Guided walks, May 2022

Who doesn’t love spring? May can be one of the loveliest months and it’s been a busy one for guided walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes and elsewhere.

Spindle ermine moth caterpillars, NWT Thorpe Marshes, 19 May.

The blog is a slightly lazy way to share sightings and photos with Honeyguiders, mostly from NWT Thorpe Marshes in May, where I led several guided walks. Elsewhere, the Honeyguide blog has two other reports of walks, namely from NWT Hickling, a Honeyguide event on 20 May, and a ‘guest blog’ after a nature ramble at Eaton Park, Norwich, on 23 May.

Lady's smock (also called milk maid or cuckoo flower), with orange tip egg, 4 May.

14-spot ladybird, 4 May.

The ‘official’ guided walk for May at Thorpe Marshes was on 4 May (Star Wars day – you can do the quote). Water voles are always present though rarely seen, so a good view for a group was a delight, and one group member was still raving about it a few days later, I hear. Identifying singing warblers is always a feature of walks this time of year and today we had the complete set of nine: sedge, reed, Cetti’s, grasshopper, willow and garden warblers plus whitethroat, blackcap and chiffchaff. We found eggs of orange tip butterflies on both lady’s smock and garlic mustard.

Red-headed cardinal Pyrochroa serraticornis 6 May.

Cuckoo: dead tree tops were a favoured perch in May; this one is on 6 May.

You always hope for a cuckoo in May and on both 4 May and 6 May, the latter occasion for the Thorpe Marshes volunteer group, it showed well, as it often did this month. The digiscoped image doesn’t really do it justice.

Painted lady, 19 May. There seem to have been quite a few around this May, suggesting an early year for this migrant butterfly.

From the middle of May to the month’s end, a spindle tree growing by the cattle corral was a regular stop, not for the somewhat underwhelming spindle flowers but for the webby ‘tents’ holding the caterpillars of spindle ermine moths (picture at top of blog). This is a species that also featured in the first programme of this year’s Springwatch. Hairy dragonflies were regular over ditches on sunny days in the second half of the month.

Guelder rose flower, 19 May.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust ran a week of guided walks and other events starting on 21 May, called ‘Take a Walk on the Wildside’, with events being well supported all week. Stonechats have wintered at Thorpe Marshes for several years and, like last year, they also bred. 24 May was my best day as four were on show: male, female and two juveniles. Marsh harriers don’t breed here, though they cannot be far away: this was a lucky day when a male was hunting.

Early marsh orchid, 23 May.

Early marsh orchids have been absent for a few years, and three were found during the week of events, a welcome return. This nicely coloured specimen was by the main path – sometimes they are much paler. The date and the folded back lip are useful ID features. Norfolk hawkers appeared for the first time on 26 May.

Meadowsweet Rust Triphragmium ulmariae 26 May.

We also noted two very different fungi on 26 May: meadowsweet rust showing bright orange on its host wetland plant, and a large chicken of the woods on an old willow. King Alfred’s Cakes, a staple of winter walks, were still on their usual ash stump, now getting overgrown with bramble.

Chicken of the woods, 26 May.

On an evening guided walk on 26 May, the calling male cuckoo was joined by a bubbling female. Muntjac are mostly hidden though not tonight, and perhaps it was the cool and damp which brought out a lesser stag beetle as an overcast evening became gloomier.

Lesser stag beetle, 26 May.

Cantharis nigricans, a soldier beetle, 29 May.

With a barbershop friend and his family, on 29 May, for once a buzzard perched rather than fly over. Alert boy’s eyes found a beetle I didn’t know: we named it later as Cantharis nigricans, a soldier beetle. Easier to name was thick-legged flower beetle: these green jewels seem to like ox-eye daisies.

Buzzard, 29 May.

Finally, away from the marshes, a local ‘twitch’ all the way to Norwich Airport produced a lesser grey shrike on 28 May.

Lesser grey shrike, Norwich Airport perimeter fence, 28 May.

