September at NWT Thorpe Marshes

The warm days of summer giving way to the cooler breezes of autumn, a vibrant palette of autumn colours … this is a typical description of September. There is some truth in this, though visually early September at NWT Thorpe Marshes is more a continuation of high summer’s flowering peak. 

September is certainly a good month for insects – and is the month for ivy bees, which time their emergence to feed on flowering ivy. Ivy bee is also known as ivy mining bee, and though it’s defined as a solitary bee, they ‘mine’ in aggregations. They like sandy ground, which can include lawns. Ivy bee is such a familiar part of the September scene that it’s easy to forget that it was first recorded in the UK as recently as 2001, reaching Norfolk by 2014.

Ivy bee. Ivy in Whitlingham Lane, the approach to Thorpe Marshes, can be a good place to see these.

September is an ideal time to see three species of odonata – dragonflies and damselflies – namely migrant hawker, common darter (both dragonflies) and the willow emerald damselfly.

Migrant hawkers were once called scarce hawkers, reflecting their former rarity. Now, not only are they an established breeding species in the UK, these hawkers’ strong flight means they can be seen far from water. As the British Dragonfly Society notes, this species has increased its range dramatically northwards in recent decades, linked to climate change. A typical view is a glimpsed, fast-flying and mostly blue patterned dragonfly, at least for a male. If you’re lucky they will land and ‘hang’ on vegetation when they can be quite approachable. Look out for a ‘golf tee’ mark on the thorax – which is also a feature of browner females.

Migrant hawker (male).

A red dragonfly in September is likely to be a common darter, and ‘common’ really is apt. The older they are, the redder they look – and that also goes for female common darters. A feature of this species in autumn is that they absorb warmth from wooden structures, so if you see a dragonfly on a bench or a fence it’ll almost certainly be a common darter – especially so in the cooler months of October and November.

Common darter, soaking up some warmth from a wooden rail.

Common darter.

Willow emeralds, it’s fair to say, are a rather special damselfly. They are in a small group of damsels called spreadwings, the name describing how the wings are held, in contrast to most other damselflies where the wings are held roughly parallel to the body. Many emerge as adults in August, though September is their peak month. The best place to look for them is on the edge of bushes or plants overhanging permanent open water, such as a ditch at Thorpe Marshes. Look very carefully on a thin branch over water, often a willow, and you might see a female doing what is special to this species: they scratch a small groove and lay their eggs in the bark of waterside trees, not under water like most damselflies. Like the migrant hawker, the willow emerald’s occurrence here is driven by climate change: their spread across England this century has been sensational.

Willow emerald damselfly, in characteristic 'spreadwing' pose.

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Chris Durdin lives in Thorpe St Andrew. He runs Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays www.honeyguide.co.uk and is the guide for the monthly guided walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes. This blog was first written as an article for Just Thorpe St Andrew. 

Golden anniversary for Norwich barbershop singers

Fine City Chorus tuning up for 50th birthday concert 

Norwich’s male barbershoppers, Fine City Chorus, are celebrating the group’s 50^th birthday this year. Based at Lionwood School in Thorpe Hamlet, Fine City Chorus, also known as Norwich Barbershop Harmony Club, is a vibrant a cappella group specialising in four-part close harmony arrangements. 

They perform a diverse repertoire of popular British and American music, ranging from classic hits to contemporary favourites. The chorus actively participates in various events, including concerts, festivals, and charity fundraisers, both locally and further afield.

Fine City Chorus on stage in Bournemouth in May 2025 at this year's barbershop convention. Fine City Chorus received its highest score ever from the judges.

The chorus has several members from Thorpe St Andrew, including chairman Bob Ledwidge and me, writes Chris Durdin, and is always eager to welcome new members. It often hosts ‘Come and Sing’ events to introduce people to the joys of barbershop harmony.

The club started in 1975 as an evening class in Norwich for men who wanted to learn to sing in the barbershop style. A local music teacher, Rosemary Kimmins, was asked to take it, and, to understand more about this kind of harmony singing, she went to the US airbase at Mildenhall, where the American servicemen organised a sing-out session specially for her. She was inspired, and she quickly grew the Norwich barbershop singers from an initial 8 to 25 singers. Jeff Jordan was one of the original group and is still singing with Fine City Chorus.

