Parasite!

OK, I know I know, so much for fine words about keeping a blog going. Perhaps we're just all going to have to accept that this will be something of an occasional feature.

Anyway, rest of the USA trip was great.... rest of the summer produced a few new things, which I'll probably come back to in due course. Or probably not, come to think of it. Anyway...

This is what inspired me to write again. On 25th July, Trudy, Duncan and I (Tom was swanning around in Yellowstone!) went to contribute to a "bioblitz" at Strumpshaw Fen, where I found this teeny little caterpillar on a bramble leaf...

I didn't know what it was, so I kept it in a pot, and fed it lots of bramble leaves, and it grew up to look like this...

This is the caterpillar of a particularly cracking moth, called the Peach Blossom (Thyatira batis). It then pupated in the pot, and it should really then have emerged to look like this...

Well, that would be all very nice, except it didn't emerge to look like that at all. In fact, back when it was a teeny caterpillar, a parasitic ichneumon wasp had clearly found it and laid an egg on/in it. The grub from this had then grown inside the Peach Blossom caterpillar, undetected, until hey presto - look what emerged...

Actually, I think this is even more stylish than the moth. I don't know what it is though, so any suggestions welcome. Ichneumon wasps seem to be a bit of a problem, given that there's about 2000 species in the UK and virtually no-one who can identify them. Hmmm. Surely a case for a sabbatical....?

6th May

Wandered round the motel car park first thing while the others woke up, and was particularly entertained by at least six White-crowned Sparrows, many singing. I think these are my favourite American sparrows - ultra-smart! After a quick breakfast we drove back to the coast at Hamlin State Park, following up a stakeout for Red-headed Woodpecker. And in fact, within a few minutes of getting out at car park no. 3, one flew across the lake here. Unfortunately, I was the only one to see it at all well, but we persevered for about an hour until we had superb views of at least one bird. The only other tick for me here was a flock of five Rusty Blackbirds that stopped briefly in some tree-tops but were soon off again. Other birds included Eastern Kingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Green Heron, Red-breasted Nuthatch (found on call), Chimney Swift and a superb Magnolia Warbler (as well as Palm, Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers). Particularly notable though was the overhead passage of Blue Jays - about 300 flew east during the morning.

We then moved on to car park no. 5 within the park (an enormous car park that was entirely deserted apart from us - it was Sunday, where was everyone?!) We walked through the woods here, adding American Redstart, House Wren and White-breasted Nuthatch to the trip list, as well as Warbling Vireo, Rough-winged Swallow and others. The highlight though came from following up a commotion of calling crows; I suspected it was an owl or raptor, and as we made our way towards the noise in the woods, a Great Horned Owl flew through the trees in an 180 degree arc around us - brilliant!

From here, we drove a few miles further west. Leaving the main road onto a minor one, I glimpsed something slink across in front of us and when we reached that point and jumped out, confirmed my suspicions as my first Wild Turkey crashed away through the undergrowth. We then drove a short distance more to a super little stakeout on Cook Road. A small area had been given over to growing Christmas trees and we rapidly found the target species - Clay-coloured Sparrow. One was feeding on a track here, but there were at least three singing, a nice simple 2-buzz song. I stalked one and eventually got rather decent photos of it singing.

From here we continued west as the others wanted to see Niagara. A Sharp-shinned Hawk over the road was new, and we stopped at a jetty in the village of Wilson that was packed with gulls - mostly American Herring and Ring-billed, but also a single Glaucous which was a bit of a surprise. A Spotted Sandpiper was running around with them also. Then on to Niagara itself, which was OK but a bit smaller than I'd expected, and far more built-up surrounding it. There was a large colony of at least 1000 Ring-billed Gulls here, and otherwise a selection of other common species, including a photogenic Common Grackle and some good views of Turkey Vultures. From here we headed east again, picking up a Cooper's Hawk over the road about 20 miles west of the Brockport exit. Coming off the freeway and heading south to Ithaca we also saw another Wild Turkey by the roadside. We found our hotel for the next few days - the Courtyard Marriott, rather nice - and then headed down into town for dinner.

Trip list = 109 species, lifers 4 today, 19 total

Red-headed Woodpecker, Hamlin State Park

Clay-coloured Sparrow, Cook Road nr Hamlin

Assorted gulls, Wilson (L Ontario)

Common Grackle, Niagara

5th May

Up early this morning, which was to be rather a feature of this week come to think of it. We grabbed a coffee in the foyer and drove the short distance up to the Fire House Woods at Braddock Bay, ready for the expected warbler fest! Maybe we'd been building this up a bit too much though. Although there were some nice things to see here, including Warbling Vireo and Northern Flicker, as well as our existing warbler trip trio of Yellow, Yellow-rumped and Palm, there were otherwise thin pickings. OK, so maybe it was not all that easy.

We then drove the short distance along to Island Cottage Woods. This also required some work, but eventually there were some rewards for our efforts. After notching up a few trip ticks like Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Black-and-White Warbler and Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, I eventually scored with four lifers: Swamp Sparrow (not great views though), Magnolia Warbler (brief, but bibrosalo!), Black-throated Green Warbler (also brief) and Brown Creeper (yawn). I also found a Great Crested Flycatcher ("wheep") and tons more Yellow-rumped, including the confiding individual photographed here.

So, a bit of success and we went back to the hotel for a surprisingly crap breakfast! Then out again up to Braddock State Park. The Cranberry Trail was also not dripping with birds, but some fine Red-bellied WPs, Yellowthroat and a tick Least Flycatcher. Back by the raptor count platform we had a useful chat with Luke Tiller who gave us loads of useful gen - thanks Luke. Raptor passage was very slow today (just a few TVs) but other local birds included Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, Caspian Tern, Brown Thrasher (only one of the trip), Swamp Sparrow, Northern Mockingbird, American Kestrel, Eastern Kingbird, Bonaparte's Gull and Field Sparrow. A Camberwell Beauty (aka Mourning Cloak) was also seen.

