Lowestoft area goodies, 14 February 2026

Valentines day twitching around the Lowestoft area!

I finally got the time to have a day birding and for once we had a small window of good weather. 

The wintering Hume’s Warbler at Denes Oval was a bird I’d wanted to catch up with since it was found about 10 days ago. I got some nice views within just a few minutes of arrival in the SW corner of the Oval before the bird skipped from shrub to shrub and then went to ground in one bush for a good 45 minutes. Here it gave a few fleeting views but kept to the centre of the bush, presumably feeding. After some while it eventually moved again but was quickly lost again over the perimeter wall. The bonus of hanging around was a Firecrest in the same bushes. Nearby at Ness Point 4 Purple Sandpipers were in one of their usual spots and a single Kittiwake offshore.

Part 2 of my plan for the day was to visit Carlton Marshes. After the walk out to Peto’s Marsh I bumped in to Jeremy Gaskell and began to scan the masses of wildfowl (Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Shoveler and Mallard) - and picked up the drake American Wigeon almost straight away! Due to disturbance by 5 Marsh Harriers the duck were very skittish but eventually settled closer where it was picked up again and I even managed a couple of digiscoped record shots. Just over the bank on the other side of the path a single Tundra Bean Goose and 4 Russian White-fronted Geese were with Greylags and Canadas. A flock of c50 Russian Whitefronts also flew over and Bearded Tits ‘pinged’ briefly nearby.  

                                                                                                                   Hume’s Warbler

                                                                                                                          Purple Sandpipers

                                                                                                                       Tundra Bean Goose

                                                                                                                    Russian White-fronted Goose

                                                                                                                        American Wigeon

A few Butterflies from Peru

As promised here are a few of the rather splendid selection of butterflies I saw in Peru back in November. Well, the ones I’ve been able to identify anyway! The vast majority of them were seen along the various elevations of the famous Manu Road, many taking salts from the road surface itself.

I also saw the huge Forest Giant Owl but it was too fast for the camera 

                                                                                                                                  Malachite

                                                                                                                         Cramer’s Eighty-eight

                                                                                                                            Six-spotted Eighty-eight

                                                                                                                           Phoronis myscelus

                                                                                                                             Banded Daggerwing

                                                                                                                                 Cyan Emperor

                                                                                                                           Rusty-tipped Page

                                                                                                                          Red-barred Amarynthis

                                                                                                                             Dyson’s Blue Doctor
 

                                                                                                                            Brazilian Painted Lady

                                                                                                                         Gulf Fritillary

                                                                                                                       Pleasure Sister (seriously!)

A new British mammal! 8 February 2026

Sunday began with a good wander around the patch at Dickleburgh Moor. Before going on to the reserve a quick look at the large puddle by Norwich Road revealed the wintering Green Sandpiper so we were off to a good start. There wasn’t a massive amount of stuff to get excited about but wildfowl numbers starting to increase (10 Gadwall and 16 Teal) and singing Reed Buntings hinted at spring. Along the eastern edge a pair of Stonechats was very pleasing, as was a fly over Grey Wagtail. The Rookery is also now in full swing. 

After lunch at home we headed out towards the Brecks stopping for a walk at Thetford Warren from Thetford Warren Lodge. The main things of interest here were fungi with Root Rot, Conifer Blueing Bracket, Winter Stalkball and Rusty Crust found. 

Then it was on to Weeting where another walk in fading light enabled me to see one of my favourite plants in flower - Mezereon. This shrub flowers in late winter/early spring before the leaves form. After killing a bit of time over a coffee we then headed into Brandon for the finale.

Meeting at Ian Porter’s house in the town we ventured the short drive out towards Lakenheath Fen armed with his thermal camera. Our quarry? Harvest Mouse! And with the use of said camera to locate them followed by illuminating them with a conventional torch we had mind-blowing views of 2 individuals in reed seed heads at point blank range from the path. We also picked up a Tawny Owl, Muntjac, Wood Mouse and some roosting passerines (probably Reed Buntings. Huge thanks to Ian for his help and hospitality.

                                                                                                                         Harvest Mouse - honestly!