Flashback: this photo from 1986 shows then chorus director Doug Clark and the full chorus. Two of the current chorus, Ken Mays and Chris Durdin, are pictured. Ken is in the back row, second from right: Chris is in the middle row, also second from right.

The name ‘Fine City Chorus’ was chosen by the members in the 1990s, reflecting the group's connection to Norwich. Over the years, the chorus has seen the formation of several successful quartets.

One notable achievement was in 2005 when Fine City Chorus was ‘Small Chorus Champions’ at the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) annual convention. That’s unlikely to happen again, for a good reason as membership has grown.

The chorus appointed Carol Logan as their Chorus Director in 2009, a role she continues to fulfil, guiding the chorus to further musical development. In 2025 Fine City Chorus achieved its highest-ever score from the judges at the BABS Convention in Bournemouth with a total of 67%. There were 27 competing choruses this year and Fine City Chorus was placed 13th.  

Taking part in barbershop conventions is a way of continuing to improve. Fine City Chorus will attend next year’s convention in Harrogate and is currently considering going to a barbershop convention in Spain in 2027.

To mark the 50th anniversary, Fine City Chorus is staging a special concert at the Assembly House in the city on Sunday 28 September.

Together with our sibling mixed chorus Mosaic and special guests, the concert will celebrate 50 years of popular music in a cappella four-part close harmony: from the Everly Brothers and Beach Boys via Les Misérables, Monty Python, Queen and Sting to Ed Sheeran and the 21^st century! All the proceeds will be going to FCC’s charity this year, Emmaus Norfolk and Waveney.

Promotional poster for 50^th anniversary concert, 28 September 2025.

This blog was first written as an article for Just Thorpe St Andrew and draws on Fine City Chorus's history page.

Chris Durdin www.finecitychorus.org.uk

 

Buxton Heath and Holt Lowes, 31 July 2025

The weather seemed distinctly unpromising as four of us set off from Norwich, to meet three more at Buxton Heath, which is slightly easier said than done with the Norwich to Holt road in Horsford closed for several weeks. Today’s event was inspired by Honeyguider Everard staying in Norfolk. 

Buxton Heath was colourful with mixed heathers in flower, our visit being in the window when the earlier flowering bell heather is still out and common heather is close to its August best. There was also plenty of paler cross-leaved heath once we were into damper areas. I mentioned that we were too late for one of Buxton Heath’s star species, silver-studded blue butterfly, and Cheryl recalled a previous visit where we’d arrived and there they were, on the closest bit of heath to the car park [that was Buxton Heath and Holt Lowes, 2 July 2021].

Marsh gentian, growing among cross-leaved heath.

In the damp area we soon found two clumps of marsh gentian. A Flora of Norfolk notes that this flower is confined to just four sites in Norfolk and is a “nationally scarce species.” Ann glimpsed a blue dragonfly that was highly likely to have been a keeled skimmer, but on this overcast morning it didn’t show again, not even by the small patch of open water in the boggy area. Ann also found the first of the three wasp spiders we saw this morning.

Other flowers here included lesser spearwort, tormentil, marsh lousewort, the leaves of bog pimpernel, ragged robin, fen bedstraw and the round leaves of marsh pennywort on mounds of sphagnum moss. These were somewhat outshone when Everard pointed to a large, pale pink marsh orchid. Buxton Heath is known for its hybrid Dactylorhiza orchids. This one had the general appearance of a heath spotted orchid but was much bigger than a typical specimen, so at a guess this flower has some southern marsh orchid in it and hybrid vigour. More straightforward were gone-over marsh helleborines, then one still in fine flower.

Marsh helleborine; marsh orchid, probably a hybrid Dactylorhiza.

Then it started to rain, so out came raincoats and umbrellas. Happily, the rain didn’t last. Back on the dry track, Everard was looking at some heather and noticed an interesting-looking caterpillar. It was a chance to try various apps for an ID, which was beautiful yellow underwing moth, found on moors and heaths where heather or bell heather grows.

