NORWICH: A few more local birds and a pond springtail

Mid-January 2022

I continued to add a number of common bird species on my walks to work (still too dark on the way home to add anything then). Singing Song Thrush plus Goldcrest, Greenfinch, Coal Tit and Grey Wagtail were some of the local highlights, capped with a flock of about 100 Pink-footed Geese that flew over Waterloo Park on 12th Jan.

Elsewhere I noticed some tiny springtails on the surface of some garden pond water, which under a microscope turned out to be an apparently common species but one I'd never noticed/identified before, Sminthurides aquaticus. You can see some excellent pictures of them on the blog here: https://www.chaosofdelight.org/blog/springtail-of-the-month-sminthurides-aquaticus/31/8/2020

WHITLINGHAM: Still no parakeet but a Phalacrocorax bonus

3rd January 2022

I had planned to make an afternoon visit to Whitlingham in the hope of seeing the Ring-necked Parakeet fly in to roost, but the visit was given extra interest with news that Drew had found a Shag on the Great Broad. I arrived to the dreaded words "it was on the broad over there, but I've not seen it for about 20 minutes now..." but fortunately after a quick scan of the far end I noticed it perched up on some cut trees, just off the edge of the island. Shag was a patch tick for me (#156), with the only other one I've seen in Norwich back in February 2013 when I found one along the river in the city centre one morning. Whilst scanning I picked up a couple of birds I'd missed on 1st Jan, Pochard and Great Crested Grebe.

After spending a bit of time watching the Shag I decided to take a slow walk around the meadow, and found a couple of new species in the form of a (relatively!) large springtail, Pogonognathellus longicornis and a lichenicolous fungus, Unguiculariopsis thallophila. I then called in at the slipway and read some more Mute Swan rings before heading back into position near the island. A few Redwings called as they flew over, and a Siskin was in one of the remaining Alder trees that had survived the rather dramatic looking cutting. I watched around 220 Jackdaws swirling about before they settled down to roost, but yet again there was no sign of the parakeet, which has firmly cemented itself as my bogey bird here. Still, one new patch bird in the first week of the year is still a positive start.

WHITLINGHAM: Woodland fungi and selected invertebrates

Late October 2021

I took the opportunity to make a couple of short visits to Whitlingham near the end of the month. They were unremarkable in terms of birds (I still failed to see or hear the Ring-necked Parakeet that periodically visits from Thorpe St Andrew, but bizarrely did find a Guineafowl feather in the main car park!) but saw lots of fungi and a few invertebrates. Some pictures from the first visit below: Fleecy Shield (Pluteus hispidulus), Velvet Shield (Pluteus umbrosus), Shaggy Scalycap (Pholiota squarrosa) and a new barkfly for me, Stenopsocus immaculatus.

On my second visit of the week it was raining so I focused my attentions on the woods. I checked out the fallen leaves under a small patch of Aspens in the hope of finding the Ectoedemia that mines the leaves, without success. I did however find the equivalent species from Hybrid Black Poplar leaves, Ectoedemia hannerovella, which was new to TG20. Flame Shield (Pluteus aurantiorugosus) was a new site shield fungus for me (although there are a couple of previous records here) and I also saw a new springtail, the bristly Orchesella villosa.

NORWICH: Early February & a city centre lichen

1st week of February 2021

A rather low key week. Whilst in the city I remembered to have a look at a tree on Haymarket (next to Peter Mancroft Church), which held the yellow lichen Candelaria concolor. It had been mentioned in Peter Lambley's 2019 lichen report in the NNNS journal "Transactions.." and I assumed it would be something I've never seen, only to find out checking my notes that Peter had actually shown me it near Sparham on an NNNS event several years ago.

 

On the bird front the wintering Yellow-legged Gull was still present in Wensum Park when I went that way into work and I heard some Greylag Geese flying over the house early one morning, but I didn't see or hear anything new this week. The only other species of note was the springtail Orchesella cincta on one of the pavilion pillars at Waterloo Park, a species I've seen before but nice to recognise one straight away.

NORWICH: Springtails in the garden

Late November 2020

A group of species that I have been thinking of paying more attention to in 2021 are the Springtails, tiny creatures that are abundant in leaf litter and soil, but also in most other habitats too. It makes sense to have a look for the larger ones first (and that is relative, i.e. 4mm instead of 1 or 2mm!). Whilst playing in the garden with my daughter on a drizzle day I noticed lots of springtails on the top of our gardening box. There was at least two different species, as some where long and thin whilst others were round, a shape known as globular. Sticking them under the microscope it turned out there were three species, Dicyrtomina saundersi, Entomobrya intermedia and Entomobrya multifasciata. No springtails seem to have many Norfolk records based on NBN (indeed the NBIS contribution seems to be only four records!) so it seems like if I do start to generate some records they could be noteworthy in a county context. The fact that I can find them in the garden. the local park and at Whitlingham also might come in handy whilst travel restrictions are in place.

