Thorpe St Andrew, 26 October 2020 – Honeyguide’s third local guided walk.

Thorpe St Andrew was, perhaps, a surprising choice for a guided walk, but it proved popular – fully booked and enjoyed. Billed as ‘hidden’ Thorpe St Andrew it was essentially a walk around the Thorpe St Andrew Conservation Area set up to protect buildings, though for our walk with more of a focus on natural elements.

We started from my home at 9:30 (just outside the Conservation Area) and, having watched a female sparrowhawk come over, we walked in the sunshine down to Yarmouth Road. It was unusual to be within sight of NWT Thorpe Marshes and not visit the nature reserve (one group member went there earlier and all have been other occasions). An early building to note was the former RSPB office at 97 Yarmouth Road, described in the conservation area’s character assessment as “a nineteenth century cottage though unpleasantly close to the busy road”.

Thorn-apple, with fruits.

On River Green we became the fifth Honeyguide group – following on from four ‘Norfolk breaks’ in September – to stop to admire the thorn-apple growing by a wall here this year. It was good to hear Mark from the adjacent Bishy Barney Boats know about the thorn-apple it and to report that council staff were not being over-tidy, so the plant had survived the season. It was now covered in spiny fruits, rather like a horse chestnut tree, some of which were bursting open giving hope that more will appear next year. A few metres away a real horse chestnut tree was being assessed, a fallen branch in early autumn of this ‘self-pruning’ tree having already been removed.

The Buck and part of St Andrew's church, in Thorpe St Andrew's conservation area.

We walked up Chapel Lane, past a higgledy-piggledy collection of cottages, soon reaching The Dell. David Armstrong was on site, who is much involved with this old pit’s management as a kind of pocket handkerchief nature reserve. David produced a pot of solidified but formerly soft chalk that had come out of the ground when his garage foundations were rebuilt, one example of a complex geology here that also includes sand, making ‘former marl pit’ perhaps an over-simplification of the steep-sided dug slopes. The sunshine was pouring into the pit, which can be somewhat shady, but it didn’t help us find the tawny owls that are often present.

The Dell, with some autumn sunshine. A self-seeded yew is an oddity in the centre of the picture.

We took a brief look at the attractive terrace of cottages and gardens towards the top of Chapel Lane, with passion fruit on one south-facing wall. Back on Yarmouth Road we popped into Horsewater by the River Yare, which I’d learnt last week was once used to rest and water herds of geese being walked to market.

We went up the hill past the old school, with another huge (marl?) pit to our left. Sue told us stories of growing up here. There were some fine shaggy parasol toadstools on the other side of the fence.

A carpet of spangle galls.

The next bit of the circuit was alongside the fenced former Pinebanks site. Many of us recalled social and sporting events here and lamented the loss of the former Norwich Union sports & social club. Progress on developing the site for housing has stalled. A notable natural history point was when we realised that the ground under an oak tree was a carpet of fallen spangle galls.

We had a few splashes of rain while we were in the former Weston Wood sand and gravel pit, which has become an excellent accidental nature reserve, a grassy central area fringed with trees. A large patch of blackthorn, spindle and aspens added interest and there were late-lingering flowers of wild carrot. The challenge to find silk button galls on oaks was accepted and met, which with an earlier oak apple and some fallen knopper galls meant we’d seen four distinctive galls on oaks this morning. 

Spangle galls again, in Weston Wood pit, with a green caterpillar later identified by Helen as green silver-lines moth.

We returned via South Avenue, watched a kestrel plunge to the ground on the rough land this side of the railway line and then back to Thunder Lane for coffee and cake.

Chris Durdin

Norfolk's Wonderful 150

 

This is a kind of book review … though it might be more honest to describe it as a plug for a splendid publication that dropped through my letterbox very recently.

‘Norfolk's Wonderful 150’ is a slim volume described as ‘A collection of special species from Norfolk to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society’. The anniversary was actually 2019; various practical things delayed the project and it’s well worth the wait.

