Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary

A massive local Starling murmuration

A few years ago a Starling murmuration sprung up at Semere Green between Pulham Market and Dickleburgh. Having been absent for the last 3 or 4 years it is back and bigger than ever!

We popped along on Wednesday night to check it out and were delighted and entralled to witness the biggest gathering I've ever seen. An estimate of 50,000 birds congregated, at time turning the sky black. Interestingly there is another much smaller group roosting at Dickleburgh Moor only 1.5 km away. We also got pooped on for our troubles!

A flock of c60 Golden Plovers also flew high over and a Song Thrush was singing strongly as dusk fell.

Violets, Lichens and Majestic Oaks as spring creeps closer

As a wet February turned into an equally wet start to March we did at least squeeze in some walking this weekend.

Saturday morning it was a solo one from home before the rain set in. Pleasing finds were numerous Sweet Violets including a good number of the white form and one interesting plant with small purple patches on the end of the petals. Despite their name Early Dog Violets emerge later than Sweet Violets and I managed to find just a couple of flowering plants. Along Grays Lane close inspection of some Ash trees revealed the lichen Aspen Lecidella which typically grows on smooth barked trees. Fieldfares seemed to be making some movement with flocks of 50 and 30 over heading NE.

Sweet Violets

Early Dog Violet

Aspen Lecidella

On Sunday we ventured down into Essex at Mistley as I wanted to pay homage to the 800 year old Oak known as Old Knobbley. Also there were several other fantastic old trees, and even more at Helmingham Hall on the 3rd of 3 walks done on a long day out. On the stonework of an old bridge on the estate I also found Boulder Lichen - a new one for my fledgling lichen list!

'Old Knobbley'

Boulder Lichen

Weekend wanderings, 23 - 25 February 2024

After a bit of a lull due to illness and general winter blues this weekend was busy and very enjoyable.

For our Friday walk we chose West Harling Woods where the nature highlights were a bit sparse. It's hard to sneeze at Scarlet Elf Cups though - and we found plenty. The other main fungal find was Purplepore Bracket.

Scarlet Elfcups

Fast forward to Saturday and a day to myself. I started out at the John Innes Conference Centre in Colney, Norwich. Here the flock of 28 Waxwings were present on arrival and watched for some while commuting between a berry-laden cotoneaster and the safety of a large oak. Talking to Grahan Etherington there he confirmed that a colour-ringed bird there was rung in Elgin and has now made it to Norwich via Carlisle! 2 Grey Wagtails were also seen plus a Little Egret on the marsh behind the church on Old Watton Road. Moving on to my other venue for the day Earlham Cemetery I had a particular ladybird species I wanted to try and find. Luck was on my side because the 2nd individual I looked at was Eyed Ladybird, my much wanted target! While mooching about I found several other species - Cream-spot Ladybird, 10-spot Ladybird of 2 different forms (bimaculata and decempunctata), 7-spot Ladybird, Orange Ladybird and the ubiquitous Harlequin Ladybird in many different guises. Other really pleasing find were a distinctive Humped Orbweb Spider, Gibbaranea gibbosa shaken from a Larch and the hoverfly Tapered Drone Fly, Eristalis pertinax. Both were new to me.

Waxwings

Eyed Ladybird

10-spot Ladybird, form bimaculata

10-spot Ladybird, form decempunctata

Cream-spot Ladybird

Humped Orbweb Spider

Tapered Drone Fly

Sunday saw us in the Yare Valley south of the river. Before we walked at Rockland Broad and Wheatfen a scan of the flock of Pink-footed Geese at Langley Green revealed the hoped-for Ruddy Shelduck. Also notable were 8 Greenfinches by the Rockland Staithe carpark.

Greenfinch

Ghana Butterflies

After much online research and some help from a butterfly guide who works for Ashanti I have finally been able to put a name to all the butterflies we saw in Ghana back in November/December.

Ghana was excellent for butterflies and we saw loads. Especially good spots were the Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary and especially the Atewa Range where we were blown away by the variety, many of them quite spectacular. Ashanti run specialised butterfly tours to the country and I can see why.

Here are the ones I managed to photograph and id.