NORWICH: Plantation Gardens lichens & invertebrates

22nd February 2020

With an hour or so of free time in Norwich city centre I went for a walk down to the Plantation Gardens, a small and sheltered ornamental garden hidden away behind the Roman Catholic Cathedral.

There wasn't much about in the way of insect life, but I spent some time looking at the old walls, seeing a few lichens and springtails that I didn't recognise, plus an interesting fly that turned out to be Liancalus virens, a new species for me. Whilst looking in the flower beds I also noticed Bluebell Rust (Uromyces muscari) on some Bluebell leaves.

 Liancalus virens,

 Lepidocyrtus sp.

Bluebell Rust

NORWICH: Waterloo Park Big Garden Birdwatch

26th January 2019

This Saturday was the first day of the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch weekend, a very worthy survey that gets young people and families in particular interested in their local birds. This was the 40th year of the survey and we were fortunate in that the RSPB and Friends of Waterloo Park had arranged an event five minutes walk away, so we could take Rose along. Lindsey Chapman off of Springwatch was guest of honour and was doing some of this new-fangled instagram live v-logging type things.

We had a browse of the stalls, picking up both a coveted golden Robin and a 40th anniversary House Sparrow pin badge for Rose. Some feeders had been hung up and we saw Greenfinches on these, which was good to see as I've still not had one from the garden a few hundred yards away. Coal Tits has been seen earlier, although as it was quite busy I wasn't surprised not to see them. We went on a slow stroll around the park and clocked up 15 species, not too bad at all really. I inspected some of the old birch tree trunks hoping to find resting moths. This was unsuccesful, but I did find the distinctive springtail Entomobrya albocincta, which became my first new species of 2019.

On the following day we carried out the garden birdwatch from our living room window, and in the hour we counted we saw eight individuals of six species, 2 Blue Tits, 2 Blackbirds, 1 Robin, 1 Collared Dove, 1 Woodpigeon and 1 Dunnock.

EAST NORFOLK: Last trip out of the year

30th December 2018

I had planned on one final wildlife trip of the year, but was planning on it being a low key affair, walking around some of the green spaces of east Norwich (Mousehold, Kett's Hill, Rosary Cemetery & Lion Wood), However, news of a Black-bellied Dipper at Ebridge Mill proved too much of a lure. It wasn't just the species, although Dippers are great, but growing up in North Walsham we used to pass the mill every weekend to visit my grandparents. It was never my local patch, but along with Bacton Woods it is an area I have a great deal of fondness for, and having not known about the 1999 bird at the time, I was keen to go and have a look.

This degree of sentimentality could have been scuppered had the Dipper been further along the canal at Briggate, but fortunately for me it was showing well at Ebridge when I arrived. It wasn't particularly close so my photos were very much record shots (in the actual meaning of the phrase, not the "I used my £5000 worth of equipment but there was a small twig sticking into frame near the side" meaning). Popping across the road I recorded Phytomyza ilicis on the nearby Holly, and noticed some Tawny Funnels too.

Having been successful much quicker than I had allowed for, I decided to call in at Barton Broad on my way back to Norwich. After parking up at the car park about a mile away I decided to pass the time on the journey by recording the plants in flower for the BSBI's New Year Plant Hunt (I know it isn't the new year yet - it runs a few days either side of Jan 1st). I managed 12, not great but then it wasn't my main objective. A couple of slime moulds were also seen along the road.

 Wood Avens

 Trichia cf decipiens

 Dog's Sick Slime Mould (Mustacea crucilago)

At Heron's Carr, the boardwalk at the bottom of Barton Broad I recorded Phytomyza ilicis again on the Holly, then carried on to the watchpoint. A small flock of Wigeon flew over, and Marsh Tit and Siskins called unseen. The birds were mostly distant, but I picked out the two female Scaup at the back with a flock of Goldeneye (36 counted in total). There was no sign of the long-staying Long-tailed Duck, which seems to be a bit elusive. Another birder told me that he had seen it when it first arrived but not again on several visits since. I had a bit of lunch, by which time three Goldeneye had come much closer and a Kingfisher flew across the corner of the broad.

Back in Norwich I called into Whitlingham for a quick look around. Despite lots of Black-headed Gulls around the slipway there were no ringed ones, and I could only find one Goldeneye (Gary had a flock of seven earlier in the day). A walk back along the picnic meadow saw two Green Woodpeckers fly up into the tree belt, and I recorded the distinctive springtail Orchesella cincta.

Here's to a wildlife filled 2019 everyone.