Here’s the plug: it’s available by post – follow this link -  for just £10 including postage. As I'm a member of NNNS mine arrived free of charge, which is even better.

Norfolk's Wonderful 150.

I should declare an interest. I was asked (and I agreed) to write the account for common crane, then later for little tern as well. Honeyguide leader Tim Strudwick did rather more, namely five accounts for solitary bees and wasps, for which he is the county recorder.

The outcome is accounts of 150 species that all have some special connection to Norfolk. Ten are mammals, including three extinct species: coypu, steppe mammoth (the West Runton elephant fossil) and pioneer man Homo antecessor, stone tools and footprints of which were recorded at Happisburgh. There are sixteen birds, including several where there are important populations in the county, such as spoonbill and stone-curlew, plus others where Norfolk has a story to tell, such as collared dove, which first bred in the UK at Overstrand in the 1950s, and Egyptian goose, which have spread fairly widely from where they started at Norfolk stately homes.

Invertebrates range from the familiar and ‘no-brainer’ choices for Norfolk, such as swallowtail butterfly, fen raft spider and Norfolk hawker dragonfly, to wonderfully obscure species, including Breckland leatherbug, three leafhoppers, three aphids and six beetles. The range of ‘experts’ that NNNS has been able to call on to study and write about these groups is seriously impressive – exactly what you’d hope a natural history society can do, but should never be taken for granted.

The scope of the book extends into the underwater world, both freshwater (such as intermediate stonewort, shining ram’s-horn snail and holly-leaved naiad) and sea water. The latter reflects the huge growth in knowledge thanks especially to the underwater exploration of Dawn Watson and Rob Spray. Their photo of lightbulb sea-squirt is one of the standout images among an excellent selection of pictures in the book. Cromer crab is also there, in case you’re wondering.

For interest I counted up how many of the 150 were recorded on Honeyguide’s recent ‘Norfolk breaks’ in September 2020. The answer is 14, which excludes Cromer crab and lobster seen solely on plates, and are as follows: Chinese water deer, grey seal, pink-footed goose, Egyptian goose, crane, collared dove, bittern, marsh harrier, rook, bearded tit, grey hair-grass, hoary mullein, milk parsley and samphire. Less then 10% doesn’t sound a lot, but it’s not bad given many are very seasonal (e.g. dark green fritillary), local (e.g. Breck robberfly), tiny (e.g. the false-scorpion Dacytylochelifer latreillei), underwater (e.g. depressed river mussel, crucian carp) or mythical (Black Shuck).

Hoary mullein Verbascum pulverulentum; strongholds in west Norfolk and around the southern edge of Norwich are on the extreme north of its European range.

As the team behind the book recognises, what to include or exclude is always a matter of debate. Being an enthusiast for willow emerald damselflies I might have chosen that over scarce emerald damselfly … but then county recorder Pam Taylor’s opinion trumps mine.

Birdwatchers could point to several other species with important populations or typical of Norfolk, such as avocet, brent goose or grey partridge. From my perspective, if more birds were included I would have learnt less. 

I wouldn’t want to miss Jo Parmenter’s accounts of arable plants like smooth rupturewort and weasel’s-snout, nor Peter Lambley’s five species of lichen. I hadn’t previously come across Norfolk comfrey (a recently discovered hybrid) or Iceni bramble (one of more than 100 micro-species of bramble in Norfolk). Here are two fascinating facts: reindeer lichen was found at Horsey in 2012 and shrubby sea-blight has its own species of lichen. Wow!

A reviewer’s lot is to find fault. I scraped the bottom of my pedant’s barrel and found a few things that might be done differently, but they were all so trivial I deleted the lot. This slim volume is a cracking publication, and a snip at £10.00 including postage and packing. Every naturalist who lives in or knows Norfolk should have it.

Chris Durdin

Holt County Park, 19 October 2020 – Honeyguide’s second local guided walk.

I chose Holt County Park as the second location for Honeyguide’s local guided walks as it had proved popular with those on our ‘Norfolk breaks’ in September, and to come here today as the weather forecast looked good and there was a good chance for autumn colours and late flowers.

