Blue Eyed Birder: August 2023

12^th July 2023

We headed north after breakfast in the sunshine but by the time we reached Bentley Woods it was already clouding up and the wind was picking up – not ideal for Purple Emperors but it did not phase the Silver Washed Fritillaries which were patrolling the ride and giving grief to the Commas and Ringlets. Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers were present along with a several late Large Skippers and quite a few Holly Blues and Red Admirals but try as we might the weather was keeping the Emperors and White Admirals high in the canopy. Ruddy and Common Darters used sticks to survey for prey with swivelly heads and we also saw first Southern Hawker but it too remained high up.

Silver Washed Fritillary

Gatekeeper

Holly Blue

Red Admiral

Gatekeeper

Speckled Wood

Comma

Meadow Brown

Ringlet

Dark and Speckled Bush Crickets were found along with a tiny Common Groundhopper and there were a few Hoverflies to check out along with Bombus vestalis and a male Bombus lucorum to go with the seven species already noted. Fleabane Tortoise Bug was a cool find and not one I had ever heard of.

Speckled Bush Cricket and Tortoise Bug

Dark Bush Cricket

Fleabane Tortoise Bug - Cassida murraea

Wolf Spider

Episyrphus balteatus

Green Shieldbug nymph

Sicus ferrugineus

Dock Bug nymphs and Tortoise Bug

Eristalis pertinax

The rather fabulous Gypocoris stysi

Tutsan

Southern Hawker

Phyllonorycter coryli blotch mine on Hazel

Agrimony - amazingly burred seeds

The woods were fairly quiet but Song Thrushes, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Marsh Tit were all encountered and yet another Crossbill ‘gypped’ overhead but it was the performance by the Firecrests that brought the most smiles.

We cut our losses and wiggled back across country back towards the New Forest and after encountering a giant Gorilla at a pub coffee stop we made it to Eyeworth Pond for lunch in the van. Inside as the heavens opened in a most energetic way.

We spent the next couple of hours flitting between the pond, common and van as the weather repeatedly tried to catch us out. The pond was fantastic with countless Small Red-eyed (and bigger eyed cousins) zipping over the surface and settling on the lilies. Common Blues, Blue-tails, Emperors and Black-tailed Skimmers were also seen.

Small Red-eyed

A species of large Pondskater patrolled the water’s surface and a family of Kingfishers hunted from the overhangs although the kids were more intent of seeing what their parents had found. Young Grey Wagtails bobbed along the edges and were joined by fellow bobbers, two Common Sandpipers. Two Mandarin snuck past us with the bread crazed Mallards.

Kingfisher

Common Sandpiper and Grey Wagtail

Mandarin

A circuit through the trees saw us stumble on a herd of 14 Fallow Deer and then two Redstarts hunting from the odd scraggly pony-chewed Hawthorns. A party of 15 Mistle Thrushes foraged on the common and Stonechats popped up now and then. Treecreepers, Bullfinches, Coal Tits and Nuthatches were seen on the way back and a family of recently fledged Spotted Flycatchers was enjoyed by everyone after they had given us the run around at other sites.

Fallow Deer

Redstart

Spotted Flycatcherlets

Coal Tit

Driving back through Boulderwood produced several ‘drive-by’ singing Firecrests and the incredibly sight of a Woodcock scuttling across the narrow road. We got out and quietly approached the spot but it had melted simply melted away.

The day was ended at the once fabulous Burley Lawn but the stream edges were seriously degraded by the sheer number of Ponies and the water was no longer clear. The only Odonata was a single Common Blue-tail. A male Siskin did however perched up long enough for a look to round up another fine day that was not defeated by the weather.

Common Blue-tail

Marsh Skullcap - Scutellaria galericulata

Last week I was meant to be in Cornwall for a week but a lack of cat carers meant the break was aborted leaving time to visit and explore the area in which I now live in Suffolk. On the 22^nd we visited Banham Zoo which was pleasant although I easily get distracted by the native wildlife that also calls it home.

I did like the Helmeted Curassow's though!