There are more reports and more photos  on www.honeyguide.co.uk/thorpemarshes.htm

Chris Durdin

Eaton Park Nature Ramble - 23 May 2022

Eaton Park Nature Ramble - Monday 23 May 2022 6-8pm

Guest blog by Sarah Scott, Friends of Eaton Park

Thank you to Chris for leading another enjoyable walk in Eaton Park.  We very nearly cancelled ... it was raining heavily at 4pm but, after detailed scrutiny of every possible weather app and rain radar option, we decided to go ahead.  It was the right decision (phew!) and we ended up with a dry and pleasant evening.

By the lily pond, looking for a damselflies: without sunshine, they were sitting tight.

A dozen of us met in the rose garden and took a circular route around the park, taking in the lily pond, meadow area and Bluebell Woods. We were listening out for birdsong (a bit of a challenge as there was also a drum group practising in the park!) and we heard (or saw) swifts, woodpigeons, collared dove, blackbirds, dunnocks, goldfinches, greenfinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tit, starlings, wrens, chiffchaffs, robins, herring gulls and lesser black-backed gulls.  Some new bird boxes have been added on the south side of the park this year and we were able to watch blue tits whizzing in and out of one of them. By the trees here we saw both greenfinch and goldfinch eating dandelion seeds.

Chris points out the reflexed (turned back) sepals on a bulbous buttercup.

The meadow has yet to come into its full summer flush but there were still plenty of wildflowers to spot around the park: yellow rattle, rough chervil, cow parsley, sorrel, greater stitchwort, red campion, mullein, buttercups (three kinds), red clover, knot grass, pignut, hedge mustard, garlic mustard, mallow and cow-wheat. We identified Yorkshire fog and sweet vernal grass in the meadow. There were also guelder roses and dogwoods in flower in the hedgerow on the South Park Avenue side of the Pitch and Putt.

Lime leaves had many nail galls, caused by a tiny mite Eriophyes tiliae. Here they show as pale green; later they turn red. The oak apples we saw are caused by a gall wasp, Biorhiza pallida; witches' broom gall on birch is caused by a fungus, Taphrina betulina. 

We looked at insects as well (bees, damselflies, orange tip butterfly larva) and at tree galls (on oaks, limes and birches). A special thank you to Ann who flagged up many of them for us.

Failing to find any caterpillars on hoary mullein leaves.

It really is astonishing how much wildlife there is to enjoy in a relatively urbanised public area like Eaton Park and a ramble like this is a great way of learning more about what’s there and becoming better observers.  As someone who walks in the park every day, I’m only too aware how easy it is to amble along on auto-pilot and miss treasures right under your nose!

Whose turn is it to try the tearing-a-dogwood-leaf trick?

Sarah Scott, with photos by Stuart Beard

Hickling guided walk, 20 May 2022

The first local Honeyguide trip since overseas holidays resumed was planned with an eye on a sunny weather forecast, though as today approached that changed. It was cool at first then rain arrived for the four of us who met at NWT Hickling.

On a recent visit to Hickling, Helen and Malcolm had encountered cranes and that persuaded us to return here, and to go in their direction when we arrived. That took us along the path by Brendan’s Marsh, where the mix of waders was very impressive. Avocets, redshank and lapwings were to be expected. Half a dozen dunlins were nice as was a single greenshank; a grey plover in full summer plumage showed why in North America they are known as black-bellied plover. A little ringer plover repeatedly flew around and there were three male ruffs with white, black and rufous breeding plumage.

Two cranes beyond the gate; greylag & Canada geese, cormorants and gadwalls nearer.

Looking down the open area just beyond the end of Brendan’s Marsh we struck lucky, as a family of cranes was in the open beyond a metal gate. As well as two adults there were two young cranes, in the colour that prompted the late John Buxton at Horsey to call them ‘goldies’, though the young birds were mostly out of sight in long vegetation. There was added drama when a fox appeared on our side of the gate. Foxes are predators of young cranes, so it was surprising to see how unanimated the adults seem to be, as they must have known it was there.

It became cooler and by a ditch we found various damselflies settling onto reeds, namely azure, variable and blue-tailed. Closer still was a fabulous four-spotted chaser. If you look all their wings, should they be called eight-spotted chaser?

Four-spotted chaser.

Seven black-tailed godwits flew through and when we reached the visitor centre end of Brendan’s Marsh there was a flock of 18. A small group of ringed plovers flew in: it’s not often you see ringed plover and little ringed plover in the same place.

