NORTH NORFOLK: Italian/Hybrid Sparrow

28th August 2013

I managed to to get to Northrepps for a quick look at the possible Italian Sparrow that was noticed a couple of weeks ago and is still present in the same garden. There has already been quite a bit of discussion about this bird with no real consensus - opinions are split between aberrant House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow x House Sparrow or Italian Sparrow. For my part, I think that the largish bill, positioned high so that the forehead runs into it (rather than the visible forehead of House Sparrow) suggests at Spanish Sparrow involvement. Given the lack of streaking on the breast, I had wondered if it could be an F2 hybrid, but I suspect that this would show more grey on the crown, so my guess (and it is nothing more than that!) is that this bird is a Spanish x House Sparrow hybrid. This isn't perhaps as unlikely as it sounds - in 2009 at least ten Spanish Sparrows turned up in the Netherlands for example. Whatever the identity, I enjoyed watching the bird on a quiet and sunny day in the countryside, and as the keenest birders had already been, I had it to myself. As I walked back down Hungry Hill four Buzzards flew over and there were numerous Swallows and House Martins overhead.

Many thanks to Carl and Andy for flagging up this bird and allowing people to come and visit.

You can find visiting instructions and more photos of the sparrow here, and Dave Appleton has evaluated the possible identity of the bird here.

NORWICH: Lakenham mothing

24th/25th August 2013

Whilst staying at the in-laws we put the moth trap out (until a torrential shower!). We caught large numbers of Willow Beauty and Scalloped Oak, but the best moth by a distance was my first Lesser-spotted Pinion.

Willow Beauty

Scalloped Oak

Lesser-spotted Pinion

WHITLINGHAM: August counts

24th August 2013

As the East Coast Truckers were assembling along the ring road on Sunday, I went down to Whitlingham on Saturday morning to get the WeBS count done. In drizzly conditions I counted 101 Mute Swans, 31 Egyptian Geese, 140 Mallards, 7 Great-crested Grebes and 6 Grey Herons, along with smaller numbers of the other common wildfowl. Across the river at Thorpe 28 Lapwing and one Common Sandpiper were on the shingle spit.

I took a quick detour into Whitlingham Woods to look at a bracket fungus that I had been told about, and on the way back saw these Suillus sp. ('Slippery Jacks').

THORPE MARSH: Odonata and a Clouded Yellow dip

21st August 2013

Having been too busy to go Clouded Yellow hunting earlier in the month I was particularly keen to get to Thorpe Marsh where Ricky had just seen one on the marsh. Cathy & Margaret dropped me off and I joined Ricky trying to locate it, unfortunately with no joy. Small Tortoiseshells were everywhere, along with a number of dragonfly species (Ruddy Darter, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker) and Emerald Damselflies. A Swift briefly hawked insects over the marsh, and Lapwing numbers peaked at 26. I'm still hopeful of catching up with Clouded Yellow before the summer is out - I would appreciate details of any you may see in the Norwich area!

Emerald Damselfly

Ruddy Darter

CUMBRIA: Scotch Argus

Mid August 2013

I'm now back from the Lake District - if you are interested you can see some of the wildlife highlights over at Birds and Beer Extra, but in the meantime here is the highlight, a Scotch Argus butterfly seen at Arnside Knott.

WHITLINGHAM: Butterflies galore

7th August 2013

I braved the summer crowds for an afternoon walk at Whitlingham. This year has seen something of an influx of Clouded Yellow butterflies, so I thought I'd have a look for a patch one. I didn't find any, but did manage 14 species, my highest single day count here. This included a Painted Lady and three Common Blues, which I have presumably seen here before and not noted. This became my 20th patch butterfly, with the only likely addition being Purple Hairstreak, of which I still think there must be some nearby. I also found a colony of Roesel's Bush Crickets, lots of Long-winged Coneheads and a Common Blue Damselfly with a non-goblet shaped marking.

On the bird front there are still at least four Common Terns on the Great Broad. Three large Great-crested Grebelings were on the river, still being fed by an adult, whilst across the river at Thorpe Tufted Ducks have bred for the first time in a while - a female and six young were on the shingle spit.

NORTH NORFOLK: Warham blues

4th August 2013

Time for our annual visit to Warham Camp, where despite the blustery conditions thousands of Chalkhill Blues were on the wing. Amongst the other butterflies were a few moths too, including a couple of Dusky Sallows.

NORFOLK: Late July round-up and patch 100

Late July 2013

With my wedding fast approaching (along with a house move and new job) updates may be sporadic over the summer, for which I apologise.

Last week Cathy & I headed down to Lynford Arboretum, where we were lucky enough to get brief views of one of the juvenile Two-barred Crossbills that has been present for the last week or so. Also in the flock was a 'wing-barred' Common Crossbill, the first time I can remember seeing one although apparently it isn't that unusual.

At the weekend I had a walk around Mousehold. Given its relative height and areas of coniferous trees it is probably the best bet of finding a Crossbill on the outskirts of Norwich, but there was no sign of any today. After the weeks of wall-to-wall sunshine it was overcast, so it wasn't great for butterflies either, mostly just Large Whites and Gatekeepers.

