28th February:
Antony had a couple of moths from a coastal trapping site
the night before to show me as neither are likely in either of our Lowestoft gardens. Both Small Brindled Beauty and Yellow Horned
were actually very pretty moths and the next morning went back to their woods.
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| Small Brindled Beauty |
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| Yellow Horned |
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| Yellow Horned - with said horny bits - pics by Antony Wren |
I have not trapped again at home as although the odd day had
been nice, the nights have still been decidedly cool.
1st March
With my time at home running out I found a few more garden
jobs to do and hopefully there will be a good spring spread for the insects
(rather than me) to enjoy. The Pulmonaria
is flowering but I have seen nothing on it yet but the Daffs and some of the Primroses
are out but it looks like my Violets will be a little later as they spent so
long under the grass thatch. My two
random Early Purple Orchids in the lawn have come up once again and look
healthy. Just have to hope the local
voracious Mollusc population do not fancy them. I may have found some leaf mines too...
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| Phyllonorycter leucographella |
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| Early Purple Orchid |
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| Stigmella aurella |
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| Really pleased with this Euphorbia |
3rd March
It was a pleasant day and after some back door trauma (that
sounds all kind of wrong but honestly the key got stuck in the locked door to
the garden!) it was time to head out and a venture to Ditchingham ended up with
a circuit that took me to Track 42 on Westleton where Woodlarks sung high in
the blue and scurried around the paths and unseen Dartford Warblers scratchily
sung on the very well looking heath.
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| Woodlark |
There were singing Siskins and Linnets too and Treecreepers
and Coal Tits in the Birches as I did my circuit. A Woodcock erupted just a few yards in front
of my suggesting that for once no one had been around that day. Another second
and I may have noticed it first but it was still excellent to see one so close
as it flew powerfully away and low up the path.
It was not warm enough despite the sunshine for and insect
life but it had released the oils in the Gorse which was scenting the air with
coconut.
I was almost back to the car when I spied a large circling. I am always hopeful of a White-tailed Eagle
but was not disappointed to discover it was a Common Crane and with a couple of
pairs on our stretch of the coast now I hope that chance encounters like this
will become more frequent.
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| Common Crane |
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| Common Crane |
From here I stopped for a short while at the Blyth and had a short walk along the river bank. The tide was mostly in but just turning and Redshanks, Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwits were just spreading out from the random saltmarsh lumps and shipwreck islands where they had been roosting. Most lumps had a pair of territorial Oystercatchers perched up on top while Curlews were out in the surrounding cow fields where they was easy probing to be had.
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| Curlews |
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| Curlew |
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| Wigeon |
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| Avocets |
There were raptors patrolling with Red Kites, Buzzards and Marsh Harriers and a Kestrel was hovering as I walked back to the car after a pleasant afternoon out.
4th March
A hair cut in town saw me accidentally going the long way
home just to listen to the newly arrived Kittiwakes yelling from some of the ledges
just beyond the old bridge. It will
always make me smile that this happens in the town where I now live.
6th March
My pre Forest of Dean and Somerset Levels day out in Norfolk
did not quite go as planned as the weather had other plans. I headed west after breakfast and made it in
good time to hopefully connect with the ‘11am’ Breckland Goshawks but the visibility had been
deteriorating all the way and although the trees were visible it felt unlikely
that any was going to get up for an energetic fly round.
However and despite the clinging cold and damp it was
actually a wildlife filled hour with a total of eight doe and a single buck Roe
Deer which I do not remember seeing here before, lots of bounding Brown Hares with
their outsized limbs and ears and singing but invisible in the murk Skylarks and Woodlarks.
Roe Deer 
Roe Deer 
Brown Hares 
Brown Hare
I was surrounded by the mournful notes of several Mistle and Song Thrushes and six Crossbills called overhead while once sing in the nearest Pine tree but I just could not find it. Eventually a couple of Buzzards got up but I was not feeling the Goshawk love and made my way up to the coast where I hoped the fret would have dissipated.
Alas this was not the case and if anything it was even
worse. I drove past the three Glossy Ibises
on the east flood at Stiffkey but they were at the far west end and would have
been invisible in the grey if I had parked up and walked back to the other end
and looked down so I swung round and drove back through the village. They were so close to the road but you just
can’t stop there as it is too dangerous.
I parked up at the Stiffkey campsite wood car park but could
see less than 100m out and only a Little Egret and the grey humps of Brents
were visible so I gave up and went to North Point Pool where Red Kites and
Marsh Harriers were constantly provoking flights from the Gulls, Wigeon and
Avocets present. The wind had now got up
and it was bitterly cold. I did venture
out but only because I could see a beautiful pair of Grey Partridge through the
hedge. They did an amazing job of just
sitting still and hoping that I had not noticed them before they whirred off further
into the field.
It had cleared a little but there was still no light so I
continued along the coast and pulled off at the Gun Hill layby to overlook
Burham Overy Marshes. Two Pinkfeet
behind me with some Greylags were the only ones I saw on the coast all day but
out the other way I counted about 150 Russian White-fronts and some Barnacle
Geese out towards Joe Jordan and closer to the road a large flock of Dark-bellied
Brents dropped into a wheat field but I could find nothing different or out of
place with them. I only saw three
families amongst the 300 present.
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| Dark-bellied Brent Geese |
There were Chinese Water Deer and Muntjac out on the marshes
and several Great Egrets flew slowly through or poked sinuous necks out of
ditches. I was frozen and to make my
decision of an early dinner easier it then started to rain.
Time to have an early night before the long drive down to
Ham Wall in the morning. Hopefully it
will be a touch more spring-like down there!
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