Barnhamcross Common with the Norfolk Fungus Study Group, 2 November 2019

On Saturday I attended my first field outing with the Norfolk Fungus Study Group. It was at Barnhamcross Common on the outskirts of Thetford so with a mix of habitats it had plenty of potential. Despite some pretty inclement weather (which eventually cleared) we spent a good 5 hours at the site and still only covered the section to the west side of the road! The people in the group were very welcoming and helpful to a newbie like me and it was nice to meet Ian Senior after much online correspondence and Tony Leech, a blast from the past from my days in Holt.

According to the others the list was the biggest they've ever had on a field trip. I noted down some of what we saw but the 'official recorder' has the full list which will be shared in due course. Many specimens were also taken away for further analysis!

Highlights for me were the superb Scarlet Caterpillerclub which parasites caterpillar larvae and Shooting Star, a tiny fungus of dead wood which shoots it's spore out at high speed. Apart from those photographed and shown below I also noted down Fly Agaric, Clouded Agaric, Wood Blewit, Grassland Puffball, Orange Mosscap, Collared Mosscap, Slender Parasol, Powdery Earthcap, Bark Bonnet, Brown Cap, Spotted Toughshank, Peppery Roundhead, Wrinkled Crust, Hairy Curtain Crust, Lumpy Bracket, Frothy Porecrust, Tan Pinkgill, Rooting Shank, Silky Pinkgill, Colmans Waxcap, Spangle Waxcap, Stump Brittlestem and Club Foot.

It was an educational day to say the least!

Scarlet Caterpillarclub

Shooting Star

Small Stagshorn

Handsome Club

Golden Spindles

Blackening Waxcap

Bleeding Oak Crust

Blusher

Chemical Knight

Death Cap

Deceiver

Fairy Inkcap

False Chanterelle

Honey Waxcap

Jelly Rot

Meadow Coral

Netted Crust

Ochre Brittlegill

Orange Bonnet

Sepia Webcap

Snowy Waxcap

Stubble Rosegill

Suede Bolete

Sulphur Knight

Yellow Brain

Collared Earthstar

   Yellow Club

A weekend of fungus forays, 25 & 26 October 2019

Belinda and I had a couple of forays into the woods this weekend to see what we could find in the weird and wonderful world of fungi.

On Friday we had a short stroll in Tyrrel's Wood, an ancient broadleaved wood close to home which is managed by the Woodland Trust. On Saturday morning we spent a while longer in the woods at Whitlingham CP, Trowse on the edge of Norwich. Here we concentrated our efforts along the beech avenue and the woodland surrounding the picnic meadow. The highlights are shown in photographic form below. By the slipway at Whitlingham was one dodgy Barnacle Goose.

Brown Rollrim

Clouded Agaric

Common Puffball

False Deathcap

Lilac Bonnet

Pestle Puffball

Pipeclub Fungus

Powdery Brittlegill

Shaggy Parasol

Bulbous Honey Fungus

Common Cavalier

Cucumber Cup

Dark Honey Fungus

Ear-pick Fungus

Haresfoot Inkcaps

Jelly Ear

Lilac Bonnet

Porcelain Fungus

Rootlet Brittlestem

Wood Woolly Foot

Death Cap

Two-barred Greenish Warbler - something good at last!

This autumn has to go down as one of the worst on record for us east coast birders. This weekend it finally livened up a bit, thanks goodness!

We began the weekend with a nice long walk around Walberswick and Westwood Marshes on Saturday. The highlights were few and far between but the reedbeds on the marshes were alive with Bearded Tits. This enabled Belinda to get her first nice views as a pair perched up at close range. Other than that I found some Sea Spurge, Sea Aster and Common Toadflax still in flower on the back of the beach at Walberswick. After walking we drove around to Southwold. Things looked a bit grim in the rain with 4 bedraggled birders and nothing doing at the town end of Harbour Track. Eventually they all left leaving me alone so I decided to walk the bushes and do some pishing. Within a couple of minutes I pushed the Barred Warbler out of some trackside brambles and in to a hawthorn were it showed briefly before once again going to ground.

Fast forward to Sunday and having a day to myself I headed to Lowestoft and quickly found the showy Shorelark about 500 yards south of Ness Point near the end of Hamilton Road. It posed nicely on the seawall for a while before flipped over the wall and being 'lost'. The amble back gave me 2 Black Redstarts, 2 Grey Wagtails and a Meadow Pipit in the Orbis and Turbine yards and a 2w Mediterranean Gull flew south.     

