Lockdown Plant Hunting (& A Corncrake)

For the last two weeks, I've taken my amateur plant hunting skills to new locations across Norwich. Since my last post, I've recorded a ton of new plant species to my list. I've been taking long walks and taken many photos for each new plant I expect is different and either posting them on a site to get IDed or figuring them out myself before sticking them into a scrapbook to help me remember what I've encountered so far. I'm hoping that I'm hoping to become a lot more of an expert to what I was before lockdown. Here's what I have been up to until now...

May 13th

 

Moving away from my local park, I decided to explore the streets and part of the River Wensum near where I live. I ended up doing a big loop, walking down as far as Anglia Square's car park and then along Marriot's Way that follows the river before making my way back home. Most of the plants were already on my list, but there were also plenty of new things too. This included; guelder rose, red valerian, beaked hawksbeard, Oxford ragwort, yellow-juiced and long-headed poppies (I checked the sap inside as both are identical), Mexican fleabane, hop trefoil, ivy-leaved toadflax, purple toadflax, large bittercress and groundsel.

Poppy

 

May 16th

 

Just a quick mention that I saw a muntjac deer run pass my flat (twice) from my kitchen window. It seemed to be in quite a panic, clearly spooked by people and cars. Never seen one in broad daylight this close to home before. I expect it was feeling a bit more confident to explore the urban world whilst lockdown was still in effect, but it must have realised that the streets weren't quite as empty as it thought. Not sure what happened to it when I saw it a second time running up the opposite direction.

  

May 18th

 

On Monday, I went on another even longer walk. This time, I made my way to Mousehold Heath, then to St James' Hill, then along part of the Wensum that I hadn't explored yet before heading home with sunburn, bramble scratches and nettle stings to remember the walk by. My list included broom, gorse (about 3 species worth), meadow saxifrage, dog rose, sheep's sorrel, field bindweed, ox-eyed daisy, yellow flag iris, common fumitory, red clover and creeping thistle, not to mention a few tree species as well. I also saw small copper and common blue butterflies and a few blue damselfly species. I discovered and explored various habitats, some were temporarily such as patches of meadows on mowed public lawns.

Common Fumitory

 

May 21st

 

On Thursday, I visited Thorpe Marshes, which is the furthest place I've visited since lockdown began. It is quite amazing to think that this reserve was still within the city's boundaries for me to include the plants here to my list. In fact, the place made me feel like I was at Strumpshaw than in Norwich. The habitats were quite similar as were some of the wildlife. There were cuckoos, dragonflies, mayflies, common terns, swifts, swallows, reed buntings, whitethroats and reed, sedge and Cetti's warblers. As for plants, I added; ragged robin, bittersweet, water soldier, celery-leaved buttercups, black medic, Japanese rose, common wintercress, cuckoo flower, silverweed, water forget-me-nots and white campion.

Female Hairy Dragonfly

 

Plant hunting was actually a side mission while I was at Thorpe Marshes. The real reason was to try and locate a corncrake that had been seen in the last two days prior to this visit. After I was dropped off by Mum, I went for a walk around the reserve, lingering more around the cattle grazing fields where it was more likely to be. When I completed the circuit of the reserve, I was unsuccessful. Not giving up, I made a second attempt around the grazing fields. I encountered a cuckoo, but no corncrake. Whilst still watching the cuckoo, I called Mum to arrange a lift. I started to walk back the way I came, down a path beside a ditch, when suddenly I heard it!

 

"Crex crex! Crex crex!" The loud, distinctive calls of a corncrake that are often described as running a finger across a hair comb. It sounded really close, just the opposite side of the ditch to me. This rare and elusive rail remained hidden and fell silent after its outburst. I called Mum to try and delay her a bit longer. I was now against the clock. The corncrake remained silent and out of sight. A man with a scope, who was just passing by, joined me in my wait. Another phone call later, this time it was Mum calling me, and the bird called again. It had followed me as I slowly shuffled away from its original spot as I attempted to partially walk away in order to head to the pick up spot while also trying to locate it. In the end I had to leave empty handed, but at least I got to hear it before I went.

  

May 23rd

 

Another trip to the southern side of the city, this time it was Dad who took me to Rosary Cemetery, Lion Wood and Kett's Heights. A few new plants to my list, but not that many. They include foxgloves, yellow corydalis and couple others I'm still figuring out. My scrapbook is filling out nicely with at least 80 species in it, though I've more than likely have seen way more than I've added to it.

 

 

 

May 5th, 7th & 9th Catton Park

I've been starting to get really into visiting my local park this last week. Lockdown has brought me closer to my local patch than ever before. Since discovering the lesser whitethroat and experiencing the dawn chorus the other week, I've grown to love this place more and more. Why I haven't been visiting this place that much before the lockdown, I have no idea, but it has been a real lifesaver. I have no garden of my own and, since we've been restricted in our movements, a lot of my usual haunts like Strumpshaw are out of walking distance and have closed to the public anyway. I'm having to rely on more local places, like Catton Park, for my wildlife fix and it has been very rewarding and has surprised me on how much wildlife we have on the doorstep of this fine city of Norwich.



