Blue Eyed Birder

Time for a bit of a random catch up of non-work related stuff.

21^st June:

I got back to Lowestoft from the cold of Svalbard to be greeted by actual warm weather and with just one day free I spent time pottering around the garden which was looking fantastic and summery wit waving grasses and blooms and with it lots of insect life. The Dasypoda hirtipes were out on force and piling into my little bit of Ragwort. Most were males but a few laden females were notes too while the bee boxes had their usual little colony of Heriades truncorum once again.

Painted Lady and Small White were the only butterflies but there were a few day flying moths with Pyrausta aurata and purpuralis, Small Dusty Wave, Evergestis limbata, LBAM and on my fig the evidence of many munching Choroutis nemorana.

Two Tachina fera were hanging around and I watched a Sicus ferrugineous patiently waiting for a suitable victim with its almost Preying Mantic swivel head. The first Field Grasshoppers were chirping but many were still in nymph stage and a Dark Bush-Cricket nymph was in the front garden.

Sicus ferrugineous

Dasypoda hirtipes

Field Grasshopper

The work of Choroutis nemorana

A very sexy Scarlet Tiger that Antony had potted for me to see

22^nd June

It was a long and hot drive up to Filey for a few days with a brief stop at Frampton on the way up where three Spoonbills did what they do best and dozed and a broods of Avocet, Lapwing, Redshank and Little Ringed Plover could be seen dotted around while odd Black-tailed Godwits had obviously never left. It was a bit hot and breezy and Painted Ladies and Common Darters were being blown around. A lazy evening was had.

Frampton - looking good

Humber Bridge

23^rd June

Andrea was not feeling great at the start of the day so I just took myself for a walk through The Bay complex and down to the coastal strip above the sea which was alive with so many flowers but a very disappointing array of insect life despite the warm conditions. There were almost no flies and just a few Bumbles but there were quite a few Butterflies with Painted Ladies in various states of make up, Red Admirals, Meadow Browns and Common Blues along with freshly emerged Narrow-Bordered Five-Spot Burnet moths.

Common Spotted Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid - or possibly a Heath Spotted?

Pyramidal Orchid

Bladder Campion

Creeping Thistle

Fine-leaved Vetch

Hemp Agrimony

Hogweed

Honeysuckle

Kidney Vetch

Knapweed

Marsh Thistle

Meadow Vetchling

Perforate St John's Wort

Prickly Comfrey - Symphtum asperum

Small Leaved Sweet briar - Rosa agrestis

Yarrow

Yellow Rattle

Narrow Bordered Five Spot Burnet

Around the cliff top pool there were quite a few Common Blue Damselflies, four Black-tailed Skimmers and three Emperors but I was pleasantly surprised to find at least two male Red-veined Darters shimmering in the sun but they were just too far in the heat to get a usable image.

Black-tailed Skimmer. How this was alive and flying with its abdomen almost completely severed is beyond me.

Protocalliphora azurea

Small Tortoiseshell

Common Blue Damselfly

There were even birds with Yellowhammers, Linnets and Bullfinches calling and Sedge Warblers, Willow Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats second brood singing.

The sea was very calm and I was hoping for a cetacean but none appeared but I did add Razorbill to my month auk list amongst the countless birds heading to and from Bempton to the south.

Late afternoon saw up down at those fabled cliffs where as usual I relived my first visit 41 years ago when our Redbridge YOC group had a few days up there. Three cars, two caravans, two awnings and as many of us as could be squeezed in. Things were a little different back then.

This is from one of the note books that won me Young Ornithologist of Year 1986

Bridlington chippy - Russell, Paul, Julie, I think Martin and of course me

The Vaughan and Fabian caravans

Myself, Alastair, Paul, my brother Russell with Max the dog, Martin and just noticed my Dad's head with a really dodgy moustache

It is still a captivating place to visit with the sound of tens of thousands of auks, Kittiwakes and Gannets drifting up from the towering chalk cliffs while the somewhat acrid fishy aroma they create tickles the olfactory senses.