Beautiful yellow underwing caterpillar. Could the pale spots help with camouflage on heather?

We’d heard green woodpecker several times, seen distant stock doves, linnets and buzzard, and we took time to find a lovely singing yellowhammer. 

We headed to the main track north through Buxton Heath. There were two more wasp spiders: the tally was two found by Ann and one by Tessa. Common darters perched, allowing good views.

Wasp spider, its web decorated with rain. Behind are round leaves of marsh pennywort.

We’d hoped to find a tiger beetle on the track (we didn’t, probably the weather was against us) but looking down proved productive. Susan takes up the story. 

“Walking along a sandy path I saw what I thought were some large ants, but closer inspection showed them to be small bugs of some sort. I took a photo with my mobile phone and decided to test out a new app I had downloaded called Obsidentify. It came up straight away with an ID of nymph of the bug Alydus calcaratus, 100% certain. A few moments later Chris spotted a larger bug flying along the path showing bright orange flashes on its abdomen. It landed and he was able to pot it for a closer look. Again, I took a photo and tested the app. Rather pleasingly it identified it as being an adult of the same bug. More about this species can be found on the British Bugs website.”

Ant bug (an English name for Alydus calcaratus) collage. Adult on left, nymphs on the right. Two photos are in a bug box (photos by Susan Weeks.)

Near the car park we looked at knopper galls on acorns. In the car park we tasted water-pepper (there was a big patch), found a hoof fungus on a dead birch trunk and saw two male green-veined whites competing for mating rights with a female.

We said farewell to Susan and headed to Holt Country Park, where we found a picnic bench in the sunshine. A fast-flying silver-washed fritillary flew past several times as we ate packed lunches. While getting hot drinks from Hetty’s kiosk there was a red longhorn beetle on the move. It settled briefly, a moment to get a photograph.

Red longhorn beetle - sometimes English names are common sense - Stictoleptura rubra.

First stop was the group of buddleias in the car park, with plenty of butterflies this now sunny afternoon, including red admiral, comma, large white and silver-washed fritillary. No white admirals today, though we heard they’d been seen yesterday.

Comma and painted lady on buddleia.

We walked down through the woodland to the large pond. Tessa explained the ID features of the southern hawker flying around. Common blue and azure damselflies perched nearby for easy comparison, and there were several ruddy darters. An orange ladybird landed on Tim’s hand. A bumblebee took nectar from the huge blooms of white water-lilies; the patch of yellow flowers nearby was marsh St John's-wort Hypericum elodes (the name escaped me at the time).

Orange ladybird Halyzia sedecimguttata.

We did a clockwise circuit of Holt Lowes, starting on the shady track by the wood. A couple stopped us, seeing we were naturalists, to point out an adder by the base of a tree. They’d been sitting on the nearby bench and heard it hissing. We stood still and watched it from a respectful distance. The adder did the same to us, then moved slowly and steadily away into the woodland behind.

Adder, male from the silvery-grey background colour (Tessa Needham).

By the first low-lying, damp area, there were two clumps of ferns. They looked like hard fern, but felt softer than this species and an app called them deer fern. That was initially puzzling but is a synonym, an alternative English name. The softness was simply new growth.

Hard fern.

We continued steadily, with a star find by Ann of a fossil echinoid, a fossil sea urchin, there among countless other small stones, the photo showing its perfect shape. We passed the wood with a carpet of hair cap moss.

Echinoid fossil. It was placed on the white stone so it shows better in the photo.

There were hundreds of lovely round-leaved sundews in the boggy areas to our left. Then, as were towards the end of our circuit, we reached the wettest areas with patches of open water – the top of the River Glaven, downstream a chalk stream but here creating small acidic pools attracting keeled skimmers. We’d already found a female perching among heather, and here there were several power-blue males, around ten in number. One landed by us and proved very approachable.

Round-leaved sundew, growing from sphagnum moss.

Keeled skimmer collage. Left, female on gorse. Right, male on a sundew.

We stopped briefly by an alder buckthorn that had leaves nibbled in places but no brimstone eggs or larvae, albeit from a brief and unthorough search.

