Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary

The mysterious harvestman 'Leiobunum Species A', 29 September 2024

The harvestman only currently known as Leiobunum Species A is shrouded in mystery because despite it having been discovered in the UK in 2009 nobody seems to know where it it has come from or what it's native range is. To this day it remains unnamed.

It has now reached Norfolk after being discovered near Stalham very recently and my friend and Norfolk Harvestman Recorder Vanna just happened to have a rather splendid male in a box in her kitchen! It has to be said they are a really big and impressive harvestman with a metallic blue/green colouration with the underside pale orange and impossibly long legs.

Vanna's husband Jeremy also had a new fungus for me to look at - the tiny orange stalked discs of Stilbella fimetaria growing on Muntjac dung.

And all over a nice cup of tea!

Leiobunum Species A

Stilbella fimetaria

Another local mega at Dickleburgh Moor, 22 September 2024

Thanks to our local grapevine I was able to dash down to Dickleburgh Moor on Sunday evening where Ben the warden/trustee had found a real local goodie.

Meeting Ben on arrival we walked down the central footpath to find the adult Knot showing at nice close range on a pool on the south side of the path. So close that I even managed a couple of half-decent phone-scoped shots. Soon Roger Walsh and Stephen Howell also bowled up to join the merry throng!

Yet another local mega attracted to the moor despite rapidly dwinding water levels. And good timing because we had only just got back from 10 days in Yorkshire (where I saw bugger all worth mentioning apart from Heather Colletes which was at least a new bee for me!)

Lynford Arboretum with the NFSG, 8 September 2024

My first outing of the autumn with the Norfolk Fungus Study Group saw 17 of us meeting on the busy carpark at Lynford Arboretum for a foray.

On the way I stopped for a 'comfort break' at West Tofts and scored with Pointed-keeled Rhyzobius, 16-spot Ladybird and Long-legged Plant Bug after a quick sweep with the net. 2 family parties of Stonechats were also there.

At Lynford Vanna headed off towards Lynford Water to look for insects (more of that to follow) while the rest of us ventured into the arboretum. Despite there being few fruiting bodies about due to the dry weather some good bits and pieces were still discovered. Conifer Blueing Bracket and Magenta Rustgill were first up, both good lookers (and both new to me). The latter is a woodchip specialist and an alien that is now spreading well in SE England. Other goodies found in the arboretum itself were Split Gill, Purplepore Bracket, Bleeding Bonnet, Deer Shield, Willow Shield, Scarlet Caterpillar Club, Ginkgo Dotty and Brown Parasol with the plethora of mildews and other micro-fungi that rather pass me by! Curious rings of a large and very pale funnel species had everyone stumped but since the event they have been nailed down as the white form of Clouded Funnel.

After lunch we moved down to the path between the lake and the paddocks finding Glazed Cup, Alder Tongue, Sycamore White Spot and a rollrim under Alders that subsequently proved to be Paxillus olivellus. James was also able to identify 2 midge galls on Meadowsweet for me as Dasineura ulmaria and Dasineura pustulans.

Insects proved to be just as exciting with Tree Damsel Bug, Parent Bug, Hawthorn Shidlbug, Lesser Thorn-tipped Longhorn Beetle, Grass Bug, Black Clock Beetle and Willow Emerald found as we mooched about. The best was still to come though as we met up with Vanna again on the carpark and she produced 2 fantastic finds that she'd potted up - Map Weevil, a specialist of Viper's Bugloss and the rare and very seldom recorded Black Scymnus ladybird beaten from young pines.

It called for a celebratory icecream at the Shepherds Baa cafe for a few of us!

16-spot Ladybird

Long-legged Plant Bug

Pointed-keeled Rhyzobius

Conifer Blueing Bracket

Magenta Rustgill

Scarlet Caterpillar Club

Bleeding Bonnet

Brown Parasol

white form of Clouded Funnel

Ginkgo Dotty

Paxillus olivellus

Glazed Cup

Sycamore White Spot

Map Weevil

Black Scymnus

Lesser Thorn-tipped Longhorn Beetle

Black Clock Beetle

Dasineura ulmaria

Willow Emerald

Parent Bug

Hawthorn Shieldbug

Patch ticks at Dickleburgh Moor, 7 September 2024

About a week ago I missed a Whinchat at Dickleburgh Moor as I didn't get there until it was too dark! So, the news from John Marchant that he had found another was too much to ignore.

Arriving in the centre of the reserve John was still there and although it took a few minutes I eventually picked up a Whinchat, and then another! A juv Stonechat was with them too, only the 2nd time I've seen one on the reserve. Whilst stood at the same spot John got onto a Sedge Warbler sitting up and then I found a Common Whitethroat and a Common Sandpiper.

On the stroll back to the car I found a couple of nice insects too - Water Lily Leaf Beetle and the red and black Sap Beetle.

The 'rare' Nodding Bur Marigold var.radiata that the site is famous for has gone utterly crazy this year with site management estimating over a million plants! The place is carpeted in them after flooding last year dispersed seed over the entire site.

Water Lily Leaf Beetle

Sap Beetle

Nodding Bur Marigold var.radiata

The Autumn Fungi Season Starts with a Cracker! 4 September 2024

Very conveniently I was due to drive into Norwich yesterday anyway - just when Jeremy and Vanna had discovered a rare and rather lovely fungus.

The location was Sycamore Wood, just off Waterworks Road and the fungus in question Flame Shield. With good directions it was an easy find being visible from the path on a rotting fallen tree trunk. Fortuitously a shaft of sunlight was also lighting the cluster up perfectly! Also nearby was a patch of Yellow Shields and the long-established Giant Ash Bracket on a now felled willow stump.

Flame Shield

Yellow Shield

Giant Ash Bracket

Inverts at Roydon Fen, 30 August 2024

After dropping Belinda off in Diss I has the opportunity for a quick visit to nearby Roydon Fen before picking her up again.

Initially it was very quiet but eventually I managed to winkle out a few inverts of interest. Top of the pops was a lovely Marbled Orbweb Spider found on a head of Wild Angelica. It also posed nicely for photos which is always nice, especially for a new species. The other real goodie was a much wanted new ladybird, a buffy Water Ladybird, spotted running across cut reed debris but unfortunately not stopping! Lined Spittlebug, Aphrophora major, Common Damsel Bug, Common Pume Moth, Common Carder Bee, Sitona suturalis and Common Furrow Bee were the other sightings of note.