Bempton Cliffs

Kittiwakes

Guillemots

Gannets

Herring Gull family

Gannets

Guillemots

Gannets

Gannet

Gannets

Rock Dove

Gannets

Razorbills

Herring Gull family

Coming so soon after Svalbard just topped up my seabird summer. As usual finding Puffins on the cliffs was tricky here but I could see them whizzing in and out with little orange paddles flapping along behind them. The Fulmars here were frosty and white compared to the sultry smoky high Arctic ones but none the less engaging.

Tree Sparrows were foraging along the cliff top before heading back towards the visitor centre and its ample nesting opportunities and amongst the blooms of Meadow Cranesbill, Red Campion and Knapweed I found Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, several Small Tortoiseshells, Meadow Browns and even two Speckled Woods while NB5Spot Burnet Moths and a zipping Hummingbird Hawk-moth were seen in action.

Reed Bunting

These Northern Marsh Orchids come up as Broad-leaved but apparently that taxon is no longer valid in the UK!

Middle Barred Minor

Zophomyia temula

It was a pleasant end to the day.

24^th June

A lazy start and north and a bit inland following the Vale of Pickering before making for the Wykeham Forest and its raptor watchpoint. It was already quite warm and I enjoyed my spell scanning the valley where I found a Honey Buzzard a long way off and also picked up a similarly distant Goshawk, Common Buzzards and Ravens. As usual there was plenty of small bird action with singing Tree Pipits, Siskins and Crossbills along with Garden and Willow Warblers.

Wykeham Forest

A few Butterflies were skipping around with Painted Ladies, Small Torts, Red Admirals, Speckled Woods and Meadow Browns. My weird memory remembered seeing a large Birch Sawfly here several years ago and as if by magic one flew into the tree in front of me!

Birch Sawfly

Red Admiral

I ambled back and got down close to the delightful Heath Spotted Orchids and some clumps of Ladies Mantle.

Ladies Mantle

Heath Spotted Orchid

From here we headed up and over the moors where, like everywhere, almost every place to stop is pay and display and so I was pleased to find a small carpark with a fine view for free to eat lunch. It also seems the norm now to park up, keep the windows closed to preserve the stale AC air and sit with your engine running. I am not a man who gets easily riled but this one gets my goat! Onwards and down towards shimmering Whitby passing a Red Grouse on the way and the odd Meadow Pipit and Stonechat before heading back to The Bay basecamp.

A late afternoon visit to Bempton was glorious and having watched a 2cy Gannet cruising around I fantasized about ‘imagine if that was a Brown Booby’. Amazingly that is exactly what happened to very fortunate Steve Race this very week there… Anything is possible! The Barn Owl came out quite early and silently hunted the cliff top meadows – my closest views for some time and always a joy.

Razorbill

Gannet - look at those feet

Gannets

Kittiwakes loafing on the sea

Razorbills

Kittiwake

Kittiwakes

Northern Marshish Orchid

Tree Sparrow

Meadow Cranesbill

Painted Lady - how is this still flying?

Painted Lady

Barn Owl

Earlier whilst at Wykeham I had been chatting to an elderly local chap who was waiting for the Honey Bs but was unable to hear any of the wonderful bird song as he had forgotten to recharge his hearing aids as he had been Nightjaring the night before. As it turned out is was at Wykeham by the car park and so with a fresh coffee to hand we drove back up there as dusk fell.

you may laugh but...

I stayed outside with the trillion midges (never seen so many English ones!) while Andrea stayed in the car but it was worth the effort as I had two Hobbies heading through and then a roding Woodcock before the Nightjar action began. It was still light enough to see colour and pattern and these were probably some of my best views ever as males chased females around the pines and clearing with a full range of calls, wing claps and churring. I had at least six males and four females.

Woodcock

It was a late return on almost the shortest night but a very special encounter for which I thank the watchpoint gentleman earlier in the day. We drove home through mothageddon with thousands of moths flickering across the road.

