TARGET SPECIES: Serotine Bat

15th July 2017

In the evening I headed out to help with a bat survey. Ecologist and Norwich Bat Group member Abi had been working with a church that was in the process of commissioning a new roof, and had discovered Serotine and Pipistrelle bats using the church. She had identified where most of the Pipistrelles were exiting, but wanted to locate the Serotine exit points so that gaps could be left in appropriate places. The simplest way of doing this was for people to be placed around the churchyard watching different points. Fellow Norwich Bat Group member Graham and I both volunteered, whilst several locals also came along, making eight of us in total.

I arrived at the church about half an hour before sunset, and was shown a Barn Owl perched up in a tree just inside the churchyard, a silent white sentinel keeping watch on the church. Abi showed us inside the church, where we saw the piles of droppings indicating the likely roosting areas, and also some feeding signs - the bats clearly had a liking for Yellow Underwings!

Twenty minutes before sunset we had assumed positions around the church. My main focus was the flashing between the main roof and a gable where a smaller part of the church joined on. I pitched my camping chair and sat back to begin my vigil. It was surprisingly serene, despite the traffic noise and a nearby combine, that only stopped working at dusk.

Dusk came and went, a lone Swift flew over and a Kestrel did a couple of flypasts. Ten minutes later our first bat emerged, a Soprano Pipistrelle. It was to remain in the churchyard for the rest of the time we were present, circling and darting in front of us. Thirty minutes after dusk and we were beginning to wonder where the Serotines were when I picked up one on my detector. Graham confirmed it (he was using a more advanced detector that displayed sonograms), but neither of us could see that bat. More Pipistrelles were seen, but finally at ten o'clock another Setotine was detected, and flew right in front of us. It defintely didn't come from our 'sectors', and appeared to have flown through the trees rather than from the church.

We remained in place until an hour after sunset, when the light was almost gone and the only sound was a distant Tawny Owl and the static of our detectors. There was one more Serotine flypast, again seen and detected, but it was probably the earlier individual. The most likely explanation for the low number of sightings and no sightings of exiting bats is that they are currently roosting somewhere else close by and using this church to feed in. So not the ideal result, but an interesting experience for me, seeing a new species of bat and reassuring me that I would recognise the echolocation signature of Serotines. Thanks to Abi for allowing us along and for showing us the signs in the church.

BROADS: A first visit to Alderfen

15th July 2017

I started a wildlife-filled weekend with a visit to Alderfen Broad, one of the few Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserves in east Norfolk that I hadn't previously visited. The reason for going was as part of the Norfolk Fungus Study Group programme, but I suspected that given the time of year I was more likely to see new insect species than fungi. The reserve is down a long un-made and un-signed track - fortunately Yvonne was posted on the road to direct us, although I still got the impression that we could end up in a farmyard or discovering a long lost tribe as I travelled along it.

Whilst waiting at the car park I looked around and found an interesting beetle, Malthinus flaveolus. This is one of a sub-family related to the soldier beetles, and my first of this genus. Once we had all assembled we headed off around the circular trail. Tim took the path into the open area, whilst the rest of us went into the woods. We found a few microfungi, including some small black spots on Holly twigs that are probably a second for Norfolk. Tawny Grisette and a Bolete sp. were two of the larger species found.

It began to drizzle, but this first shower just passed over. Raspberries, Redcurrants and Blackcurrants all grew near the path, distracting the hungrier amongst us. A few more small agarics were found, Tubaria, Rickenella, Marasmius and Mycenas. A couple of Willow Emerald Damselflies were present, along with a Chrysotoxum bicinctum hoverfly.

Out in the open we met up with Tim. He pointed out a few things he had found on his walk, including Swallowtail caterpillars at various stages and an interesting moth caterpillar, possibly Pebble Hook-tip. He had also caught a Xylota-type hoverfly that turned out to be Chalcosyrphus nemorum, which was new for both of us.

Tony had a look in the reedbed by the path and found probably the most interesting fungus of the day for me, some tiny cups growing on a dead umbellifer stem. After lunch some of the group headed back into the reedbed, whilst the others tried the woodland. By now it was raining steadily and there didn't seem much about amongst the Bracken, so I returned home to spend some time with Cathy before heading out later that evening. 

As yet unidentified!

NORWICH: Catton Park Six-spot Burnet emergence

9th July 2017

After lunch I headed to Catton Park for a walk around in the sunshine. As I arrived I noticed signs advertising a swing concert in a couple of hours time, which sped me up a little. I have nothing in particular against swing music, but I'm not convinced it does anything to improve your observation and ID skills.

