Blue Eyed Birder: Lowestoft Life - 3rd

3^rd September:

A shopping pootle around Beccles may have accidentally seen my pop into the church yard of St Michael’s to add another spot for Luffia lapidella on the stones along with a few leaf mines too as well as finding two new naturalised species for my Pan Species List with Procumbent Yellow Sorrel (NPSL) and a single Snapdragon (NPSL) growing out of a wall!

Snapdragon - Antirrhinum majus

Procumbent Yellow Sorrel - Oxalis corniculata

Moths at home that night saw Flounced Rustic (57) and Straw Underwing (41) the most numerous species with a Common Wave and Vetch Moths being my two unusual ones – for me at any rate. The two regular Limnephilus Caddis were caught too with marmoratus and flavicornis as well as a funky identifiable Midge that I had seen before and a very smart and chunky Bug, Pantilus tunicatus (NPSL).

Common Wave

Culiseta annulata

Small Blood Vein

Vetch Moth - Aproaerema anthyllidella

Pantilus tunicatus

4^th September

A new mollusc for me today – and in my garden too! Wrinkled Snail (NPSL) – another one of the small ones. I saw Girdled Snails too but I am pretty sure that they accompanied me to Suffolk from north Kent! A walk to the chippy that evening saw me accidentally looking the Limes in my road (‘Common Lime – Hybrid Small x Large-leaved' NPSL) and the huge Poplar tree (not sure what that is yet) which gave me a new moth mine with Stigmella trimaculella (NPSL).

Wrinkled Snail - I believe

Stigmella trimaculella

5^th September

Nothing of real note overnight on the 4^th with most of the noctuid numbers dropping off but an Oak Hook Tip was a nice after trap find.

A run out to the Emmaus Convent charity place in Ditchingham saw a few more leaf mines collected although these ones are just into Norfolk but I am happy to share. The Quince was in fruit (some off the ground scrumping may have occurred) (NPSL) and the Ivy was swarming with Ivy Bees and the associated thrum.

I took a very scenic route back home that went south a bit before crossing a swathe of Suffolk countryside dotted with villages all with a one Saint or another in their names. Some churchyard visits are in the offing. I only stopped for a short while at St Andrew’s in Wissett to find the prerequisite Luffia and some smart lichens. I will return.

Dicranopalpus ramosus

Lovely lichen eye makeup but will someone please get the Cherub a tissue!

6^th September

I short look at Pakefield Beach was basically birdless but I always love my beach view and the ever hungry gulls.

Today’s route out went over Breydon Water where about 30 Spoonbills were on the Mumps with many Little Egrets and scattered wader dots. The usual Buzzards and Marsh Harriers were out on the marshes on the Acle Straight and then we wormed our way up towards Wroxham with a stop at the magnificent St Mary’s Parish church in South Walsham. The bells were peeling for an upcoming afternoon wedding but we were allowed in for a shufty. I may not be in the slightest bit religious but I do like a good church and the grounds of the old ones are always good, easy places to look for wildlife.

As well as few mines there was a single Red Admiral and thousands of Ivy Bees in colonies around the whole church foundation and close cut lawns. I even added a new plant with a couple of renegade Atlas Poppies (NPSL).

Luffia lapidella

Ivy Bees

Atlas Poppy

Atlas Poppy

On again to the coast after Wroxham where I managed to get parked up at the correct gate in Sea Palling this time. One of my Rainham friends was waiting at the gate for the Black-winged Kite and had been doing so for five hours. He blithely said ‘oh you are here now and will find it in ten minutes!’ It only took me six…

I quartered the distant scrub on fixed V wings looking like a silvery giant crisp packet being blown around before occasionally stopping to hover. A few minutes later it dropped and that was that. Amazing to think that I first saw this bird almost year ago and have now encountered it four times this year since then.

That evening I accompanied Antony down to Covehithe just after dark to check oy the flowering Ivy closest to the coast. It was another warm evening and it was a joy wandering up and down the dark lane. There was no sound bar the waves over the encroaching cliff edge, the trilling of Dark Bush Crickets in the Brambles and the occasional Little Owl call.

Antony's phone camera is the dogs...