One good bit of gen of Luke's was where the nearest shop was for drinks and chocolate, i.e. at the end of the road, so we headed up there, stocked up and looked out onto Lake Ontario. We were somewhat surprised to see loads of Long-tailed Ducks and Red-breasted Mergansers as well as Great Northern Diver and Slavonian Grebe (also known as ... oh forget it, this is an English blog!) I was also interested to see lots of Red Dead-nettle and Ground-ivy, which I presumed were probably introduced weeds. [Googling just now, I presumed right!] After this we went off to check out our planned motel for the night, at Brockport, although we got somewhat misdirected by a roadsign for a B&B which apparently didn't exist.

Anyway, after checking out the motel for the night, which looked fine (and far less fancy and expensive than Rochester), we headed back up to the coast. First stop was a jetty on the north side of Braddock Bay, where we added Forster's and Common Terns (good opportunity to compare them!), along with a pair of Lesser Scaup and a Ring-necked Duck. We then birded the West Spit at the mouth of the bay. Late afternoon and fairly quiet, but we did manage to identify (somewhat by process of elimination) our only Prairie Warbler of the trip, plus two mega-skulky Lincoln's Sparrows, another Luke tip, and a useful one. The next Luke tip was somewhat less spectacular though - he'd told us of three restaurants nearby at Salmon Creek. We ended up a Nick Tahoe's which is apparently legendary for being dangerous, as well as dreadful food. We survived, but the food was very slow in arriving, and rather rubbish. Not only this, but I failed to exploit a perfect opportunity to employ the legendary Rick Andrews beer line (Waitress: "do you want a pitcher of beer"; Customer: "no it's OK, we know what beer looks like"). Feeble of me, I blame lack of sleep.

Eventually, the food arrived, we bolted down what we could stomach, then legged it up to the Owl Woods at dusk. We yomped through the woods to the open area (where they catch raptors for banding, and where we indulged in the apparently traditional pursuit of tripping over the strings...) A guy here told us how there'd been 8-9 Whip-poor-wills the previous night, but these had obviously continued migrating. However, we couldn't really complain on seeing a perched/flying Great Horned Owl, 3+ crazily displaying American Woodcocks, and hearing a single (but ultra-distinctive) burst from a Whip-poor-will. Fantastic stuff. We returned to the car and drove to the motel to crash out.

Trip list 97: lifers 10 today, 15 total.

Baltimore Oriole, Cranberry Trail - pretty, maybe a bit too gaudy?!

Northern Flicker, Fire House Woods

Question Mark Polygonia interrogationis (I think), Cranberry Trail

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Island Cottage Woods - one of my favourite birds!

4th May

Big overseas trips don't happen to me very often, so definitely worth one blog post per day. I was travelling with BTO colleagues Andy Clements, Iain Downie and Karen Wright to visit our US counterparts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, upstate New York on a three-day fact-finding mission. However, we'd allowed ourselves a couple of extra days at either end for sampling some New England spring birding. Warblers were very much the target!

We flew Heathrow to Detroit, watching The Big Year on the way to get us in the mood. At Detroit, just picked up a few Purple Martins, Barn Swallows and Starlings around the terminal, then three Killdeers as we taxied along the runway again to make the much shorter hop to Syracuse. From here, we picked up a hire car and set off west again, noting a few common species along the way, including Turkey Vulture, Osprey and Great Blue Heron amongst others; also a few Groundhogs by Syracuse airport, of which we saw very few more later on.

In about an hour we made it to Montezuma National Refuge, at the north end of Cayuga Lake. We were to be coming here later in the week, but it was a good stop-off, and an opportunity to get some birding under our belts before dark. As would be expected, a fair blizzard of birds proving almost overwhelming at first - so many alien sounds! I had recorded most of the species elsewhere previously, although it was great to reacquaint myself with Cedar Waxwings, Tree and Rough-winged Swallows, Song Sparrows, Eastern Bluebird, Yellow Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow. Baltimore Oriole was my first lifer of the trip - these proved to be common during the week, but always spectacular. The second tick was a real lucky one though; I picked up two American Bitterns in an extended flight across the huge reedbeds here - brilliant!

There were some decent pools with a selection of waterbirds. Amongst numerous Green-winged and Blue-winged Teals, there were a few American Wigeon and a single female Bufflehead. Waders included mostly Lesser Yellowlegs and Dunlin, but also a single Greater Yellowlegs, several Spotted Sands, two Pecs and two long-overdue lifers: Least Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper. Other good birds along the wildlife drive included Northern Harrier, Double-crested Cormorants, Belted Kingfisher, Bald Eagle, Pied-billed Grebe, Wood Duck and Marsh Wren. A few Muskrat nests were visible too.

At the northwest corner of the marsh we found a hedge that had some warblers in it. Really exciting as we found our first Palm Warblers, a good number of storming Yellow-rumped Warblers and a single Common Yellowthroat. By now it was getting dusky, and we were getting tired with the jet lag. We drove on to Rochester on Lake Ontario and had an Italian-ish meal, although this is now rather hazy as we were very tired. No obvious cheap places to stay so we had to use the Holiday Inn. Very overpriced, particularly as we weren't planning on staying long. But good to be able to crash out at last!

Red-winged Blackbird at Montezuma, one of the most numerous birds of the trip. They don't half make a lot of noise, and can be surprisingly tedious very quickly!

