Lowestoft Life - 19th - 30th July 2025

I do not know what it is about my parents coming to visit but in the two years since I have been living in Lowestoft, I do not think the weather has ever been kind to us and once again it was grey, breezy and then wet! 

They came up on the weekend of the 19th and 20th and we poodled out as ever and visited the Stalham street fair (noting some random moth leaf mines as I wandered around) before lunch at Poppylands with the rain pattering on the roof!  We stopped at Links Road on the way back so that Dad could see the sea. Several Med Gulls were on the beach and Kittiwakes were heading back into town where we saw many well grown chicks on the ledges.

Of course it was fine on Tuesday and Wednesday when I managed to get out and potter around the garden with the local Swifts still screaming overhead and the Buzzards getting grief from the Herring Gulls.  The Tansy Fennel and Ragwort were literally buzzing with Hoverflies and Bees and a lone Migrant Hawker was patrolling.

Heriades truncorum

I think it is Colletes daviesanus on the Tansy

And so to Thursday where a Roseate Tern off Links Road interrupted breakfast.  I had not seen one for some time and so headed that way and into the squally rain that waited for me to step outside.  It was grim and I tried to position my car accordingly before remembering than by drivers window is currently not working.  Anyway, I soon picked up from a jaunty angle on one of the groynes and then gave the rain a few minutes to abate before pottering down for a closer look.  It glowed white and was flanked by two Sandwich Terns while hefty, grey looking Common Terns were on other posts and included some juveniles.  It never flew while we were watching and in fact snuck off completely while we glanced the other way!  A big Grey Seal was munching a large flat fish offshore.

Roseate Tern 

Roseate Tern with ad & juv Common Terns - Andrew Easton

I popped out on Friday morning in the lovely sunshine and took myself for a walk around Carlton Marshes but this time I took the public footpath towards Oulton Broad before looping back to the main drag via the track where we watched the Red-foots in the spring and then back to the centre.

Needless to say it was an insect heavy walk and I was pleased with 14 Butterfly species which included two Painted Ladies, four Wall Browns and a Purple Hairstreak which came down to the Hemp Agrimony for lunch.

 

Large White	26
Small White	12
Green veined White	2
Red Admiral	4
Small Tortoiseshell	1
Comma	1
Peacock	39
Painted Lady	2
Wall Brown	4
Meadow Brown	53
Gatekeeper	132
Large Skipper	2
Small Skipper	1
Common Blue	2
Brown Argus	1
Purple Hairstreak	1

Meadow Brown

Meadow Brown

Peacock

Gatekeeper

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Small Tortoiseshell

Red Admiral

Peacock

Red Admiral

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

A big patch of Mint was covered in Greenbottles (get up close and it smell like a dog poo bin!) and of course Pyrausta aurata and the Ragwort had the odd Cinnabar moth cat and several Eriothrix rufomaculata – one of the few Tachinids I think I can identify!

Pyrausta aurata

Eriothrix rufomaculata

Dragons were all around with Brown (21) and Migrant Hawkers (12) in predominance and I saw neither of the other Emperor species on this particular loop.  There were three Blue Emperors too and at least six Green-eyed Hawkers on one particular ditch.  Brown Hawkers were the commonest with 21 counted!

Ruddy Darter

Still airborne! Four Spotted Chaser

Variable Damselfly

Brown Hawker

Blue-tailed Damselflies

There were plenty of common Hoverflies and the usual Bumblebees but the stars of the whole walk were a couple of Arachnids. 

Bombus terrestris on Knapweed

Syrphus ribesii on Marsh Sow-Thistle

Bombus pascuorum on Great Willowherb

There were 100s of Seven Spot Ladybirds

Robin's Pin Cushion

Gall of Urophora cardui on Creeping Thistle

Yponomeuta sp on Thistle - but not Thistle Ermine

Episyrphus balteatus on Tansy

Colletes daviesanus on Tansy

Colletes daviesanus on Tansy

I had never seen Fen Raft Spider despite checking the ditches at Carlton every visit and yet the first scan of a ditch and there was an immature one (about 10p size) poised and ready sitting on the Frogbit!    I carried on and raised my bins again, scanned along the edge and was suddenly in the presence of a very gravid female spread out on the surface and ready to pounce.  Each Frogbit leaf is about 50p size so that should give you some idea of how big she was and although not especially close she was a joy to watch.  I kept an eye on her for ten minutes but she did not flinch so I left her to her hunting and moved on.

Fen Raft Spider

Enoplognatha sp with Bombus lapirdarius

Botanically it was a great walk too.

Great Willowherb

Black Horehound

Meadowsweet

Hemp Agrimony

Alexanders seeds

Not sure what mint this is? Spearmint?

