July 31st Strumpshaw Fen

After an unbearable week of record breaking temperatures and almost melting away to a puddle of my own sweat, I am so glad to see the back of last week's heatwave. Thankfully, it has been much cooler this week, though this weekend was a bit of a washout and now it has been very windy since Tuesday. Not that I'm complaining of course. In fact it is quite refreshing.

Painted Lady

It wasn't the most exciting morning at Strumpshaw I'm afraid. The blustery conditions kept most things quiet. However, that didn't seem to stop a new fresh-looking batch of painted lady butterflies from emerging and taking over the place. They seemed to be everywhere despite the wind and especially down the path leading to Fen Hide, where they kept landing in front of me as I made my way to the hide. They looked as striking as their predecessors did when they arrived from Morocco earlier this summer. I expect that they will either produce the next generation here in the UK or make a start on their journey back to Africa one generation at a time in a relay like fashion. It really has been quite a painted lady year.

Also today; the kingfishers continue to make brief cameos at Reception Hide, the marsh harriers continue to deliver food to their young hungry airborne chicks, a sparrowhawk and a buzzard made a couple of appearances, swallows made a few spells of feeding flights over the broad, and the mallards and shovelers were still moulting confusing everyone that are new to birding even more than usual.

July 24th Strumpshaw Fen

A heatwave has been hitting the UK this week with temperatures reaching over 30+°C. It has been overwhelming. It has been so hot that it triggered a thunderstorm during the night. When my alarm clock woke me up at 5:45 this morning so that I could prepare myself for my usual commute to Strumpshaw, the storm was still raging and forced me to call for a lift. I had a bit of a lie-in, but I still wasn't looking forward for this week's shift as, even though the storm had now passed, it was still excruciatingly energy draining in this heat.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

I arrived at Strumpshaw with no time for a walk (not that I wanted to anyway today), so I just refilled the bird feeders and started my shift in the Reception Hide. Thankfully, it was a little cooler inside the hide thanks to a draft. However, there wasn't too much to see, bird wise, except for brief sightings of 3 bearded tits and a kingfisher, while also seeing marsh harriers, a heron, swallows and house martins and several moulting ducks.

While it seemed that the birds were preferring to stay out of the baking sun, the insects, on the other hand, were relishing it. It was a great day for dragonfly watching. From Reception Hide, hundreds of emperor dragonflies, black-tailed skimmers, brown, migrant and southern hawkers and common and ruddy darters swarmed over the broad, performing mass dogfights above the water. From the pond adjacent to the hide, I was showing visitors the small red-eyed damselflies and willow emerald damselflies, which I've never seen at this pond in previous years.

White Admiral

It was also a good day for butterfly watchers, too. As it was quiet from Reception Hide, I spent some time around the corner watching many of them visiting the buddleia. Peacocks, red admirals, commas, small whites, large whites, gatekeepers, meadow browns, painted ladies and, best of all, a white admiral were all seen from this one bush alone! An impressive haul! It made me put my mind on other things that wasn't the heat. The bad news, though, is that it is going to be even hotter tomorrow with temperatures predicting to reach 37-38 °C in some parts of the UK!

July 21st Pensthorpe

My parents were taking my grandparents on an outing to Thursford today and decided to drop me off at Pensthorpe so that I could have a day out as well. I've been feeling a bit disappointed in myself lately for not finding the creeping ladies-tresses and, yesterday at a secret location, the green-flowered helleborine. Two orchid targets have now got the better of me. And that's not all. Two others, the lizard and bog orchids are considered extinct in Norfolk or at least no one has reported of seeing any this year. The bog orchid, in particular, hasn't been recorded in this county for like 15 years or so. While I have seen lizard orchids in Norfolk back in 2016, they haven't been seen since that summer. July has been a bit of a slow month for my orchid challenge. Only two remain for me now, unless someone tells me other wise.

A day out to Pensthorpe was a welcoming break for me. Something that I needed right now. Though my back will not agree with me. I did a lot of walking, making my way to as many of the hides as I could, including a couple of new ones, not that there were anything to see in either of them. The more productive hides were the woodland hide and the hides overlooking the wader scrapes. In these hides, I saw a muntjac deer, marsh tits, young blue and great tits, chaffinches, little ringed plovers, 6 green sandpipers and lapwings respectfully. There were also many dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies, including banded demoiselles, black-tailed skimmers, brown hawkers, meadow browns, peacocks, large, small and possibly Essex skippers, commas, and red admirals.

Bluethroat

There was a lot of changes to Pensthorpe since my last visit last year. The gardens look amazing with new additional ponds and the enclosure area of the cranes and flamingos being slightly altered. But what got me really excited was in the wader aviary, where there was a new addition to the collection. Not only were there bearded tits, turtle doves and corncrakes amongst the avocets, ruffs and other waders they are breeding here, but also a bird I have yet to see in the wild. Believe it or not, I have never seen a bluethroat before, and once I saw a sign with a picture of one on it, I got really excited. It may not be a wild one, but it was a golden chance for me to see one in the flesh. After a late lunch, I went back to the aviary and saw one immediately. It was basically a robin with a blue and orange breast. This individual's breast looked as if it was undergoing some moulting as the colours were a bit faded, but I bet next spring it will look dazzling and singing a song that is equally breathtaking.