30th April - 3rd May

Thu 3rd - set off to London for Living Landscapes meeting, then afterwards went to hotel near Heathrow, rather than coming back in the evening before a mega early start. Not a great night's sleep though in the end.

Wed 2nd - London all day for meetings about Buzzards. Had to get packed up for the the trip to New York...

Tue 1st - 3 House Martins now at home, inspecting nests here and next door.

Mon 30th - 2 House Martins back around the house and Whitethroat singing by the ford. Also in the garden, lots of Sloe Bug, Orange-tip, German Wasp, an early nymph Dark Bush-cricket, Eristalis pertinax and a few bees t.b.a.

Eristalis pertinax, Tendaba

23rd-29th April

Sun 29th - the boys and I had a walk around the whole Strumpshaw loop in the rain in the morning. Best bird got away - just as I looked out of the reception hide, I picked up a distant ringtail harrier that I couldn't pin down to species - gut feeling was Hen but good date for Montagu's obviously. A few year-ticks though - Reed and Garden Warblers and Common Tern.  In the late afternoon, I walked around the village when the rain stopped and was rewarded by a Hobby over Hawes Green - brilliant!

Sat 28th - a quick look at Whitlingham produced my first Swifts of the year. A male Whitethroat was present all afternoon in the garden, but the rain kept it from singing - presumably the one that subsequently set up territory. Little Egret on the common was a mild surprise - thought they'd all gone.

Fri 27th - a long-awaited Nunnery tick as a male Marsh Harrier flew north over as I arrived for work - no. 154 for the Nunnery! Another very poor night for moths at home - singles of Red Chestnut, Clouded Drab, Early Grey and Shuttle-shaped Dart.

Wed 25th - quick walk into Smeeth Wood for the Nightingale survey - again none, but nice to see some Ramsons here plus Wood Sedge and Wood Sorrel.

Ramsons, Smeeth Wood

Mon 23rd - got up early to whizz round three tetrads for the Nightingale survey. No luck with the target species, as expected, but I did see a Cuckoo at Postwick. Later, lots of female Anthophora plumipes nesting in the wall at the Nunnery, plus Sedge Warblers and House Martins at the Nunnery Lakes. In the evening, an in-house micro moth proved to be the tineid Nemopogon cloacella.

16th-22nd April

Sunday 22nd - took Duncan to play rugby at Browick Rd in Wymondham which gave me the opportunity to try out my new found bee skills. Collected a fair few but will now need to find the time to work through them (not managed three weeks later, at time of writing!) Did identify Anthophora plumipes, Bombus pascuorum, Bombus lapidarius, Andrena fulva, Incurvaria masculella, Orange-tip, Brimstone, Sloe Bug and variety of other things I really should be able to put a name to. In the afternoon, a scout meeting in Fressingfield, Suffolk, produced a nice Nomada bee for later identification (hopefully!) In evening, a Stoat on the common.

Saturday 21st - Swallow on Shotesham Common, first back here - also Reed Bunting still singing. Then went up to Sheringham Park for a super day learning how to identify solitary bees. Dull weather so not many active, but was shown Andrena nitida and A. dorsata. At least one singing Firecrest here too was a bonus. On the way home, a Peregrine flew over by Caistor Fort. In the evening, relocated the case-bearing micro Luffia ferchaultella in the village on the wall opposite All Saints. Feeble night in the moth-trap - one Hebrew Character!

Friday 20th - three Stone-curlews in the Brecks.

Wednesday 18th - two newly arriving migrants at the Nunnery Lakes: a Whitethroat and five House Martins. Also 30 Swallows and a Cream-spot Ladybird. Early Forget-me-not by the office (checked with microscope).

Tuesday 17th - put some pitfall traps in garden and identified the centipede Lithobius forficatus and the woodlice Porcelio scaber, Philoscia muscorum and Armadillidium vulgare. All dead common. At work, netted the hoverflies Syrphus ribesii and Cheilosia urbana (previously C. praecox) - the latter a new one for me. Back home, Small-flowered Cranesbill found on verge (5 out of 10 stamens with anthers).

No photos yet - some still to add though when/if I get round to it...

9th-15th April

Oh dear, getting a bit behind again. I want to write about my trip to the USA, but I also want to keep up to date with the other stuff. Right, April might be a tad abbreviated...

Sunday 15th - around Shotesham, Orange-tip, D-e Bee-fly, Yellow Archangel etc

Saturday 14th - 94 rook nests at the bottom of Shotesham Common - also 17 Linnets, a Little Egret and a Chinese Water Deer by Hawes Green/Eastells Lane. Moth trap pretty dull overnight - 11 moths of 6 species.

Friday 13th - a leafhopper from the garden looked at in microscope - family Cicadellidae as has spined tibia. No idea what species though. Elsewhere, Wood Anemone in flower in the Great Wood.

Thursday 12th - a garden hoverfly keyed (with microscope now!) as female Platycheirus albimanus - this seems to be common, as I keyed lots more of these over the coming days.

Wednesday 11th - now 7 Chiffchaffs and 3 Blackcaps on my run round Shotesham.

Monday 9th - walk around Shotesham looking at plants, getting confused by using sepal lengths to separate Common and Early Dog-violets. I'm sure it's obvious, once you know...

No photos of interest this week.

2nd-8th April 2012

Sunday 8th - around Shotesham today, new flowering species were Cow Parsley, Garlic Mustard, Field Penny-cress and Bluebell, with 8 Mallard ducklings and 4 Moorhen chicks on the pub pond. A cold day, but insects included Pied Shield-bug along Hollow Lane.

