Two carparks, two ducks! 13 March 2021

After helping my Mum out in Norwich (well it is Mothers Day tomorrow!) I made a couple of short detours in the vicinity. The first of the two carparks in question were the main one at Whitlingham CP where the dowdy 1w female Scaup was quickly located on Great Broad almost opposite said carpark.

The second carpark was the small one at Wroxham Broad where the drake Eider of the last couple of days was rather more tricky to see. Mainly because it favours the northern end of the broad and the helpful yacht club there have put a fence up meaning viewing that end is rather limited. After a little while however I got onto the very smart looking bird - my first inland Eider ever!   

The Tas Valley, 7 March 2021

We have 2 local rivers - the Waveney and the Tas. The Tas is the smaller and probably less well known river. It rises as 2 tributaries in Hempnall and Carelton Rode which join in Newton Flotman from where the river snakes northward to eventually join the Yare at Trowse. 

On Sunday we did a some ambling around in the lower stretches of the Tas Valley. Firstly round the roman settlement of Venta Icenorum, now known as Caister St Edmund. There were a few people about and after initially failing to find them on our walk I eventually located the 6 Eurasian White-fronted Geese a little further north from near Markshall Bridge. A bit of fieldcraft (aka tresspassing!) and I managed some shots of them as they fed and preened completely unconcerned by my presence.

Another walk around the back of Dunston Hall revealed Nuthatch and Siskins but little else until an alarm-calling Blackbird caught my attention and lo and behold I found a roosting Tawny Owl dozing mostly out of sight in a dead tree. 

Our final walk was a quick lap of Smockmill Common to get our steps up - here I found a couple of fungi of interest, Split Porecrust and an impressive branch full of Blushing Brackets.

                                                                                                             Eurasian White-fronted Geese

                                                                                                                                            Tawny Owl

                                                                                                                                  Blushing Brackets
    

Sweetbriar Marshes, Norwich, 6 March 2021

Armed with some superb directions from Jeremy Bartlett we waited until we had to go to Norwich and  stopped off at Sweetbriar Marshes on the way through.

Along the riverside path I quickly found my main target of Alder Goblet on Alder catkins beside the path. Jeremy did so well to find these as they are about 1mm across! Along the same stretch a patch of Scarlet Elf Cups were also beside the path. Many were past their best but one was an absolute stunner.

 

 

Crikey - a twitch! 5 March 2021

With the local grapevine working a treat I ventured the whole 3 miles down to Dickleburgh Moor late this afternoon. Stephen Howell had earlier found an adult drake Scaup on the moor and being a local tick I wanted to see it. Upon arrival it took some finding but I eventually located it in the far SE corner and the reason for it being elusive was apparant - it was diving constantly so was probably under water each time I scanned past it! 

Very little else of note except 3 Gadwall, 2 Oystercatchers, c50 Lapwings and 3 Great Crested Grebes.

    

Weekend wanderings and botanical ticks, 27 & 28 February 2021

We are very fortunate to live where we do and one of our favourite local places for a walk is the Waveney Valley. The section near Mendham is one we do regularly and it was gorgeous in the sun on Saturday. We had already had a female Bullfinch in the garden feeding on fruit buds before we left and not far into the walk a Chiffchaff started singing from the woodland on Target Hill. By far my earliest singer and on a day when many were reported it has to be an early migrant rather than a wintering bird. In the wood further along towards Homersfield we stopped to pick a few Wild Garlic leaves (later made into a delicious wild garlic and rocket pesto) and I was delighted to find a new plant for my list - Spurge Laurel. Returning via the lane I was then even more surprised to find a singing Tree Sparrow that was in a hedge running away from the road! Other birds on the walk included Treecreeper, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Green Woodpecker, Stock Dove, 2 Little Egrets and 3 Common Buzzards. It was also intereting to find the miniscule female flowers of Common Hazel amongst the very much more obvious male catkins.

Another walk at St Cross gave us a few Fieldfares and my 4th butterfly species before the end of February in the form of a Comma.

                                                                                                                                                Bullfinch

                                                                                                                      Spurge Laurel

                                                                                                           Common Hazel, male catkins

                                                                                                            Common Hazel, female flowers

 

On Sunday I did a little homework on snowdrops and their id before heading out for our daily walk. And it paid off as I managed to find and photograph both Greater Snowdrop and Green Snowdrop amongst many Common Snowdrops. 

 

                                                                                                                                  Green Snowdrops

                                                                                                                                Greater Snowdrops

        

Three Days of Walking with plenty of interest, 19 - 21 February 2021

We began our 3 day weekend on Friday afternoon when I'd finished working. A less than inspiring walk around Homersfield and Flixton where the ongoing gravel workings have made a right mess of the area. The main pit at Flixton held 200+ Wigeon but there was no sign of the escaped Lesser Scaup and the flock of White-fronted Geese at Homersfield seem to have moved on. There was very little else of interest (apart from a few Fieldfares) until close to the end of the walk where I found a new plant for me in a roadside hedge - Butcher's Broom. 

                                                                                                                                   Butcher's Broom
 

On Saturday, after discovering that visits to the graves of family members is allowed under lockdown we drove the short distance to Wetherden to Belinda's parents graves. While Belinda tended the grave I wandered about and was pleased to see 3 Lesser Redpolls over the meadow by the church plus my first Lesser Celandines of the year and Buff-tailed Bumblebee and Honey Bees around the numerous Snowdrops in the churchyard. After that we did a long walk in the area to get our step-count up! Onn the way home coming through Diss a Great White Egret was with 15 Little Egrets on the the flooded field between Diss and Scole from Frenze Bridge.

