Late August 2022
When trying to think of a nice buggy-friendly walk I remembered the woodland at North Burlingham that I had intended to visit for a while. We had a pleasant stroll around, seeing some impressive bracket fungi including Beefsteak Fungus and Giant Polypore. I spotted a Roe Deer in a field adjacent to the wood, and also spotted some Gooseberry plants, a species I don't see very often. There was also some nice mature Oaks, including one being fed on by Caliroa cinxia larvae.
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Late August 2022
A family trip to Pensthorpe. Whilst in the play area I noticed a Turkey Oak, and checking it found two galls that I don't appear to have recorded before (although I have definitely seen the latter in the past), Neuroterus saliens and Aceria cerrea.
Late August 2022
I got a message from Vanna to say that whilst cutting the Tamarisk in their front garden she had noticed that there were quite a few tiny green bugs on it. These are a Tamarsik specialist, Tuponia brevirostris/hippophaes - two very similar bugs that require inspection of the rostrum length to separate. I popped round and managed to find both adult and nymphs, and as a bonus also saw some Tamarisk Leafhoppers, Opsius stactogalus.
Late August 2022
An hour spent at Buxton Heath is seldom wasted. I spent a bit of time watching ants running up Oak trunks in the hope of seeing a rare aphid, Stompaphis quercus, but had no luck (I did find a couple of bugs though). As the hot weather had parched the heath I then headed to the mire, where the course of the stream was very obvious!
I managed to find some interesting bits and pieces. I was probably most happy with a Didea fasciata hoverfly, a fairly common species but one I'd not seen before, along with a Helophanus spider. There are two similar species, but I have a soft spot for the Salticidae (jumping spiders) and had wanted to see one of these tiny yellow palped species for a while. I found it completely by chance whilst checking heather for Heather Ladybird, a long-term target that I once again failed to find.
Other finds included a Wasp Spider (now common in Norfolk but I'd not seen one at Buxton before), Buff Birch Case-bearer (Coleophora milvipennis), Wood Grass-veneer (Crambus silvella) and a gall on Fen Bedstraw caused by Dasineura galiicola.
Mid August 2022
A brief visit to Thorpe Marshes began with an interesting gall on Walnut. As well as the usual blister galls caused by Aceria erinea I noticed some small pimple galls caused by Aceria tristriata. There are no records of this latter species on the county database or in the two books about Norfolk galls, although I found out that it has been seen before in Norfolk - I've written a bit about this for the next NNNS "Natterjack".
Looking into one of the pathside ditches I noticed a Water Scorpion. On closer inspection it had just caught a Pond Skater, which I manged to get good enough pictures of to confirm as Gerris lacustris. There were two particular highlights of the visit, firstly a new sawfly for me, Tenthredo omissa (previously recorded here by Vanna Bartlett). The second was Tasteless Water Pepper, Persicaria mitis. I had seen water pepper here before, but something about it looked a bit different to usual, and as it didn't taste peppery I checked a bit with Jo Parmenter, who was able to confirm it was the much scarcer alternative species. Two Dasysyrphus tricinctus hoverflies were also of note - I have seen this species before, but only at this site.
Mid August 2022
A few years ago the scarce hoverfly Sericomyia superbiens was discovered at a small nature reserve in central Norfolk. This summer I finally got round to going to see if it was still present, bringing Jeremy, Vanna and Ian along to help look. Initial signs weren't too promising as the site looked quite dry and the target species apparently preferred wet areas with lots of Devil's-bit Scabious, however further along there were some damper bits. Ian found some of the scabious with white anthers infected by Devil's Bit Scabious Anther Smut (Microbotryum succisae), which was a new species for me. After a bit of searching I managed to find two Sericomyia superbiens, one of which hung around long enough for some photos.
After lunch we explored a bit more of the site and a nearby footpath. Vanna noticed a bolete growing along an old bank, which turned out to be the first Norfolk record of Boletus rhodoxanthus. Another new species for me, also found by Vanna, was the small conopid fly Thecophora atra.
Other interesting sightings included Pale Tussock Moth caterpillar, Mint Leaf Beetle, Yellow Pimpernel and Hazel Leaf Roller Weevil.
Mid August 2022
Mid month I joined Carl Chapman for one of his butterfly day trips, this time heading to Oxfordshire to look for Silver-spotted Skippers. Our destination was Aston Rowant, a lovely bit of steep-sided chalk grassland that at some point was unfortunately halved by a large motorway. It was during the spell of particularly hot weather, which wasn't ideal, but there was at least some shade around the car park area for lunch. The trip was a success, with lots of Silver-spotted Skippers seen - almost all of which kept their wings resolutely shut, but they did at least allow lots of closed wing photos.
The other butterfly highlight of the trip were the blue butterflies. We saw a few Adonis Blues, mostly concentrated in a small area near the bottom of the slope, but even more interestingly I noticed one had been taken by a robberfly. This was later identified from the pictures as Downland Robberfly, Machimus rusticus, a nationally scarce species and only the second site record according to the national recording scheme coordinator Martin Harvey. Chalkhill Blues were very common, and Carl found a nice abberation as well.
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I had been keeping an eye out for Juniper trees, which are apparently common here. I hadn't seen any and was wondering if I was going mad, but scanning through binoculars spotted quite a few on the opposite side of the road. Other highlights were Pale Toadflax and a couple of galls, Mikola fagi on Beech and Aceria thomasi on Thyme.
Early August 2022
During a visit to Wymondham to see their mammoth sculpture I suggested we had a look around Wymondham Abbey grounds (the actual Abbey was closed that day). There were a few nice plants growing, including Fiddle Dock and Wild Clary, whilst I think a fly that I didn't recognise is probably the dark form of Cistogaster globbosa.