Pied Shield-bug Sehirus bicolor - Hollow Lane, Shotesham

Saturday 7th - bike ride in the afternoon with the boys from Shotesham to Hempnall to Woodton and back home. Highlight was a Red Kite, found by Tom, but although it seemed to be loitering, no sign of a second bird unfortunately. Also five Shelduck in flight near Woodton, and first Mallard duckling of year on Shotesham Pond. Overnight, just a single Common Quaker in the trap - a reflection of the cold northerly wind.

Friday 6th - Good Friday so day off. Wander around the village in the morning produced Barren Strawberry and Herb Bennett in flower, two small hoverflies which I keyed later to be male Platycheirus albimanus. A pair of Egyptian Geese were by St Mary's church. In the afternoon we walked around Whitlingham and notched up the first Sand Martins (very late!) and Swallows of the year, as well as another P. albimanus and a dead bumblebee that was either Bombus lucorum or B. terrestris, but I wasn't sure - not an easy pair.

Thursday 5th - Blackcap, Curlew and Oystercatcher at the Nunnery Lakes; first Cowslip of the year in flower along the Norwich southern bypass.

Monday 2nd - sunny enough for the first Speckled Wood of the year at the Nunnery, as well as Common Storksbill in flower, Common Wasp, Alder Fly sp. Also today, somewhere in the Brecks, a very cryptic Stone-curlew! We think there is just one in the photo, but maybe there are more...?

Stone-curlew - at least one!

26th March-1st April 2012

Sunday 1st - in the garden, Ivy-leaved Speedwell and Hairy Bittercress (four stamens) in flower, and bees including Bombus pascuorum, Tawny Mining Bee (I guess, looked spot on), the female of yesterday's Anthophora plumipes and two little ones which have been potted for taking to the solitary bee ID course I've just booked onto (and am excited about!) Also a beetle I think is probably Silpha atrata but also needs checking to be sure.


Saturday 31st - Daisy, Dog Violet and Garden Forget-me-not now in flower at home. A bee with rather groovy legs netted along the verge by our house, which I'm pretty sure is the male of Anthophora plumipes. Also a sawfly netted on the common - to be announced (one day, maybe...)

Male Anthophora plumipes I reckon, doing a head stand to show off its hairy legs to best effect

Friday 30th - Two Stone-curlews at a secret site in the Brecks, nice to see. At home, the Linnet flock on the common built up to 14 now, and Redwing still present. A less exciting moth-trap tally tonight but 42 moths including Pine Beauty. First Sexton Beetle of the year in there too.


Thursday 29th - Greater Stitchwort (Hollow Lane) and Cuckoo-flower (by Great Wood) now in flower around Shotesham, as well as two Chiffs. First Comma of the year in the garden.


Wednesday 28th - first Blackcap of the year singing by the river at work, and a Double-striped Pug inside the building. Went to the Norfolk Moth Group meeting in the evening - good talk by Jon and Jim on their conifer moth book; Early Thorn seen there around lighted windows, and a Little Owl calling as I left.


Tuesday 27th - Duncan and I walked around Poringland Woods and spotted the innocuous little flowers of Moschatel.


Monday 26th - Oystercatcher flew past my office window calling!

19th-25th March 2012

Sunday 25th - Dad and I popped out for the morning, starting at Cantley for a successful Glossy Ibis twitch - four birds, including a darvic ringed bird from Spain (no further info yet). These had been around the valley for a while, but soon afterwards relocated to Germany. We then went to Buckenham, where just a couple of Ruff were of note. A quick stop then at Strumpshaw produced my earliest ever (by four days!) singing Willow Warbler by the fen hide. No Bitterns or Beardies, but the white-winged Black-headed Gull for the third consecutive spring! In the afternoon we all walked around the Rockland/Claxton loop, with highlights a Water Rail peeking out of a clump of sedges by the hide, and a distant lump on a gate that could only have been one of the wintering Short-eared Owls (no scopes!) First Peacock butterfly of the year too.

Atmospheric Glossy pic, Cantley Marshes

Saturday 24th - kids skiing in the morning, and parents down for the weekend; walked around the village in the afternoon, with the first Dark-edged Bee-flies of the year in the garden, Red-tailed Bumble sp, a very dark Episyrphus balteatus (keyed out - apparently, early ones often are dark - never knew that) and a little moth potted from next door's hedge which turned out to be a pale example of Epermenia chaerophylella. Also Frog spawn in the stream, mid common, and Ground Ivy in flower now.

First bee-fly of the year, at home

Epermenia chaerophylella, Shotesham

Friday 23rd - went to one of my Stone-curlew sites in the morning but no joy; or at least, no joy on that species, but a fine singing Woodlark is always appreciated. Couple of Chiffs also singing in the woods. At work at lunchtime, Orange Underwing flitting around the tops of the birches by the lawn, and "proof of life" from a rumbling mole-hill! Big moth-trap catch overnight, with 140 moths of 9 species; a huge count of 105 Small Quakers were overshadowed however by my second ever adult Small Eggar! Just over a year since the first one too. What a cool moth.

Small Eggar on denim - cool or what?

Thursday 22nd - had to take the car to the garage, so popped in to Whitlingham on the way for a blatant Chiffchaff attempt, which was unsurprisingly successful!


Tuesday 20th - finally got a Brimstone at the Nunnery today - was feeling it was getting a bit late. Also Marsh Marigold in flower, with my first owl-midge of the year back home in the evening.


Monday 19th - Simon rushed into the office today in a generous attempt to help me get Red Kite on my window list, but to no avail - much appreciated though! Imagine my chuffedness though when (presumably) another floated over the A11 near Thickthorn on my way home that afternoon; always a thrill but my second A11 bird this year already - how many by the end of the year?

