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

Sunday 23 April 2017

Orange-tip on Garlic Mustard

There were still a lot of Orange-tip butterflies at Ringstead Downs today; several, like this female, were feeding on the flowers of the Garlic Mustard plants.

Some flowers in Old Hunstanton

On Saturday 22nd April I joined three members of the Norfolk Flora Group on a plant-spotting walk around Old Hunstanton (two other groups were walking around Hunstanton.)  The weather was ideal and we had a good day, recording over 250 species in our Old Hunstanton village tetrad.  We started well with a good number of plants of Black Spleenwort on the wall around the lighthouse garden.


 Not far away a Henbit Dead-nettle Lamium amplexicaule had a single flower open.


A single flower open on a teaplant enabled us to identify it as Chinese Teaplant Lycium chinense.


Along the verge of the A149 we found a couple of plants of Greater Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum Ssp. umbellatum.


The northern end of the churchyard yielded a good variety of plants including Meadow Saxifrage Saxifraga granulate, Bugle Ajuga reptans and Sticky Groundsel Senecio viscosus.




There were also several plants of Spring-sedge Carex caryophyllea in flower.
Just out of the churchyard in gravel by a cottage there were a lot of flowering plants of Keeled-fruited Cornsalad Valerianella carinata, we had already seen a lot of the more frequent Commoin Cornsalad Valerianella locusta.  Another species we found a surprising number of plants of was Musk Stork's-bill Erodium moschatum.

Monday 10 April 2017

Tuesday 4 April 2017

Merlin

Came across an incredibly tame Merlin this afternoon whilst caring out working on the grazing marshes.  With no SX50 to hand the only way of capturing this impressive was to digi-bin it resulting in some very pleasing shots!


Monday 3 April 2017

First 2017 butterfly transect at Ringstead Downs

The butterfly transect season started on 1st April.  The forecast for today was warm, dry and sunny and so I decided to walk the transect at Ringstead Downs for the first time this year.  It turned out to be a good decision as I recorded six species of butterfly on the transect:-
Small Tortoiseshell 4; Comma 2; Peacock 2; Red Admiral 1; Brimstone 2M, 1F; Orange-tip 3M.
Only the first three decided to pose for photographs!

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

Peacock


2nd April 2017: 2 arachnids and 3 beetles

Carrion Beetle, Oiceoptoma thoracium, Ringstead Downs, 2nd April 2017


Adonis ladybird, Hippodamia variegata, Ringstead Downs, 2nd April 2017


Strandline Runner, Broscus cephalotes, Holme NWT, 2nd April 2017


Marram Pseudoscorpion, Dactylochelifer latreillei, Holme NWT, 2nd April 2017


Arctosa perita, Holme NWT, 2nd April 2017




A Green-socks Peacock at Holme

Green-socks Peacock, Elaphrus riparius, Holme NWT, 2nd April 2017


Off Patch: 3 smart beetles and a bird

Cassida vibex, Sculthorpe, 13th March 2017


Red-flanked Bluetail, Titchwell, 26th March 2017


Red Poplar Leaf Beetle, Chrysomela populi, Woodbastwick, 27th March 2017


Odacantha melanura, Woodbastwick, 27th March 2017