Today I headed down to Thorpe Marsh via Carey's Meadow, where the Roesel's Bush Crickets were calling loudly. At Thorpe the scrape was completely dry, so no chance of a decent wader. Scanning the vegetation at the edge of the ditches I found a green Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar. This confused me a bit, as the ones I've seen before have been brown, but apparently they start green and then turn brown for their final instar. The walk ended on a high note, as I reached the river I saw a Little Egret standing on the far bank. This was only the second Little Egret I have seen here, the first on the deck and more importantly my 100th patch bird of the year! Almost two months since my 99th bird on 29th May. Hopefully I don't have to wait another two months for the 101st one.

Patch Egret. A boat flushed it 30 seconds later, completing the Whitlingham experience.

WHITLINGHAM: July counts and Essex Skippers

21st July 2013

I tend to avoid Whitlingham at weekends when it gets hot, but there was no avoiding it today as I had the WeBS count to do. Whitlingham Lane and the car parks were all packed because there was Dragon-boat racing on, but as they were doing a couple of boats at a time it didn't seem to have had much of an effect on the already rather habituated wildfowl. On the slipway were several juvenile Black-headed Gulls. Not a plumage we get here that much, and I see that one further down the Yare has already been mistaken for a Red-necked Phalarope!

Wildfowl was pretty much as expected, 105 Mute Swan, 63 each of Greylag and Canada Geese (that being a reduction in Greylags from last month), 49 Egyptian Geese, 91 Mallard and 4 Tufted Ducks being the bulk of the count. Four Common Terns were also still present. Looking across to Thorpe a couple of Oystercatchers and four Lapwings were on the spit, that was about it.

On the insect front there was little dragon or damselfly activity, but a couple of Essex Skippers were a site tick, and there were also Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Ringlet and Small Tortoiseshells around.

BROADS: Can you identify this Carpet moth?

Earlier this week I got to examine a trap of moths caught in a garden in Barton Turf. Most of them were straightforward (and included a Ghost Moth, plus my first Miller and Small Angle Shades), but there was a carpet that I am unsure of and would welcome any opinions on.

Unknown carpet sp.

Female Ghost Moth

Peppered moth showing camouflage on a printed background

MID-NORFOLK: Crested Cow-wheat at last

7th July 2013

Last year we made three attempts to see this particular plant. The first two occasions we failed to find the only place in Norfolk that it grows. On the third attempt we found the location, but it had finished flowering. So it was rather pleasing to finally see Crested Cow-wheat for the first time. With the sun beating down, I took a few photos and then we headed back to Norwich to watch the Wimbledon final and have a BBQ. 

WHITLINGHAM: Summer is here

30th June 2013

A rather typical mid-summer visit to Whitlingham, hot, lots of people and not that many birds. In fact the most interesting thing was probably an emergence of butterflies, notably Small Tortoiseshells and Speckled Woods. A Norfolk Hawker near the bird screen and an Emperor along the south shore were the best of the dragonflies. Four Common Terns were fishing on the Great Broad, but that was it for avian highlights. On the way back I walked through the picnic meadow, seeing Orange Hawkweed and Meadow Cranesbill.

THORPE: Carey's Meadow & Thorpe Marsh

29th June 2013

I have rather neglected the Thorpe side of my patch this spring, so I decided to have a walk down to Thorpe Marsh today. On the way I stopped in at Carey's Meadow to look for orchids. I found around 30 flowering spikes of Pyramidal Orchid, a few Common Spotted Orchids and a few Southern Marsh (no Bee Orchids though).

Arriving at Thorpe I completed a clockwise lap, stopping to scan the dry scrape. Several dragonflies whizzed past, and a Small China-mark moth was flying amongst the dyke-side vegetation. The willows have grown up so much that it is now impossible to scan the broad from the bird screen, making it rather redundant. The only birds of note were a Common Tern and a Garden Warbler, but it was still a nie walk in the sunshine. 

BROADLAND: Hickling Swallowtails

27th June 2013

A day off, nominally to go to the Norfolk show, saw Cathy & I instead head off to Hickling. We were mainly looking for Swallowtails, but we also saw a range of dragon and damselflies (Norfolk Hawker, Four-spot Chaser, Black-tailed Skimmer, Large Red Damselfly, Azure Damselfly and Blue-tailed Damselfly. We located at least six Swallowtails, although they were too flitty to get decent photos. A Large Skipper and a Speckled Wood were also new for the year for me.

In terms of birds a Treecreeper was probably the most interesting as I don't remember seeing one at Hickling before. A couple of Little Egrets, Marsh Harrier, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Common Tern were the best of the rest. We also saw a Drinker moth caterpillar, and a convincing bee-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans).

WHITLINGHAM: June counts and some micro moths

22nd June 2013

An overcast mid-summers day did not is not usually a great day for a Whitlingham visit, but it was WeBS weekend and Sunday had a 'fun run' scheduled (paying £10 to run around the broad doesn't sound that fun to me), so Saturday it was. A mostly white Greylag was on the slipway with the main Greylag flock. It looks quite distinctive, I would be interested to hear from anyone who has seen this bird elsewhere, to help work out how far away geese come from in summer to moult here.

The Greylag count hit 165 (plus a few goslings), and there were finally two broods of Mute Swans. A brood of young Egyptian Geese may well be a second attempt of the year, and there were also young Coot and Moorhens. A Cuckoo called in the distance, and Common Terns screeched over Whitlingham and Thorpe broads. Insect wise there had been an emergence of micro moths, with 55+ Nemophora degeerella and quite a few Nettle Tap moths.

Nemophora degeerella - note the length of the antennae!

Nettle Tap moth