NORTH NORFOLK: Ponies - always watching

Mid-August 2021

I'd arranged to go out with dad for a walk, but heavy rain saw us adapt our plans to go to Holt so that we could at least be a bit sheltered in the woods. Despite visiting Holt regularly as a teenager I didn't see several of the scarce plants that occur out on the Lowes, so as the rain subsided a bit we headed out and managed to located one of them, Lesser Skullcap. Walking back we noticed a pony stood stock still at the edge of the woodland. As we approached, there was a whole group of them. Turning slowly to our left, we found ourselves observed by yet another. It was all a bit creepy, although several of them did at least turn to look at us as we weaved past to get to the gate.

Back in the country park we looked at some of the wet vegetation near the pond, finding a Tree Damsel Bug amongst other things. There was a small patch of woodland with abundant fungi, including Tawny Grisette, Russula silvestris, an Earthball sp and a young Blusher. We then went on a merry dance to find somewhere where we could have lunch, with several places either full or shut, before ending up under a marquee in the garden at the King's Head at Letheringsett.

NORTH NORFOLK: A drizzly day at Holt C.P.

Mid-June 2020

For the second of our post-strict-lockdown family walks we decided to go to Holt Country Park. Unfortunately it was a drizzly day, but we stuck to the plan and had a nice walk around one of my childhood stomping grounds. Rose in particularly enjoyed splashing in some of the semi-permanent puddles that line one of the long rides. The weather meant we didn't see many butterflies, but there was still a smattering of interesting sightings, including a fairly scarce leaf mining moth in Rowan, Stigmella sorbi.

 White-barred Gold

 Mite gall on birch

 Barred Rowan Pigmy (Stigmella sorbi) leaf mine

 Agromyza johannae mine in Broom

 Suillus sp (a type of Bolete)

 Blusher (Amanita rubescens)

Volucella bombylans

NORTH NORFOLK: Holt fungus foray

Late October 2018

Despite spending quite a bit of time during the autumn looking for fungi, I don't get round to going on many public forays anymore. Tony Leech was leading one at Holt C.P. for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Cathy & Margaret came too so Rose could attend her first foray. It had been ages since I had been to the CP via the Hempstead Road entrance so I had forgotten that bit was hilly, making for some interesting buggy-pushing (which didn't get any better on the gorse-laden Lowes), but we did see a good range of fungi to make up for any diffculties.

One of the highlights was the range of boletes seen, 5 species in all including Scarletina Bolete (the commonest of the ones with bright red pores instead or yellow), Peppery Bolete and Mottled Bolete (which bruises a bright greeny-blue at the base). We saw quite a bit of Nail fungus (Poronia punctata), although at a stage where the black specks on the surface weren't visible. Unfortunately I didn't photograph the one species that was new to me, Burgundydrop Bonnet, as I didn't realise at the time that I'd not seen it before.

 Scarletina Bolete

 Mottled Bolete

 Nail Fungus

Fly Agaric

Afterwards we headed to Natural Surroundings for lunch, which was great as always.

NORTH NORFOLK: Holt Morels

10th April 2017

A week ago Cathy & I had visited Holt country park to see my first False Morels. Today we returned along with Margaret, to see some 'true' morels, Morchella esculenta*, again found by Will. The False Morels have a folded texture, whilst these morels were larger and have a honeycomb look about them. We saw 11 along a path close to the car park.

After our brief stop at Holt we carried on to Cley NWT visitors centre, where we had lunch and had a look at the art exhibitions. We then spent some time in Dauke's Hide, where the highlights were a male Bearded Tit, constantly squabbling Shelduck and a showy Lapwing. When the sun came out I checked the Alexanders for insects, picking out the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus, 2-spot Ladybird, 7-spot Ladybird and Harlequin Ladybird amongst the small unidentified flies.

After our Cley trip we called in again at Cley Spy, where I saw my first House Martin of the year flying over nearby buildings. A couple of Buzzards soared up close by too. On the outward journey we had been diverted as the Holt Road was shut for NDR work, so on the way home I decided to divert via Roughton. This proved to be a mistake, as there were delays to put in a roundabout just outside Holt, followed by longer delays for another (seemingly pointless) roundabout near Felbrigg, with the roadworks at Burgh Road in Aylsham thrown in for good measure. What with the radio adverts about work being done on the railway, woe betide anyone who wants to actually travel in the holidays.