               Lesser Celandine

                                                                                                             Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Sunday began with a run to Norwich to run some errands and chores for my parents. We were done by lunchtime so ventured the short distance out to Buxton Heath for another long walk. This site and the nearby heaths are probably the closest thing we have to real wilderness in Norfolk and it was glorious to walk and hardly see a soul. We did see some other items of interest though - while having our picnic we were serenaded by a showy Woodlark, Siskins were all over the place and in Great Wood our first butterflies of the year with 1 Peacock and 3 Brimstones in the glorious sunny conditions. On the walk back it got even better with 18 Common Crossbills north, a pair of Stonechats and then 2 Adders after much searching. The diligent searching also had other benefits with 2 new fungi found on pony dung - the rare red list Nail Fungus and Conocybe pubescens. Some colourful Yellow Curtain Crust was also spotted on a rotting birch stump. 

 

                                                                                                                       Yellowing Curtain Crust

                                                                                                                                     Nail Fungus

                                                                                                                            Conocybe pubescens

Back at home we learned of a Starling murmeration literally a mile out of the village so spent a very enjoyable dusk watching the flock throw some shapes. Into the bargain a Peregrine whizzed through them and 37 Brown Hares were in one field off Semere Lane!

   

Winter one day, spring the next! 14 & 15 February 2021

On Sunday Belinda and I did a Valentine's Day walk from home and out into the South Norfolk tundra! It was to prove to be our last chance to walk on frozen ground. Doing a bitterly cold loop to Tivetshall and back I joined the 'Woodcock Club' at last with 4 seen. Initially I flushed 3 out of a ditch just outside the village and then had another in lengthy flight over fields between the A140 and Tivetshall. Also around the walk were a herd of 5 Roe Deer, 2 Brown Hares, Mistle Thrush and a scattering of winter thrushes. A female Bullfinch was in the hedge out the front of the house and with a few Fieldfares having been driven into gardens by the harsh weather I spent some time photographing some just along the road from home. While doing so a single Lapwing flew over making it as no.55 on the 'apocolist'.

Fast forward to today and a big thaw with temperatures up to 10c! After working nearby I ventured into Homersfield and had a very pleasant stroll along the lane below the church scanning a very flooded Waveney Valley. The 9 White-fronted Geese of yesterday were still present together with 2 Great White Egrets, hundreds of Common Gulls and a calling Nuthatch. It was a joy to be out in the spring-like temperatures. 

                                                                                                                                               Fieldfares

                                                                                                            Waveney Valley at Homersfield
   

Snowy Weybread, 10 February 2021

A slight detour whilst in Harleston shopping for work supplies. 

A quick look at Ocean Pit from the road was notable for large numbers of Tufted Duck, a few Wigeon and 3 Shoveler. With the gate locked I opted to cross the road and walk the circuit around No.1 pit. Despite the path being flooded in several places I managed to wade through some snow drifts as deep as 3 feet and did the loop. Most of the interest was on the meadows between the pit and the river with a nice adult Yellow-legged Gull, 5 Snipe, several Redwings, 1 Fieldfare and 2 Song Thrushes enjoying a frost-free area. A single Little Egret was along the river. The pit itself had c25 Cormorants but little else of note. 

Geastrum britannicum - a very rare earthstar found near Norwich, 3 February 2021

The discovery of the very rare earthstar fungus known as Geastrum britannicum just outside Norwich by a friend of mine was just too good an opportunity to pass up. So, heading that way for my usual errands I stopped by for a quick look. I found them easily but they all seemed to have 'gone over'. Luckily I expanded my search and found several fresh specimens in different locations close by. 

This species has yet to be given a common English name as it was only first descibed in 2015. Since then it has been found in a very few locations. It is a UK endemic having only ever been seen here. Being similar to other species it may have been overlooked in the past and since it's discovery historical records back to 1994 have been unearthed. 

Amongst the id features are the pointed and gooved 'beak' at the top of the sac in fresh specimens, the pale 'halo' surrounding the beak, the sac having a short stalk and often a hanging 'collar' underneath. Combined with the fact that the spores are much smaller than any other earthstar. To clinch the id all these features need to be present.

  

   

BPQ, FIBO & GYBC

What does that all mean I hear you ask?!

BPQ = Birders Pub Quiz

FIBO = Fair Isle Bird Observatory

GYBC = Great Yarmouth Bird Club

The Birders Pub Quiz has been a highly entertaining weekly online birding quiz run superbly by Ashley Saunders, Mark Golley and Nick Acheson with an additional 'guest' each week. The quiz was originally launched on Twitter during the first covid lockdown and then re-launched for another 4 week run during the current lockdown. That run came to an end last night although there is talk of a future Christmas special! During these dark and often boring times this quiz has been a very welcome, friendly and light-hearted weekly distraction for many people, myself included. Many participants have got together as virtual 'teams' to make it even more of a social event. I have teamed up with my brother Jus and friend Chris Baker via Whatsapp while the quiz was run live on Twitter and latterly on Zoom. We've done pretty well, winning it one week but otherwise often coming 2nd behind the pesky Norwich team of our friend James Lowen! I'd like to thank the organisers for the fantastic job they have done and the large amount of time they have obviously given up to make it happen. It really has been a beacon of light and I've really looked forward to those Tuesday nights! 

For the last quiz the guys chose to raise money for the Fair Isle Bird Observatory fund that was set up following their disasterous fire. After setting a target of 350GBP well over 1000GBP was actually raised! A top result all round!

 

I'm a member of the local Great Yarmouth Bird Club and on Monday 22 February at 7.30 will be giving a Zoom talk and slideshow about my birding trip to Sri Lanka in Dec 2019. All are welcome so if anyone is interested please let me know and I can email you the link to the Zoom meeting.