Stock Dove

During this last week, I've been trying so hard to find that lesser whitethroat again. I made two visits, one on the 5th on my own and another with my parents on the 7th, but there was no sign of the elusive warbler. There has been plenty of common whitethroats, but not lesser whitethroats. However, I did get to enjoy encounters with green and great spotted woodpeckers in the ancient oak trees at the centre of the park, though they were both as camera shy as my intended target. I have also seen plenty of stock doves and I've witnessed two crows mob a buzzard. As well as birds, there has been plenty of insect life too, namely butterflies in the form of speckled woods, orange-tips, peacocks and holy blues.

 

 

 

Today, I've came to a decision. I wanted to start a lockdown wildflower list. Plants are one of my weakest subjects. Sure, I've got to grips with the orchids last year, but the rest of our native floral life is another kettle of fish. So today, I have decided to attempt in starting a scrap book of all the wildflowers I've seen within my part of the city. Basically, anywhere within walking distance from my home in North Norwich. For now, I'm starting at Catton Park, but I'm hoping to also include plants from Mousehold Heath and any other local green spots within reach by foot. I'm not the greatest at plants, so if you live in my neck of the woods and want to share some findings or suggest some places I can walk to, let me know. Maybe, when lockdown has been lifted, I will continue this little project and visit other parts of the city and uncover more plants to my list.

 

 

Field Pansy

At Catton Park this morning, I managed to take a photo of as many notable plants that were in flower that I could find, including a couple of trees that were in flower. Possibly the pick of the bunch for me was field pansy, consisting of a single plant with a small number of tiny white flowers on it, each with the characteristic yellow centre marked with a set of black lines on them. I haven't found this plant here since 2007 when I first encountered them. I've been looking and looking, but with no luck what so ever. So I was very pleased to find this charming, minute flower. Its been a long time.

 

 

Kicking off my plant list (that I had a Facebook group help ID) were; wood avens, buttercup (Ranunculus sp.), Bulbous buttercup, dandelion, smooth sow-thistle, hedge mustard, yellow-flowered strawberry,  greater celandine, procumbent yellow-sorrel, Aquilegia (a.k.a  Columbine, or Granny's bonnet), a cranesbill that's still up for debate, wild radish, Herb Robert, garlic mustard, Germander Speedwell, yarrow, cow parsley, Alexanders, wild strawberry, white clover, common mouse-ear (I think), lords and ladies, greater speedwell, comfrey, daisy, common vetch, bird's-foot trefoil, English and Spanish bluebells, red and white dead-nettles, green alkanet, stinging nettle, red campion, cleavers, ground ivy, cowslip, hawthorn, horse chestnut and oak.  There were a few plantains and docks too, but I haven't sent them to be identified yet.

 

May 3rd Catton Park

Dawn at Catton Park

Today is International Dawn Chorus Day. It is a bit of a tradition for me to get up really early and go somewhere in Norfolk with Dad to listen to the birds. This year, however, I had to go solo to my local park to do it. Lockdown Dawn Chorus Day was quite a strange concept, but it was kind of interesting. Believe it or not, I've never done a dawn chorus at my local park before. Before lockdown, visits to it was few and far between. It is a nice place to go, but I always favoured Mousehold or Strumpshaw as my preferred 'go to' places. Since lockdown though, I've been visiting Catton Park more often, mainly because it is the closest place to visit right now with a nice mix of woodland and open grassland to explore.

This morning, I arrived to Catton Park at 5am and the sun was already rising, producing a pink and orange glow. A light mist floats above the dewy wet grassy fields that dampens my boots. I was the only person around until 6:30am when a few dog walkers and joggers appeared. Woodpigeons, wrens, robins and blackbirds were in full voice. I wandered around the park, making a few videos that you can see below. The more I walked, the more species I added to my dawn chorus list which includes; blackcaps, blue tits, great tits, nuthatches, song thrush, pied wagtail (brief fly over), magpies, jackdaws, carrion crows, lesser black-backed gulls, stock doves, chaffinches, chiffchaffs, goldcrests and a jay.

My big highlights from my walk were a green woodpecker (that surprised me at the end of one of these videos, but I never saw it) and a few whitethroats. I don't recall seeing whitethroats at this park before, at least not during my more recent visits, so I was pretty pleased to hear them and plenty of them too. However, there was one bird I was hoping to hear that I heard during a random walk on Thursday. What I heard was a lesser whitethroat. I've never heard one at this park before and I was extremely happy to be the one to discover it despite not actually seeing it. Sadly though, it did not add its voice to the chorus this morning. A minor disappointment, but it was still a good walk that I felt showed me a secret time of this place that few people have probably experienced and it has brought me closer to this park than ever before.