Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary: May 2024

Garden goodies in May

A round up of garden inverts seen over the last week, before the weather turned wet again!

A mating pair of colourful Orange-brown Darwin Wasps, Ophion scutellaris, Chocolate Mining Bee and the spider Philodromus aureolus were along our hawthorn hedge on Sunday.

On Monday I had a more thorough look and found Umbellifer Longhorn Beetle, Plum Tortrix, the tiny but distinctive spider Microlinyphia pusilla, the hoverfly Pipiza austriaca and my first Marmalade Hoverfly of the spring. Indoors the carpet beetle Anthrenus fuscus maybe wasn't so welcome (!) but the best was saved until last. Rescuing a bug from a spider that was just about to have it's lunch it turned out to be the nationally scarce Slender-horned Leatherbug.

Orange-brown Darwin Wasps

Chocolate Mining Bee

Philodromus aureolus

Anthrenus fuscus

Plum Tortrix

Slender-horned Leatherbug

Microlinyphia pusilla

Umbellifer Longhorn Beetle

Norfolk Orchid Madness!

In the last few days 2 new orchid species for the county have been found in an unprecedented frenzy of orchid madness!

I was alerted to the presence of a single Military Orchid near Norwich at a place I know well so hot-footed it there on Monday. And it was found very quickly, not surprising really as it's difficult to miss such a spectacular orchid next to a path.

Then today I managed to make contact with a local guy who had posted some very interesting photos on social media. He was happy for me to come a visit him and as it was only 10 minutes from my house it was ideal. The orchids (3) were, as suspected, bona fide Northern Marsh Orchids and have since been confirmed by others. Everything about the site and conditions is spot on for a natural occurence. Also there were plenty of Common Spotted Orchid and Pyramidal Orchid rosettes, some going over Early Purple Orchids and literally hundreds of Adder's Tongue. Clearly a very rich botanical site.

Into the bargain I also managed to see some Norfolk Man Orchids at the weekend which were in lovely condition.

Military Orchid

Man Orchids

Northern Marsh Orchid

Dunwich Heath and an unexpected local twitch, 11 May 2024

With the weather warm and sunny a trip to Dunwich Heath was in order to look for some insects. Little did I know that the coastal strip was grey, chilly and misty!

Nevertheless I explored the heath anyway and found a few nice bits and pieces despite there being nothing flying. One of the species I wanted to try to find was Heather Ladybird, that eluded me but I did score with another new ladybird Pine Scymnus. Mottled Sedge, Heather Weevil, Heath Damsel Bug, Birch Catkin Bug, Gorse Pod Moth, Pogonognathellus longicornis and Lesser Thorn-tipped Longhorn Beetle were the other highlights.

Birdwise 3 Dartford Warblers, Woodlark, Willow Warbler, Stonechats, a distant singing Nightingale and 2 fly-over Sandwich Terns were mostly to be expected.

Pine Scymnus

Heath Damsel Bug

Mottled Sedge

Lesser Thorn-tipped Longhorn Beetle

Heather Weevil

Gorse Pod Moth

A brief look on Westleton Common (where the sun was out) revealed several Small Coppers and singing Nightingale and Garden Warbler.

When back at home in the early evening news that 13 Black Terns found earlier in the day at Dickleburgh Moor were still there so it would have been very amiss not to go and see them. Also there were singles of Black-tailed Godwit and 'tundra' Ringed Plover.

Black Terns

Ashwellthorpe Wood, 10 May 2024

A visit to a very 'aromatic' Ashwellthorpe Wood (due to the massive carpets of Wild Garlic everywhere!) to search for a hoverfly that is restricted to that very plant - Ramsons Hoverfly. Despite the fact that they are a scarce and specialist species I found plenty and the added bonus was that many posed still for the camera. While mooching about I also found a few other good insects, the best being the seriously impressive, large and quite scary-looking Orange-sided Comb-horn. Actually a member of the greater cranefly family and a specialist of ancient woodland. Also about were Narcissus Bulb Fly (a bumblebee mimic), Handsome Plant Bug, Ochre Beetle, Strawberry Root Weevil and Red Mason Bee while my first Cuckoo of the year was chiming away.