* The morels we saw look like Morchella esculenta, however morels are one of the groups were taxonomy isn't necessarily settled - it might be that in the future DNA testing shows there are more or fewer species than we currently think.

NORTH NORFOLK: False Morels

2nd April 2017

On Sunday Cathy & I headed to Holt country park to see an unusual fungus that had been found growing near the sensory garden. The fungus in question is the False Morel (Gyromitra esculenta), which had only been recorded on three previous occasions in the county. I had been given directions by Will, the ranger here, however fortunately there was a very obvious feature to mark the location - the sculpture of a bear! Cathy had soon located a number of fruiting bodies, most of them starting to go over, but one was nice and fresh. After admiring the false morels, we walked a short circuit that took us past the lake, before heading off for lunch.

We had some food at the cafe at Natural Surroundings, before popping in to see the ever helpful people at Cley Spy to get a new binoculars case. The weather was still good, so on the way home we stopped off at Horsford Woods for another walk. The path was lined by flowering gorse and broom, and Linnets called from the trees nearby. A look at a clear-felled area produced a Common Lizard, whilst we heard more running off into the undergrowth. Next to the path were some deep but presumably only semi-permanent narrow ponds. Looking into them we saw several water beetles, and noticed that they were particularly well-marked. I think they are Acilius sulcatus, a species that I've not seen before and has presumably colonised by flying in, something that won't surprise anyone who has caught water boatmen in their moth traps!

NORTH NORFOLK: Pony poo and geese

21st December 2016 

Having dropped Cathy off in the city, I had a few hours to spare. I decided to head to Holt Lowes, where Andy Musgrove had recently seen Poronia punctata, a scarce nail fungus sp. that grows on pony dung. I had previously looked for this species unsuccessfully at Roydon Common and equally unsuccessfully for the related species Poronia erici on rabbit droppings at Holme Dunes. Whilst there is no shortage of horse dung in Norfolk, the medication given to horses tend to kill off many of the fungi that may otherwise grow, so this species only occurs where the wilder breeds of pony are used for conservation grazing. 

After heading out on to the heathland I had located some pony dung, but no nail fungus. Eventually I found some covered in small toadstools, probably Conocybe sp. Clearly this was a good age for fungal fruiting, and so it proved to be, with my first Poronia fruiting body. It hadn’t got as large as some of the ones that Andy had seen, but there we are. I considered whether to spend more time looking, but at the back of my mind there was a desire to go and look for the Todd’s Canada Goose* near Docking, which Gary had kindly texted me to say had been seen again this morning. In the end the goose won, and I headed back to the car. 

I headed past Holt and Fakenham before turning off to Docking. Out on the road to Brancaster I saw a couple of cars pulled over, so parked nearby and went to join them. There was a large flock of Pink-footed Geese, with many more behind them in fields further over, but upon scanning them I couldn’t see the Todd’s Canada Goose. The birders already present confirmed as much, several White-fronted Geese but nothing else so far. I waited whilst another large flock arrived, bringing with it several Barnacle Geese. A newly arrived birder then told us he had seen the Canada Goose in a field from the next road over, so I decided to head round that way in the hope it was still present. And it was! I was able to pull off the road and ‘scope the flock from the car, picking out the Todd’s Canada Goose without much trouble. Full of festive cheer I drove back to Norwich, arriving just in time to pick Cathy up from the city. 

* Todd’s Canada Goose is the vernacular name for Canada Geese of the subspecies ‘interior’. There are a number of subspecies of Canada Goose, of which the smaller ones now form part of a separate species, Cackling Goose – BirdGuides did a useful article on which subspecies are ascribed to which parent species. Subspecies of both Canada Goose and Cackling Goose occasionally arrive in Norfolk with wild goose flocks, and as such are ‘category A’ birds rather than the resident feral flocks, which are on category C of the British list.

