a new birch catkin gall

2nd week of January 2021

A quiet week. Cutting through Wensum Park a couple of times finally paid off when I saw the 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull again. It doesn't seem to be there the whole time, but does tend to fly in when the gull flock are attracted by people putting down food, as was the case here. Otherwise the only new birds for the year list were Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Coal Tit, the latter a welcome site in the garden. 

As with the first week I did eak out a new species, this time by checking some old birch catkins. A post online had highlighted that there were three gall midges in the genus Semudobia that can cause galls on them. Having taken a few home I failed to find either of the species that cause swellings in the seeds, but did find galls of Semudobia skuhravae, which swells the bases of the seeds and means they stick to the central bit of the catkin. There are no Norfolk records on NBN, but Rex Hancy lists it for both VC27 and VC28 in his NNNS Occasional Publication on the plant galls of Norfolk, so there must be Norfolk records of it on a database somewhere! I hope there will still be some old catkins left next time I get to go for a good walk at Whitlingham so I can check for them there.

NORWICH: Thorow-wax and poplar mines

8th September 2019

After the Heydon Hall fungus foray I headed back to west Norwich to drop Ian off, and he mentioned that there was a Thorow-wax plant growing in Earlham Cemetery. This is a scarce species, and one I'd not seen before, so Ian kindly agreed to show me where he'd found it. Fortunately even though it was past its best it was still quite distinctive.

On my way back to the car I had a look at a couple of large Black Poplar trees. Whilst undoubtedly planted here, 'true' Black Poplars are quite rare nowadays. A couple of mines were visible, the moth Stigmella trimaculella and the Agromyzid Aulagromyza populicola, whilst there were also some nice twisted galls caused by the aphid Pemphigus spyrothecae.

WHITLINGHAM: Last WeBS count of the year & miscellaneous stuff

9th December 2018

The final WeBS count of the year, but after a strong start with 2 Goldeneye and 2 Little Egrets on the Little Broad it became a familiar spread of common species, dominated by Gadwall, Tufted Ducks and Coot. Interestingly no Pochard were recorded from the Great Broad, with only six present across the river at Thorpe.

Key counts:

Gadwall: 219 (2017: 256, 2016: 252)

Mallard: 72 (2017: 86, 2016: 69)

Tufted Duck: 173 (2017: 326, 2016: 387)

Coot: 238 (2017: 151, 2016: 371)

So looking at those figures, Gadwall numbers are slightly down but reasonable, Mallard numbers are about right, Tufted Ducks are around half the past two years counts and Coot are in the middle of 2016 and 2017. Four Bramblings flew out of scrub near the archery range, and some Siskin called from the Alders near the Little Broad. Still no sign of any Redpolls so far in this winter period.

Of the miscellaneous observations, Agromyza nigrescens was a new leaf mine for the site, with at least one still occupied in a Cranesbill sp. Some leafspots on a Forget-me-not seem to be caused by Entyloma fergussonii, which would be new for me, and there was a gall on the violets - I think they were sweet violet which would make the gall causer Dasineura odoratae but I'll need to check. Finally whilst at the bird screen I noticed loads of micro moth larvae feeding on algae - I think these must be Luffia ferchaultella.

 Agromyza nigrescens

 Dasineura odoratae

 Entyloma fergussonii

Luffia ferchaultella

NORWICH: Charter Wood - an interesting local site

1st April 2018

Norwich has a number of local nature reserves and green spaces, many of which are looked after by the Norwich Fringe Project. This excellent group of volunteers undertake a range of management work and if you have a bit of free time, or if you are looking to get some experience of conservation-related activities you could do far worse than getting in touch with them (web site here: https://norwichfringeproject.wordpress.com/). Some of the volunteers are also very good naturalists, and I tend to keep an eye on their blog to see what they find as they visit local sites. Last month I noticed a particular entry from Charter Wood, where someone had found Cobalt Crust. This is an attractive fungus that is rare in Norfolk, and as I'd never seen it, or been to Charter Wood, I decided to remedy this when I got the chance.

The first problem was a slightly embarrassing one - where exactly was Charter Wood? Despite living and birding around Norwich for many years, including one living at Three Score, I had never been, or seen signs to it. A google search returned few results, mainly just those referring to Fringe Project blogs or publicity. A map of sites on the Fringe Project website suggested that the woods were north of New Road, but I had walked that route before when I had a birdwatching permit for Bawburgh Lakes, and didn't remember any footpaths off it. The woods is also not named on Ordnance Survey maps of the area. Fortunately Robin Chittenden got in touch to say that he had helped plant the wood, and it is accessed via a nearby housing estate.

