May The 4th Be With You

It was a chance to complete a butterfly transect and then a bumblebee transect today, with the weather set to be warm and sunny. And it turned out to be a great day for adding new species to the patch list.

Both transects were surprisingly quiet, but for this year's first small whites, red admiral and a small copper. There were butterflies and bumblebees about, but in very small numbers and entirely missing from some sections of the transect.

The years first reed warblers have now arrived, with one singing from the Bawsey Drain and another singing from the Reffley Reservoir. Another avian first for the year was a lone swallow that was seen flying over Reffley Wood. The first Helophilus pendulus hoverfly was noted on the edge of Spring Wood and the cock's-foot grass was beginning to flower  alongside the cycle path that runs across part of the site. A number of 14-spot ladybirds were seen adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital and two 2-spot ladybirds were found on Osier Marsh.

But the stars of the day were the new species that I have added to the patch list, with red-breasted carrion beetle, red-and black froghopper, ramsons, spotted medick, drinker moth, and sheep's sorrel. This now brings the Patch List up to 432 species.

Drinker moth catterpiller

Red-and-black froghopper



Red-breasted carrion beetle

A Week of Work and Wildlife

To say last week was a tough week would be an understatement! I ended up working a 75 hour week by working 8 days without a day off and doing several odd shifts of overtime. To my frustration, this gave me very little time for heading down to the patch. But I did manage to do a combined butterfly/bumblebee transect last Thursday and, because I was shattered on my 1 day off, a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon.

In fact, I had to make a huge effort on Thursday to get the transect done. I had been at work until just after midnight on Wednesday into Thursday, I then went back into work for 08:30-10:00 on Thursday morning. After finishing at 10, I then needed to pick up a package from the sorting office before getting back home, changing and setting back out again. All in the knowledge that I was back into work for 15:00 to midnight once again!

Doing the combined transect was much easier than I had expected it to be and got some good counts, which included good numbers of small tortoiseshells and peacocks, plus a couple of commas in Reffley Wood. For the bumblebees, I had more good numbers of buff-tailed and white-tailed bumblebees, a few red-tailed bumblebees,  and (much to my delight) a tree bumblebee buzzing around the edge of Reffley Wood.

The sun was out and I did the whole thing in my shorts and t-shirt. And the lovely day also brought a few extra surprises with this year's patch first singing blackcap and willow warbler. I had a superb view of a basking grass snake, making good use of the top of a fence. The first bee-fly was also seen in the same area. The first tawny mining bee was also seen on Osier Marsh

On the Saturday, I went out with my sweep net and camera just to see what I could stumble across. I had no great plan other than to see what I could find. I caught a wasp whilst I was walking through Osier Marsh and I was kneeling down and examining it closely through my hand lens in an effort to get a positive ID. It was giving me a little trouble as it seemed a cross between several species in the guide book that I had with me. I was so engrossed with trying to identify the wasp, I was startled when I was nearly mown down by a grass snake as it zipped past me. It was so close that it almost slithered over my feet!

Now I do have a phobia of snakes and I have forced myself to seek them out over the last few years. This has definitely helped with the phobia, but any encounters are under my own control. To come across one so close and so unexpectedly gave me quite a turn, but I did manage to stay where I was and watch the snake disappear into the brambles instead of coming out in a cold sweat and running off! It used to be a joke when I was working on Roydon Common in the 90's that my colleagues would sit on the hill and send me out to walk across the common and count the number of times I leapt up into the air to record the number of snakes about. Nobody else would ever find them, but I would frequently stumble across them!

But back to the wasp. I initially ID'd it as a red wasp, but upon further research on the internet, it turned out to be a worker German wasp.

Having finished with the wasp, I wandered over to the Reffley Reservoir in the hope that I might get a photo of a grass snake swimming. I had no such luck, but I did find the year's first cuckoo bumblebee of the year when I found a Bombus vestalis on the bank.