By now it was raining properly, and we sheltered and had coffee in or by the visitor centre. A female hairy dragonfly was trapped on the inside of a very high window: the visitor centre team were still puzzling over how best to rescue it later.

We decided to brave the rain and walk the circuit around the reserve, taking advantage of hides. From the first there was a Chinese water deer and we saw nesting black-headed gulls get agitated whenever a feeding little egret was too near. A cuckoo was calling and we could see it on a distant tree: interestingly the cuckoo's musical interval was a major third rather than the usual (though especially early season) minor third.

From the next stretch of path through the reeds we were lucky enough to have a good, if brief, view of a bearded tit, and a reed warbler. Looking at the oaks along the way it was plainly a good year for oak apples; many gall on oaks are caused by gall wasp species, in this case Biorhiza pallida.

Oak apples at Hickling (photographed a few days ago).

There have been many hobbies at Hickling recently, and seeing hunting birds in flight is usual. Which begs the question: where do they go when it rains? From Bittern Hide, Helen scanned and found the answer: this is where they perch, today four of them spread along the row of dead trees in the distance.

Ann was constantly on the look-out for caterpillars and other smaller creatures. The picture has the caterpillars we saw that were the biggest and easiest to identify. There were also Ann’s trademark, cigar galls, on many reeds.

Caterpillars of garden tiger moth (woolly bear) and drinker moth.

Being May, bird song mustn’t be forgotten. Twice we had good views of whitethroats. There were willow warblers, blackcaps, chaffinches, Cetti’s and sedge warblers and others, and often vocal common terns were flying around. We heard bitterns several times and had a brief view on one in flight, and of course there were marsh harriers. With the richness of NWT Hickling, these once rare birds are so routine it could be all too easy to take them for granted.

Chris Durdin

Three more records of hoof fungus gnats

This Honeyguide blog is a copy of a short paper that was published in The Norfolk Natterjack, quarterly bulletin of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society. It seems apt to include it here as two of the new findings were on local (Norfolk) Honeyguide events, and previously reported on the Honeyguide blog (see links in the blog). The paper as published is here: Natterjack 156, February 2022, pp3-5; it followed up this article about the third record of this species in England and second in Norfolk. The paper and this blog follows NNNS house style, with capital letters for species.

Three more records of Hoof Fungus gnats

Inspired by the account of Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius in Norfolk’s Wonderful 150 and knowing that the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society is studying the new Broadland Country Park, when I found Hoof Fungus in the country park I emailed Tony Leech to check that it was known from there. I also mentioned that Sarah Burston, the park’s manager, had told me about a rare fungus gnat recently found there. It was no surprise to learn from Tony that Hoof Fungus was already known from Broadland CP, and he also kindly sent me his text and Milly Kenward’s photo of Sciophila rufa cocoons that later appeared in the November 2021 Natterjack, noted there as the second record for Norfolk and the third for England. 

Three Hoof Fungi on a Silver Birch, including one with several cocoons of Sciophila rufa. Broadland Country Park, 23 September 2021.

Armed with this pre-publication reference, I returned to Broadland Country Park on 23 September, leading a small group from Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays (blog here). We found Hoof Fungi on three standing stumps of birches Betula and on one of these, with about 30 ‘hooves’ showing, we quickly found the distinctive fungus gnat cocoons shown in Milly’s photo. It may be worth adding that there is both Silver Birch B. pendula and Downy Birch B. pubescens in the country park and the Hoof Fungi were all on Silver Birches.

On 5 November 2021 (blog here), I was at Foxley Wood Norfolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve, again with a small Honeyguide group. I re-found a Silver Birch stump with Fomes that I remembered from a previous visit and, hey presto, there were identical cocoons. Could these be the third record of S. rufa for Norfolk and the fourth for England?

Sciophila rufa cocoons on Hoof Fungus, Foxley Wood, November 2021 / Chris Durdin

On 17 November, I returned to Broadland Country Park (blog here), this time with different Honeyguiders. We found more S. rufa cocoons and they were certainly on a different birch. Not only was it in a different place in the wood, this stump was long-fallen, not standing.

