NORTH NORFOLK: Butterbur

8th April 2018

A diversion on my way to North Walsham took me through a small village where Jeremy had told me he had seen Butterbur in the past. This distinctive plant is somethin that I'd not seen previously and had decided to make an effort to see this year. It grows in damp places and as we drove past I spotted it from the car. Parking up and nipping out I found at least 20 flowering 'spikes' of Butterbur between the road and a nearby dyke. This plant has an eponymously named moth associated with it, but the flowers emerge before the leaves so there was no point checking for it yet.

Incidentally there is a commoner species found in a larger range of habitats is Winter Heliotrope, which can be seen growing along the River Wensum in Norwich just west of Pulls' Ferry.

BRECKLAND: Colletes cunicularius and other interesting insects

5th April 2018

After leaving Weeting, we called in at Lynford Water. This area of former gravel pits has a nice sandy bit of heath that is one of two Norfolk sites for Early Colletes (Colletes cunicularius), a species that Jeremy and Vanna had tried and failed to see twice before. The weather had warmed up nicely, so we were optimistic that it would be third time lucky.

Walking down the path from the car park we saw a Melangyna hoverfly. Fortunately it was one that can be identified from photos, Melangyna lasiophthalma, which was a new one for me. A pair of furry flies were mating on the ground a bit further along, but rather than Bee-flies these turned out to be a tachnid fly, Tachina ursina, which was also new.

Our target bees mainly nectar on Sallow pollen, so we moved along to check out the trees along the waters edge. Small Tortoiseshell and Comma butterflies were seen, along with two more new insects, another tachinid, Gonia picea, and an ichneumon, Diphyus quadripunctorius.

After a few 'probables' feeding high up on the Sallows, we began to see male Colletes skimming low over the turf. They were very hard to get a good look at, but further along we found some holes, and when a female emerged she was immediately pounced upon by multiple male bees. Once mating they were easy to observe, and we got great views.

After stopping for lunch we slowly made our way back to the car, checking the sallows again. There were lots of insects, the best of which were an Early Nomad Bee (Nomada leucomelaena), a Myopa sp and a Large Gorse Mining Bee (Andrena bimaculata).

A very successful trip in terms of finding our target and lots of other species of interest. Thanks to Jeremy, Vanna and Ian for their company and insect spotting skills.

BRECKLAND: Weeting speedwells and invertebrates

5th April 2018

Breckland has a range of rare plants, but many of them are restricted to a handful of sites, and even when you are in the right place they can be hard to find. I was therefore delighted when the Norfolk Wildlife Trust held a spring flora walk at Weeting Heath, which as far as I know is the only place in Norfolk where Spring Speedwell grows. The area where this plant, along with other scarce speedwells (Fingered Speedwell and Breckland Speedwell) is on arable land just off the reserve boundary but managed by the reserve staff. This area, like most of the reserve, has no general public access. The only slight problem was the recent weather - the late spring meant that only one of the three species was in flower.

Having picked up Ian, Jeremy and Vanna we arrived at Weeting to a sunny but cool morning. James the warden took us across the road and we spent two hours looking at the speedwells, seeing several flowering Fingered Speedwells and leaves of the other two.

 Fingered Speedwell, Veronica triphyllos

 Breckland Speedwell, Veronica praecox

 Spring Speedwell, Veronica verna

I had been hoping for one of the scarcer shieldbugs or Coreid bugs, but did manage a Stiltbug, Neides tipularius, and a sawfly, Dolerus gonager. I also noticed some small spiky weevils that I think must be Otiorhynchus ovatus.

Back in the car park a Brimstone flew past, my first butterfly of the year. James showed us some bark mines that he had found in a young Oak tree. They are the sort of thing that must be going overlooked in the county, looking like faint veins in the bark. There are two possible causers, Ectoedemia atrifrontella and Ectoedemia longicaudella. Both would be new to Norfolk, although the undetermined mines have also been seen at Santon Downham. As we went to get in the car Ian looked down and noticed a Sooty Cup fungus (Helvella leucomelaena) growing beside the car! Thanks to James for running the walk.