NORTH NORFOLK: Moths and a Gatekeeper aberration

16th July 2016

One of my target species this year is the Lappet Moth. Lappets are quite rare in Norfolk, and our hopes for seeing one were pinned on the open day at Holme NOA where one was caught last year. We arrived at the headquarters of the Norfolk Ornithologists Association to see a small group assembled ready to go through some traps. The first moths we were shown had been caught on the outside of one of the traps, and were a positive start - two of them were new for me, Kent Black Arches and Small Emerald.

The first trap we went through had been brought from Hunstanton, and contained mostly common species. The first Holme trap had a few nice species in, including several Ruby Tigers, but nothing new. There were two more traps to check, so we went to have a look. A Pine Hawkmoth and some Early Thorns were of note, and a Shore Wainscot was another new moth. Unfortunately there was no Lappets, but there we go. Back at the observatory we were shown a Barred Red that Trevor had caught, and some Large Thorns that had been bred from eggs.

Whilst with the traps a female Common Crossbill had been calling from a pine tree nearby, and back at the car park a Grasshopper Warbler reeled from close by. "It was showing well in that Hawthorn 30 seconds ago" was the message from other birders.

After lunch we called in at Holt Country Park to look for a plant I'd been told about, but there we failed to find it and after staring at leaf litter for a while we decided to give up. Near our car I had seen the hoverfly Seriocomyia silentis and there were two other sightings of note. Firstly my first Gatekeeper of the year was made more interesting by the presence of some extra black dots. Lepidopterists have long been fascinated by anything a bit out of the ordinary, and gave many of them names. This Gatekeeper appears to be an aberration named 'ab excessa.' The second interesting species was a slime mould, but a rather unusual looking one, probably from the genus Stemonitis, growing on some piling at the back of the car park.

NORTH NORFOLK: Plants and a Soldier Beetle

2nd June 2016

On Thursday I went to the North Norfolk coast with dad. The weather was overcast and drizzly, so we saw very few insects, but did manage a few interesting bits and bobs. We started off at Holme Dunes, where there were a few Early Marsh Orchids along the entrance track. We also saw two small species of clover growing in the car park, Suffocated Clover and Bird's-foot Clover. These species had been mentioned recently in a blog by the North-west Norfolk Naturalists. [Edit] Note that it was Suffocated Clover that I saw, not Subterranean Clover as I had initially written - apologies for any confusion caused.

From here we headed to Thornham, stopping for lunch at Shuck's restaurant, based in a Yurt. The food was very good, albeit rather fancy for my taste (for example several options were served with aioli, which I'd never even heard of). They also gave you the choice of rustic or stealth chips. As much as I wanted to see what on earth stealth chips were, I was concerned they would attack me whilst I wasn't looking, so I settled for rustic ones.

The weather hadn't improved, so we decided to drive along the coast road and call in at Holt Country Park. When I used to come here regularly as a kid I had seen Bird's Nest Orchids here, but we failed to find any on this occasion - perhaps I was looking in the wrong place, or perhaps we just overlooked them. I did see one new species, a small soldier beetle that landed on Dad's hand, Rhagonycha limbata.

NORFOLK: Earlham & Holt fungi

27th October 2015

Cathy & I headed out today to have lunch at Natural Surroundings. Whilst signposted as a wildflower centre, the best bit for many people is the little cafe in the woods, where you can have lunch whilst watching woodland birds on the feeders.

On the way we called in at Earlham Cemetery, where I had got directions from Ian for Jellybaby fungus (Leotia lubrica). This was a new species for me, although Cathy wasn't particularly impressed with its similarity to actual jellybabies, despite my demonstration of just how similar they are.

Jellybabies

At Natural Surroundings we had some big slabs of cheese on toast whilst watching Nuthatches and Coal Tits on the bird feeders just outside the window. After lunch we went out into the nature reserve, having a walk around the wooded areas before reaching the river. Here we saw some Brown Trout in the River Glaven. We stopped in the hide, but didn't see much from it. On our way back to the cafe a large flock of Siskins called from the trees nearby.

On our way back to Norwich we decided to call in at Holt Country Park. Near the car park I stopped to look at the remains of Golden Bootleg Fungus, which looked like it had encountered someone elses' boot. Luckily I had seen photos of it before the damage, so knew what it was. We headed off into the totem pole clearing, which always used to be good for fungi when I was younger. I was a bit surprised to see a woodland garden - presumably it has been there ages but on all of my recent visits I have always headed off towards the pond or around the edges.

