Notes from the valley

Cracking few days of trapping in the garden. On returning from Northumberland, I plan to catalogue my finds but until then have been uploading onto the excellent Norfolk Moths website. Many highlights to speak of, and lists longer than I care to type, but here are a few of the crowd pleasers. Many of these were trapped and then visited by Joe and James, so I was pleased with such variety.  Garden Tiger, 2 of these rested outside the trap until early morning.  Wow. Antler Moth. Exquisite and amongst my favourites.   A great double act, Pebble and Swallow Prominent. This got us searching for an ID. Balsam Carpet. Not so common. I am thrilled to have confirmed Willow Emerald at a local private site, Ducan's Marsh. Other cool stuff here included Brown and Migrant Hawkers, Long winged Coneheads and a Hornet-mimic Hoverfly, the same species I have had outside my house in the last week. Thanks to James and Joe for helping me confirm these species. W...

With a continued spell of warm and sunny weather, I have been launching operation Butterfly over the last 4 days, with splendid results. Spurred on by Matthew Oates' book and a belief that this is something I 'can' do (peak birding time often held up by work, but long halcyon days in the summer allow for extra time in the field) I began with a visit to Bonny Wood in Barking, near the family home in Suffolk. In fact, many of the family turned out for the walk including Moysiebirder and dad. The 23rd was a hot day, the wood itself quiet save for the buzz of insects. We were onto our first Silver-washed Fritillaries before long, at least 6 individuals dashed past us on the woodlands rides, rarely stopping to feed and not allowing any photos. A few of us got onto Purple Hairstreak high up in the Oaks, and on the way back we found a much more confiding and more easily observed colony. The target- Purple Emperor- did fly through high and strong, but sadly only myself and Ben got...

The English football team have been knocked out of a major tournament, and we have left The European Union, since I last posted. A while ago, then.  As the holidays approached, I appeased myself with decent views of the Caspian Tern at Breydon Water, a species that had given me the slip on more than one occasion in the past. Into activities week, and myself and a group of students witnessed a Marsh Harrier food pass at Cley, a Spotted Flycatcher at Flatford and a first for me- an Old Lady Moth in the trap at school. An excellent final week of work which the kids seemed to enjoy, particularly the bit where I handled a False Widow Spider, unaware of it's inherent danger.  At Church Marsh, I am close to confirming the breeding of Bearded Tits. I recorded this species almost 5 years ago when I first began visiting Surlingham, and expected it to be elusive but annual. This did not prove to be the case, so this marks a welcome return for a Broadland specialist. I have seen ...