WHITLINGHAM: A few spring migrants and a new moth

4th April 2018

On Wednesday afternoon we went on a brief family trip to Whitlingham. It was raining on our way there, and there was a heavy shower not long after. However, once the rain had passed we had a short period of sunshine, and that is when we got a glimpse of spring. Several Chiffchaffs started singing, and I heard my first Blackcap of the year. Cathy found another four birds, including a pair, all non singing but moving through the trees. Over the broad a Swallow skimmed low, but there was no sign of any House Martins, which would have been a new early record had I seen one.

It wasn't just the birds that were out. I searched a large patch of Coltsfoot that was covered by tiny beetles, and managed to find a single, rather bedraggled solitary bee, probably Andrena bicolor, but depsite being a common species it is quite difficult to ID with certainty (or it is to me at least!). The best sighting of the day was a moth that Cathy noticed fluttering in the undergrowth. It was definitely a carpet moth, but I thought it was too early for Common Carpet or Garden Carpet. Luckily I managed to get a wing shot, enough to confirm it as Water Carpet, a new species for me.

NORWICH: A rare longhorn beetle

4th April 2018

Following on from my previous post, another good way of seeing new species is to keep in touch with other local naturalists. This can be a good way of finding out what is about and where best to see things, but sometimes it does mean that you can 'twitch' something rare or unusual. Jeremy & Vanna keep a garden list of insects, which has been swelled recently by several insects emerging from their firewood pile. One such thing was a tiny longhorn beetle, quite distinctive because the wingcases are nowhere near long enough to cover the wings. The ID is Nathrius brevipennis, and is the first Norfolk record in over 100 years! Two of these beetles emerged - the first one died (they wouldn't normally emerge until later in the year), but I was kindly invited to go and see the second one.

NORWICH: A new spider (Philodromus dispar)

2nd April 2018

For people who are mostly interested in birds, seeing a new species is a fairly uncommon occurrence and will usually involve spending hours searching a local patch or bit of coastal scrub in favourable conditions, or dashing off to look for a rarity that another birder has found and kindly broadcast news about. For someone interested in a wide variety of wildlife, new things turn up much more often. For instance, I went as far as my porch and saw this spider - Philodromus dispar (thanks to Pip Collyer for the ID).

NORWICH: Charter Wood - an interesting local site

1st April 2018

Norwich has a number of local nature reserves and green spaces, many of which are looked after by the Norwich Fringe Project. This excellent group of volunteers undertake a range of management work and if you have a bit of free time, or if you are looking to get some experience of conservation-related activities you could do far worse than getting in touch with them (web site here: https://norwichfringeproject.wordpress.com/). Some of the volunteers are also very good naturalists, and I tend to keep an eye on their blog to see what they find as they visit local sites. Last month I noticed a particular entry from Charter Wood, where someone had found Cobalt Crust. This is an attractive fungus that is rare in Norfolk, and as I'd never seen it, or been to Charter Wood, I decided to remedy this when I got the chance.

The first problem was a slightly embarrassing one - where exactly was Charter Wood? Despite living and birding around Norwich for many years, including one living at Three Score, I had never been, or seen signs to it. A google search returned few results, mainly just those referring to Fringe Project blogs or publicity. A map of sites on the Fringe Project website suggested that the woods were north of New Road, but I had walked that route before when I had a birdwatching permit for Bawburgh Lakes, and didn't remember any footpaths off it. The woods is also not named on Ordnance Survey maps of the area. Fortunately Robin Chittenden got in touch to say that he had helped plant the wood, and it is accessed via a nearby housing estate.

Having found out where the wood was, I still had a big problem - the Cobalt Crust was growing on a single branch. Whilst it is a bright colour, I only stood a reasonable chance of finding it if it was close to a main path. I got in touch with the Fringe Project, and fortunately one of the people involved is Michelle Hoare, a member of the fungus study group. She hadn't seen the fungus herself, but kindly got in touch with some of the volunteers from that day and got back to me with a grid reference. My chances had increased, although the time difference (it was seen in early February) was a concern, as the colour fades with time and of course the branch could have been moved.

On Sunday I arrived at the nearby housing estate, and found the path in without any problems. It wasn't marked, but I could see dog walkers in the distance, and it transpired that the site is quite well used by locals. An information board explained that the land was privately owned by a Jersey-based company, but access was allowed subject to various conditions.

