YARE VALLEY: A sunny day at Wheatfen

Late July 2022

My annual summer visit to Wheatfen was pleasant as always, with lots of insects and a large emergence of harvestmen, with four species noted, three of them in quite large numbers. Highlights included a Sulphur Beetle (rare outside the Brecks and coast), a Bronze Shieldbug, a lacebug Derephysia foliacea, a Three-lined Soldierfly (Oxycera trilineata) and some Yellow Loosestrife Bees.

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen car park and environs

September 2021

Two visits to Wheatfen would usually result in a whole host of interesting records, but as both of mine were for events at the study centre I made do with a quick search around the near part of the reserve on the first visit and a look around the car park on the second. Highlights were Zoned Tooth (Hydnum concrescens), previously found by some Fungus Study Group members, Uroleucon jaceae (aphids on knapweed) and a beetle found on my car roof, which I think is Calodromius spilotus.

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

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen - a famous pulsing snail parasite

 Late August 2020

When I was growing up like many nature-lovers I was a fan of David Attenborough programmes, for their content, cinematography and his presenting style, but I was very aware that most of the species featured lived in exotic places and I was unlikely to ever see them. Accordingly I tended to seek out programmes that described UK wildlife, and the one I remember most was actually a programme about the attempted reintroduction of Large Coppers to the Fens. It was in 2014 that the cover of a Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists Society publication about parasitic organisms (called Hidden Lives) reminded me of the episode of Trials of Life, in which a Trematode worm takes over an Amber Snail, making it climb onto vegetation and flash it's antennae. The hope is that a bird will eat it and the Trematode can continue its life cycle inside the bird. The clip, entitled "Zombie Snail" is available to watch here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bxh35. Why is all of this relevant? Well, it was at this point that I realised that one of these really interesting species "as featured on TV" occurred about 6 miles from Norwich, at the Ted Ellis Nature Reserve at Wheatfen.

The thing is, finding a few infected snails on a large nature reserve is very difficult. I had kept an eye out on each of my visits to no avail. Then, a few weeks ago I saw a post on the Wheatfen Facebook page that a volunteer had found and photographed a snail infected by Leucochloridium paradoxum (in fact she had done better than that, finding another snail infected by another species in the genus with brown bands instead of green). On the off chance I contacted Will Fitch, the Wheatfen warden, to ask if he knew where they had been seen. I received the answer that they were at the far end of Smee Loke (which sounds like a location from a Tolkien novel but is one of the main Wheatfen paths). With the location narrowed down, it was time for an Emerson family wildlife walk to try to track it down.

After a while it wasn't looking too promising, between us Cathy & I had found a few Amber Snails, but all apparently healthy. It was on our way back when I happened to glance into a patch of bindweed and noticed a snail with a pulsing, banded green antenna! Get in! 

Wheatfen is an excellent site for invertebrates and we saw various other things, including Spiked Shieldbug and Adelphocoris ticinensis, whilst Cathy found the impressive larva of Cimbex connatus, a large sawfly that feeds on Alders.

YARE VALLEY: In search of the Cowbane Rust

Mid-August 2019

The Norfolk Fungus Study Group meets regularly throughout the year to survey sites for fungi, but the group also conducts ad-hoc searches or monitoring for particular species as suggested by the Lost & Found fungus project here: http://fungi.myspecies.info/content/lost-found-fungi-project-rusts-smuts-and-allies. In recent years we have successfully found the (previously considered) rare rust Puccinia cladii on Saw Sedge, and it was suggested that the group should look for the rust on Cowbane, Puccinia cicutae. Cowbane is quite a scarce plant nationally, but is locally common in the Broads along the edge of waterways.

With all this in mind, the group had obtained permission to survey Wheatfen in the hope of finding Cowbane Rust. This meant going out on a boat, as most of the Cowbane isn't accessible from the paths. The amount of waterweed meant motor vessels were out, and before our visit the warden had found that there was too much vegetation for the work boat to go out either. It was therefore down to six of us to take out three small boats that could still get down the dykes that link Wheatfen Broad and Deep Waters. I should point out that any form of canoeing or boating is not allowed at Wheatfen other than for conservation purposes and with permission of the warden/Ted Ellis Trust.