A large patch of Tansy held plenty of Hoverflies and Bees including Heriades truncorum and amongst the other flies were Tachina fera, Eriothrix rufomaculata and a female Stomhorina lunata – the Locust Blowfly.

Stomhorina lunata

Eupeodes sp

I had only seen a couple of these before but it cuts such a distinctive shape. Southern and Migrant Hawkers zipped around the Tiger enclosure and Willow Emeralds hung around a couple of muddy pools where Xylota segnis scurried over the Bramble leaves.

Bronze Shieldbug - 5th instar

Opilio canestrinii

Willow Emerald

Great Green Bush-crickets were in song along Castleton Avenue in Carlton Colville as we neared home.

The following day we visited the Maize Maze at Oak Hall Farm in Reydon overlooking Blythburgh. It was very warm and the maze itself was eight foot high and unsurprisingly pretty devoid of life and I was quite relieved to escape after over three miles of going rounds in circles and squares. Migrant Hawkers, Darters and Ladybirds were the only inverts seen.

An after lunch walk down the footpath towards the river was alive with insects. Field and Meadow Grasshoppers, Dark Bush-crickets and Long-winged Coneheads stridulated and the Yarrow was particularly attractive to flies with Lucila and Neomyia Greenbottles, various sized Sarcs and spiky Tachina fera along with Hoverflies that included Helophilus hybridus.

Field Grasshopper

Pollenia sp

Eristalis nemorum

Eristalis nemorum

Tachina fera

Tachina fera

Tachina fera

Neomyia cornicina

Neomyia cornicina - 1pr presutural acrostichals - 3pr postsutural dorsocentrals

Helophilus hybridus

Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals looked freshly emerged and there were plenty of Small and Green Veined Whites on the wing. The Gorse on one side of the path was liberally strung with the webs of Araneus diadematus, many of which were of a good size. I have barely seen any this year so far and none as mature as these.

Small Tortoiseshell

Peacock

Araneus diadematus

Below them in the grass we counted 12 Wasp Spiders with their webs strung across their carefully empty hollows. A couple had already got Grasshoppers wrapped for later consumption.

Wasp Spider

A check of the two big Fig Trees in the car park revealed my first encounter with the colonising Fig Leaf Skeletonizer Moth.

Fig Leaf Skeletonizer (Choreutis nemorana)

On the 24^th an afternoon pop to Caister Beach with Antony to look for some Hop was very productive and although we did not find the hoped for Caloptilia fidella there was a wealth of wildlife to discover on the dune system. Mottled, Meadow and Field Grasshoppers leapt everywhere and Long Winged Coneheads were equally numerous. There were plenty of Grass Moths and a single Pyrausta despicata.

Long-winged Conehead

Field Grasshopper

Meadow Grasshopper

Mottled Grasshopper

Pyrausta despicata

Small Whites

There were a few butterflies and several Bee-wolves and Green Eyed Flower Bees attending the Devil’s Bit Scabious where both species came away covered in sticky pink pollen.

Green Eyed Flower Bee- Anthophora bimaculata

Bee-wolf - Philanthes triangulum

One particular area was less covered in Marram and was far more botanically rich with Black and Sea Bindweed, Hare’s Foot Clover, Sheep’s Sorrel, Grey Hair Grass, Sun Spurge and gone over Cotton Thistles.

Black Bindweed - Fallopia convolvulus

Sun Spurge - Euphorbia heliscopia

Grey Hair Grass - Corynephonus cariscens

Sea Bindweed - Calystegia soldanella

Sheep's Sorrel

Hare's Foot Clover

Amongst them Mitopus morio Harvestman ran and two imposing Dune Robberflies were watched as they looked for prey but the highlight was three super fluffy Dune Villa. I had not seen either of these species before.

Mitopus morio

Dune Robberfly - Philonicus albiceps

Villa modesta

Friday saw us all on a boat on the Broads from Wroxham, something I had not done for well over 20 years. It was a pleasant few hours but the waterways were strangely quiet with not even many of the expected waterfowl following the boats. There was not one Goose of any sort around the Swan at Horning!