The composition of the site was a bit of a surprise to me. There was a strip of undulating grassland with a large gorsey area, some maize fields compelte with singing Skylarks, and then the youngish woodland that I had come to visit. I thought that later in the year when more flowers and insects were out it could be a rather interesting and productive site, at least a bit different to the other places Norwich has to offer (thinking about it there is a bit of a similarity to Lusty Hills at UEA, but that has less general access).

I heade for the woodland, taking in a ruined building on my way. I walked through a recently coppiced area, which brought home the sheer folly of looking for a single big stick in this large mass of young trees. It was drizzling, but I picked out a few bits of interest, mostly fungi, including Jelly Ear, Hairy Curtain Crust, Waxy Crust and Winter Polypores.

 I'm sure there is a good reason why there is a shopping trolley there.

Winter polypores - from above they look like a typical gilled species, but turning one over you can see the pores.

I found my way to a clearing at the edge of the wood where some recent planting had taken place and began to search for the Cobalt Crust. The hum of the A47 traffic could be heard in the distance, intermingled with Skylark song and repeated shouts of "RORY!" coming from someone with a rather loose concept of keeping your dog under control. I had found many, many stick and branches, but sadly none containing the fungus that I was looking for.  The drizzle had gone, but I was aware that Cathy and Rose were waiting for me at home, so I took a different path back through the wood, aiming to cover as much ground as possible on my way back.

Noticing a Holly tree I went over and recorded Phytomyza ilicis, the holly leaf miner, and indeed I stopped at the layby near Earlham church & marshes on the way home and recorded it there too, adding another two 2km squares to the maps in my previous blog post. I noticed some unusual galls on a young Oak, resembling ridged barnacles. At home I identified the causer as Andricus testaceipes, although apparently there is a bit of taxonomic uncertainty and name changing around the species so it is currently more often known as Andricus sieboldi. I saw my first flowering Coltsfoot of the year, and it was nice to see a few bumblebees about too, including a confiding Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum).

A nominal unsuccessful visit in that I failed to see my target species, but considering the benefits of being out of the house, visiting a new site, seeing a new gall and generating some biological records, it was actually a rather productive couple of hours.

NORWICH: Miscellaneous recent sightings

Late March 2018

An hour at Earlham Marsh and a few slight detours on my way home from work comprised my wildlife experiences for the past ten days, but there are still a few things worth noting.

20th: A nice summer plumage Little Grebe was on the River Wensum just upstream of New Mills. This was my first within the inner ring road (I maintain, although not particularly avidly, within the inner ring road and within the outer ring road Norwich lists alongside a general 'Norwich area' one). It wasn't a great surprise given that they often winter just the other side of the ring road near Wensum Park, but nice to see nonetheless.

21st: Taking a slightly meandering route home I recorded several sites for Phytomyza ilicis, a fly that produces leaf mines in Holly. It is the only species to mine Holly, and the mines are very distinctive, being a yellowy colour that sticks out from a distance. If you check any large Holly you are likely to find it, but obviously being a bit niche not many people record it (in east Norfolk the majority of recent records are from two people, myself and Graham Moates). To illustrate this, firstly see a map of my Norwich area Phytomyza ilicis records, followed by the overall records. Of course it could be that lots of people have recorded it in the same place, but it seems more likely nobody else is doing it! If you would like to contribute to the dataset, the best way is to submit the record, with a photo, via https://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/. 

My Phytomyza ilicis records in the past two years

All Phytomyza ilicis records from iRecord (the preferred method of the Agromyzidae recording scheme for submitting records) in the past five years

What to look out for

Another thing of interest on my walk home was a hedge made up of Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas). I will be monitoring this hedge over the summer for the leaf mines of a moth recently given species status. Basically, Antispila treitschkiella was thought to mine the leaves of both Dogwood and Cornelian Cherry, however genetic research has found that there are actually two species, eahc specific to one foodplant. All of the Norfolk records of Antispila treitschkiella have been transferred to the newly named species Antispila petryi (i.e. the Dogwood eating one). This means that we should now be on the lookout for A. treitschkiella s.s. on Cornelian Cherry. The plant flowers now, making it best to find out where it is in the spring, but the leaves then grow and any mines will be early summer.

Cornelian Cherry flowers. It is a non-native species and most likely to be found in parks, gardens and arboretums.