Bombus vestalis

Thursday, 27 March 2014

Way back in 1994, whilst volunteering for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust at their Holme Dunes National Nature Reserve, I regularly walked a butterfly transect to record the butterflies using the reserve. At the same time I started getting into bumblebees and hit upon the idea of walking the same route as the butterfly transect, but recording bumblebees instead. I spent that summer learning the different species using the reserve and resolved to start the transect in 1995.

My plan never came to fruition, however. I was lucky enough to get a summer contract as a warden on Scolt Head Island for what was English Nature in 1995. After that contract finished, I got a short-term contract for Dersingham Bog, which eventually lasted almost a year and so I spent another summer away from Holme.

I never got to try a bumblebee transect out at Holme and after I had finished at Dersingham, I decided to start putting down roots and get a permanent job away from nature conservation and the transect idea faded away. I still kept it in the back of my mind, but after moving away from the Holme area, had nowhere to actually do it.

Then, in 2010, I discovered what has now become my local patch. It was ideally situated close to home and I immediately came up with plenty of ideas about what I was going to do. My main interest  back then was mainly just for the birds, but the idea of a bee transect immediately came to mind. At the same time, the Bee Conservation Trust were asking for people to volunteer for what they call a BeeWalk - which is essentially a bee transect. I immediately registered my interest and started planning my route.

As enthusiastic as I was about it, I came across two problems. My bumblebee ID had become way too rusty. It is definitely true when they say "Use it or Lose it" when it comes to species identification. So I set about trying to learn the species again, but came up against the second problem - work. At the very same time, I started being inundated with overtime and I ended up missing most of the summer and lost my opportunity to get my eye in and set up my route.

In 2011, I set up a butterfly transect route and have been regularly recording the butterflies ever since. I knew I could use the same route for the bees, but I had moved locations with my work and I was doing even more overtime and was regularly working late shifts and didn't have the time to do any additional surveys.

But today, I finally managed to do my first bee transect. I set off with my net, sample bottles and ID guides and expected to spend most of the day bogged down in keys. But I actually found it much easier than I thought it would be and didn't actually need to catch anything or get bogged down in the key.

The weather wasn't the best that it could have been, but I think I managed to complete the transect just in time. I had been watching the weather for today all week and all was set to be sunny and warm - ideal for bees. Until this morning. The weather forecast was now cold and wet, but it was still sunny outside my window. It did keep clouding over and the threat of rain was high at times, so I stalled my start so I could see what was going to happen.

Nothing really did happen, so I decided to risk it and set off to the starting point. The sun shone for most of the walk and I managed to record both white-tailed and buff-tailed bumblebee queens quite easily. I was even able to check the bees higher up that were encoring off the willow flowers and identify them without any problems.

Although the numbers weren't exactly numerous, the transect was a complete success. The totals from each section can be found on the link at the top of the page. But almost at the exact moment that I finished, it clouded over and started to rain and didn't stop for the rest of the day. It also turned much colder and I didn't see a single bumble bee on my return walk home. In by the skin of my teeth!

Whilst walking back home, I stumbled on a cup shaped fungus. I have no idea what it is and I have never seen anything like it before. I have put a copy of the photo onto I-Spot, so I will hopefully have some kind of answer soon.

 

 



Monday, 24th March 2014

After a foggy start, it became nice and sunny, although the wind was definitely on the chilly side. The temperature was 2C at the start, and remained on the low side until the fog lifted, when it climbed up to a heady 9C, but the wind remained stubbornly chilly and took the edge off what would have been a beautiful spring day.

There was a pair of green woodpeckers calling from each end of the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital wood and a pair of great spotted woodpeckers that were only about 100 yards apart. I know the great spots breed in the wood, but I have never found the nest site in the 4 years that I have been exploring the area.