 Golden Bootleg - seen better days

The garden proved to be full of fungi. Large amounts of Hairy Curtain Crust were growing on the wooden edging, and Cathy set about finding lots of fungi, including Orange Peel fungus and some impressive Redlead Roundheads. We saw many different species, including an old favourite of mine, Ear Pick fungus. This species grows from pine cones and has spines rather than gills.

 Orange Peel fungus

 Redlead Roundhead

 Ear Pick fungus

 Common Mazegill

NORTH NORFOLK: Fritillaries and Leafhoppers

27th July 2015

Despite showers being forecast I was eager to go to Holt Country Park to look for the valezina form of Silver-washed Fritillary. Whilst this species is usually orange, in some colonies a small percentage of the females are instead a bronzey-green colour. Fortunately the colony at Holt, probably the best known one in Norfolk, has this form present. I had failed to see it on previous visits, so I wasn't confident of seeing one, particularly because it was raining as we drove through Edgefield, but by the time we arrived at Holt the rain had stopped and a few butterflies were on the wing.

Last year we saw quite a few Silver-washed Fritillaries on the Buddleia at the back of the car park, and similarly on this visit two were almost immediately visible. Both were vibrating their wings, presumably heating up their flight muscles after a period of inactivity. We took a slightly circuitous route to the pond along a path that had held a valezina a week ago, but didn't see any butterflies at all. Stopping at the pond we scanned the vegetation and saw another normal-type Fritillary. Then bingo, a beautiful bronzey valezina landed on the Hogweed in front of me. I called Cathy round and we both admired the butterfly as it gave excellent views. Further round the same island of vegetation Cathy found a second one, with both showing at the same time to confirm it was a second individual.

Whilst we were here I remembered that one of the wardens was monitoring hoverfly records, so I made an effort to photograph as many species as possible. Of those that are identifiable without examination or a specimen we found eleven, quite good for a small area on an overcast day. These included three Volucella species and two new ones for me, Helophilus trivittatus and Sericomyia silentis. On our way back to the car we saw another couple of orange Silver-washed Fritillaries nectaring on thistles, plus a Red Longhorn Beetle and a Speckled Bush-cricket.

Whilst in North Norfolk we decided to carry on to Sheringham Park. Here I wanted to look for one of my target species for the year, the attractive Rhododendron Leafhopper. We had checked quite a few Rhododendrons without finding any, and then I saw some white leafhopper nymphs. We wondered if it was too early in the season, but Cathy quickly answered that question by finding some adults lower down on the same plant. Rhododendron Leafhoppers are green with red streaks and a black line through the eye, and are well worth a closer look if you see one. The NBN map for this species doesn't show any records for Norfolk, but their presence here is well known, even being mentioned on the Sheringham Park website. We ended a successful trip with chip butties at the park cafe.

NORTH NORFOLK: Holt fungi workshop

9th November 2014

On Sunday I went to Holt Hall to attend a Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists Society workshop looking at fungi on wood. After an introductory talk and presentation we headed off into the woods for a short foray. Many of the fungi we saw were typical woodland species, but I still saw three new species (Peziza micropus, Rigidoporus ulmarius and Fiery Inkcap, Lactarius pyrogalus). The latter was on the lawn just outside of the woods, as were two White Spindles. An interesting pale agaric wasn't identified in the field, so that may perhaps add another species to my list.

 Peziza micropus

 Black Bulgar (Bulgaria inquinans)

Rigidoporus ulmarius

During the lunch break I nipped out for a look on the lawns around the hall for grassland species. These were beyond the scope of this course, but areas of ancient grassland are always of interest. Anne identified another new species for me, the unusually-named Crazed Cap. I found a Parrot Waxcap, Meadow Coral and some Yellow Spindles, whilst there were two other Waxcap sp. not identified with certainty at the time.

 Parrot Waxcap

 Yellow Spindles

In the afternoon we had another interesting presentation, this time about the commonest fungi on trees and their effects on the host wood. All in all an excellent day, many thanks to Tony Leech & Anne Crotty who led the workshop.