Hoof Fungi on a fallen birch, Broadland Country Park, 17 November 2021. On the left fungus, which is clearly layered, the bottom layer is the youngest; hoof fungi can live for up to 30 years. Top right includes a fungus gnat cocoon.

Finally, walking on Mousehold Heath, Norwich, on 28 November 2021 with my wife Julie, I returned to where I’d previously seen Hoof Fungi, close to Zaks Mousehold Diner. There were no cocoons by the fungi on the standing stump, though when I examined a fallen stump at the same spot there was a single cocoon under the overhang of a Hoof Fungus.

Hoof Fungus, Mousehold Heath, on a fallen birch, with a single S. rufa cocoon. The fungus growth’s change of direction shows that the stump fell off the main trunk several years ago. / Chris Durdin

Birch with Hoof Fungus, Mousehold Heath, Norwich. The red arrow marks the dead standing stump with Hoof Fungus; the blue arrow is the location of the fallen part of, presumably, the same stump, where the Hoof Fungus growing in two directions, with a S. rufa cocoon, was photographed.

Given that S. rufa cocoons are distinctive once you’ve seen a photo, I wondered if they had been found several times in Norfolk once the Natterjack article had appeared. Not so, says Tony Irwin, at least from his inbox. I contacted national fungus gnat expert Peter Chandler, who confirmed the IDs, noting that: “There are similar species on other fungi but it's only likely to be S. rufa on Fomes.”

From the above and Peter Chandler’s information we have the following sequence of records for S. rufa in England.

1/ 23 September 2017, Flitwick Moor, Bedfordshire.

2/ 19 May 2019, between Stow Bedon and Thompson Common, Norfolk.

3/ 12 September 2021, Broadland Country Park, Norfolk.

4/ 5 November 2021, Foxley Wood, Norfolk.

5/ 17 November 2021, Broadland Country Park, Norfolk.

6/ 28 November 2021, Mousehold Heath, Norfolk.

Sciophila rufa 2020 distribution map, before these 2021 Norfolk records / Peter Chandler

My various photos show that the cocoons can be above, to the side of or below Hoof Fungi, sometimes touching, sometimes not, and on occasions a few centimetres from the fungus. They are usually by paler, younger Fomes, or at least Fomes showing recent growth, and are evidently comfortable close to the ground. It’s also interesting to see how long the cocoons survive into the autumn. At Mousehold Heath, I had the impression that the cocoon had survived autumn rain and wind by being protected by the natural overhang of a Hoof Fungus.

I suggest that for anyone who has photos of Hoof Fungus, it could be worth checking them and more records of S. rufa may well come to light.

In any event, as Peter Chandler observes of S. rufa: “It seems that it is now well established in Norfolk.”

The next challenge is to return from May onwards and look for the larval webs, larvae or orange-coloured adult fungus gnats.

References:

Leech, T, 2021. A chance observation and a third English record. The Norfolk Natterjack, November 2021.
Webb, Judy, 2019. A second English record of Sciophila rufa. Dipterists Digest 2019, Vol 26, no 1. 

Brecks guided walk, 17 February 2022

Honeyguide’s first group in the Brecks followed last week’s recce visit and last night’s Storm Dudley. There were fallen branches in places, and twice very brief showers, but generally it was dry and bright, if a little windy sometimes. 

We met at the Forestry Commission’s car park at Santon Downham – from which there were brief sightings of siskin and sparrowhawk – and we walked to and then by the river Little Ouse. It’s probably worth saying at the outset that were unsuccessful in finding lesser spotted woodpecker today; perhaps it was just a little too blustery. We started with a good view of a little grebe near some mallards on the river. Robins and great tits were singing and some in the group found a marsh tit.

Galls on reed. An oddly shaped gall on the left (JM), which Tim Strudwick advises is made by the 'corkscrew gall mite' Steneotarsonemus phragmitidis. On the right is a more typical cigar gall (CD).

Violet ground beetle wing case.

Being a group of Honeyguiders, we were finding other things of natural history interest, despite the winter season. Ann showed us cigar galls on reeds, created by a frit fly (no that's not a typing error). With our eye in for these, soon there were many more. Jillian found the wing cases of a violet ground beetle; some saw an otter spraint; we enjoyed the occasional clump of snowdrops. There were even a few fungi: these included what looked like a species of funnel and, viewed through the telescope, a hoof fungus on a birch stump.