A tiny patch of Perennial Pea

Bindweed

Marsh Sow Thistle

Teasel

Bramble

Bristly Oxtongue

Yellow Loosestrife

Perennial Sow Thistle

Purple Loosestrife

Frogbit

Tansy

Arrowhead

Water Mint

Square-stemmed St John's Wort

Gypsywort

Water Speedwell

Hemlock Water Dropwort

Meadow Vetchling

Hedge Woundwort

There were lots of Song Thrush anvils

Three Spine Sticklebacks

Back near the centre a Grasshopper Warbler was persistently reeling but did not reveal itself despite being in the low rushes.  Hopefully a late second brood is on the way. 

Moorhen

Robinlet

Robinlet

An early evening look off Corton Cliffs gave me several Med Gulls and Kittiwakes heading by off shore but there were no birds on the clifftop and just a Silver Y and Emperor for my troubles.  I did find a Poplar Grey moth on the car park poplars though.

Beach was busy

A very odd 1st summer Med Gull

Poplar Grey 

And so to Saturday – more blue sky greeted me this morning and so after taking Andrea to Hopton to do a craft fair I headed back inland to explore and found the entrance to Lound Lakes SWT reserve although I had unknowingly driven past the entrance and parked up with others on the roadside.

I headed down between the two obscured lake and quickly picked up a couple of Emperors out over the water but nothing else was close enough to identify.  There were even the first leaf mines of the season to be found on Sloe and Hawthorn and in the trees above I could hear Greenfinches wheezing and two family groups of Coal Tit and Treecreeper.  A Green Sandpiper came up from the lake side and ‘whit-whitted’ up into the still blue sky.

Stigmella plagicolella on Sloe

Stigmella aceris on Field maple

Parornix anglicella on Hawthorn

I hung a right but the very curious ‘hang your poo here and pick it up later’ post and despite the fact that I only encountered dog walkers on my entire visit, the amount of poo bags had gone up and not down upon my return. Mmm…

I spent most of my time circumnavigating the big summery field where dogs are allowed off on the reserve and had several ‘friendly’ encounters as I stalked the local wildlife.  Like Carlton the day before there were very good Butterfly numbers which were focused on the good stands of Knapweed and although not quite the most numerous, Large Whites were the most obvious.  There were plenty of Skippers here too and five Wall Browns which, unlike Carlton, played ball and actually posed for me.

Large White	33
Small White	13
Green veined White	2
Red Admiral	1
Peacock	16
Painted Lady	2
Wall Brown	5
Meadow Brown	32
Gatekeeper	47
Essex Skipper	9
Small Skipper	16
Common Blue	6
Brown Argus	2
Small Copper	1
Speckled Wood	1

Painted Lady

Gatekeeper

Meadow Brown

Gatekeeper

Large White

Large White

Common Blue

Common Blue

Common Blue

Small Skipper

Small Skipper

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

There were several moths nectaring on the Knapweed to and I found two each of Ear Moth and Dusky Sallow along with both Six Spot and Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnets. The grass was heaving with Chrysoteuchia culmella.  There were plenty of flies in attendance with Xanthogramma pedissequum being the pick of the Hoverflies.  Tachina fera and Eriothrix rufomaculata were favouring the Ragwort and I found my first Mesembrina meridiana of the year.

Dusky Sallow 

Ear Moth

Ear Moth

Ear Moth & Bombus pascuorum

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet

Six Spot Burnet 

Six Spot Burnet - all were faded unlike most of the NBFSBs

Machimus atricapillus

Grey Dagger

Meadow Grasshopper

Meadow Grasshopper

Eriothrix rufomaculata

Eriothrix rufomaculata

Eriothrix rufomaculata

Harlequin Ladybird

Seven Spot Ladybird on Lesser Burdock

Cerceris rybyensis

Leiobunum rotundum

Red-legged Shieldbug

Philophylla caesio

Dingy Footman

Rosy Footman

Dark-bush Cricket

Red Soldier Beetle

Flesh Fly

Meadow Grasshopper

Long-winged Conehead

Xanthogramma pedissequum

Xyphosia miliaria

Field Grasshopper

Cinnabar

Mesembrina meridiana

One particular corner was favoured by the Brown and Migrant Hawkers who were circulating in the sun and I picked up Emperors and Darters down by the lake where the boardwalk crossed it.   I was pleased to find a Four Spot Orb Weaver but only three Wasp Spiders (my two in the garden have disappeared). 