Holt Lowes SSSI in the sunshine.

And so it proved, despite the uncertainties of a long-range weather forecast. Moving on from the attractions of the car park, loos and coffee as a meeting point, we walked steadily through the plantation woodland and onto the heath of Holt Lowes, taking an anti-clockwise circuit with the boggy bits by the Glaven River to our right. Heather and bell heather were still in flower plus the paler pink blooms of cross-leaved heath in wetter areas. Other lingering flowers included marsh lousewort, ragged robin and lesser spearwort. Leaves on sundews proved harder to find than in September: there were a few, but mostly the plants were limited to tiny stalks.

Marsh lousewort.

Western gorse was a mass of yellow, with its lower growing form and late flowering season its most obvious features. Being virtually without scent is another clue, and that was highlighted by finding a few coconut-scented blooms of common gorse when going through the tunnels of this taller species over parts of the path.

Western gorse.

There were plenty of birds, though many of these were in flight. Winter thrushes came over but didn’t show well, meadow pipits and skylark calls were fleeting. Robins and wrens sang; jays, woodpigeons and woodpeckers (green and great spotted) called or flew past. Much of the time there were finches calling: flight calls of redpolls and siskins were regular and a couple of times there was the subtle whistle of a bullfinch, though it didn’t show.

Then six chunky finches perched on a treetop: a party of crossbills, three of which were red males. It’s a good year for these in north Norfolk, with hundreds arriving across the North Sea during the summer, but you still need a bit of luck to see them. They were new birds for two of our necessarily small group under the ‘rule of six’.

Silk button galls.

Honeyguider Mervin Nethercoat has inspired several of us to enjoy looking at galls, and we found four that live on oak, namely oak apple, knopper galls (in large numbers on the ground at one point), spangle galls and silk button galls.

Fly agaric.

Much of the time was taken up with looking at and photographing fungi. We are all low on the learning curve when it comes to identifications, though noting fly agarics, birch polypores, tar-spot on sycamore leaves and sulphur tuft at least covers some of the more numerous and obvious species. I expect some photos will go unlabelled for some time, but here are two more IDs: purple jellydisc and amethyst deceiver. I’m very happy to be corrected – or have these confirmed – if any reader knows better.

Amethyst deceiver.

Amethyst deceiver.

Purple jellydisc on a birch stump.

A recently cleared area of heath had climbing corydalis and heath groundsel in flower, though no sign of the adders that a passing dog walker mentioned. Back in the woodland we admired a chainsaw sculpture of a buzzard and grey squirrel before returning for a coffee from Hetty’s café which we shared, along with a packed lunch for some, on one of the park’s picnic benches.

Chris Durdin

Potter Heigham marshes, 12 October 2020 – Honeyguide’s first local guided walk.

The switch from overseas holidays to UK activities continues, dictated by the constraints of coronavirus, and with four successful ‘Norfolk breaks’ in September to look back on it felt like a good time to offer some of the Norfolk break venues as a morning walk for local Honeyguiders.

That was behind the gathering at 9:30 of five Honeyguiders, Julie Durdin and me in the big car park at Potter Heigham. The early arrivals had seen skeins of pink-footed geese fly over. We could all see the high water levels in the River Thurne after recent rainy days that had led to yesterday’s story on the Eastern Daily Press website about a hire boat trapped under the low bridge. Better news was that the long-range weather forecast checked when setting the date proved correct: there was sunshine, and it was dry.

Honeyguiders at Potter Heigham Marshes.

Progress was slow alongside the river and Julie left the birdwatchers to set off for a brisk walk. On the grazing marshes beyond the river were large numbers of geese, mostly greylags and a fair few Canada and Egyptian geese. From the small strip of reed in front of us was the ‘ping’ of a bearded tit: to be expected in the big new reedbeds farther on, but a surprise in such a tiny piece of habitat. It was difficult to know whether to look for that or to watch the stonechat.