Silver-washed fritillary, end of season so a little tatty.

Back at the car park, the question was whether one of the several fast-flying silver-washed fritillaries would settle on a buddleia flower for long enough to allow a half-decent photo. The answer was no – but instead, one landed on the car park’s gravel. 

Chris Durdin

Poker Wood, Honeyguide social, 3 July 2025

Four of us had been with the creators of Poker Wood, Malcolm and Jane Key, in the Picos de Europa, so that and mention of 500 pyramidal orchids were good reasons to arrange what was, for me, an overdue visit. (I suggest that readers of this blog click through to Poker Wood to read about Malcolm and Jane’s project to create a new woodland near their home in Suffolk.)

We met on hardstanding by the main road, then our vehicles were led to a hidden entrance to this private wood, to park by the custom-designed barn – home to various bits of kit plus, helpfully, a loo and a small kitchen with a kettle.

In Poker Wood.

After coffee, four Honeyguiders plus a friend of our hosts spent a delightful morning walking roughly a figure-of-eight around this 22-acre mix of new woodland and meadows. We started in a wide ride where a southern hawker dragonfly flew then perched in characteristic upright fashion. Ann is always alert to small things: today a 22-spot ladybird. 

Being a sunny day there were butterflies everywhere: meadow browns, ringlets, skippers and more. The collage photo below has three that stayed still enough to be photographed: large skipper, ringlet and 6-spot burnet moth.

Large skipper (left), 6-spot burnet moth and ringlet.

The meadows and sunny glades are quite a feature of Poker Wood. So too is the range of tree species, some ‘inherited’, some added. These included wild service trees, small leaved-limes (we were surprised how large the early-stage leaves are on these after being cut back) and smooth-leaved elm.

Small-leaved lime.

Lots of tree leaves = lots of galls on these, and Chinery’s Britain’s Plant Galls book came in very useful.

Galls collage. Top: bright red pustules on field maple caused by the gall mite Aceria myreadeum. A mix of spangle and silk button galls on oak, caused by gall wasps Neuterus quercusbaccarum and N. numismalis. Robin's pin cushion on dog rose, caused by the gall wasp Diplolepis rosae.
Bottom: oak apple, the gall wasp Biorhiza pallida. Pimples on cherry plum, the gall mite Eriophyes similis (Chinery notes how these are reddish on blackthorn but green on other Prunus species.) A different maple gall on veins: the mite Aceria macrochela, green at first, reddish later. Nail galls on small-leaved lime, induced by the mite Eriophyles lateannulatus.

Those pyramidal orchids were as impressive as we hoped, and no-one disputed Malcolm’s estimate of 500 spikes. They were well spread though one section of the wood, and I counted 50 while standing at one spot alone.

Pyramidal orchid.

Back at the barn, a sparrowhawk flew over as we ate picnic lunches. Then Malcolm asked me to come and identify a flower recently discovered: it was the lovely betony, an addition to Poker Wood’s species lists.

Betony.

Poker Wood is a private site and there is no public access without an invitation. 

Chris Durdin

Thorpe Marshes at its colourful best

“When I am an old I shall wear purple,” is an opening line to a poem that comes to mind visiting Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thorpe Marshes nature reserve in summer. Looking up the poem, I found it actually says “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple,” but you get the idea.

Top: purple loosestrife and common carder bee on water mint.
Bottom: greater willowherb and marsh woundwort.

The ungrazed marsh is at its most colourful best in July and August, and is dominated by purple and pink. Spires of purple loosestrife are the most obvious, but there’s a supporting purple cast of marsh woundwort, water mint and red bartsia, which is purplish, despite its name. 

Red bartsia bee on red bartsia, usually seen in August.

The bartsia supports a scarce bee species, called red bartsia bee, though it takes patience and a practised eye to find it. The boldest pink flower is hemp agrimony and there is pink-flowered greater willowherb in profusion.

Norfolk hawker, photographed 23 July, which is late season for this dragonfly species, hence the tatty wing.

Norfolk hawker dragonflies were easy to see at Thorpe Marshes during June and their season continues for at least the first half of July. They are certainly in good numbers this year: on one survey we counted 52 and on another 43. Though common in much of the Broads, they are especially easy to see at Thorpe Marshes.