Then the day suddenly got very interesting with news of a mega down the coast at Orford. Needless to say I headed straight there and entering the meadow beside the quay carpark was greeted by about 100 birders and negative news. Luckily, within half and hour we had a run on to an adjacent area where the bird had been seen only to arrive just as the shout of 'flying' went up. Within a few minutes however it flew into a close buddleia and I was quickly watching my 2nd UK Two-barred Greenish Warbler! It showed for only about a minute with 2 Goldcrests before disappearing again and was not seen for the rest of the day. Lucky or what?! In the same area we also had Red Admiral, Migrant Hawker and the locally scarce beetle Chrysolina bankii

Two-barred Greenish Warbler

Shorelark

 Meadow Pipit

Chyrsolina bankii

Sea Spurge

Slime mould sp

A weekend 'champing' in Stansted Mountfitchet, 14/15 September 2019

Champing was one of the things on our bucket list of things to do and the lovely church at Stansted Mounfitchet fitted the bill nicely. Being a nice easy drive but also far enough away to feel like we were going somewhere new.

We began the weekend early on Saturday and had planned a long 12km walk around Hatfield Forest. This was a nice new area to explore, especially as I had a pair of Ravens 'gronking' over the SW section the the forest plus c6 Nuthatches, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Coal Tits plus Comma, Speckled Wood, Small White, Small Heath, Brimstone and Red Admiral.

Sunday was spent at Audley End Hall near Saffron Walden where a Red Kite and a Common Buzzard were up together and a late Painted Lady was in the walled garden. While having a picnic lunch a sharp-eyed Belinda spotted a tiny ladybird in the grass which turned out to be a 22-spot Ladybird and a new species for me.

On the way home a Little Owl was near Winfarthing.

22-spot Ladybird

St Mary the Virgin, Stansted Mountfitchet

      'Champing'

Ivy Bees, 12 September 2019

I had business to take care of in Thetford yesterday and was able to combine it with a stroll around the town and along the river. Most pleasing were a large number of Ivy Bees in some town centre formal gardens/tennis courts and 3 Muntjac at point blank range as I looked over a wall. Along the river the odd Common Emerald Damselfly were still lingering on. Earlier a very docile female Large White was sheltering from the drizzle in Pulham Market while I was trying to work.

 

Ivy Bees

Large White

Meadow Saffron, Martin's Meadows, Suffolk, 7 September 2019

At the start of the year I made a 'hit list' of things I wanted to see over the next couple of years. I've made quite good progress this year and Meadow Saffron (aka Autumn Crocus) was the last of my  doable targets for this year. Martin's Meadows SWT in the middle of nowhere is a lovely little reserve and luckily Meadow Saffron is common there. Indeed I found hundreds in all 3 meadows, ranging from the normal pink/mauve through to completely white specimens. There was plenty of Devils-bit Scabious and Black Knapweed still in flower plus 4 butterfly species on the wing - Small Heath, Common Blue, Speckled Wood and Small White.  While there we 'scrumped' a few apples and pears from the orchards there. Well, they were dropping to the floor and would have gone to waste! It was lovely to note the old english varieties - Lady Sudely, Golden Noble, Horringer Catshead, Warner's King and Dumdow's Seedling as well as an old Medlar tree full of fruit.

Meadow Saffron

Devils-bit Scabious

Apple and pear haul!

  Medlar

The rest of the day was spent on a walk around the UFO trail in Rendlesham Forest. Apart from the odd Grayling along the forest rides it was pretty uneventful but we needed the exercise!

   Grayling

Sri Lanka Tour, 10-20 December 2019 - one space left!

My friend AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan, a birding guide in Kuwait who I have had the great pleasure to bird with on numerous occasions is running a small group tour to Sri Lanka this December. Naturally I am signed up to go and at the moment AbdulRahman is looking for one more person to join us and make a 4 person tour party. At just 1100 Euros (plus flights) for the trip this is a very reasonably priced tour targeting the endemics and other avian goodies that the country has to offer. Additional good news is that the Sri Lankan Govenment has waived visa fees for the next 6 months too!

The tour will be guided by the excellent local guide Prasanjith Caldera from Walk-With-Jith.

Full details of the trip can be found by clicking the link below

https://www.birdsofkuwait.com/blog/sri-lanka-tour-december-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1dzIM6PMtaNVAZtDbuaUDGPS6C4IsQoa6fKE1uLl70A9y-0dCPi95N1D8

So, if you fancy seeing Serendib Scops Owl, Chestnut-backed Owlet, Sri Lankan Scaly Thrush, Legge's Flowerpecker, Sri Lanka Scimitar Babbler, Yellow-eared Bulbul, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie and a host of others please let AbdulRahman know