The first thing I noticed was that there had been a big emergence of Six-spot Burnet Moths. I saw at least 30, some feeding on Knapweed and Scabious flowers, others buzzing slowly over the meadow. I also saw several vacant chrysalises poking out of the yellow cocoons - see photo below.

There was a lot of different species about, so this is only a selection of highlights. Some Colletes bees were feeding on Yarrow - technically these cannot be assigned to species without closer examination, but the size, location and flower choice point very strongly to them being Colletes daviesanus, which I've not seen before. Of more interest to me it is the host of a very cool looking bee Epeolus variegatus, which I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for.

I had a close look at quite a lot of Skippers and confirmed both Small and Essex (mostly Small). There were three sawfly species, of which I could only identify one. I'll give Norfolk's new Sawfly recorder a few weeks to get used to the role before I trouble him! Two shiny black hoverflies were also seen, Cheilosia pagana and a Pipizella sp. The latter was new to me, but could only be confirmed to species by examining the male genitalia, which I didn't do. Potato Capsid was a new bug too.

 Cheilosia pagana

 Pipizella sp. (probably P. viridula)

Carrying on my leaf mining theme from Saturday I noticed the 'snail-trail' mine of the Poplar Bent-wing moth, which was a new TG21 record. I was considering heading home when a few drops of rain fell, speeding me up. The concert was yet to begin, so as I left the only noise was the constant hum of distant traffic and the names of the many dogs being frantically called by their owners.

NORWICH: Garden goodies

8th July 2017

I spent most of Saturday at a cousin's wedding, but before getting ready I decided to have a quick look in the garden. This proved to be a good decision, with two interesting species found. The first of these was a groundbug, Nysius huttoni, which I found in a sunny spot on the side of the shed. This genus is quite tricky to separate so I asked Tristan Bantock (webmaster of the excellent British Bugs website) if he agreed with my ID, and he did. Fortunately this species has long hairs around the edges, which were visible on my photo. NBN didn't show any Norfolk records, so I contacted Norfolk bug recorder Rob Coleman to check the current status of this species. He has just got back to me and apparently it was first seen in Norfolk in 2014, but the only records have come from the Brecks, making mine the first East Norfolk vice county record.

The second species of note was a leaf miner in a yellow flowered plant in the back garden. Nick and Jeremy helped me with an ID of the plant, Rose of Sharon, a Hypericum (same family as St John's Wort). With the plant ID sorted I could then search for insects that leaf mine it, and quickly established that the leaf mine was created by the larva of the Hypericum Pigmy moth (Ectoedemia septembrella). It is described as 'local' on the Norfolk Moths site (see here), and my record was the first TG21 record, which was pleasing. I may try to put some muslin around a mine to try to catch an adult if I get round to it.

WHITLINGHAM: A range of beetles and bugs

5th July 2017

On Wednesday evening I headed down to Whitlingham for a quick look round. I had hoped for a flyover Curlew after reports of some moving about the valley earlier in the week, but it was always going to be a long shot. The only bird of interest was a neck-collared Greylag, which turned out to be the same bird seen last summer (originally ringed in Thetford).

In contrast to the birdlife there was a lot of interesting invertebrates, in particular beetles. With this in mind, consider this post a photo special.

 Heterotoma planicornis

 Solitary wasp sp.

Liocoris tripustulatus

 Cantharis flavilabris (sometimes known as C. nigra - this one has a black scutellum)

 A leaf beetle sp - there are several green ones but I think this is Green Dock Beetle (it was on a related plant sp)

 Four-barred Major (a soldierfly)

Cicadella viridis

Plagiognathus arbustorum

 Tachinus rufipes - I think!

 Unidentified beetle sp.

 Figwort Weevil

Chrysolina polita

Unidentified (unidentifiable?) on creeping thistle

YARE VALLEY: Strumpshaw meadow walk

2nd July 2017

Some readers will not be aware that Saturday was national meadows day, and over the weekend events had been arranged in meadow habitats across the country. On the whole I'm not a fan of national days, mainly on account of there being far too many. To illustrate the point I googled the 2nd of July and found that (albeit in the US) it was also anisette day, build a scarecrow day and world UFO day.

Anyway, whilst nobody had asked me to sample anisette, build a scarecrow or claim a close encounter, I had been asked to lead a walk at Strumpshaw Fen, with the intention of showing visitors the range of plants and insects that live in this valuable and decreasing habitat. I arrived a bit early to have a look around before the walk, but spent most of it watching insects around the reception garden. A Swallowtail butterfly flew over, two Woundwort Shieldbugs were mating and at least two species of Yellow-faced Bees were also seen.