Conveniently for visitors and dragonfly surveyors, Norfolk hawkers like to quarter ditches with open water at around head height. Their combination of green eyes and a brown body makes identification fairly easy. If there is a confusion species it’s the later emerging brown hawker, which tends to fly higher and faster and has amber-coloured wings.

Scarce chasers, 15 June 2025

A different dragonfly species has been creating excitement at Thorpe Marshes this year: the scarce chaser. It’s a dragonfly with a rather limited distribution in southern and eastern England, though where it occurs, ‘scarce’ can be a misnomer, such as at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen nature reserve, just a short distance along the Yare Valley to the east. Before this year, there were just occasional records of scarce chaser in the Norwich area. This year, however, several have been showing well at Thorpe Marshes. It helps that they like to perch on vegetation at a height where they can be easy to see and photograph. Features include blue eyes, a blue abdomen and a dark patch on wing-bases.

Article written for Just Thorpe St Andrew magazine, here as a blog. Chris Durdin lives in Thorpe St Andrew. He runs Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays www.honeyguide.co.uk and is the guide for the monthly guided walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes. News, wildlife highlights, events and more - straight to your inbox from Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Turn your inbox wild today: norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/SignUp  

Hickling, Honeyguide social, 1 July 2025

Today’s gathering was to meet Mervin and Denise, on holiday in the Broads, providing an excuse for seven local Honeyguiders to visit Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Hickling Broad and Marshes. It was the final day of a heatwave, which was good for seeing butterflies and dragonflies, though the heat was less severe here close to the east coast.

Rutpela maculata, spotted longhorn.

Even the grassy picnic area by the reserve’s visitor centre seemed alive with butterflies, such as small skippers, and dragonflies, the first common darters of the year for me. Then in the corner where the walk onto the reserve starts there were more still, especially three white admiral butterflies around the last few remaining bramble flowers, plus a spotted longhorn beetle. With these were ringlets, commas and other commoner butterflies. Then there was a good view of a four-spotted chaser on the right and a Norfolk hawker on the left.

Warden John Blackburn and two of his team passed us, saying; “Hello, just been moving the Koniks.” And from Cadbury Hide there they were, four of these hardy horses, first brought to Suffolk from Poland by the late Derek Moore in the 1990s, initially to Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Redgrave & Lopham Fen nature reserve, and now a feature of conservation grazing work on many East Anglian wetlands.

Koniks at Hickling nature reserve, from Cadbury Hide.

In the reedbeds we heard bearded tits and a late season sedge warbler, and we both heard and saw reed buntings and reed warblers. We paused by the padlocked gate behind which is a regular spot for the rare fen mason wasp. They were probably there, but they were a bit too far away for us to be sure. Ann was alert to the ID of a close dragonfly: a ruddy darter, with black legs, though less ruddy in colour this early in their season than later.

Ruddy darter.

We overlooked Hickling Broad where, as everywhere, there were marsh harriers and one of several fast-flying swallowtail butterflies that we saw this morning. Then into the shade of oak trees and downy birches where, given Merv’s expertise, we looked for galls. There were oak apples, the first signs of tiny spangle galls and a new one for me, the swollen lumps caused by the gall wasp Andricus curvator.

Galls on oak caused by the gall wasp Andricus curvator.

For much of this time there were two more informal additions to our group, a mother and daughter, the latter in Norfolk for a pond management course, happy to share some of our findings and IDs. These included a brown hawker flying around the area where later they took a boat trip. Then, at last, a swallowtail that wasn’t flying at a vast rate of knots, though it wasn’t still enough for an easy photo. Three great egrets flew over.

There wasn’t much to see from Bittern Hide but just after we’d come out of the hide there were three plastic posts that were plainly protecting something. In a bare patch of ground, we watched fen mason wasps coming and going into holes, many of which had distinctive ‘turrets’ of dry mud. The photos also show the granola-like piles of soil pellets created by their digging.

Fen mason wasp collage.