Will and Kevin helped us launch the boats, and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours travelling along the dykes and edges of the larger waterbodies, checking every clump of Cowbane we encountered. Sadly for us it all looked healthy, although of course it could be that the rust would have developed later in the year, so another visit at some point might be wise.

After a rest and a drink we then went out for a walk around part of the reserve. We were shown some of the plants that Ted Ellis had planted and have now naturalised, namely Greater Burnet-saxifrage and Broad-leaved Ragwort, which don't occur anywhere else in Norfolk. We were then taken off-piste into one of the boggy areas of tidal woodland, where after some searching and loss of wellies Will managed to locate a small population of the very rare moss Timmia megapolitana, whose only UK population is at Wheatfen.

Despite not seeing the rust I did see a new fungus - there hadn't been space in the boats for Neil so he had gone for a walk instead, and he returned with an Iodine Bolete (Boletus impolitus), which as the name suggests has a strong smell of Iodine at the base. 

Many thanks to Will and the Ted Ellis Trust for helping us with the survey and walk, it was a privilege to visit some new parts of this excellent site.

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen visit

Early August 2018

I called in at Wheatfen one afternoon, hoping the weather would be better than the equivalent visit last year when I got drenched by a sudden storm what blew in whilst I was out on the furthest part of the marsh. Some Small Balsam was growing along the hedgerow, and near the staithe I noticed several Small Teasels in flower - I've no idea how I managed to miss these in the past. 

I kept an eye out for leaf mines on my way round, seeing the moth mines of Buckthorn Bent-wing (Bucculatrix frangutella) and Buckthorn Pigmy (Stigmella catharticella) early on. There was a good range of other moth and fly species, but I hoped there might be something on the scarcer broadland plants. I did manage one new species, Calybites phasianipennella on Yellow Loosestrife, but two mines on Marsh Sow-thistle turned out to be the common Chromatomyia atricornis agg and Liriomyza sonchi.

There was a nice range of butterflies, including a couple of second-brood Brimstones and a Painted Lady. I also found good numbers of the very rare beetle Galeruca laticollis, currently only found at Wheatfen. After noticing my first one, I soon saw quite a few gravid females (the abdomens swell so much that they don't fit under the wing cases) and also some mating pairs. I managed to get back to the car without getting wet, so success all round.

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen insects on thistles

Keen to exploit the fickle periods of sunshine I nipped to Wheatfen one afternoon to look for beetles. I'd barely left the car park when I saw a Grass Snake moving through the vegetation, which was a nice start. I then met Will the warden, and accompanied him back to the warden's hut to buy a copy of the Mammals of Wheatfen, the first in a series of wildlife guides that are being produced. You can pick up a copy from Will for £3 if you see him there.

Whilst speaking to Will I had asked him where the best place to look for two species of beetle was. One of them is the very rare Galeruca laticollis, currently Wheatfen is the only UK site for this species. I have seen the larvae before, but not the adult beetle. The second species was the Musk Beetle, an impressively large metallic green longhorn beetle that I hadn't seen for years. Predictably both were at the far end of the reserve, so I set off in that direction.

Galeruca laticollis has a two foodplant life cycle. The larvae eat Meadow-rue but the adults eat Creeping Thistle, so it was the latter I had to look out for. As Creeping thistle is a common plant this meant a lot of plants to look through! On my way through a wooded patch I spotted two obliging Willow Emerald damselflies.

Emerging out into the open I started checking thistles, and found that the commonest creatures on them were planthoppers. I also found some Tortoise Beetles (Cassida vibex), both adults and the larvae, which create a faecal shield from their droppings in order to camouflage themselves. A Creeping Thistle Lacebug was a new species for me, having previously seen the similar Spear Thistle Lacebug. By now it had clouded over and I could hear thunder in the distance. I had checked a lot of thistles, but eventually found my target, with at least six Galeruca laticollis beetles present.