 Female Hairy Yellow-face

Male Common Yellow-face

After meeting the small group and David, one of the volunteers, we made our way down towards the meadow trail. We diverted into small grassy quarry meadow, where we had a look at the hybrid orchids and a Black-and-yellow Longhorn beetle. Further along the path I noticed a Common Carpet moth and a Banded General soldierfly, the latter of which unfortunately flew off before the rest of the group saw it. A White Admiral flew around the brambles near the new pond, and the black and red bug Dereacoris ruber was also seen here.

At the pond we paused to watch the water boatmen, then I explained how separate Water Figwort, which was growing at the edge of the pond, from Common Figwort and Green Figwort. Looking closely we saw Figwort Weevils, and a Figwort Mason-wasp was also in attendance.

Finally we entered the meadow, and David took us along the edge where we saw some Skullcap. Whilst here I picked out a Variable Damselfly amongst the Azures, and two more White Admirals were seen. Another plant we looked at was Fen Bedstraw, which has a rough feel to the stems unlike the very similar Marsh Bedstraw. Walking across the meadow we stopped to look at some mid-instar Short-winged Coneheads and a predatory bug sp.

I did a bit of sweep-netting, producing some froghoppers and an adults female Short-winged Conehead. We also went over and had a look at some Marsh Helleborines and Bog Pimpernel before heading over towards the main dyke. A Norfolk Hawker gave excellent views as it flew towards us and hoverered a few feet off the ground, showing the green eyes. I found one of the scarce reed beetles, Plateumaris braccata, to show the group and we also saw some Brookweed, which is apparently a new species for me. Whilst looking at the Brookweed Steve Lane, a national beetle expert, came over with Andy Brown to show us a Marsh Click Beetle and have a chat. They also gave us directions to another rare reed beetle a bit further round.

We crossed the bridge onto the other half of the meadow, pausing to look at the Water Soldier in the dyke. On the other side we noticed the slightly different flora makeup, and saw plants like Marsh Lousewort and Yellow Rattle. There was a lot of dragonflies here - as well as the Norfolk Hawkers we saw Southern Hawker, Four-spotted Chasers and Black-tailed Skimmers.

We left the meadow and followed the path back, stopping at the edge of the river Yare where Steve and Gill spotted a mating pair of Donacia crassipes, the reed beetle that Steve and Andy had seen earlier. Walking back along the sandy path we continued to see interesting invertebrates, including a Six-spot Burnet Moth.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and remember, meadows are great.

NORWICH: The disappearing plant

1st July 2017

On Saturday I headed to Thorpe St Andrew, where I was looking forward to seeing a plant of Purple Viper's Bugloss, a scarce plant not mentioned in the Flora of Norfolk and therefore possibly a county first. It had been found at the start of the week on a roadside verge by Chris Durdin, who fortunately recognised it from leading wildlife tours on the continent. Recognising that this was the sort of thing I'd be interested in, he kindly emailed me with directions.

As it was on a main road, I parked nearby and walked across to the verge. I had seen a photo so knew it was a tallish plant, so I was a bit concerned when I couldn't find it. Naturally I thought I was in the wrong place, so extended my walk a bit in each direction, with no luck. Slowly it dawned on me that the rest of the vegetation was very short. The verge had been recently cut, and the Purple Viper's Bugloss had been completely destroyed. I contacted Chris just to double-check I was in the right place, and he confirmed I was and the plant was gone. Darn. Hopefully it might grow back either this year or next, but if not then it has to be one of the shortest stays of a rare plant in Norfolk.

Whilst in Thorpe I had a look around, hopeing to see a few more plants of interest but again with no luck. I did manage to find something new, a red-and-black wasp that predates shieldbugs and goes by the for some reason excellent name of Astata boops.

TARGET SPECIES: Northamptonshire Wood White

25th June 2017

After our successful Glapthorn visit we moved on to Salcey Forest, a Forestry Commission woodland. Upon arrival we had found a picnic table to have lunch on, however a sharp shower had us retreating to the car. With good weather we would have been confident of seeing Wood White here, but now with 100% cloud cover and showers our chances were not looking good at all.

We set off into the woods, paying particular attention to the wider rides with Meadow Vetchling and Vetch spp. We reached one edge of the wood without seeing a single butterfly species, although a couple of Ringlets appeared shortly afterwards. Ringlets seemed to be either hardier or more numerous than the other species, as we saw several more close by. A Sabre Wasp was off interest, and Cathy found two tiny eggs on a blade of grass.

