On route to Norwich via the back lanes I had a Little Owl near Morningthorpe plus Bullfinch and at least 10 Common Whitethroats.
Little Owl
Meeting at Jus's he had a rare Pinion-spotted Pug in a pot that he'd trapped the night before (very few Norfolk records). That was trumped by a real 'morning glory' of the moth variety as we drove round to James Lowen's house to feast our eyes on a mega Emperor Moth, one I've wanted to see for a long long time! Iron Prominent, Least Black Arches and Swallow Prominent were also on view. After a chat and a cuppa we bid James farewell and hit the road.
male Emperor Moth
Pinion-spotted Pug
We reached Hockwold Washes after a brief failure to find White Stork at Elvedon. A quick look from the bank directly opposite the centre and we'd scored with the 2 Black-winged Stilts and Glossy Ibis within a minute! The heavens opened so we beat a retreat to the centre for a coffee while we waited for it to stop. When it did we walked the length of the reserve to the Joist Fen watchpoint. En-route there and back we had a couple of Garden Warblers, c3 Cuckoos, Yellow Wagtail, 3 different flight views of Bitterns (we had 4 birds including boomers), superb views of a perched Hobby, food-passing Marsh Harriers, and Stock Dove amongst the commoner warblers. At the watchpoint c15 Hobbys were swooping over the fen with a large number of Swifts. Into the bargain we had the first odonata of the year in the form of 2 Hairy Dragonflies, a teneral Large Red Damselfly and an unidentified blue damsel.
Garden Warbler
Hobby
Orange Tip
Reed Bunting
After another quick look at the Glossy Ibis and Black-winged Stilts we decided to have look on Foulden Common as the weather was starting to improve. With a bit of patience and work I found 1 Grizzled Skipper and c4 Dingy Skippers plus Holly Blue while 2-3 Garden Warblers were in full cry.
Grizzled Skipper
Dingy Skipper
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