July 17th Strumpshaw Fen

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

I'm finally back doing my shift for the first Wednesday in two weeks. And for once, its a nice, sunny morning. A perfect day, as it turns out, for dragonflies. They were everywhere you looked and ranging in a variety of colours, sizes and species. From small red-eyed damselflies to large, vibrant emperor dragonflies. These winged beauties were in great numbers and they didn't go unnoticed by those who fancy them as a snack. At Fen Hide, a hobby sat for ages from a bare tree and, later from Reception Hide, circled around the broad catching and eating these dragonflies on the wing.

Hobby

It was a good day for butterflies this morning as well. Though the last few swallowtails were still on the wing this week, I had no reports of one being seen today. However, it were white admirals and silver-washed fritillaries that many visitors were after this time and I've had a few reports of them in a few spots across the reserve. I attempted to find them feeding at the buddleia not far from the Reception Hide a few times throughout my shift. I didn't manage to see either today, but during one trip to the buddleia bush, I did have a surprising encounter. There was a sudden rustling sound by my feet in the undergrowth as I walked by. Looking down, I notice a tail of what I assumed was a rat. Following the tail up a really long, slender body towards its fleeing head, I realised that this 'rat' was in fact a grass snake!

Young Great Spotted Woodpecker

Also today from Reception Hide; there was a bittern making a short flight at the far side of the broad, a male marsh harrier made a couple of food passes to his three young fledglings and a kingfisher made several brief visits. And from my early morning walk, I saw a juvenile great spotted woodpecker and from Fen Hide, I heard several bearded tits pinging away somewhere in the reed beds.

July 14th Holkham Pines

I believe I have finally met my match this week. I have now been to Holkham Pines twice this week looking for my latest orchid target; the creeping ladies-tresses. This is a small orchid with tiny hairy white flowers. The main bulk of their population is in Scotland as well as a few locations in north England. It makes the small population here in Norfolk very unique and mysterious. How did they get there and why are they here? These are questions that are still puzzling naturalists. For me though, the main question is where are they now?

I had been given directions to their whereabouts here at Holkham, however, I still couldn't find them. On my first attempt on Monday, we searched the edge of the pines and a section of moss by the dunes but left without finding anything. Today, I returned with Dad for another try. This time we were more thorough along the entire length of the dunes. Sadly, the result was the same, but we did find plenty of orchids that I missed on my first visit. In a small patch of tall grass, it was packed full of marsh helleborines and southern marsh orchids. Making our way back following the dunes, we found lots of pyramidal orchids. We also came across several toads and the odd dark green fritillary. Some great wildlife, but not what I had came to see.

Where are these creeping ladies-tresses? If anyone knows and wants to join forces to help find them, let me know. For now, I have to call defeat. This is the one that got away.

 

July 9th Strumpshaw Fen

Great White Egret

As I had somewhere else I had to go this Wednesday, I decided to help out at Strumpshaw today instead. It was a dull, overcast day and provided very little on the insect front. The bird front, however, was pretty decent. I ended up visiting Tower Hide during my pre-shift walk today. Here, I joined a few regulars who were watching a great white egret. It was wading through the water searching for its next fishy meal alongside some grey herons. The egret stood out like a sore thumb with its bright white plumage and yellow bill. Also seen from this hide were common terns, shovelers with near fully grown ducklings and I was told that a bittern had shown up before I had arrived. Typical! I also happened to see a barn owl this morning while walking to the reserve.

Kingfisher

Kingfishers were extremely active from Reception Hide this morning. Every few minutes or so, one would fly over to perch somewhere around the broad. Sometimes there were two of them showing up at once. They definitely made several visitors happy on a day in which wasn't good for their main reason of coming to the reserve; swallowtails. Other than the kingfishers, I also heard some bearded tits (that happened to fly passed the hide without me noticing) and saw marsh harriers, swallows and house martins, swifts and a cormorant.

July 6th Cley

Mum was itching to go out bird watching with me. As her job is taking a lot of her time, we haven't gone out much together like we used to. Today, we finally had that chance. It appeared to be a nice sunny day for a trip out to Cley. However, as soon as we started the ride over there, the rain clouds suddenly rolled in and it rained for most of our visit. Where did that come from?

 There has been a couple of interesting birds at Cley in this last week. A squacco heron made a brief visit earlier in the week, but it has now long disappeared. There has also been a green-winged teal hanging around and it was possible that it was here today. The catch, though, is that this American version of our European teal is currently moulting. As it is now in its eclipse phase plumage, the distinctive white stripe that goes vertically down its body instead of being horizontally across the back like the more your usual, everyday, British teal has, that stripe is no more than a white spot or smudge right now. That meant that it was near impossible to identify it positively All the teal looked all the same at this moment in time. I left it to the professionals to find, who were also struggling in doing so and never found it while I was there.