25^th June

Coming home day. It was still stinky hot and I can’t remember stopping other than at a garden centre where I bought some bargainous reduced orchids for a pound! I did put the moth trap on that evening and caught about 43 species including.

I stopped to take a pic of this stunning Poppy field on the way home.
What you can't see is the tractors systematically mowing every single bit of it...

Bright-line Brown Eye

Oncocera semirubella

Uncertain

26^th June

A quick walk around Kensington Gardens on the Pakefield esplanade have me the chance to catch up with the Red-veined Darters that were seen coming in off the sea during the First Light Festival. They had chosen the shallow model boating pond which obviously has no vegetation so I had to guess where they might land on the path around it and hope I was close enough! I was very pleased with my efforts in the end. Twelve was the most I counted and I did not see another red Darter but there were several Blue-tailed Damselflies, a male Emperor and two male Black-tailed Skimmers too.

Red-veined Darter

Black-tailed Skimmer

The 27^th June to 4^th July were spent on Mull for Oriole Birding and I will get to that as soon as I can!

5^th July

A poodle out into the Broads was actually very quiet and it was just cool enough to keep Dragonflies and such like down and I did not see anything like that at Ormesby Little Broad where we had lunch. I couple of Lagria hirta and Golden Wandering Snails were the best I could do!

Lagria hirta

Golden Wandering Snail

However the moth trap overnight was excellent with three Elephant Hawkmoths always being a favourite along with July Highflyer that was certainly a new one for me.

July Highflyer

Elephant Hawk-moth

6^th July

A late afternoon walk along the flowery along Millennium Way on the northside of town was florally very good but the insects were just not out and about in the extreme heat. I did see a Clouded Yellow, Common Blues and several Essex Skippers.

Musk Mallow

Essex Skipper on Knapweed

Wild Carrot

Knapweed

Bird's Foot Trefoil

Field Scabious

Fleabane

Common Blue

Ladies Bedstraw

Red Clover

Ragwort

Kidney Vetch

The cats were too hot too

This turned out to be one of my best garden nights so far with 90 species. Not quite sure how many were garden ticks!

Dusky Sallow

Evergestis limbata

Least Carpet

Pyrausta despicata

Acleris forsskaleana

Argyresthia pruniella

Caloptilia rufipennella

A smart Cloaked Minor

Clouded Silver

Ephestia woodiella

Fen Wainscot

Oegoconia sp

Small Blood Vein

7^th July

I could really have done with some sleep but an invite to join Antony and Mark Hows for a trapping session in Easton Wood on the coast was too good to miss. We met up and drove in at dusk and before even stopping we had seen Brown Hare, Rabbits, Muntjac, Grey Partridge and even a big fluffy Badger crossing the track – quite a start.

When followed was a seven trap evening with various lights at well spaced out traps. I looked, pointed and marvelled but mainly scribed in my own interesting way

Mark was after a particular moth – Shaded Fan-Foot and we were successful in that venture but by the end of the night the sun was coming up and we had noted 203 species of moth including heaps of Common Swift and Bufftip, Elephant, Pine and Poplar Hawks, a ridiculously bright Large Emerald, eight different Pugs, three Prominents, countless smart Noctuids and a wonderful variety of micros.

Shaded Fan-Foot - Mark Hows

Silky Wainscot - Mark Hows

Slender Brindle - Mark Hows

Synaphe punctalis - Mark Hows

True Lovers Knot - Mark Hows

Bufftips

Bufftip

Evergestis pallidata

Large Twin-spot Carpet

Pine Hawkmoth

Purple Thorn

Small Angle Shades

White Mantled Wainscot

Suddenly, Antony dropped to his knees before a trap and a commentary akin to the start of Four Weddings and a Funeral could be heard. Mark and I could not see what he was trying to pot but once safely captured there were scenes of mothing happiness - it was a Latin. I simply wrote it down but could tell it was important – in fact it was a very smart first for Suffolk.