12th-18th March 2012

Sunday 18th - took Tom and his friend Nick to football in Holt, and then we went on to Cley afterwards for a bit. Nice selection of things, including an adult and 2-cy Spoonbill and the very welcome sight of my first Wheatears of the year - four males on the Eye Field. Officially spring now! My second earliest ever in fact. In the evening, I had a walk around the village in the dark and heard Barn and Tawny Owls and, most notably, the sound of Common Frog calling from the skeggy pond in Ambush Wood.


Saturday 17th - now 10 Linnets on the common, a notable increase. 30 moths in the garden trap that night, 100% Orthosia.


Thursday 15th - sadly, the second dead Badger this week, this time by the A11 east of Wymondham.

Wednesday 14th - a fine Green Woodpecker on the lawn whilst I was eating my breakfast - hard to photo because it was moving its head so fast in and out of the ground; this was the best of about 20 attempts (through the window of course).

Breakfast bird

Tuesday 13th - Sweet Violet in flower along Hollow Lane, and Danish Scurvy-grass in flower along the A11. In the evening, following reports from other moth-ers around the county of large catches of Small Quaker, I looked at a normal light by the school football pitch at Fram and indeed discovered it was (relatively) crawling with moths - 9 Small and 3 Common Quakers, and my third ever Tortricoides alternella (all in the last few weeks!)


Monday 12th - belated WeBS count at Whitlingham in the morning was relatively unremarkable, and no migrants yet. A Sparrowhawk was seen to catch a Pied Wag by the Little Broad. Highlight on the Great Broad was a calling Water Rail by the edge of the bay, but I couldn't get it to respond to playback. Carrion Crow already on a nest on the island (not a Cormorant nest as I initially hoped!)

5th-11 March 2012

Sunday 11th - brief walk on the upper common in the morning: a pair of Reed Buntings now, and 14 Barnacle Geese plus the usual Barnacle x Snow hybrid over to Shotesham House at 0905 (and seen flying off that evening at 1800). Then took Duncan to Roydon (nr Diss) for a Rugby tournament, where he saw a Brimstone and I didn't! However, I didn't manage my first Small Tort of the year, and a Hawthorn Shield Bug. Coltsfoot noted by the road as we drove back, and a dead Badger between Stratton and Tasburgh. In the afternoon, at least one Peregrine was perched up on Norwich cathedral.


Saturday 10th - A wander into Norwich included flowers appearing on Shepherd's Purse, Alexanders, Chickweed, Common Field Speedwell and Ivy-leaved Toadflax. In the evening, did my sixth and final Hen Harrier survey of the winter and at last, a ringtail Hen Harrier came through the fen at dusk (although went off to the south, presumably to roost a little while south of me). Usual Cetti's, Water Rails, Marsh Harriers, Chinese Water Deer etc, but also my first bat sp. of the year flew over as I walked back to the car.


Friday 9th - Just single Dotted Border and Common Quaker at the trap in the garden.


Thursday 8th - 3 Oystercatchers at the lakes, and Common Whitlow-grass in flower on the wall by the Nunnery.


Tuesday 6th - Little Egrets by the A47 at Attleborough and also feeding by Stoke Holy Cross mill on the way home.


Monday 5th - a rather unexpected splendid lunchtime highlight. An Arctic Redpoll had been trapped by the BTO team at the weekend, at one of the "secret sites" in the forest; someone's garden who doesn't want a stack of twitchers there. Anyway, the bird was still around this morning so they let us go up for an exclusive lunchtime twitch. It took a while for it to appear (the slow build-up of finches not helped by a lightning strike by a fine male Sparrowhawk) but eventually the redpolls started coming in. Dawn's sharp eyes spotted a likely candidate high in the trees and as we followed it down to the feeders it was indeed the bird, a fine frosty fellow in amongst at least 50 Lessers (didn't notice any obvious Mealy). Most enjoyable, and thanks to the home owner! Also 20+ fine Brambling here too.

27th February - 4th March 2012

Sunday 4th - We did our long-planned all-day sponsored litter-pick today, raising money for Tom's trip to Yellowstone. Tom and I started at about 7 a.m. at Winterton, covering the south dunes for a couple of hours before breaking for a seriously large "breakfast baguette" at the cafe, an excellent fusion of English and French cuisine (mostly English to be fair). We then carried on north to Horsey, meeting Trudy and Duncan here for lunch, before the final push north to Waxham. From 10 a.m. onwards it rained, and indeed was quite miserable towards the end. But a shedload of rubbish was collected. Because of the rain, it wasn't quite such a wildlife-fest, but we did flush a Jack Snipe from by the Natterjack pools, and then later three Short-eared Owls were disturbed from the dunes by Waxham Sands holiday camp. The only other noteworthy thing was the large amount of lichen on (especially) Winterton Dunes, photo below. I don't know exactly what it is, but a bit of googling suggests it might be "Reindeer Lichen" = Cladonia rangiferina or similar. Lots of it anyway!

Maybe Reindeer Lichen? Winterton Dunes

Saturday 3rd - spent a bit of time on Shotesham Common in the morning, with notable sightings being five Linnets, Reed Bunting, 2 Lesser Redpolls, Lesser Celandine in flower, Candle-snuff Fungus, Wavy Bitter-cress (6 stamens) and c50 small fish in the stream. Then took the kids skiing, followed by another trip into the Yare valley where we failed to find the American Wigeon again but did jam into the Great White Egret at last, which flew over and landed betwen Bawburgh and Marlingford. In the evening, the trap again produced Tortricodes alternella.

World's worst photo of Great White Egret, near Bawburgh

Thursday 1st - my first lunchtime walk to the Nunnery Lakes for a while. Nice to see a pair of displaying Curlews at last (although they'd been back for 1-2 weeks) and a pair of Oystercatchers, whilst a male Stonechat was a notable find. New flowers for the year were Groundsel, Daisy and Creeping Buttercup.