That saying, we had a pleasant mooring at Cockshoot Broad where bacon and sausage rolls were consumed. More Hop was checked but we only found Cosmopterix zieglerella although Antony was very pleased to find Coleophora ahenella on Alder Buckthorn – a new species for Norfolk.

Coleophora ahenella

Cosmopterix zieglerella

Liriomyza eupatorii fly mines Hemp Agrimony

Banded Demoiselles still danced over the water and Migrant Hawkers, Common Blue Damselflies and both Darters were seen but the Hemp Agrimony was strangely empty of any insects bar a few Bombus pascuorum. A party of Marsh Tits and a few Chiffchaffs were heard.

Common Blue Damselfly

Yellow Loosestrife

Bombus pascuorum

Marsh Sow-thistle

Saturday was wet but Sunday started better and a moth show and tell allowed a good comparison between Dark Crimson and Red Underwings and a glorious Gold Spot courtesy of Blackheath Road.

Old Lady

Angle Shades

Dark Crimson and Red Underwings

Dark Crimson Underwing

Gold Spot

Lunch was spent at Ormesby Little Broad and in the brief sunny spells I managed some Hoverating on the Bramble clumps and watch both Xylota segnis and sylvarum pudulating across the leaves as they hoovered up nectar. There were a few Eristalis about and plenty of Odonata with six Willow Emeralds amongst the Darters and Hawkers and a few Whites and Red Admirals visiting the Hemp.

Xylota segnis

Xylota sylvarum

Tetanocera sp

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Common Darter

Ruddy Darter

Willow Emerald

I checked a zillion Hop leaves and found nothing bar a few Cosmopterix zieglerella and many fly mines which have been identified as Agromyza flaviceps.

Agromyza flaviceps

Cosmopterix zieglerella

Phyllonorycter rajella on Alder

Stigmella aurella on Bramble

Alder Buckthorn

Green Veined White

Opilio canestrinii

With rain brewing we headed to Enid’s to collect some of my garden plants she has been diligently looking after since the early spring. My carnivorous plants were also doing very well and I have decided that they are in better hands in Wymondham for the foreseeable future!

The first plants in the front garden...

and the new plants to put in

On the evening of the 28^th I put a moth trap out in my Edgerton Road garden for the first time and the following morning it did not take too long to get the garden list moving I the right direction with 33 species and about 100 moths identified over a morning coffee.

My fence was speckled with Garden Carpets, Willow Beauties and Light Brown Apple Moths and two Tawny Speckled Pugs while the trap was full of Vine’s Rustics, Straw and Yellow Underwings.

Straw Underwing

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Flounced Rustic

Old Lady

Willow Beauty

Tawny Speckled Pug

Small Dusty Wave

Double Striped Pug

Garden Pug

Orange Swift

Antony had brought a major prize with him though – a Clifden Nonpareil – once the Holy Grail of mothing but nowadays a hoped for autumn visitor. It was huge and dwarfed the Old Lady that I had had in my trap and he eve flashed his slate blue and pied underwing pattern. Magnificent.

Clifden Nonpareil with an Old Lady...

Clifden Nonpareil

That afternoon a short lunch visit to the beach at Pakefield allowed a mini walk and some more grubbing. I found a few more leaf mines including two new ones on Privet and watched a Bee-wolf, my first here, carry off a Honey Bee. Small and Green Veined Whites and the little Colettes succinctus were still eeking the last of the Tansy nectar and the sheer number of Field Grasshoppers was astonishing.

Caloptilia cuculipenella

Clepsis consimilana

Ruby Tailed Wasp

Eristalis nemorum

Eristalis tenax

Red Admiral

Philanthes triangulum

Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters hunted the bank and I was surprised to see a male Lesser Emperor hunting about ten yards off the beach over the sea. There have been a couple at the Kessingland Beach Pools so it could have been one of those. A Common Buzzard came in off with the Gulls on its tail and six adult Med Gulls loafed off shore.

Buzzard

I was pleased to discover a big new patch of Sea Pea and my first Yellow-horned Poppies around the fishing boats before the cloud started to bubble up.