                                                                                                                                  Green Sandpiper

                                                                                                                             Stonechats

                                                                                                                                         Rook

                                                                                                                             Conifer Blueing Bracket

                                                                                                                                   Root Rot

                                                                                                                                     Winter Stalkball

                                                                                                                        Mezereon

Mammals in Peru

One thing that my Peru eBird trip report doesn’t show is anything other than birds. So, with that in mind I thought a couple of posts were in order to show the mammals and insects I caught up with. The insects (mainly butterflies) one will follow but here are the mammals.

To be honest we didn’t see a massive number of mammals but it was good to catch up with 3 new primates and a few other bits and pieces. The primates were the snappily-named Shock-headed White-fronted Capuchin, Toppin’s Titi and Black-headed Night Monkey. Other stand-outs were a huge Spectral Bat that almost took my head off (!), Proboscis Bats, Brown Agouti, Bolivian Squirrel and the curious rabbit-like Northern Mountain Viscacha at high elevation in the Andes. 

                                                                                                       Shock-headed White-fronted Capuchin

                                                                                                                                 Toppin’s Titi

                                                                                                                      Black-headed Night Monkey

                                                                                                                             Brown Agouti

Allotment fungi in Norwich, 4 February 2026

A quick pop-in to Jeremy’s allotment in west Norwich as he’d posted some fungi on socials - and one of them was a new one for me! 

Even with a lack of directions I was able to find the ones I was keen to see as they were all on his allotment. They were Wood Oysterling (the new tick for me), Pedicel Cup, Shooting Star and Scurfy Twiglet. Several Fieldfares were about the area too. 

                                                                                                                                     Wood Oysterling

                                                                                                                                Pedicel Cup

                                                                                                                              Scurfy Twiglet

Round up of a few January bits

January has been a busy month but not for reasons relevant to this blog! The weather has also been pretty grim and I struggle with motivation at this time of year. Nevertheless ‘naturing’ never really stops so the following is a quick summary of a few local bits from January.

8 January - I was surprised to find a Ruddy Shelduck from the car as we drove along the B1143 near Tibenham. Annoyingly it had gone 30 minutes later when I returned with my camera!

11 January - 2 Tawny Owls were by the road close to Pulham Primary School at about 2am. One perched on the kerb.

14 January - after much walking and searching I eventually had a single Shorelark fly over me on Kessingland North Beach

16 January - fungi are thin on the ground but a clump of Field Blewits were found at Frenze near Diss while out walking.

17 January - another ‘walking find’ was a Powdered Ruffle Lichen at Mulbarton - a new species for me

31 January - I made my annual visit to Henstead to see Greater Snowdrop and Green Snowdrop beside their common cousins. Later on c55 Snow Buntiungs and Grassland Puffball were on Kessingland North Beach.   

                                                                                                                              Powdered Ruffle Lichen

                                                                                                                                   Field Blewit

                                                                                                                                  Green Snowdrop

                                                                                                                             Greater Snowdrop

                                                                                                                                 Grassland Puffball

Black-winged Kite, Ludham, 29 December 2025

Well well well, a second Norfolk tick in the space of 3 days! 

Having missed out on the Hickling bird a couple of years ago I was particularly keen not to make the same mistake twice. So up to Ludham Bridge for an early start it was. Initially there was no sign of the bird with just a couple of Cranes and a Red Kite to show for much scanning. News filtered through that it was showing north of the bridge so I made haste along the river bank - followed by everyone else who had been on the bridge. A while later we were greeted by the news it had flown off distantly but within minutes that was dispelled and I was soon feasting my eyes on the fantastic Black-winged Kite sat at range in the top of a tree. Walking further north as far as How Hill Fen enabled some closer views before it really did fly off! 

After a more leisurely walk back I opted for a visit to St Benet’s Abbey as I was so close. Here I clocked up 6 Cattle Egrets, 25 Whooper Swans, Great White Egret, 14 Cranes and some Fieldfares before the Black-winged Kite flew in almost like it was following me around! 

I finished the day on the way home with a walk around Smockmill Common to get my steps in. Here I fond Rusty Porecrust and Peeling Oysterling together with Marsh Tit, Nuthatch and 8 Siskin.