Of most interest was a fairly non-descript micro-moth that I saw a few of, including one I got very close views of on an oak bud along Shadwell track. It seemed somewhat familiar but I couldn't place it immediately, and had neither camera nor pot with me. I did do a sketch in my notebook though, but this didn't help me put a name to it subsequently. Logic suggests it was most likely Diurnea fagella but it didn't really look like that. Moral of the story - ALWAYS carry a pot!

Wednesday 29th - work trip to London allowed the year-ticking of Diplodocus, Blue Whale and Ring-necked Parakeet.

Tuesday 28th - a quick hunt in the Yare valley for the Great White Egret was to no avail (except for a momentarily hopeful Little Egret by the A47)

Monday 27th - Linnet on the common from the house, another sign of approaching spring

20th-26th February 2012

Sunday 26th - some signs of spring around the village, with Bombus sp., Acleris sp., Honey Bees active around the hive (and one at aconite in the garden), Common Field Speedwell and Red Dead-nettle in flower. Also of note, a male Reed Bunting had returned to the mid common, first of the spring. Ran the moth-trap overnight, with the highlight of seven moths being a long-overdue tick in the shape of the micro Tortricoides alternella. This is a very common early spring woodland moth; inexplicable why I've never recorded it before really.

Saturday 25th - walk around the village, Yellowhammer in song now.

Wednesday 22nd - another lunchtime bash at Lynford, with at least 10 Common Crossbills (one female metal-ringed) today. Also a fine count of 18 Hawfinches at the paddocks - there have been even higher numbers recently also, a good year for them here. No sign of the main prize yet again though.

Tuesday 21st - popped over to Lynford Arb. again for lunchtime, again failing on the 2BXB but 2+ Common Crossbills again. Lee Gregory and I compared the persistant "excitement" calls of a male with all the different vocal types from the "Sound Approach" recordings (on my phone) and it sounded spot-on to both of us as being "Phantom Crossbill"; I have no idea how reliable this technique is (but it's certainly a cool name!)

Monday 20th - after a report (with associated gripping photo) of a male Two-barred Crossbill at Lynford Arboretum, I got there early for a pre-work bash, meeting Nick and Dave on site. No luck with the 2BXB unfortunately, but at least a pair of Common Crossbills showed well.

13th-19th February 2012

Sunday 19th - A second free day saw me heading east to Lowestoft, where as well as the more expected fare of Purple Sandpiper, Kittiwake and Shag, I also had fine views of the adult Iceland Gull in the fish dock; views of this were expedited by the unusual trick of climbing to the top of the adjacent multi-story car park! Later in the day, Med Gulls at Yarmouth and a three-species swan flock nearby on the marshes, but dipped on the Great White Egret at Colney pits.

Saturday 18th - Trudy and the kids went up to Leeds for the weekend, so when the cat's away, the mice...go birding! First stop was Kelling where after a short wait, the long-staying Arctic Redpoll gave great views in a roadside garden. What a stunner! Another 20+ Lesser Redpoll here but nothing that I personally thought looked very Mealy. A little way away, a flock of 400 Brents included at least 3 Pale-bellieds and a leucistic bird.

Next down to Salthouse for the obligatory Snow Bunting flock (100+), then on to Cley where I walked a complete loop (I often feel somewhat obliged to do so, it seems a cop-out just to go to the hides and back). Usual decent selection, although unfortunately the long-staying Western Sand had either died or moved on; most notable were a female Red-breasted Merg on Arnold's, a pair of Stonechats along the east bank, and the same leucistic Brent Goose in from Kelling.

After some craving-filling Fish & Chips, I had distant but prolonged views of the two Rough-legged Buzzards from Wells beach road; one bird exceptionally frosty on the upperwing coverts. Three Grey Partridges also here. At Holkham gap, I failed on the Shorelarks but was chuffed to pick out three Slavonian Grebes on the sea; a probable Black-throated Diver also glimpsed here a couple of times but never clinched.

At dusk, I headed back to Warham Greens where a distant perched Merlin and at least four Hen Harriers to roost.

Tuesday 14th - 20 Bramblings the highlight at the Nunnery Lakes.

Monday 13th - managed to track down Nick's white nun (male Smew) on the river by D lake, but it was seriously flighty, hence the dreadful photo below. A Water Rail was more obliging.

White nun for the White Nuns at last

Water Rail, Nunnery Lakes

Arctic R'oll for breakfast at Kelling - tasty indeed!

 Leucistic Brent Goose at Cley - interesting-ish (but to be honest, not aesthetically pleasing)

Iceland Gull at Lowestoft, multi-story car park tick

6th-12th February 2012

Sunday 12th - a village tick in the shape of four Gadwall on the pub pond! Clearly driven off Whitlingham or somewhere by the cold weather, along with a very high pond count of 38 Mallard! Elsewhere around the village, mostly usual species but I did flush a Snipe within the woods at Joy's Loke, which was a surprise; no Woodcock though.

Saturday 11th - WeBS count at a very icy Whitlingham. The highlight was my first Brent Goose for the site; found here by James Emerson earlier in the week! It was a young bird, rather tame and hanging around with the swans at the usual "feeding beach". Most of the site was frozen over, making for an interesting and intense count! Numbers of Gadwall (302) were way lower than last year's cold snap, but 464 Tufties were impressive. There were also 3 Goldeneye and a smart Aythya hybrid that wasn't a Lesser Scaup, again! Finally, just after I'd given up hope of finding it, a redhead Smew flew along the river!

In the evening, I did the Sutton Fen harrier roost again, with no Hens and 7 Marsh plus most of the other usual suspects - Water Rail on the ice was nice.

