NORTH NORFOLK: Beeston Bump & Common

31st May 2017

Another warm day, and I met Adam in North Walsham before heading up to North Norfolk for some wildlife watching. I had decided to spend some time in the Beeston area, hoping to see some migrating birds from the bump or in the scrub behind it, and then have a look for insects on Beeston Common.

As we walked up the western side of Beeston Bump I stopped to look at some plants, and noticed Sand Catchfly, a new species for me. The flowers weren't quite out, although whether they weren't yet in flower or had died off because of the heat wasn't obvious. Several Painted Ladies were also seen along the cliff edge. Most of the birds moving through the Alexanders were House Sparrows, and the sole pipit was a Meadow Pipit. At least five Buzzards were spiralling up over the woods.

On the way down I saw a patch of Red Valerian, and suggested that it would be worth checking for Hummingbird Hawk Moths. As we walked over Adam spotted one - although the association is well known so I can't claim any particular insight. Wild Clary and Kidney Vetch grew near the path down, and in the meadow we found two flowering spikes of Purple Broomrape. A Whitethroat and several Skylarks were the only birds of note.

Crossing the railway line we walked round to the entrance to Beeston Common. We hadn't gone very far when we bumped into John Furse, who was looking for day-flying moths. After stopping to look at a Merodon equestris hoverfly we accompanied John out onto a footpath running across the middle of the marsh to look for a Red-veined Darter seen here recently. We encountered male and female Keeled Skimmers, the first that I had seen in the digital photography era - my last pictures of these were taken at Holt Lowes on a film camera (ask your parents). After a bit of searching Adam spotted the Red-veined Darter, and we managed to get a few photos of that too before it vanished.

After our dragonfly success we carried on around the site, not finding any other moths we were looking for although we did see a Marbled White-spot. Other species noted included Green Tiger Beetle, a Gorse Shieldbug laying eggs and my first Large Skipper of the year.

After lunch Adam & I had another short walk around a village pond, seeing a Little Grebe and another couple of Hummingbird Hawk Moths before heading home.

NORTH NORFOLK: Purple Broomrape at Overstrand

19th June 2016

The weekend began in somewhat frustrating fashion. I had hoped to go and see the Great Knot at Titchwell on Friday after work, but it had headed off down the coast. My second opportunity to see it came on Saturday, but despite standing on the beach in the wind and rain it wasn't to be, as it was only seen for about 10 minutes. Typically it showed really well on Sunday when I had other plans.

On to Sunday, and Cathy & I were back in North Walsham to see my family. In between social engagements we headed to Overstrand for a walk along the clifftop path. My target here was Purple Broomrape, a scarce parasitic plant that I had tried and failed to see several times previously. The number of plants and the flowering time seems to vary year on year, which added to the problem seeing them. This time Ben Murphy had kindly informed me in mid-week that several plants were now flowering, so I was keen to see them whilst I could.

We parked up at the clifftop car park and headed west, stopping regularly to let people past on the narrow path. Once we were past a few houses the area to the south opened up into a golf course, whilst on the other side Sand Martins occasionally floated up over the cliffs and a Kestrel skimmed past below them. Having shown Cathy a picture of our target plant it was her that located two flowering spikes of Purple Broomrape, one near the path and one closer to the cliff edge.

We continued a bit further along to see if there were any more close by, before turning round and retracing our steps. There were several bees and wasps on the umbellifers, and other interesting invertebrates included a Gorse Shieldbug and the micro moth Pammene aurana. A Small Copper rested briefly on the path, and a Speckled Wood seemed very out of place as it flew up off the cliff and off across the golf course. Back at the car park we got an ice cream from a very friendly man at the van, before heading back to North Walsham.