The definitive sound of spring, for me, is the sound of chiffchaffs calling. I already saw a chiffchaff in the Gaywood Valley a couple of weeks ago, so it was great to actually hear them calling today. I say them because the single bird of two weeks ago has now turned into 7 singing males calling from all around the Osier Marsh. Surprisingly, I didn't hear one in Reffley Wood.

At least one water rail is still present and I heard a brief snatch of a woodlark. The treecreepers are making a lot of noise now (relatively) and everything is definitely gearing up for breeding. Several blackbirds seemed to be particularly interested in potential nesting sites, woodpigeons were seen carrying sticks and collared doves were seen mating. A single skylark was still singing from it's usual location, but I am still uncertain as to whether breeding takes place for this species. I am sure it does, I just need to prove it! Three grey partridges and a male Sparrowhawk were other birds of note to bee seen.

Although the wind was cold, it didn't put off the butterflies, with 2 commas and a superb count of 26 small tortoiseshells. Whilst I have seen a single brimstone outside of the recording area, I still haven't noted a single one on my patch yet.

Plenty of bumblebees were seen, although most buzzed by too fast or too high to ID, but I did manage to record 5 buff-tailed and 1 red-tailed bumblebee for the day.

The moles have been busy on the Osier Marsh with plenty more fresh mole hills noted, a pair of muntjacs were seen together and a single roe deer was noted feeding at the edge of  Trundle Wood.

I have only seen a live fox on one occasion in the Gaywood Valley and I am always on the look out for tracks and trails. It wasn't until 2012 that I saw the fox, and it is only since then that I have started to occasionally find any signs of them. I haven't seen anything to do with foxes for quite some time, but a fresh scat was found two weeks ago and I found another today. So it would seem that at least one has returned to the patch.

An investigation of the Reffley reservoir turned up three new clumps of frog spawn and the years first clump of toad spawn. The water levels have dropped considerably over the last few weeks and there is quite a lot of pond detritus left surrounding the high water mark. Whilst investigating this, I found a snail shell and took it home to try and ID. I had little hope finding out what it was, but was surprised to find that I managed to discover that it was the shell of a Great Rams-horn snail - a common species that I wasn't even aware of!

 

 



The first grape-hyacinth was noted flowering today, and I also recorded the first flowering cowslips of the year over by the reservoir.

Wednesday 19th March 2014

I went out for an evening/night time walk see if I could find a barn owl using the Osier Marsh and to see if there was any amphibian activity in the Reffley Reservoir. I also took my bat detector to record any bats that might be out and about.

I didn't arrive until later than planned and thought I had missed my opportunity to see any barn owls hunting over the marsh. I stayed until it was almost dark and was just about to leave, when I thought I had spotted something pale over by the copse. It was so dark that I couldn't be sure if I was seeing something or not, but it was a barn owl that was actively hunting over towards the river.

It was quite a relief to finally see a barn owl over Osier Marsh once again. I haven't seen one since the 4th August 2013. As I have previously written about, a grid of paths was mown all over the marsh and I had felt the extra disturbances was going to frighten off the wildlife. And it appeared to do so, with sightings of grey partridge, kestrel and barn owl suddenly becoming obvious by there absences.

I have started recording grey partridges again over the last month or so, and a male kestrel has also been regularly noted over the marsh again, but the barn owls have been stubbornly absent. Until tonight, that is!

It was dark enough for bats by this time, so I walked over to the reservoir to look for any amphibians and start recording the bats. I had done this quite successfully at the beginning of March, but it was a little different tonight. I carefully searched the reservoir, but couldn't find a single amphibian. And I only recorded 2 common pipistrelles and a single soprano pipistrelle on my walk back towards home.

Saturday 8 March

It was an interesting evening walking around the marsh tonight. I started at 18:15 with my bat detector at the ready. I wanted to see if there were any bats about after the warmest day of the year so far and also look for any frogs and toads that might be using the Reffley Reservoir.