24th: The sporadically appearing Norwich Glaucous Gull was seen again, this time on a roof near Earlham Marsh by Drew. Most of its previous appearances had been mid-week, so being a Saturday I headed down to Earlham Marsh, by which time of course it had gone. The flooded section of the marshes was looking excellent for birds though, and a drake Pintail (plus a minimum of 15 Shoveler) was good to see as I never saw one in the area when I lived at UEA or Three Score.

NBIS/NNNS Recorders meeting

19th March 2018

On Monday night it was off to Whitlingham ski slope after work for the annual NBIS/NNNS recorders meeting. I arrived a bit before the start time, so went for a walk around Trowse Meadow and Church Common. It was too cold for any insects, but I did notice some tiny shiny black ovals in cracks in a tree bark. Suggestions from Twitter are that these are likely to be Aphids, although a type of mite has also been suggested so I'll need to go back and have a closer look at some point. I also found Phytomyza ranunculi mines in Lesser Celandine.

Despite it nominally being part of my patch, I'd not actually been to the ski slope before. The bar looks quite nice, so perhaps I should have a better look round at some point. This year there were some particularly interesting talks, listed below in case you want to research any of them:

• How land mammals are utlising technology to keep track of marine mammals - Kathy James, Sea watch foundation
• Will DNA make recorders redundant? - Tony Leech, NNNS
• Orchards East: Traditional orchard recording in Norfolk 2018/19 - Howard Jones, Orchards East
• Garden Wildlife Health: reporting disease online - Mike Toms, BTO
• Use of trail cameras in recording - Francis Farrow, NNNS
• Citizen science and technology - Dan Hoare, NNNS
• Nocmig: sound recording birds at night - Nick Moran, BTO

In particular I would recommend checking out the garden wildlife health website, which sounds like an excellent resource.

WHITLINGHAM: March wildfowl count

18th March 2018

I had initially thought it likely that I would miss the March WeBS count, but as Rose was born early I was able to keep up my run of counts for a while longer. Stepping out into the cold gusty wind I wasn't completely sure that was a good thing. I reassured myself that the combination of cold conditions, strongly easterly wind and time of year meant there was a good chance of something unusual (Goosander, Kittiwake, Black Redstart for example), and with this temporary positive attitude and some thermal clothing I was ready to go.

Heading out of the car park I saw a Green Woodpecker fly up off the meadows and along the lane. Redwings called from the nearby scrub, and further round I got good views of one perched up. The Little Broad held low numbers but higher than normal variety, a drake Teal called from the other side of the dyke, and four drake Pochards swam about further out. Whilst counting the Black-headed Gulls I received a text to say that a Caspian Gull had just flown over the visitors centre, continuing a rather unwanted trend began by the Great White Egret that also flew over the visitors centre while I was elsewhere on site during the January count.

I began counting the Great Broad, hindered by the choppy water and gusty winds that would have blown the tripod over on more than one occasion if I hadn't grabbed it. Reaching the island I scanned the posts just in case the Caspian Gull had landed here (it hadn't). I then received a phonecall from Gary who was on the north side of the broad - two drake Pintail had just flown out eading eastwards along the broad. This could have been yet another saga, but fortunately I did see them later on, albeit only twice in flight, as they seem to like hiding in the reedy edges here. These were my first drakes following three females in previous years.

There were two avian highlights of the rest of my visit, firstly a male Sparrowhawk that flew into a nearby tree, apparently completely oblivious of my presence, and secondly a raft of 17 Shovelers feeding in the conservation area bay. For interest some selected counts (Little Broad, Great Broad and St Andrews Broad) were:

Gadwall 18 (2017: 33, Feb 2018: 54)

Shoveler 22 (2017: 6, Feb 2018: 14)

Pintail 2

Tufted Duck 159 (2017: 147, Feb 2018: 221)

Pochard 6 (2017: 2, Feb 217: 39)

Coot 37 (2017: 39, Feb 2017: 68)

Great Black-backed Gull 1

 

I completed my lap with no singing Chiffchaffs or anything like that, and the only excitement was provided by the finding of an orangey-pink crust fungus growing on a fallen branch. It turned out to be Rosy Crust (Peniophora incarnata), a common species but one I've not recorded here before. 

