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.  

In the right place at the right time - for once! 27 December 2025

The day began as a rare visit up to North Norfolk to see the Eastern Black Redstart at Sheringham but turned out to be an even more special day!

I arrived on site by the Esplanade arch in Sheringham at about 08.30 and the Eastern Black Redstart found on Christmas Eve was seen within seconds of leaving the car! It was pretty mobile though so a little bit of ‘following it about’ ensued. It favoured both the clifftop and cliff bottom and was watched in the gardens, on the prom/steps and also on the beach itself. The views were stunning and allowed me to get some photographs that I am rather pleased with. 

While having a mardle and a catch up with Jacquie and Dave Bridges a message came though that a Great Shearwater had been seen flying east past Cley. For the next 30 minutes or so it was eyes to the sea as we searched more in hope than expectation that it would pass. We’d just about given up when it ‘sheared’ into view from the west - I could scarcely believe my luck! It was also not too far out and took some while to pass through allowing some nice views before it melted away to the east. It was subsequently seen off numerous places all the way as far as Winterton after which it wasn’t seen again. Considering sea watching isn’t really my thing I feel extremely fortunate to have been in the right place, especially for a rare county tick. While we scanning we also picked up 18 Red-throated Divers moving east in small groups and 2 Eider close in. A Grey Wagtail was also kicking about.     

Wondering what to do next I opted to drive to Bayfield Lake for lunch and what turned out to be a longer than expected visit. The north end of the lake held 2 Goosander (drakes), Kingfisher and several fleeting views of Otter. On one occasion one surfaced momentarily right in front of us! 

Late season fungi twitch at UEA, 17 December 2025

Courtesy of some information from Jeremy I popped along to the UEA campus for a small fungi fix! 

Jeremy had found a couple of patches of Maroon Brittlestem, Psathyrella bipellis close to the medical centre there which was a new one for me. They were easily found with a few Redlead Roundheads close by and some lovely Elfin Saddles just a short hop and a skip away.

At Jeremy and Vanna’s while having a catch-up over a cuppa shortly afterwards I was able to feast my eyes on Shooting Star Fungus and also the parasitic fungus Hesperomyces harmoniae on it’s unfortunate Harlequin Ladybird host. 

                                                                                                                             Maroon Brittlestem

                                                                                                                            Redlead Roundhead

                                                                                                                                  Elfin Saddle

                                                                                                                             Shooting Star Fungi

                                                                                                                            Hesperomyces harmoniae

SE Peru, The High Andes and Manu Road, November 2025

Firstly, my apologies for a couple of months with no posts! Since returning from Peru at the end of November domestic life seems to have taken over a bit! We have some more life changes coming up soon which are also keeping us busy.

So, to Peru. Not having time to compose a full trip report I’ll provide the following link to my trip report on eBird. This will give all the details of species seen and where plus some photos.

https://ebird.org/tripreport/443687

To add a little more meat on the bones these are my views and thoughts on the trip as a whole, the country, travel etc 

The tour was one I booked with Birdquest. It was the first time I have used them and I got the last available place on the tour. There were just 7 tour participants which made things reasonably easy in the field where there was often restricted viewing. It was a mixed bag of people but luckily I got on with everyone. Human nature meant I bonded more closely with some however and there were participants who didn’t really ‘participate’ at all, wanting the guides and other people to find all the birds for them. A broad church some might say!

I was warned beforehand that Birdquest tours are extremely full-on with sleep and rest not really on the agenda! And so it proved to be. The guides were extremely focussed on getting the birds (often showing great patience with clueless participants!) but sometimes to the detriment of people’s welfare. I got a severe stomach bug for the last few days of the trip and my health was hardly even considered by those in charge. My fellow birders showed more empathy!

We had 2 guides both of whom were great birders and a driver of our small minibus who was safe and very skilled. Rather necessary on some of those mountain roads! In the van we rotated seats every day so as to share the best and worst seats.

Accommodation was generally pretty good or adequate without ever being amazing. One place was particularly bad (and compared to a prison!) with my room smelling of piss and with black mould on the walls but it was a case of needs must as we were so far off the tourist trail there was literally nowhere else to stay. 

Even though I only saw part of a large country the scenery in the High Andes and up and down the Manu Road to the edge of Amazonia was stunning. The high Andean passes above the treeline were particularly memorable - as was birding/walking at 14500 feet. The air is pretty damned thin up there! 

Travel to and from Peru was relatively easy. I used KLM from Norwich - Amsterdam - Lima and then an internal flight with Peruvian Latam Airlines to Cusco. On both outward and return journeys I overnighted in Lima. There were however a couple hair-raising landings - at Amsterdam on the way out the tyres burst on landing and we had to make an emergency stop at the edge of Schippol airport! Then landing in Norwich at the death strong winds had me filling my trousers during a very iffy touch down. Not too difficult with my ongoing stomach problems!