Yellow Pimpernel, Water Avens, Early Purple Orchid and Sanicle were nice plants to see.

Ramsons Hoverfly

Orange-sided Comb-horn

Red Mason Bee

Handsome Plant Bug

Narcissus Bulb Fly

More new garden insects, 9 May 2024

Maybe 'no mow May' is having a positive impact on the garden fauna in IP21

I found two more new insects on Thursday although in reality one of them found me! A miniscule but lovely 16-spot Ladybird landed on my arm and along our side hedge (featuring hawthorn, bramble, ivy and privet) I found an equally good looking Privet Sawfly with it's distictive bright red femurs.

Privet Sawfly

16-spot Ladybird

Out of the clouds they appear!

I'm talking about Swifts, the sign for me that summer is here. They arrived in Pulham yesterday (7 May) with one over the house where I am working and then 20+ screaming over the centre of the village in the evening. Swallows and House Martins are now well established and a Red Kite soared over too. Into the bargain I also found a new insect for my list in the form of a Solomon's Seal Sawfly on it's host plant in my customer's garden and a male Orange Tip on my evening walk that actually settled for once!

Solomon's Seal Sawfly

Orange Tip

Sutton Hoo and Upper Hollesley Common, 6 May 2024

As an actual NT destination we found Sutton Hoo very disappointing. There isn't much to see and the vast majority of what is there are replicas, the genuine articles being in the British Museum.

The walks around the large site were nice however with the undoubted highlight being 2 Nightingales singing strongly and giving some views. Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and 4 Greenshanks also livened things up.

After leaving the site we wanted another walk so drove the short distance to Upper Hollesley Common. Despite the weather starting to turn wet it was alive with birds - c25 Crossbills, 3 Woodlarks, 2 Tree Pipits, Redstart, Stonechats, Siskin and Dartford Warbler in 45 minutes!

Bank holiday bugs, 4 May 2024

A further mooch around the garden followed by visits to Dickleburgh Moor and Billingford Common in search of insects etc.

My garden in Pulham Market continues to produce good things and Hawthorn Mining Bee was the latest new find together with a couple of new hoverflies - Xylota segnis and Platycheirus albimanus. All 3 were on the same sunny bush in the front garden that seems to attract more than it's fair share.

Hawthorn Mining Bee

Xylota segnis

Platycheirus albimanus

After lunch I then headed out to Dickleburgh Moor but found that most of the vegetation is far too low to successfully use my sweep net. Luckily the area around the carpark was a bit better and after finding one of the Little Ringed Plovers for some visiting birders I set about seeing what I could find. A couple of Thistle Tortoise Beetles, 24-Spot Ladybird and the wetland loving Sepedon sphegea preceeded the unusual find of a new ladybird for me - the absolutely tiny Pointed-keeled Rhyzobius, Rhyzobius litura.

Thistle Tortoise Beetle

Sepedon sphegea

Pointed-keeled Rhyzobius

With time to spare I then decided to head a bit further on to explore Billingford Common. Having a look at both the dry grassland near the mill and the marshy section gave me a few impressive beasties including Furrow Orbweaver, Long-jawed Orb-web Spider, Burrowing Shieldbug, loads of Crucifer Shieldbugs, the tortoise beetle Cassida vibex and Amara familaris. The walls of the mill itself had several Red Mason Bees inspecting the holes in the brickwork.

Cassida vibex

Crucifer Shieldbugs

Long-jawed Orb-web Spider

Furrow Orbweaver

Burrowing Shieldbug

Red Mason Bee

Amara familiaris

Broad-faced Mining Bee in the garden, 2 May 2024

On a sunny Thursday afternoon I had my regular look around the garden for any interesting inverts.

I struck lucky with a Broad-faced Mining Bee nectaring on spurge in the front garden under our lounge window. Being only 99% sure of the id I checked with the experts who kindly confirmed it for me. With precious few county records it was a very pleasing find.

Also around the garden I found Common Mini-miner, Stenodema laevigata, Dock Bug, Flavous Nomad Bee, Rhopalus subrufus, Spotted Canefly, Pimpla rufipes and the weevil Sitona sulcifrons.