It began to rain almost as I found the beetles, and there was very little shelter about. Fortunately the storm fizzled out, allowing me to seek a bit of shelter from the lashing rain near an old willow. It carried on raining, so in the end I waited until it was less heavy and sloshed my way back.

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen fungi

24th October 2016

A while back Jim had asked if I would be interested in meeting up at Wheatfen one morning to have a look at the fungi there and pass on a few tips for identifying them. We were both free on Monday morning, so met in the car park to see what was about. Immediately obvious near the entrance and on the grass nearby were some Shaggy Ink Caps, nicely demonstrating the different stages of deliquescence as shown below.

There were several other species amongst the grass, including an Agaricus sp, but a very productive area was behind the study centre. Whilst initially drawn to the larger ones like Deceiver, Birch Milkcap, Ugly Milkcap (amusingly called 'The Ugly One' in Jim's older fungi book) and Blusher, closer inspection revealed Orange Mosscap and some Pipe Clubs.

 The Blusher

 Ugly Milk Cap

 Pipe Clubs

We set off into the woods, and were only a few steps in when we saw some Sulphur Tuft and Amethyst Deceivers. The latter was very common on our walk - if you have never seen this beautiful common purple species then I highly recommend having a look for them as there were loads. Further in we saw False Death Caps, some Russulas that were probably Purple Brittlegil, lots of Lilac Bonnets and a loose ring of Fly Agarics.

Amethyst Deceivers (left) and Lilac Bonnet (right)

 False Death Cap

 Fly Agaric

Further along the path Jim noticed some large brackets, which turned out to be Oak Mazegill. I was able to show him how to identify Bleeding Oak Crust, and we also saw Crystal Brain, Oak Curtain Crust and Brown Roll Rim. As we reached a boggy bit of the path we saw some Glistening Ink Caps and the birch log ends were covered in Candlesnuff Fungus.

 Oak Mazegill

 Bleeding Oak Crust

There was less fungi along the grassy paths, but we did see some Scaly Earthballs, yellow club sp. and a Pleated Inkcap. A cut stump was covered in Common Stump Brittlegills. Before returning to the car park we diverted to the Thatch, where as well as a few more yellow clubs we saw Parrot Waxcaps, which are always worth a look. We were mainly focussed on fungi, but at the start of the walk we heard at least one Brambling and a Marsh Tit calling.

Scaly Earthball - note the stipe and multiple small scaly markings

YARE VALLEY: Wheatfen Bioblitz

15th May 2016

On Sunday Wheatfen hosted a Bioblitz, in conjunction with the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists Society and NBIS. This brought together a host of experienced naturalists and interested wildlife enthusiasts to head out onto the reserve and record as many species as possible. I had agreed to go through the moth trap at the start of the morning, however my role became rather superfluous as the cold weather overnight meant only three moths were present in the trap - 2 Powdered Quakers and 1 Green Carpet.

After this slight setback I went for a walk looking for insects with local volunteer Kevin, Tim Hodge, David Norgate and several others. We begun in the area around the Thatch, where we were shown the larvae of the very rare beetle Galeruca laticollis feeding on Meadow-rue. Five species of ladybirds were present, along with a Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle and several different hoverflies. Two Hobbies flew over, and we saw three Cuckoos including a bubbling female. Stewart Wright showed us several micro moths and case-bearing larvae, which were particularly interesting.

 Cream-spotted Ladybird

 Galeruca beetle larvae

 Coleophora paripenella case

 Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle

A few sunnier spells encouraged more insects to fly, including Orange-tip and Hairy Dragonfly. There were lots of Green Nettle Weevils and early instar Dark Green Bush-crickets in the nettles as we looked for extra species. We were able to point out some other interesting species, including a tiny Owl Midge and a large Noon Fly. A rust on Wild Currant was a new fungus for me. On our way back to the visitors centre we saw Large Red and Blue-tailed Damselflies, and a Black Colonel soldierfly. After handing in our records sheet I headed home, but recording went on into the afternoon - I'll update this post with an overall species total if one gets published.