After retracing our steps to the last crossroads we took another path along the woods. Having accepted that very few butterflies were on the wing at the moment, we were now checking the undergrowth for roosting whites. This was unsuccessful, but the extra scrutiny did turn up a number of other insects, including a Blood-vein moth, an Alder moth (unfortunately a bit on the dead side), the beetle Ischnomera cyanea and a new hoverfly for me (Leucozona laternaria). A Fox on the path in front of us was another highlight.

We continued around the wood until we got to an open crossroads area, where Carl had seen several Wood Whites the previous year. A search of the area turned up one Large Skipper. It was now a question of how long we were prepared to wait. In the distance there appeared to be a small patch of sunshine, so we agreed to wait and see if that passed over, then call it a day. 

There was a bit of a breeze, so it wasn't too long until there was enough sun to feel the warmth, and almost immediately a White Admiral flew out of a nearby tree. Carl called out that he could see two Silver-washed Fritillaries, but this was ignored as Cathy had spotted a smallish white butterfly. We rushed over and tried to keep watching it as it flew over some scrub. Our hopes were dashed however, when Carl noted that there was a small amount of black on the wingtips - it was a Small White.

The sunny spell was already passing us, but having stayed in the area where the Small White had been I spotted another white butterfly. This one immediately looked better, with a weak lolloping flight and rounded wings. I called the others over and we all agreed it was indeed our target, a Wood White. Not to be outdone, Cathy then found a perched one just to the right of the one we were watching. With the sun now behind the cloud it showed no signs of going anywhere, and we managed to get some good views and photos. Hurrah!

Before we headed off I noticed an odd-shaped insect in the vegetation opposite, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a Dusky Cockroach, another excellent addition to the day's species list.

Thanks to Carl for an excellent tour (if you are interested then you can see a list of tours that he runs here: https://www.wildlifetoursandeducation.co.uk/tours/special-day-tours/)

TARGET SPECIES: Northamptonshire Black Hairstreak

25th June 2017

Last year Cathy & I spent an enjoyable July day in Northamptonshire watching Purple Emperors with Carl Chapman. As I have seen few species of butterfly outside of East Anglia, this year we again joined Carl for a trip to Northamptonshire, this time hoping to see two new species, Black Hairstreak and Wood White.

The first of our targets was the Black Hairstreak. This species can be quite tricky to see, due to a combination of scarcity, a short flight period, an arboreal nature and a habit of only flying in bright sunshine. We arrived at Glapthorn Cow Pastures, which despite the name is now an area of woodland with lots of Blackthorn scrub. The sign on the corner made it clear that no horses were allowed on the reserve, so reluctantly we all dismounted and stabled them before carrying on*.

A bit further along we reached the gate onto the reserve. A neat sign gave an update on the Black Hairstreaks, and it wasn't promising. Apparently they had emerged two weeks early this year (the flight period is often only around three weeks in total) and at the time the sign was written only two tatty butterflies were being seen. It concluded by stating that ny the open day, which was today, it was expected that none would be present. All that remained was to work out whether the author of the sign was a realist or a pessimist.

The other thing we had against us was the weather, which was meant to be largely overcast with some showers. Fortunately for the time being the sun was shining, and a Silver-washed Fritillary flew past us. As we checked out a sunny area of Blackthorn we also saw Brown Hawker and Emperor dragonflies. A few more common butterflies were seen, but then we noticed a small group intently watching something up ahead. Catching up with them we found that it was indeed a Black Hairstreak, which quickly flew round in an arc. Would this be our sole sighting? Well no, because instead of flying off it landed close by on a patch of brambles. It remained here for over 20 minutes, providing my closest views of any hairstreak.

Eventually we decided to investigate further along the path, stopping briefly to photograph a horsefly. We hadn't gone far when we were called back by a shout of Purple Emperor. It turned out that one of the group, who were presumably mostly from the local Butterfly Conservation branch, had spotted a Purple Emperor feeding from a sap run, apparently a first for the site!

The Purple Emperor flew off shortly afterwards, so again set off down the path, and again were called back. This time it was to say that there was a glade close by with multiple Silver-washed Fritillaries present. Following the directions we found the area, which looked very similar to a number of other sunny areas, so why the fritillaries found it so attractive was a bit of a mystery.

After a while we retraced our steps, seeing a White Admiral fly briefly into the treetops. We had been told that a second hairstreak had been seen near the entrance gate, but there was no sign of it. There was a male Gatekeeper, upholding its duties by sticking to the hedge around the entrance. With part one of our trip successful we returned to the car for a cup of tea.

* I might have made that bit up.