Latin

Off course it was not just quality mothage and we were all interested in the by catch and Mark took images and identified later most of what we saw which included eight male and one female Glow-worm, Nicrophorus vespillo, various small Beetles, Shieldbugs and Ladybirds.

Dexisoma caninum

Brown Chafer - Mark Hows

Colymbetes fuscus - Mark Hows

Brown Dor Beetle - Mark Hows

Glow-worm male - Mark Hows

Two young Tawny Owls called close by as we eventually packed up and three Roe Deer was seen in the fields as we headed for home.

It was still not time to bed despite the more than definite glimmer in the sky and Antony came back to mine to hep me do my trap first. A very respectable 75 species including a few new ones here too with Small Dotted Footman, Broad Barred White, Kent Black Arches, Peppered and Bright-line Brown-eye being my favourites.

Batia lunaris

Kent Black Arches

Platytes alpinella

Small Dotted Footman

A brief respite before…

9^th-12^th July The Global Bird Fair at Rutland.

It was a seriously hot and stinky drive across to Rutland from Lowestoft and the temperature climbed steadily as I headed inland. There was a stop on route on the A1 services at Peterborough as that delightful Latin moth had come away with me (in a cool bag) for a bit of show and tell. Jonathan Newman was on his way to India but it was one of his most wanted and so we sat in Costa snapping moths and exchanging tales before we both went on our ways.

Setting up the Bird’s Wildlife & Nature stand was quite straightforward but with the outside temperature reaching 38c you can only imagine what it was like inside the marquees. Anyway, job done we retired to the Rutland Watermill in South Luffenham where we had a chalet for the duration and chilled before dinner (while the Latin was chilling in the fridge). It was a lovely spot with a small stream with big willows and grassland behind. The moth traps would go on that evening once Steve caught us up having flown back from Brazil that day (he only told people that 138 time during the fair). Dinner sitting outside the Wheatsheaf in Edith Weston was lovely and a cold beer back at the chalet was even better.

Our mothing efforts over the three nights were pretty good with nearly 80 Species recorded with most on the ridiculously hot night of the 9^th. These included 12 Leopards, three Hawkmoths, four Yellow-underwings, Red Twin-spot Carpet, three Wainscots, two Thorns, two Prominents and a lovely Rosy Footman.

Being next to the river dragged in countless Green Drake Mayflies and several Nephrotomas and some Beetles and Hoppers too.

Once again I managed not to get to see any Ospreys but the Red Kites were wondrous and Grey Partridges called from the meadow beyond the lodge.

Arhopalus rusticus - a large Longhorn Beetle

Calamotropha paludella

Green Drake - Ephemera danica

Mouse Moth

Nephrotoma quadrifaria

Nicophorus vespillo

Pebble Hook Tip

Pine Hawk Moth

Poplar Hawk Moth

Red Twin Spot Carpet

Round-winged Muslin

Small Mottled Willow

Smoky Wainscot

Leopards

The fair was, as ever, a full on three days of quality catchups with friends old and new, chats about future adventures and introductions to various lovely people whose names I have only encountered in passing. There truly is a global birding family of which I am now part.

Mr Bird and Mr Bird - note matching sliders

We took part in the Saturday night quiz once again and came a very creditable 5^th and I proudly watched Ben R giving and enthusiastic moth talk with Nick Baker to a rapt audience. There were other ex-Rainham yoof working around the Fair once again all of them and several others I could name are properly influential within their own conservation spheres. They are our current and future voice to try and educate and enlighten those around them. Long may the influence of those who came through me at the reserve continue.

Ben Rumsby with Nick Baker

And thus ends my current catch up. I have just got back from a fabulous southern heaths, forests and grassland trip for Oriole but more of that after I have written up Mull!

Blue Eyed Birder

Monday, 20 July 2026

Lowestoft Life - 21st June to 12th July 2026