Otter spraint (JM).

Funnel (common funnel?) and distant digiscoped hoof fungus.

Snowdrops on the river bank.

We turned alongside a reedbed and marshes with Highland cattle, under a railway bridge and onto a heath. We looked at robin’s pincushions on dog rose and saw a sparrowhawk flying through. We paused to overlook Santon Warren. Here there were four mistle thrushes feeding on the ground, and Jillian was alert to a green woodpecker, also on the heath though moving all too quickly out of view. In the distance were some konik ponies, here for conservation grazing. A nuthatch was calling loudly over our heads near the level crossing on the short walk back to the car park.

We moved to Brandon County Park to eat our picnics, passing signs saying closed on Friday (the next day) on account of the impending Storm Eunice. Jon & Julia looked around the walled garden. Ann pointed out easy-to-overlook flowers on yew, and a cherry plum also had its first few blooms. Then we walked the short distance to the small lake where we easily found a small group of mandarins, four drakes and a duck today.

Yew tree flowers (AG).

Drake mandarin (TN).

We visited Lynford Arboretum for the rest of the afternoon, chatting to various birdwatchers about what was around as we progressed. A group of siskins was high in a conifer, distant dots through binoculars though clear through a telescope. There was lots of bird activity where the Forestry Commission puts out food. Stars of the show here were bramblings: the best count was seven.

Hawfinch tree: we spent much time looking in and under this tree. Telescopes were essential!

Would hawfinches show today? At first, it was mostly redwings in and under the hornbeams in the meadow. But soon Rob picked up on a single hawfinch on the ground, and it was consistently there with redwings and chaffinches, though we needed a little patience to see it when it hopped out of view or took flight into the branches for a time. Moving along the path a bit, the angle of the light was better and from here we enjoyed three hawfinches high in a tree, under a starling. As we returned, there was a hawfinch on the ground again with a greenfinch and more redwings. Two great spotted woodpeckers flew through, as did a buzzard.

Looking for a tawny owl.

I still don’t know how he managed it, but Rob somehow found the roosting tawny owl high in a fir tree and rigged up his telescope to view it at a distinctly challenging angle. But, with a helping hand, everyone managed to see it, not necessarily looking elegant in the process. A goldcrest did some fly-catching.

Back where bird food was provided there were three yellowhammers with the finches and both coat tit and marsh tit picking seeds off the ground. A male muntjac walked into the clearing and watched us watching him. A song thrush was singing as we returned to our cars.

Guided walk with Rob Lucking and Chris Durdin. Blog by Chris.

Brecks recce, 11 February 2022

A bright late winter’s day was ideal to check out some places in the Brecks for a future local Honeyguide event, and Rob Lucking, Julie and I met in the Forestry Commission’s car park at Santon Downham. That’s just into Suffolk, though as soon we’d crossed the bridge to walk alongside the river Little Ouse we were in Norfolk.

We weren’t the only people out today: the steady trickly of birdwatchers were mostly here as this is one of the very few places to see lesser spotted woodpecker nowadays. The reason was immediately apparent: this is nothing like the typical conifer plantations of so much of the Brecks. Instead, this river valley has a mix of open areas and deciduous trees, mostly poplars, with very obviously a lot of standing dead timber, which ‘lesser spots’ like.

Little Ouse at Santon Downham.

Another general view by the Little Ouse at Santon Downham.

In a tangle of branches in the Little Ouse a little grebe surfaced, then two, then three. They were surprisingly close, perhaps thinking that they were out of sight. The literature talks about a pale or yellow patch at the base of the bill: today it was distinctly pale green in colour. A water rail flew behind Rob; we heard Cetti’s warbler and the flight calls of siskins; there were various tits, including marsh tit.

Little grebe (digiscoped).

After a short while we heard the sound of a gentle, yet fast, drumming. It took a little while, but soon a lesser spotted woodpecker flew through and settled on open branches. It was still enough for a digiscoped photo: to say the picture won't win any prizes is an understatement, but you can see what it is, a female lesser spot, with no red on the head. This and a second bird flew on.