We moved on past the windmill converted to a holiday let, then paused by the more modern electric pump that switched on as we passed, creating yet more foam. We were briefly entertained by a mechanical grab that clears reed and weed from the pump’s water inlet.

It's easy to be dismissive of resident/feral geese, but when several hundred greylags came over it was quite a sight.

Greylag geese over Potter Heigham Marshes.

Then we heard the distinctive ‘groo groo’ of bugling cranes. There was the briefest of sightings and they dropped out of sight. Backtracking a little, there they were on the grazing marshes on the other side of the river. It took a little peering through gaps in reeds to see them all but eventually we agreed on a count of 13 cranes. Later we saw them all in flight.

Two swallows were in the sky over the reedbed in the middle distance. A little later a ‘chak chak’ sound alerted us to a flock of about 30 fieldfares flying over. There are only a few autumn days when lingering summer migrants and winter birds arriving can be seen on the same day, and today was one of those. On the return leg another flock of fieldfares came over, silent this time and with the odd redwing mixed in.

The most abundant birds by far on the lagoons among the reeds were teals, with a good group of shovelers in one place, mallards, an occasional gadwall and one pintail in flight. There was a lack of waders, just the odd snipe and a nice flock of lapwings: perhaps a combination of the season and high water levels. Cheryl was alert to a kingfisher on a distant fence above a yellow sheet of buttonweed. Kestrels were numerous today, hovering and perched; other birds of prey were a marsh harrier and a distant buzzard.

Dropping down off the river wall, we had to negotiate a partly flooded track before taking the long straight back to Potter Heigham, passing two more stonechats, a flock of starlings and quite a selection of livestock.

Chris Durdin

 

Perfoliate alexanders

Early on in lockdown a lady phoned to ask if I could help to identify a plant from some photos. I recognised the odd-looking yellow-green umbellifers as perfoliate alexanders (spelled here with a low case A despite the name coming from the Egyptian port of Alexandria).

Perfoliate alexanders, Norwich, 25 April 2020 (Roger Jones)

Perfoliate alexanders is a flower I hadn’t seen in the form shown here, though it is similar to a flower I know from Crete. More of that later.

The photos had been taken by Roger Jones, and I know Roger & Jenny well. They live not far away and often come on the guided walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes, contributing their knowledge and enthusiasm there and, like me, on the NWT’s blog and elsewhere.

Roger had photographed the perfoliate alexanders near the River Wensum in central Norwich, not far from picturesque Pull’s Ferry. Armed with a name, he quickly tracked some other records by experience botanists in a national database. One of those noted that the plants had been removed. I expect that is because this species is classed as a potentially invasive alien. Perfoliate alexanders (Smyrnium perfoliatum) is on Schedule 9 part 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981: plants that should not be allowed to be released into the wild. It’s there alongside better-known ‘baddies’ such as Himalayan balsam, Hottentot fig, giant hogweed and several water-weeds.

Rosa rugosa, NWT Thorpe Marshes, 17 June 2020.

Is there a risk? The best answer is ‘don’t know’. There are many escaped plants that are ‘occasional’ or fairly established that don’t really seem to matter, in terms of their ecological impact, and arguably add interest to life. However, in general, if it’s on Schedule 9, that’s for a reason and caution is called for. I saw a well-informed botanist mention that perfoliate alexanders is said to be a concern on some wildlife sites in London, and that it would be a pity to risk the same in the Broads.

 

I was interested to see that there are two plants from Schedule 9 part 2 that can be found on my local patch of the NWT Thorpe Marshes. Neither, yet anyway, are a problem. One is few-flowered leek Allium paradoxum, isolated plants on a bank. The second is Japanese rose Rosa rugosa, a single shrub on the riverbank. This rose can be invasive on coastal dunes.

Perfoliate alexanders, Norwich, 30 May 2020, well past its best.