WHITLINGHAM: Watching the gulls go by

11th March 2018

After a busy couple of weeks I headed down to Whitlingham on Sunday evening to watch the gulls flying off to roost. This is quite a relaxing thing to do, although it had a bit more purpose about it on this occasion as I was checking them out in the hope that the erratically appearing Norwich Glaucous Gull would be amongst them. Having had a look at the new pond dipping pagoda, I walked as far as the island I turned back to watch them coming from the city, all the while serenaded by a Blackbird singing from trees along the lane. A Green Woodpecker yaffled sardonically from the picnic meadow, seemingly not fancying my chances of seeing my target.

After a while the traffic noise from the A47 became just a loud hum in the background, a reminder that unlike a big grazing marsh the site sits properly on the border between urban and rural landscape. For some reason the period around dusk seems to fit well with this liminal atmosphere. A flock of a couple of hundred Starlings flew west with barely a murmur - presumably going to join up with a bigger flock for aerial manoeuvres. Most of the wildfowl was silent, save for the occasional frenzied honking of the geese. Jackdaws began to congregate on the far side of the broad - in the past few years a roost of hundreds has established itself on the main island. As the evening wore on they rose and chacked loudly, spiralling over their favoured tree like a Hitchcockian Buckenham-lite.

Despite these sensory diversions (and some interesting bands of cloud) I was mainly concentrating on the gulls, which tended to be passing over in bursts. I let the ones that were slighlty behind me or too high to see well go, but tried to check out the rest, particularly the ones that looked larger than their flying companions. These were typically Herring amongst the Black-headed Gulls, and after a while I headed back to the car. The light looked good for a Barn Owl to be out, but it was not to be.

NORTH NORFOLK: Snowy owl and strandline creatures

10th March 2018

Those readers with Twitter accounts will have probably been unable to escape the knowledge that a Snowy Owl arrived in Norfolk last week on the coat-tails of the beast from the east. The initial sighting near King's Lynn was greeted with scepticism as it was reported in the evening rather than at the time, but confirmation arrived on Thursday when birders showed a photo of the owl taken at Heacham beach to staff at Titchwell.

On to Friday afternoon and the Snowy Owl was found on Scolt Head Island, thankfully visible from Burnham Deepdale so most birders weren't tempted to attempt to wade or swim across to the island. I was busy on Friday, but knowing how much I'd like to see it, Cathy agreed that I could go and have a look on Saturday afternoon.

By Saturday the Snowy Owl had relocated to Thornham Point, giving a choice of viewing between Thornham Harbour and walking along the beach from Titchwell. I chose the latter, but only after finding that several of the minor roads north from Docking were still blocked by snow (this being several days after the EDP had carried a story saying that the last snow-blocked road in Norfolk had been cleared). Fortunately I managed to find a space in the very full Titchwell car park, and set off along the west bank path.

On my way down towards the beach I met Dave White, who provided mixed news. The Snowy Owl was still present but distant, and he estimated it was a 20 minute walk along the beach. It was quite close to the shoreline, so if the tide got any higher it might fly off. With this in mind I power-walked down to the beach and westwards for what seemed like an age, before finding the crowd of birders watching the owl. It was absolutely worth it, the Snowy Owl sat looking around and engaged in a couple of short flights up onto a post and back down again. Even at range it was a characterful and enchanting beastie.

There had been quite a bit reported offshore, but wanting to get back to wife and daughter I contented myself by walking back along the strandline and photographing the various shells to identify later. There were quite a lot of Common Sunstars amongst a few Starfish, several Green Sea Urchins and large numbers of crab remains. There were clearly several species, but most of the soft tissue had been eaten, presumably by gulls. I did notice several orange ones that looked the wrong shape for Edible crabs - spider crabs maybe? If you recognise it then please leave a comment or send me an email. Shells included whelks, oysters, razors, tellins, periwinkles Painted Top Shells and some sort of slipper limpet.

 Crab sp.

 Slipper Limpet

 Common Sunstar

 Painted Top Shell

 Green Sea Urchin

 Sea Potato

On the way back I noticed a Smooth Newt walking across the path. It was in danger of getting squashed, so I scooped it up and moved it to the edge of the path. A group were watching the regular Woodcock near the car park, and somebody kindly showed me it in their telescope as picking it up from scratch usually takes a while ("you see that twig, well another twig comes off at an angle..."). Thanks to the RSPB, whose infrastructure seemed to be holding firm despite the huge visitor numbers, and to the majority of birders that didn't try to get too close and flush the bird. Today (11th March) it is currently at Snettisham RSPB reserve if you want to see it.