Common Blue Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Migrant Hawker

Wasp Spider

Wasp Spider

Four Spotted Orb Weaver

Woody Nightshade

Black Bryony

Rather fat plump acorns

Caloptilia fidella on Hop - active early mine

Oak Apple Gall

Common Toadflax 

Spindle

Scarlet Pimpernel

Common Toadlet

The cloud rolled in and I completed my figure of eight and opted to escape for some lunch.  I ended up parked up in Corton Church car park for my lunch with a nice coffee from the church itself and a quite potter round added Phyllonorycter platani to the moth leaf mine list.

 Phyllonorycter platani  on London Plane

The heavens opened not long afterwards.

I trapped that evening at home -nothing spectacular Pale Prominent, Straw Dot and Pyrausta despicata were notable but Antony had caught several new ones in his trap that I popped round to see.

Cydia splendana

Cochylis atricapitana

Early Thorn

A pale Turnip

Homoesoma sinuella

Pyrausta despicata

A dark Turnip

Pale Prominent

 from Antony's garden - Small Phoenix

and Cream Bordered Green Pea

Monday night was better in the garden with 45 species logged including two NFG with the seemingly common Acleris forsskaleana and an Ear Moth although apparently I am not allowed to be able to identify that one… There were more butterflies in the garden too with Red Admirals, Peacock and Large Whites on the Buddleia but none of the Volucella Hoverflies that I had hoped would start to appear.

Acleris forsskaleana

Argyritaenia ljunugiana

Dot Moth

Dot Moth

Ear Moth

Ear Moth

Iron Prominent

Platytes alpinella 

Southern Wainscot

Yellow Barred Brindle

 

I trapped again on Tuesday night and was pleased to find some variety in the garden trap.  There were some migrants and a lovely Black Arches.

Cornonet

Sharp Angled Peacock

Black Arches

Black Arches

Dark Sword Grass

Choreutis nemorana

Cloaked Minor

An even better Platytes alpinella

Ruby Tiger

Common Wainscot

Common Plume

Argyritaenia ljunugiana

Rush Veneer

Rose Tabby - Endothricha flammealis

After processing Tuesday nights moths I headed over to Somerleyton to conduct the Butterfly transect while there was still some early warmth in the day and although it was quieter it was still full of insect life.  There was a similar suite of species but only three Peacocks and singles of Red Admiral and Painted Lady.  A Brimstone was the only new species for me here.

Small Copper

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Gatekeeper

Wall Brown

The sky was full of Hawkers and I set about trying to actually count them.  I had never tried to block count hunting dragonflies before but I got to 250 Migrants around the visible edge of the big field and a similar number around the field margin behind and with good numbers at other spots on the circuit giving me a count in excess of 600!  

Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawkers

Migrant Hawkers

I had seen feeding aggregations before but nothing like these inland fields!  There were 22 Brown Hawkers, two Southern Hawkers and 55 Common Darters and couple of Ruddys.

Common Darter

Common Darter

Common Darter

The Hoverfly range had changed in the last two weeks and although Eristalis were still the commonest species it was E nemorum now in the majority and I watched the males engaging in their lekking dances around feeding females.  There were also arbustorum, tenax and plenty of pointy pertinax.   

I found Sicus ferrugineus again and lots more Tachina fera but best of all a female Phasia hemiptera which I have only ever seen twice before.  There were quite a few Colletes daviesanus on the Ragwort too and they were on the small clump of Tansy that I found.

I found two Nomada zonata (well that's what they feel like!) and an Anthophora bimaculata that actually stopped its hyperactive buzzing log enough for me to look at it!

Linnaemyia sp

Tachina fera

Tachina fera

Tachina fera

Eristalis nemorum

Phasia hemiptera

Phasia hemiptera

Colletes daviesanus 

Nomada zonata

Anthophora bimaculata

Anthophora bimaculata

Common Wasp and a very happy Ladybird

Deraeocoris ruber

Bombus pascuorum on Musk Mallow

A large Tabanus

There were still plenty of flowers still in bloom and I discovered a Rowan laden with berries that I had somehow not seen last visit. 

Rowan

Nodding Thistle

Field Pansy

There were a few Grass moths around and I flushed a single Silver Y and a pretty little moth that alighted long enough for some shots.  It felt like an Anania but I did not know which at the time.

Silver Y

Wood Sage Pearl - Anania verbascalis

Wood Sage Pearl - Anania verbascalis

Nettle Tap

The woods were quiet with a few calling Chiffchaffs and Treecreepers but the local Buzzards and a fledged brood of Sparrowhawks were certainly not quiet.  A family of Whitethroats were foraging in the Brambles as I walked back after another successful amble and as with most recent days the cloud had started to bubble up.

Whitethroat

Sparrowhawk