Having found out where the wood was, I still had a big problem - the Cobalt Crust was growing on a single branch. Whilst it is a bright colour, I only stood a reasonable chance of finding it if it was close to a main path. I got in touch with the Fringe Project, and fortunately one of the people involved is Michelle Hoare, a member of the fungus study group. She hadn't seen the fungus herself, but kindly got in touch with some of the volunteers from that day and got back to me with a grid reference. My chances had increased, although the time difference (it was seen in early February) was a concern, as the colour fades with time and of course the branch could have been moved.

On Sunday I arrived at the nearby housing estate, and found the path in without any problems. It wasn't marked, but I could see dog walkers in the distance, and it transpired that the site is quite well used by locals. An information board explained that the land was privately owned by a Jersey-based company, but access was allowed subject to various conditions.

The composition of the site was a bit of a surprise to me. There was a strip of undulating grassland with a large gorsey area, some maize fields compelte with singing Skylarks, and then the youngish woodland that I had come to visit. I thought that later in the year when more flowers and insects were out it could be a rather interesting and productive site, at least a bit different to the other places Norwich has to offer (thinking about it there is a bit of a similarity to Lusty Hills at UEA, but that has less general access).

I heade for the woodland, taking in a ruined building on my way. I walked through a recently coppiced area, which brought home the sheer folly of looking for a single big stick in this large mass of young trees. It was drizzling, but I picked out a few bits of interest, mostly fungi, including Jelly Ear, Hairy Curtain Crust, Waxy Crust and Winter Polypores.

 I'm sure there is a good reason why there is a shopping trolley there.

Winter polypores - from above they look like a typical gilled species, but turning one over you can see the pores.

I found my way to a clearing at the edge of the wood where some recent planting had taken place and began to search for the Cobalt Crust. The hum of the A47 traffic could be heard in the distance, intermingled with Skylark song and repeated shouts of "RORY!" coming from someone with a rather loose concept of keeping your dog under control. I had found many, many stick and branches, but sadly none containing the fungus that I was looking for.  The drizzle had gone, but I was aware that Cathy and Rose were waiting for me at home, so I took a different path back through the wood, aiming to cover as much ground as possible on my way back.

Noticing a Holly tree I went over and recorded Phytomyza ilicis, the holly leaf miner, and indeed I stopped at the layby near Earlham church & marshes on the way home and recorded it there too, adding another two 2km squares to the maps in my previous blog post. I noticed some unusual galls on a young Oak, resembling ridged barnacles. At home I identified the causer as Andricus testaceipes, although apparently there is a bit of taxonomic uncertainty and name changing around the species so it is currently more often known as Andricus sieboldi. I saw my first flowering Coltsfoot of the year, and it was nice to see a few bumblebees about too, including a confiding Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum).

A nominal unsuccessful visit in that I failed to see my target species, but considering the benefits of being out of the house, visiting a new site, seeing a new gall and generating some biological records, it was actually a rather productive couple of hours.

WHITLINGHAM: Summer hail

15th June 2013

Sometimes you get the idea that a trip isn't going to go well. I arrived at Whitlingham to find my normal car park closed, so I headed on to the main one. Here the parking meter was broken, with a note saying "use the one in the overflow car park". As I got out I heard a peel of thunder overhead, and by the time I had returned to the car I had to take shelter from a heavy mid-summer hailstorm. After ten minutes or so it subsided and I got out. I hadn't gone far before my walking boots began sucking up all the nearby water by capillary action, completing their transformation from 'looking a bit rough' to 'no longer fit for purpose'.

Just another summer's day

And so it was, that I began my walk round with soggy feet and the feeling that today probably wasn't the day I got my 100th patch year bird. I began with a look around the ruins and Lime tree avenue for my best bet, Spotted Flycatchers. For the second year running I didn't see any, although I haven't completely given up hope yet. My second best bet was a flyover raptor (Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, Osprey all realistic shouts), so I kept scanning the skies in between the cloudbursts. On the broad itself there was nothing unexpected, most off the birds were Greylag as a result of a good breeding year and regular early summer gathering - I counted around 145 adults with several goslings - including two that appear to have been adopted by a pair of Canada Geese.

Just past the bird screen I got a cryptic message from Neil ("are you on your way to the Swift?"). A quick phone call back ascertained that he did indeed mean a Pacific Swift, but that it was in south Suffolk. A shame that it wasn't in Norfolk, but as I was going out in the afternoon it was probably for the best. Continuing around the broad the common warblers were all still singing, but only one or two of each. A couple of Common Terns were on one of the plastic platforms, and a brood of Coot were in the conservation area. There was still no sign of any cygnets - have all of the swan nests failed this year? With the lack of birds I searched through the undergrowth for anything interesting. Hundreds of Common Blue Damselflies flew about the nettles, with a few Blue-tailed Damselflies scattered in. The most interesting thing I found was a gall growing on Ground Ivy.