I hadn't gone too far when I picked up my first bat, but it passed by too quickly to get a definite ID on. I stayed for a while to see if it came back, but was disappointed when it didn't. I was, however, encouraged by the fact that there were bats about.

I had a definite 45KHz pipistrelle along the edge of the Reffley Estate and heard several feeding buzzes as it passed back and forth. I picked up a second 45KHz a little further on that was feeding along the opposite side of the Black Drain.

Walking in almost complete darkness, I slipped and slid my way around the edge of the Reffley Reservoir, where I found several more 45ers and, to my surprise, a definite 55Khz pipistrelle. There weren't any bats at the far end of the reservoir/edge of Reffley Wood, but I was pleased that my torch was able to pick out the toads that were at the bottom of the reservoir. I carefully made my way around the water and counted 28 common toads and 3 common frogs, along with two fresh clumps of frog spawn - all the first for the year!

Things quietened down after then. I did have an indeterminate 50KHz pipistrelle along the cycle path and a further 4 common toads, but I then had to wait until I had almost finished before finding my last 45KHzer that was flying around the gardens opposite the Springwood.

I really enjoyed the evening and it definitely beats sitting and watching telly!

Monday 3 March 2014

The sun was shining today, but I was only able to make an afternoon visit to the patch today. I was on the lookout for any signs of spring and I wasn't to be disappointed. I had gone out dressed for the cold, but there was some warmth in the March sun and I was soon feeling too overdressed! Completely in contrast to last year's bone-chilling March!

A small patch of springbeauty that grows in some body's hedge was flowering and I found a couple of single lesser celandine flowers in a couple of places I haven't seen before that were in full bloom. I disturbed a comma butterfly as I walked the footpath running down the side of the hospital. This is where I was hoping to catch an early chiffchaff, but, after an hour of searching, there was no sight nor sound of one.

A butterfly that has mostly been absent from my part of the Gaywood Valley is the small tortoiseshell. I would only have one record of a single butterfly each year until last year's mega summer. As happened across the country, the numbers of small tortoiseshells exploded in 2013 and I ended the year with the total number seen up in the hundreds. So it was nice to see one almost as soon as I started walking around Osier Marsh. I had a further 2 later on and yet another that was close to the Reffley Reservoir.

The reservoir was still very quiet and not much was going on. A number of great tits were having an almighty squabble at one end, and I had a brief view of a large rudd as it darted off out of sight.

I have seen the occasional bumblebee over the last few weeks, but they have all been frustratingly to high and too quick to ID. Until today, when I was finally able to track one down and ID a massive queen white-tailed bumblebee.

Sunday, 19 January 2014

It wasn't an entirely bad day's birding, even though it was miserable for most of it. Whilst the rain wasn't heavy, it was persistent and didn't let up until well after midday. I managed to total of 41 species for the day, with the highlights being a superb stunning male bullfinch in some lucky person's garden and a marsh tit hidden amongst a party of long-tailed tits and blue tits.

A major gripe, however, is the amount of dog walkers who are now venturing all over the main valley. The area was mown to create a grid back in the autumn and I initially approved this. It is important to generate different ages in the vegetation to enhance the biodiversity of the area, but the local dog walkers have all taken it as an invitation to walk wherever they want, with their beloved pets bounding around everywhere and frightening off the wildlife.

And it seems to be getting worse. I have never seen so many dog walkers using the valley as I did today. Wherever you looked, there was a dog walker making their way along. Some of them clearly didn't have control of their pets and, instead of listening out for any wildlife, all I could hear was various people shouting at there dogs. If they cant keep close control, they should either keep their dogs on a lead, or go elsewhere. AND KEEP OUT OF THE MAIN VALLEY! There are permissive walks around the edge and across the middle, so why they can't keep to these tracks I just don't understand.

And it seems to be having a definite impact on the wildlife. Gone are the grey partridges that used to use the valley. Gone is the little owl and sightings of the barn owls that regularly used to hunt over the valley have dropped drastically.