Lesser spotted woodpecker, female (digiscoped).

A little farther on, we found what we are pretty sure were two more lesser spots. Some passers-by told us that birdwatchers were watching our first birds as we enjoyed this second pair. There was more drumming, and a male lesser spot investigated a hole in a dead branch before being scared away by a great spotted woodpecker that then went into the hole. We also found a treecreeper.

On the way back we took a little detour under the railway line and through a patch of heathland. There were two stonechats and a birdwatcher here had seen a woodlark before we arrived, though our timing wasn’t ideal as someone was flying a drone over the heath.

Some Breck heath.

We made a fairly quick visit to the churchyard in the village as firecrest was reported here, but no luck.

Santon Downham church.

We drove onto Brandon County Park to eat picnics on the benches there, grab a cup of tea and look into the walked garden. Then we walked – a very short walk – to the large pond where, with the expected mallards, were 15 mandarin ducks. They are tame here and come to bird food, though they are undeniably beautiful.

Mandarin drakes and ducks; nine of the fifteen at Brandon Country Park today.

The final stop was Lynford Arboretum, just north of Mundford. We were lucky enough to be there for two brief appearances of hawfinches. There were several marsh tits, nuthatch, redwing and a long-tailed tit. A flock of birds were feeding under some tree: mostly chaffinches, some bright yellowhammers and three or four bramblings. Another birdwatcher had his telescope set up looking into a tall fir tree: his target took a bit of making out, but it was a tawny owl.

Chris Durdin

Potter Heigham marshes, 28 January 2022

Honeyguide’s first ever local guided walk was at Potter Heigham Marshes, and a weather forecast suggesting sunshine prompted a return visit. The reality was a very misty start to the day, with the sun looking more like a full moon first thing, though happily the day became steadily brighter.

Potter Heigham Marshes is usually a good place for birds and so it proved as soon as we were overlooking the grazing marshes, with the backs of riverside chalets behind us. A crow on the grass and rooks on wires were followed by three gull species, for easy comparison: herring, black-headed and common gulls, the last with a ‘kind face’, as Chris A noted. More on common gulls later. The nearby lapwings were looking very smart, a male with his long fascinator-style crest. A little egret flew through, and two snipe dashed away.

Moving on, a flock of 70 or so pink-footed geese flew over, then returned in the other direction. Arriving at the lagoons area there were more geese, namely a group of greylags and Canada geese with a single pink-footed goose, this time on the grass. Out on the first lagoon were tufted ducks, a single shoveler and shelduck and a scattering of teals. Soon there were many more of all of these, plus plenty of wigeons and a few gadwalls. Teal as a colour is often described as a blue, though in the sunshine, now out, the ducks’ flash today seemed more like a shiny green.

Bank vole (Helen Crowder).

Three of us then realised that the other three had lagged behind and with good reason: they had found a bank vole by the edge of the path. And very cute it was too, from Helen’s picture.

Farther along there were many more ducks, shovelers and shelducks especially, plus good numbers of cormorants. A lone small wader proved to be a dunlin. A Cetti’s warbler gave a burst of song and a marsh harrier quartered the reedbed.

Shelducks, shovelers and lapwings, plus two gadwalls if you look carefully.

One of Ann’s enthusiasms is cigar galls on reed, and once one was pointed out – and we’d got over their gargoyle nickname – soon we found more. These galls are caused by a frit fly – no, that’s not a typo – then later the swollen stem becomes home to other invertebrates.

Cigar gall on reed.

We’d reached the return home straight, albeit a long one, when a great white egret flew past us. Just a couple of years ago it would have been a red-letter day to see one of these, and already it’s almost a routine sighting. Could we top this? Yes: a green sandpiper on a small flood in the field, actually looking green in the sunshine – so often they are more black-and-white.

Yet today’s star birds proved to be a more every-day species. Two common gulls by the green sandpiper started to display, running alongside each other, heads down, then threw their heads in the air, calling together. It felt like a bright winter’s day to us, but perhaps it was the first day of spring for them.

Common gulls displaying (digiscoped collage).

Common gulls, heads aloft (digiscoped).

Back opposite Lathams, we tucked into coffee and packed lunches while a pied wagtail flitted around the car park.

Chris Durdin