We did quite well with 119 moths of 36 species which included many Square Spot Rustics and ten apiece for Rush Veneer and Rusty Dot Pearl. Four Pearly Underwings and five peachy Delicates suggested incoming migrants. A Convolvulus Hawk-moth clattered by and two Old Ladies were out on the town. Swallow-tailed and Pale Tussock cats were also found. The walk back on the opposite side of the road was mostly Sallow but there were almost as many moths feeding on Aphid sap on the leaves as on the flowering Ivy.

Rusty Dot Pearl - AW

Large Yellow Underwing sap sucking - AW

Old Lady - AW

Delicate - AW

Bordered Beauty - AW

Ancylosis oblitella - AW

A rather dark and beautiful Small Mottled Willow - AW

Pale Tussock - AW

There were a few spiders including a hunting Dicranopalpus ramosus which at last gave me an idea what they look like when not spread eagled on a wall! Common Earwings were everywhere and almost any flowering Ivy rosette had one or two supping pollen. I see them so rarely nowadays so it was a treat watch so many.

Iteomyia major on Sallow

Dicranopalpus ramosus - AW

Common Earwing - AW

Striped Millipede - Ommatoialus sabulosus - AW

7^th September

My trap overnight at home saw an increase in those regular noctuids once again but this time with loads more Large Yellow Underwings and more Square Spot Rustics as seen on the coast that night.

I popped down to Pakefield Beach before breakfast but had already missed most of the early seabird action but in my 45 minutes I did see a Fulmar and distant Sooty Shearwater, three Gannets and two Sandwich Tern north along with Curlew, nine Teal and three Common Scoter south.

I sorted out my indoor Orchids during the day and removed (after taking a pic!) the Brown Scale (NPSL) that that been secretly sucking leaf fluids!. Antony had left me his Clifden Nonpareil from the previous night and a couple of locals came round to see this magnificent beast before I set her free that evening.

Brown Soft- Scale - Coccus hesperidum

Clifden Nonpareil

9^th September

A chillout day where I was still tinkering with some of my diorama creations but after dinner the lure of 15 Pale-bellied Brent Geese drew me down to a chilly and grey Ness Point where this rather lost group of adults were contentedly grazing on the Gutweed just below our feet where the incoming tide was pushing them ever closer.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

They were completely silent and absolutely at ease with us watching them from just a few feet away. They are early arrivals but I have never seen more than two PBBG down south before so this group took a serious wrong turning somewhere along their route. Amazing to think that the last ones I saw were only just arriving in Svalbard in mid-June. I think that this encounter will certainly be one of the wildlife highlights of my year.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

A big bull Grey Seal ploughed his way close inshore and two adult Little Gulls dipped down off the outfall.

I left before the tide forced the geese to retreat.

10th September

Catch up day indoors and I managed to do my notes to be submitted for my my two raptors earlier this year that somehow slipped through the bloggage system...

Not sure if they will pas muster but the best I could do

11^th September

It rained all of the previous day but had brightened again so I pottered down to Ness Point for a short while. The sea was very quiet with just three Sandwich and single juvenile Arctic and Common Terns north along with six Gannet. A Wigeon, 12 Teal and four Scoter headed south.

Grey Seal

I checked out the birdless Tamarisks but did find Brown Tail moth tents in the Dog Roses and a selection of tough coastal plants including flowering Sticky Groundsel (NPSL).

Brown Tail

Small White

Buck's-horn Plantain

Dittander

Perennial Sow Thistle

Red Goosefoot

Scarlet Pimpernel

Spear-leaved Orache

Spear-leaved Orache

Spergularia - possibly marina

Sticky Groundsel

Yellow-horned Poppy

Back at home curiosity got the better of my and I had a look at my Duckweed – as you do. Ivy-leaved (NPSL) in the pond out the front and Least (NPSL) in the waterbutt! The latter is the smallest UK flowering plant so now you know.

Least Duckweed - Lemna minuta

Ivy-leaved Duckweed - Lemna trisulca

I took myself out before lunch to have a look around some local churchyards that I had never visited before and began my route in St Andrew’s in Mutford. There was a good selection of leaf mines and zillions of Ivy Bees along with a single Dasypoda hitirpes and I tried to id some lichens which gave me a new one, Tephromela atra (NPSL) with a fat thighed Cabbage-Stem Flea Beetle (NPSL) that would have been quite a home in the nearby Beet field.

Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala)

Common Restharrow

Greater Celandine

Grimmia pulvinata

Hop

Physcia adscendens

Physcia caesia

Tephromela atra

Tree Mallow

Woolly Thistle

Striped Millipede - Ommatoialus sabulosus

Still working on this fly - yellow haltares

On to St Michael’s at Rushmere where a bigger mine selection of mines was found as well as the expected Phytomyza ilicis but also one of the Buttercup ones that I am pretty sure is Ph. Rannunculivora (NPSL?). There were four species of Ladybird and a smart Wrinkled Snail too.

Lyonetia clerkella on Swedish Whitebeam

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella on Hawthorn

Stigmella speciosa on Sycamore

possibly Phytomyza ranunculivora - widely spaced frass

Wrinkled Snail

22-spot Ladybird

24-spot Ladybird

Rose Aphid - Macrosiphum rosae

St Mary’s at Henstead is a bit of pain to get into as there is no official place to park around this busy crossroads but I found a spot and walked back up. A few mines but no Luffia lapidella here and jus the one Psyche casta but the Ivy here was stupendous and I can only imagine the number of Ivy Bees in attendance. There were many Common Wasps too and I found a nest once again.

Common Darter

Psyche casta

Ivy Bee

Sweet Chestnut

Single Peacock and Red Admirals were also present but only a few Eristalis Hoverflies. A patch of flowering Autumn Crocus were flowering in a wild corner.

Autumn Crocus

Large Flowered Evening Primrose

Peacock

A Green Woodpeckers yaffled and I could hear the odd Chiffchaff call but it was very quiet.

12^th September

My trap overnight on the 11^th gave me five Pale Mottled Willows and two Pearly Underwings as well as a garden first Ditula angustiorana and likewise a Depressaria that requires more attention so watch this space. I took a rubbish pic of it and then promptly lost it in the garage. I even tried leaving putting the trap back on in the garage but the only moth it attracted was the little bonus Ditula! I decided to 'tidy' some of the rather cobwebby shelves by the window that dislodged some LBAMs, a Garden Carpet and Brimstone but no Depressaria but when I went back down that evening to put the trap on outside - there it was sat on the window and it did not fluff the capture that time!

Depressaria sp Original

Ditula angustiorana

Rather than just throwing Andrea out at the craft fair in St Margaret’s in Hopton, I too had a stall with my dioramas on but there was still time for a wander around the greater area of the churchyard and I improved vastly on my previous attempt with leaf mines. I low patch of Ivy hedge was alive with the expected Ivy Bees and Common Wasps but also a few Eristalis tenax, a female Volucella zonaria and lots of Tachina fera types but once again, unless I am getting something very badly wrong, most appeared to be T magnicornis. We shall wait and see. Two big Phaonia seem to fit the bill for P valida. It looks like this family may be identifiable from good images so I may have to go back and look through my old ones (NPSL).

Yew

Phyllonorycter tristtrigella on Elm

Tischeria ekebladella on Oak

Tachina magnicornis

Tachina magnicornis

Tachina magnicornis

Tachina magnicornis

Volucella zonaria

Phaonia valida

Hosts of Seven Spot and Harlequin Ladybirds were in the Ivy and I found single Parent Bug and a nymph of Rhopalus subrufus as well as a Wall Brown which I was not expecting. There was Procumbent Yellow Sorrel in the churchyard and outside I found it’s Upright relative in the lane (NPSL) and a couple of fungi that seem to be Boletus / Xerocomellus chrysenteron (NPSL).

Rhopalus subrufus

Wall Brown

Parent Bug

Upright Yellow Sorrel - Oxalis stricta

Procumbent Yellow Sorrel - Oxalis corniculata

That afternoon at home a Hawker type outside caught my eye as looking a little odd and I went outside and enjoyed watching a male Vagrant Emperor zipping around the Buddleia for a couple of minutes. An excellent garden lifer. Common Darter, two Small Whites and a Painted Lady were also seen.

13^th September

Mothing overnight when it rained was actually very productive and I had my best catch of the month with 40 species. A ridiculously pink Tawny Wave was NFG and my favourite but interestingly I also caught two more Depressaria which do not seem to be the same species as the one the previous night. Antony also caught one. The jury is currently out but whatever they all are they are new for me! A stunning Bloxworth Snout was almost the first moth I pulled out. Lowestoft is definitely a county hotspot and I suspect the amount of Pelitory helps.