As the name suggests, perfoliate alexanders is very closed related, the same genus, as (common) alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum). Opinions vary on this plant: it is a distinctive feature of Norfolk roadside verges especially near the coast and it was a candidate for Norfolk’s county flower. Others might regard it as an invasive non-native, though as it is said to have been introduced from the Mediterranean by the Romans, it’s generally accepted as part of our flora now.

It took me far too long – where does the time go in lockdown? – to see my first perfoliate alexanders for myself, by which time it was past its best and the riverside park was uncomfortably busy on my weekend visit by bike.

The form of perfoliate alexanders from Crete is Smyrnium (perfoliatum) rotundifolium, meaning round-leaved. The brackets indicate that some consider it a subspecies of the flower I saw in Norwich. It’s more often treated as a different species, albeit the same English name. It makes a distinctive show along some roadsides north of Plakias and at the wonderful orchid-rich Kedros foothills, better known as ‘Spili Bumps’.

Perfoliate alexanders (rotundifolium) Crete, April 2017.

Bee orchids bonus in lockdown

I admit to being less optimistic than usual when I looked for bee orchids by Big Yellow Self Storage on Canary Way in central Norwich. This year is the 12th season that I’ve kept tabs on this at first sight rather unpromising piece of rough grassland opposite Norwich City FC’s football ground.

Pessimism soon turned to delight. There they were, and after several attempts to count them I can confirm 19 flowering spikes of bee orchids showing on 11th June 2020. That’s not as many as last year but more than the year before.

Bee orchid by Big Yellow Self Storage in Norwich

My initial doubts were for two reasons. One is that I’d noticed that the grass and flowers had been cut around the end of April and again more recently. It turns out this was an oversight during lockdown. The second thing was this year’s unusual weather – the sunniest and driest May on record for England. Bee orchids can often be a bit hit and miss, and in dry conditions far fewer blooms are likely.

The original group of bee orchids were on the south side of Big Yellow’s warehouse, opposite the football ground. This year, there were none there at all. Instead, all were growing from a much greener patch of vegetation on the west side, towards the railway station. Recent rain must have helped, and it was damp enough here for moss and a single spike of ragged robin, a marshland plant.

Bee orchid, close up: Norwich City FC is in the distance.

In general, the supporting cast of flowers this year is less than usual – no sheet of ox-eye daisies, for example. Nonetheless there was a good sprinkling of common catsear, a yellow flower like a long-stalked dandelion. Composites – the daisy and dandelion family – are valuable for insects needing pollen and nectar, and I photographed a hoverfly and a red-tailed bumblebee making good use of the flowers. These are both common species, but they were plainly there having been attracted by the flowers. It’s an idea – not to mow – that can be applied to any roadside verge or lawn, benefiting flowers and insects.

I called in to see Big Yellow’s staff, coping well in lockdown, and had a chat with manager Rob Harley. A later rummage in the archives found a picture of Rob with a bee orchid in the Eastern Daily Press in 2012. Rob told me that his managers ask after the bee orchids, which is encouraging and bodes well for this little patch of nature in the city.

The bee orchids are in flower now and some have buds. If you know where to look, they should be on show for another week or 10 days. Lockdown has brought pressure for all of us and many people have discovered the value of nature close to home. Seeing at first hand is ideal, but if that’s not possible it can still be comforting to know that nature is there.

Hoverfly, probably Eupeodes luniger, on common catsear.

Red-tailed bumblebee on a 'Big Yellow' catsear.

Previous blogs on Big Yellow’s bee orchids:

Bee orchids bounce back (2019)

Bee Orchids get my vote (2017)

Big Yellow bee orchids are back (2016)

The Meadow in the City (2015)

Valencia diaries, final instalment: Sunday-Tuesday, days 6-8

Sunday 15 March – hills above Pego

It was a day of various stops for pottering or particular wildlife highlights, with sites for particular orchid species often prompting the locations. The first of these, in an open area having driven up through woods, was for conical orchid Orchis conica. The orchids were rather underwhelming, though the general area was so nice it hardly mattered. The supporting cast of flowers, outshining the orchid, included the silver-leafed pea argyrolobium, star-of-Bethlehem and a red-flowered houndstongue. A broomrape didn't seem to fit any in the book and Pau checked with a friend who confirmed it as Orobanche lastiquama, parasitic on rosemary, and not in the book. A trilling sound revealed at least two crested tits that fed for a while in an open tree. Beyond them, Christina picked up on two distant raptors which, as they neared us, proved to be short-toed eagles.

