"For now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see" Neutral Milk Hotel.

Saturday 25 January 2014

Saturday 25th January

Eager to get out and about today, I was disappointed that the dawn was greeted by thick fog. I dawdled for a few minutes as a result  - but a call from Robert alerting me to a lone Waxwing in Old Hunstanton had me on the move in a short space of time.  Though it was gone as soon as the call had been made, a great hour near the pond produced Marsh and two Coal Tits, at least two Nuthatches,  a distant calling Green Woodpecker and a good deal of bird song. Muntjac and Grey Squirrel were new to me for the patch this year. Christopher's Stonechats were nowhere to be found on the beach but the Short-eared Owl made a fine sight as it hunted the dunes beyond Lavender Marsh in the bright noon-day sun. Whilst photographing some glowing-orange lichen, a Water Pipit called overhead as it headed out onto Redwell Marsh - my first on the reserve for a year or more.  A dead common toad in the dunes wasn't entirely without interest and, fearing the advent of some miserable weather, I collected a couple of scraps of moss to keep me busy with an identification challenge during the day ahead.  A small number of Lapwing moved west during the day - perhaps 150 in total  - maybe a sign of cold weather to the east. The male Marsh Harrier put on a fine high altitude sky-diving display over the grazing marshes in the early afternoon.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Andy.
    Whilst I was at Holme last week looking at the Winter Stalkballs I photographed a few of the more distinctive mosses in that area. I identified Sand-hill Screw-moss (Syntrichia ruraliformis) and had the other two identified as Great Plait-moss (Hypnum lacunosum) and Neat Feather-moss (Scleropodium purum).
    Regards,
    James

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the info James. I'm a bryophyte raw beginner and I'm taking the learning curve quite slowly !. I'll keep a look out for your last two mentioned: I identified Syntrichia today - it covers a huge area of the dunes. Would be good to meet up to look for some bryophtes/fungi/lichens and anything else next time you are on the patch

      Delete
  2. No problem, both of the others were along car park end of the bunker trail. I've been looking at fungi a while but am also very much a beginner with mosses and lichens. I'll probably be back at Holme at some point as there is quite a lot of stuff I'd like to see that occurs there - if I know in advance I'll let you or Rob know.

    ReplyDelete