Friday 10th - work trip to Newark; a couple of Marsh Harriers at Lakenheath and c200 wild swans on the Ouse Washes, distant as usual. However, the highlight (albeit frustrating) was during my meeting at the HQ of the Wildlife Trusts at Newark, where I spotted a distant Great White Egret flying over the town. Although distant, and seen only with naked eye, this was clearly not a Little Egret, and on checking later I discovered there was wintering nearby, that had been seen a few miles away the previous day. Unfortunately, the meeting was at a rather involved point and wouldn't have benefited from me shouting out the bird!

Thursday 9th - work trip to London; was somewhat surprised to see a couple of Avocets from the train whilst crossing the Stour near Manningtree, I don't think I've seen these here before.

Wednesday 8th - went searching the Nunnery Lakes at lunchtime for Nick's pair of Smew, and eventually picked up the female only, in flight and then briefly on E lake (although it then disappeared inexplicably). Also now at least 30 Bramblings and 10 Lesser Redpolls around.

Tuesday 7th - just the one egret at dusk tonight

Monday 6th - The snow had the immediate result of bringing three Bramblings to the feeders by the Nunnery, my first around here of the winter I think. In the evening, three Little Egrets flew downstream along Shotesham Common at dusk, my highest count for here.

Pub duck-tick! Gadwalls in Shotesham, who'd have believed it?

Aythya hybrid at Whitlingham, cunningly hiding its bill-tip most of the time (although it's tuft is perhaps a tad outrageous for a putative Lesser Scaup!)

...and speaking of outrageous - Whitlingham Brent Goose!

30th January-5th February 2012 (Snow!)

5th February - hooray, 6 inches of snow fell overnight transforming the world! Juvenile I know, but I always love it (for a bit at least). The Little Egret looked fantastic on the snowy common, but the weather wasn't enough to dampen the song of Dunnock, Robin, Great and Marsh Tits and Chaffinch around the village.

4th February - a walk on Shotesham Common, testing out our developing BirdTrack phone app - Little Egret, Buzzard, Snipe and Little Owl the highlights.

3rd February - a nice find; as I drove home along the A11, a distant raptor crossed the road in front of me. I caught it up, pulled in to a lay-by and jumped out to see a Red Kite drifting across the forest, my first East Anglian kite of the year!

2nd February - continuing the duck theme, a high count of 15 Goosanders at the Nunnery Lakes, plus 31 Cormorants.

1st February - high count of 12 Gadwall at the Nunnery Lakes, plus Brambling and Barnacle Goose.

30th January - pair of Pochard at the Nunnery Lakes, relatively unusual here.

Good numbers of Goosanders at the Nunnery Lakes this year.

Snowy Egret - or at least, egret in the snow. Well camouflaged!

Shotesham Common transformed by snow

Little Egret trying to find a spot to fish on Shotesham Common

23rd-29th January 2012

A quiet week - too much work!

29th January - Tom and I went birding! A failed look on the Acle Straight for winter swans, but a good selection of waders at Breydon east end, including 10 Knot and 20 Grey Plovers. At least 40 Med Gulls along Yarmouth beach, always a thrill, but the highlight was the female Velvet Scoter that has been kicking around off the South Denes for a few days.

28th January - another quick look for the Whitlingham Fudge duck / hybrid but it seems to have gone.

Velvet Scoter off Yarmouth South Denes (a bit of a stretch for my camera!)

16th-22nd January 2012

22nd January - Tom had a footie match at North Walsham in the morning, so I took the opportunity of a quick seawatch at Mundesley; quiet as expected but Red-throated Diver, Guillemot and Gannet were new for the year. Also, a Kingfisher was on Shotesham Common in the evening, not all that regular here at present.

21st January - high hopes for my WeBS count at Whitlingham today, as a Ferruginous Duck had been found recently. However, when I finally saw the bird in the bay by the island I was rather non-plussed, as it seemed to have a distinctly blocky head-shape. It flew before I could get a photo, although I later relocated it more distantly on Thorpe Broad, where it still looked rather hybrid like. Surprised that no-one else seems to have questioned it, but anyway, it aint going on my Whitlingham list with a head shape like that. Otherwise a fairly uneventful WeBS count, although 300 Teal was a good total, and the hybrid Wigeon x Gadwall was present.

17th January - made a pre-work quick check of the Nunnery Lakes, but failed to relocate yesterday's Short-eared Owl; failed similarly at lunchtime too. Highlights were 10 Goosander, 23 Cormorants and 100+ Siskin, plus some obliging Lesser Redpolls on Jez's feeders.

16th January - meeting with CEH in London, but a notable sighting was a House Mouse scurrying between the rails at Victoria tube station - I don't recall seeing one for yonks. Couple of Little Egrets near Stowmarket at dusk from the train on the way home also.

Lesser Redpoll on feeder by the Nunnery

9th-15th January 2012

14th January - in the afternoon, stopped briefly at Ludham airfield where a fine flock of 66 Bewick's Swans (but no Whoopers). Then went on to Sutton Fen to do the Hen Harrier roost again, and yet again failing to find any Hens (but 8 Marsh, Peregrine, 5+ Water Rails etc)

13th January - woke feeling a bit rough, but livened up by breakfast in the ridiculously ornate dining hall at Exeter College (Tolkien's college apparently!) Rest of the day in continuing proposal discussions before getting train back.

12th January - train to Oxford, with seven Red Kites on route. Spent the afternoon discussing proposals for smartphone recognition of bird song, followed by a fine meal in an Oxford college, and a few beers to finish off with.

11th January - up at High Lodge again, with just a single flight call adding Crossbill to my year list.