Cynoglossum cheirifolium

We moved onto Vall de Gallinera where orchards of cherries in blossom were a delight and prompted many photos.

Moving on, we stopped at the Mirador del Xap (pronounced 'chap'). We looked down onto manna ash and a bright blue-grey male blue rock thrush. A prostrate tiny white labiate – I called it Teuchrium alpestre at the time, but later study showed it was Sideritis romana – and white rock-rose were new flowers. The seriousness of the Spanish government's state of emergency in response to coronavirus was brought home by a Guardia Civil vehicle questioning what we were doing out and about rather than being confined indoors.

Provence hairstreak (Pau Lucio).

Our next stop included our picnic lunch in the countryside somewhere in the Vall d’Ebo. Pau caught a Provence hairstreak which after release then settled on the ground and there were many flowers of Centaurea pullata. We'd paused here as there's a pond tucked out of sight, well off-road. The pond was alive with frogs and the buzz of many bees landing alongside white-flowered water crowfoot. We couldn't find the hoped-for winter damselfly, though recently-emerged red-veined darters perched helpfully still in the warm sunshine.

 Red-veined darter (Pau Lucio).

Moving on, next stop was a roadside where Pau knew there would be Italian man orchids, more typical than the single undersized specimen at Xap, and large numbers of the yellow-edged Ophrys lucentina. Grass-leaved buttercup Ranunculus gramineus was a nice find here. Then there was a brief photo-stop for a large, deep pink pea: Lathyrus pulcher (= L. tremolsianus).

At the next roadside stop unusual seed pods were on noted, twisted on Scorpiurus and a spiral on large disc medick. A pristine swallowtail fed on a bloom of pitch trefoil. A very large pink snapdragon was later identified as Antirrinum controversum (also called A. barrelieri) and a tiny yellow one as Linaria oblongifolia subsp. aragonensis – the photos on florasilvestre.es/ for the latter were taken here at Vall de Gallinera. Under some dense rosemary, we looked at the scarce and local Ophrys dyris[1]

Our final stop was by a hillside that looked like any other, where Pau knew we could find Orchis olbiensis, the Iberian version of early purple orchid. They were in a range of shades of pink plus one that was almost pure white.

Monday 16 March – at Hotel Casa Babel

The curfew for everyone to stay inside really kicked in today. Dawn and I fetched belongings left in the minibus in the hotel's secure car park a couple of small streets away, and even for that Gemma on reception was cautious, though the remote control for the car park at least established a good reason to be out. We heard a loudspeaker announcement in Spanish, and I could make out enough to hear that it was stressing the need to stay inside. So that's what we did all day, though I did walk to the nearby supermarket for essential supplies, namely chocolate. Some did a little birdwatching from the hotel's roof or took the air in the hotel's courtyard, until blue sky turned to clouds and it started to rain. At least we'd missed the worst day, weather-wise. Pau joined us for dinner - essential work for him, of course.

Tuesday 17 March – return

We had an early breakfast at 7:15 to allow a departure at 8:15. Traffic was light as we returned to the airport, having first topped up the minibus with fuel. The airport was relatively quiet, with many people wearing face masks despite the widespread advice that they are ineffective. Karin & Brennan safely returned to Germany. The rest of us were on the same flight as we expected to be on, though now called an easyJet ‘rescue’ flight with a new flight number and new boarding passes. We returned to Gatwick and to self-isolation and social distancing as measures to tackle coronavirus were tightened back in the UK.

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[1] Dyris is the name given by Roman naturalist Pliny to the mountains of the Moroccan Atlas.