NORWICH: Lakenham way Large Willow Aphids

1st October 2019

There is a recently arrived micro moth that causes leaf mines on long-leaved willows (Royal Midget), so accordingly I have been paying extra attention to any willows that I see as I move around the city. No luck so far, but I did find a colony of Large Willow Aphids (Tuberolachnus salignus), which are rather impressive as far as aphids go.

NORWICH: First singing Blackcap of the year

26th March 2019

Having not heard any Blackcaps singing at Whitlingham on the 24th, I heard my first singing one on Lakenham Way on the 26th. Looking at my records this is very close to my 2017 date from the same location on 27th March. I wasn't walking down Lakenham Way in 2018 so don't have a comparable date for last year. For many years Blackcaps would be a first or second week of April bird, but like many other spring migrants seem to be arriving earlier (although as with Chiffchaffs it can be tricky to determine which birds are newly arrived and which have overwintered, so it is best to wait for multiple birds to further suggest recent arrivals).

NORWICH: Snout & oak gall

6th September 2017

A couple of interesting observations from Lakenham before work on Wednesday. Firstly I spotted a Snout moth resting in a hedge, a common moth this time of year but more often seen amongst the vegetation so sometimes hard to photograph. Secondly on Lakenham Way I saw a gall caused by the gall wasp Andricus grossulariae on Oak. The life cycle of this species, along with some other gall wasps, is a bit unusual. There is a sexual generation that produces small red galls on Turkey Oak catkins, but also an asexual generation that gives rise to the gall I saw today (a sort of frizzy knopper gall).

Lots of Gadwall

11th December 2010

I sniffed and sneezed my way around Whitlingham on Saturday, still trying to see two more species to get me up to my years target of 110. There was a large number of Gadwall, a count of 800 according to the Broads Authority board. This was slightly surprising, as the board usually just has a generic "it's spring, look out for Swallows and spring flowers" type message on it. Maybe closing the Ranworth office means we'll get some proper conservation efforts. They may wish to start with building up the path to the bird screen, which is once again flooded. Other than the Gadwall, a drake Wigeon swam the length of the broad, a Water Rail squealed and one of the Red-crested Pochards was in the conservation area. I had a chat with another local birder who said that a couple of redhead Goosander have been on the river west of Norwich recently, might be worth a look if you patch around Sweetbriar. On the way back to Cathy's a small flock of Waxwings were near Lakenham Way before flying off towards Sainsbury's.