10th January - we had a management training event at High Lodge in Thetford Forest today. Less than an hour before we had to leave to go there, Neil Calbrade texted that he had found a female Scaup on E lake! Nightmare, as I knew I would have no other chances to get there for about a week, so had to hightail it down there. Was worth it though, a top find by Neil and my 153rd species for the Nunnery Lakes. Unfortunately, in the process of twitching it, I accidentally heard a House Sparrow; I'd been hoping to get to 100 for the year list without HS, but it came in at no. 96! Snipe and Marsh Tit also added today though.

2012 at last: 1st-8th January

OK, so have failed to get round to updating this blog for a couple of months. These things happen. I was, as usual, trying to get all my notes in order from 2011 and, also as usual, I'm failing to complete this task. So will just try to be resigned to this, and plod on from here. Anyway, looking back in my notebook, this is what I was seeing a few months back...

Sunday 8th - a couple of hours in the morning spent at Haddiscoe bridge, scanning for the Rough-legged Buzzard without success, although nice to see two Short-eared Owls and variety of other species. Gardening in the afternoon, although the local Little Owls were calling nearby mid-afternoon.

Saturday 7th - we popped over to Ranworth again in the afternoon and failed to even see the RN Duck this time; nothing much else of note.

Friday 6th - work trip to CEH at Wallingford (Oxon), with (as expected) a glut of Red Kites along the north edge of the Chilterns; probably about 50 seen in total.

Wednesday 4th - back at work, but nipped down to the fields near Livermere at lunchtime where I failed to find the reported Iceland Gull.

Tuesday 3rd - the boys and I popped over to Ranworth Broad in the afternoon. However, conditions were poor; strong wind and bad light meant that although I did see the female Ring-necked Duck, views were fairly abysmal (and the boys and a couple of other observers failed to get onto it). A quick look at Strumpshaw on the way home failed to produce either of the two hoped-for specialities: Bittern or Hot Chocolate. More notable though was a flock of 20 Golden Plover west over Poringland as we drove home at dusk.

Monday 2nd - took advantage of some fantastic winter sunshine, and the bank holiday, to spend a few hours at Buckenham in the afternoon, where the adult Lesser White-fronted Goose was seen well with at least 64 Taiga Bean Geese but only 18 White-fronts. Also seen were 2 Peregrines, 20 Ruff, 10 Blackwits and a Dunlin, whilst a Short-eared Owl was observed at dusk across the river at Claxton; initially flying very high to avoid to unwanted attentions of a Carrion Crow.

Sunday 1st - First bird of the year was a nocturnal Robin singing at 0020. In the morning, went to Swillington with Dad where we got a decent selection of species for Jan 1st, most notably the two Twite showing well from Astley Hide, a Sparrowhawk in a somewhat unseasonal display flight, 20 Tree Sparrows and 3 Scaup along the river. We then drove to Bingley for a family party in the afternoon; a few more species added during a short rainy walk in a local cemetary. We then drove back to Norfolk after dark, and on returning, walked around the block picking up calling Tawny and Barn Owls, bringing the day total to 70 species.

Greater White-fronted Geese, Buckenham (the Lesser was too distant!)

26th-31st December

Saturday 31st - walked around Bingley canal and river in the afternoon, where the most notable birds were Kingfisher, three Goosanders and a flock of at least 200 Pied Wagtails around the sewage works.

Friday 30th - following an awesome eight kites low over the house in the morning, a trip to Sheffield to see David and co today gave the perfect opportunity to stop off for a few minutes at Pugney's to notch up a late year tick of two Great Northern Divers. Only other sighting of note was a Goosander flying over in Sheffield by Hillsborough Park.

Thursday 29th - just the one kite over Bramhope today. A dull and rainy day - we had a walk around Golden Acre and Adel Dam in the afternoon, where the feeders in front of the hide were busy with common birds, but no Willow Tits; this species hasn't been here for several years now apparently, a sad loss.

Wednesday 28th - home to Leeds for a few days, with a couple of Red Kites welcoming us to Bramhope. Later in the day, another kite was soaring over Garforth as we drove to Fairburn. We walked down Lin Dyke and failed to find the LEOs. However, I did find rather a good bird here - a Bean Goose in the Greylag flock which appeared to be a new bird. It looked to me like a Taiga, although I wasn't 100% sure - subsequent reports on BirdGuides suggested split opinions, although someone on BirdForums also said Taiga and said it was the second ever for Fairburn - cool. Also here was my first Smew of the year, plus a belated Yorkshire tick of Little Egret. We then drove to Swillington and spent a while in the Astley hide - my first visit for many years, and great to see the new massive reedbed in the distance! Highlight here was at least one Twite amongst a Linnet flock on the boomerang island - small but quite clear - there had apparently been up to four recently. Also a couple of Buzzards, 21 Curlew and 20+ Tree Sparrow. The best bird in many ways though was another good self-find for the day - a distant flying wader came closer and closer and turned out to be a Knot, only my second inland bird following one in 1994 at Chew.

Tuesday 27th - drove to Leeds

Monday 26th - went for a Boxing Day walk around Rockland Broad and Claxton Marshes, with the highlight being my second ringtail Hen Harrier in two days, a photogenic Little Grebe by the hide and an unusual sight of a flock of Blackwits flying south over Rockland Broad - presumably from Buckenham, but unclear where they were going to. Also two live Chinese Water Deer and one dead one on the path.

Little Grebe, Rockland Broad

Bean Goose, Fairburn Ings (the one in the middle!)

Knot, Astley Lake (poor record shot!)

Great Spotted Woodpecker, Adel Dam (photo possibly by Tom or Dunc)

Typical garden birdwatch, Bramhope