Bloxworth Snout - AW

Depressaria sp - AW

Tawny Wave

An Endothenia mediana (the other Teasel lover) was also NFG and a NPSL? Limnephilus marmoratus and flavicornis Caddis were once again trapped and a very stinky Red-legged Shieldbug was checked just in case it was something rarer.

Endothenia mediana

We have been having a bit of a Fruitfly problem in the kitchen at the moment and I joked that I could never add any of these to my PSL list but hen in my trap that morning there was a Fruitfly with a black dot at the end of each wing. I took a shot and chanced it – yay Spotted-winged Fruitfly – Drosophila suzukii (NPSL). Happy days.

Spotted-winged Fruit Fly – Drosophila suzukii - AW

Just before lunch we headed out for the afternoon and into steady rain from Norwich onwards. The tide was extremely high and the Spoonbills and Little Egrets looked miserable as did four Cattle Egrets in the horse paddocks by the rugby club.

At the end of the Acle Straight (passing Great Egret on the way) we were meant to be going west but opted out of that plan and headed east into brightening weather. I stopped at St Edmund’s in Thurne for a two fold look – firstly because I had not seen any Broadland Cranes for a couple of months and secondly so that I could have a look around the churchyard.

It did not take me too long to find a pair of Cranes with a youngster out on the marshes before I retreated to the graves. The huge fruiting Crab Apple there gave me a few quality moth leaf mines including the scarce Callisto denticulella and both the swirly spirals of Leucoptera malifoliella and new wiggle of Stigmella malella (NPSL). The Fat Hen added another one with those of Chrysoesthia druella (NPSL) which I have collected a few leaves for Antony to try and rear through the impressive little red moth.

Stigmella malella - on Apple

Pretty samara

Crab Apple

Chrysoesthia druella

Callisto denticulella

Lunch at St Mary’s Hickling brought back memories of parking there to walk down for a White-tailed Eagle about 35 years ago. It was still trying to rain but it was a good lunch spot and my subsequent walk round gave me a good list of mines including some I had not seen that day with Phyllonorycter comparella on White Poplar being the most significant and probably the furthest east in Norfolk.

Phyllonorycter comparella on White Polar

Phyllonorycter comparella

I looked for the moth mine on the naturalised Golden Laburnums (NPSL) but only found the fly mines of Phytomyza cytisi (NPSL).

Phytomyza cytisi on Golden Laburnum

There were some big Larches, Douglas Fir and towering Sycamores around the edge and the mature Lawson Cypress were both fruiting and flowering and I found several Juniper Shieldbugs with both adults and large nymphs seen. I could not remember seeing this one before but apparently I had. I also found Hairy, Green and Birch Shieldbugs too and a hedge alive with Ivy Bees, Wasps and a few hunting Hornets.

Aceria cephalonea

Birch Shieldbug

Hairy Shieldbug - nymph

Juniper Shieldbug - nymph

Juniper Shieldbug

Nuctenia umbratica

Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers called and there were a couple of Chiffchaffs and an anxious Nuthatch which was my first anywhere for a while I think.

Onwards to the coast stopping to take a snap of some enormous roadside Parasol mushrooms and to scan for Cranes which actually gave me my first 31 Pink-footed Geese of the season. I wonder if they too had come from Svalbard where I saw them on their nesting cliffs wit the Auks, Kittiwakes and Barnacle Geese?

Parasol

Pink-footed Geese

Antony popped round with some show and tell moths that evening which gave me a few more new ones along with a couple of autumnal favourites.

Frosted Orange - AW

Hedge Rustic - AW (NPSL)

Sallow

I traded my funky Fruit Fly for a new Caddis – Oecetis ochracea (NPSL) and a tiny Lacewing - Hemerobius lutescens (NPSL).

Hemerobius lutescens

Limnephilus affinis

Oecetis ochracea - AW
I end this post on 3407 for my Pan Species Listing

14^th September

My trap overnight did not give me anything different and other than somehow buying a new car (and seeing the Breydon Spoonbills again), the highlight was a flock of 22 Med Gulls circling over the house in the evening.