Spoonbill

So it was raining and I failed to locate the rare bird I was looking for. Was this visit just a pointless waste of time? No. There were still plenty of things to see. It was actually one of the best visits to Cley in quite some time. The stars of the show were the spoonbills. There were five of them, two of which were youngsters with smaller bills and were constantly pestering the adults for food or attention. A couple of them were much closer to the hides than they have been in a while, providing amazing views as it continued to sieve through the water with its sensitive spoon-shaped bill for its next meal. I also saw a sandwich tern, a little gull, a few male ruff in summer plumage adorned with their varied coloured ruffs, plenty of avocets with a few chicks wandering around, godwits, dunlin, mallard and shelduck ducklings, lapwing, oystercatchers, greylags and lots of sand and house martins.

Young Spoonbill pestering an adult

July 4th Fragrant Orchids & Mousehold Heath

Ever since I found that lesser butterfly orchid two weeks ago, I have been more accustomed to the site where it is at. And though I have moved on from the lesser butterfly, this site in North Norfolk has been drawing me back. There was another orchid here that I've been waiting eagerly to see. Marsh fragrant orchids. Last week, I made my second visit to the boggy section of the site and found nothing other than a few marsh helleborines and hundreds of common spotted orchids. I left disappointed. Today, I have returned for my third visit in three weeks. This time, it was third time lucky.

Marsh Fragrant Orchid

I still can't really reveal the site's name as a precaution in order to protect the lone lesser butterfly orchid, but I can tell you that the fragrant orchids were now beginning to show themselves. The common spotted orchids were still dominating and the marsh helleborines have now doubled in their numbers since last week, but some of these fragrant orchids were towering above them all. There are three subspecies of fragrant orchid in the UK and the marsh fragrant is the tallest, growing up to 30-60cm. At the top of the tower of stem and leaves is a delicate looking spike full of tiny purple flowers that are slightly spaced apart from one another. As the plant's name suggest, the flowers have a strong, sweet aroma to them. I had a sniff and I have to say that it was a rather pleasant smell, like a sweet smelling perfume. It is up there as one of the nicest orchids I've ticked off so far. Only 6 more to find now! (I got it wrong in the video, sorry about that!)

Scarce Silverlines

Hours after seeing the fragrant orchids, I was out again. It was moth night at Mousehold Heath. And what a night for it! Conditions were perfect and the moths were out in force. We didn't call it a night until 1am! It was just hard to tear ourselves away. There were so many moths that they were becoming a nuisance as they kept bombarding us and even found themselves crawling under my clothes! Some of the highlights include; swallow-tailed moth, buff arches, green silverlines, scarce silverlines, large yellow underwings, spectacled moth, buff ermine, mottled beauties, heart and clubs, beautiful hook-tip, yellow oak button and many, many micro moths to name!

July 3rd Strumpshaw Fen and Secret Locations

Marsh Helleborine

I arrived at Strumpshaw like clockwork, but I wasn't there for long. This morning, I was invited to help out with a fen orchid survey out somewhere in Norfolk. But before that, I had just enough time to check on the marsh helleborines that I saw last week in the meadows. This time, they were in full bloom.

Satisfied with the helleborines, I went back to the office and waited for Strumpshaw's site manager, Tim Strudwick and two other volunteers to take me out to the special site to where we were going to do our survey. My reason in joining this survey was to redo my little amateur video that I did the other week as the camera did not focus on the orchid. Fen orchids are not exactly the best subjects for my camera it seems. The fact that they are small, green and blends in with the rest of the vegetation, I should have known that my camera would play up because of them. So I was glad to get this second opportunity to go and film them. However, it did involve walking through a bog to find them and that created some comedy on my behalf.

Even though I had brought my wellies, I still managed to get a wet foot. This was because the mud managed to suck my left welly from my foot and I nearly fell over, getting a soggy sock in the process. Thankfully, we did eventually find about 20 fen orchids and I did eventually get to film one, though it did take a bit of trial and error for the camera to behave itself, which involved getting myself wet by kneeling in the bog in order to steady myself. Walking back out of the bog, the mud almost got me again, this time on my right foot. Luckily, I somehow managed to keep it from coming off completely and my right foot was spared a soaking.

Fen Mason Wasp

It wasn't just orchids today. Tim, being a wasp and bee enthusiast, was continuously stopping the group every time he saw a bee or wasp that caught his interest. He took us to some sandy dirt mounds were a colony of social wasps and bees, plus their parasitic counterparts. These mounds were buzzing with activity and swarming with these insects. There was one species that Tim wanted to show us more than any other. Fen mason wasps are one of the rarest species of wasp, not just in the UK, but also in Europe. Tim showed us the small chimneys that the wasp construct around its nest hole. After a short wait, he managed to catch one to show us. It was black with distinctive white stripes. A wonderful looking creature and one that very few people have probably ever seen, let alone heard of.





After completing the survey, we went to another site, but we didn't really find anything other than a few swallowtail butterflies flying over our heads and hearing a grasshopper warbler. And with that, my day walking through boggy terrain looking for orchids was complete. That is until the next orchid that I have to search for in another bog. I can't wait!