There were six little egrets, some lapwings and a single shoveler on Brendan’s Marsh. Then it was time to head back to the visitor centre area where, luckily, a picnic bench in the shade was free.

Gatekeeper.

And then there were four, as after packed lunches and ice creams several of the group went onto other things, leaving Merv, Denise, Ann and me. I picked up the telescope and we walked along the other side of Brendan’s Marsh. The number of insects here was brilliant: among the butterflies, gatekeepers were especially numerous, and blue-tailed damselflies (and others) seemed to like to perch on gorse. Merv pointed out galls on both blackthorn and hawthorn leaves. On the viewing platforms overlooking the marsh the wind was almost chilly – a strange sensation of late.

Blue-tailed damselflies.

Blackthorn gall, cause by the gall mite Eriophyes similis.

John Blackburn had told me that he was not sure if Hickling’s spoonbills were nesting for a third year: they are extraordinarily late in starting to nest and easily deterred by stroppy herons in the heronry area. However, there is good news: two distant white lumps in dead trees were apparently occupied nests of spoonbills, though it took some patience before one moved enough to confirm its identity.

Cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort.

We continued the short distance to the Stubb Mill viewpoint from where there was, predictably, little to see on a summer's day. Near here we found cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort plants. It struck us how the caterpillars were on generally dry, isolated and sometimes trampled plants. As we returned, there were lush patches of ragwort in among reeds that you might imagine were much more attractive for a hungry caterpillar, but apparently not.

Chris Durdin

No show for ‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids in drought year

First, the bad news. On my annual visit today (4 June) to Big Yellow Self Storage on Canary Way in central Norwich, the bee orchid count was zero. That’s the first time I’ve found none in 17 years of visits, since I first found a few flowering spikes in 2009.

I wasn’t surprised. Bee orchids are known to respond to weather conditions, and they will have stayed dormant in England’s driest spring for more than 100 years – see Met Office story via this link.

Oxeye daisies outside Big Yellow Self Storage, Norwich. You can come by bus to see them ...

The good news is that, despite the spring drought, the ‘meadow in the city’ continues to provide a visual treat, mostly on account of its oxeye daisies, and a wildlife refuge.

Some of the supporting cast of flowers is shown in this collage of photos.

Collage of flowers from the meadow. Left: a lemon yellow mouse-ear hawkweed. Top: ragged robin and part of a patch of black medick.
Below: scarlet pimpernel, more usually found on disturbed ground, and hedgerow cranesbill (also known as Pyrenean cranebill). This was one of four cranesbill species here; the others were dovesfoot cranesbill, herb robert and round-leaved cranesbill.

Flowers were attracting a good range of insects, including two meadow brown butterflies, which were too quick to photograph. Goldfinches were singing, there were common blue damselflies, despite being some distance from water, and several small beetles and bees. Many of the beetles were probably female thick-legged flower beetles – the females lack the male’s thick legs – an idea supported by an obvious male which I photographed.

Male thick-legged flower beetle on an oxeye daisy.

Common blue damselfly, perching on an adjacent hedge.

A red-tailed bumblebee fed on the flowers of creeping cinquefoil and, especially, black knapweed.

Red-tailed bumblebee on a black knapweed.

I called into see the Big Yellow team, and we agreed not to be discouraged by the lack of orchids in one dry year. The advice here is the same as for anyone with uncut grass: there will always be wildlife benefits of adopting No Mow May, as encouraged by conservation charity Plantlife, and ideally extending that into June.

Sunburst lichen Xanthoria parietina on a birch trunk; a common broomrape, presumably parasitic here on oxeye daisies.

An intriguing bee on an oxeye daisy. Best guess is bare-saddled colletes Colletes similis, from advice from bee recorder Tim Strudwick.

Years will vary, and there is always something of interest to find in a meadow, including in the centre of a city.

 Chris Durdin

 Previously on Big Yellow’s bee orchids (selected):

‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids 2024

Photos on Facebook 2022

Bee orchids bonus in lockdown (2020)

Bee orchids bounce back (2019)

Bee Orchids get my vote (2017)

Big Yellow bee orchids are back (2016)

The Meadow in the City (2015)

‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids 2024