Norfolk birding (12 Viewers)

[Tideliner]

Wait until you see a female silver diving beetle Pyrtle , they are huge compared to the males and I think Europe's largest ( in terms of body mass ) Insect. Spent years looking at them and then found 2 within a few weeks at different sites ( Broads and N Norfolk ) 10 years ago and never found another since.

Ont of interest the N Norfolk individual may have been introduced as it was found in a pond stocked with water soldier that had been taken from the weed grill of a dyke pump ( where it would have been destroyed ) only a few hundred yards from the first beetle was found , but 5 years before hand.

 

[Adie Martel]

In reply to firstreesjohns (if we are told early enough) most people cant tell you because they have not been TOLD themselves,simple really

 

[davethebird]

Good one Mark, P.
Roberto Smithy, Saw a fabulous beetle today - I believe a fairly scarce North Norfolk sighting, a Great Silver Water Beetle, (hydrophilius piceus) a male I'm told. The C.C.C. of bugs I thought to myself.

Not so fabulous when they and their larvae are eating adult Common Newt and young Great Crested Newt in your garden pond. 8-P

I used to fish them out at night - this was on the outskirts of Cambridge.

 

[Johny121]

Cracking views of an Osprey with a bream this morning at Bucks. Wood sand, Lesser whitethroats and a Scarce Chaser the other highlights. Nice to meet a couple of people out there too. Full write up on blog

 

[James Emerson]

A Redshank on the scrape at Thorpe Station Marsh this morning, along with 2 Little Ringed Plovers. Seven (!) Common Sandpipers on the shingle spit, a Hobby briefly hunted over the marshes before flying east, and a large female Sparrowhawk flew over the railway line.

Insect-wise a few Hairy Dragonflies and Large Red Damselflies, plus lots of recently emerged Common Blue Damselflies.

 

[firstreesjohn]

A day of nothing, really. A trip to Wells Woods was, at first, abandoned, as I was unable to proceed further north than the Quay, with the queue of cars extending that far. Holkham and Warham had nowt.

Gramboro’ produced a Ladybird that I am unable to ID. It has eyed spots, similar to the Eyed Ladybird, but not enough spots. She was very small.

Resting from the unfiltered rays of our star at the Cley VC, a friend received a text, saying that a Bee-eater had been heard (only) over Glandford. We set off in pursuit, but were luckless.

I snapped this recently fledged Mistle Thrush at Wells (eventually), in almost exactly the same spot as last year. I was, however, rather surprised to see that the grass in the meadow south of the Dell had, again, been cut. There were orchids here. Not any more !

 

[CANARY NICK]

Buzzard petition

There are two petitions on the go at the moment one has 1,229 people signed up and its been going 3 days now and the other which hopes to get 10,000 people to sign has only 72 names
Poor Buzzards...not too good

 

[hamish a]

I was, however, rather surprised to see that the grass in the meadow south of the Dell had, again, been cut.

Having visited the area for over 30 years I have never heard of a meadow south of the Dell?
Could you please direct me to the meadow.

 

[firstreesjohn]

meadow south of the Dell?

Hamish: I have always understood 'The Dell' to refer to the stretch of wood to the north of what is, in your map, labelled as such.

In that case, my 'meadow' would become your Dell.

It is surely ridiculous for, e.g. Bonelli's, to be 'in' The Dell, otherwise. I can foresee the commencement of a lengthy debate !

Not wishing to upstage you, I can recall twitching Radde's in Wells Woods in 1968.

 

[Penny Clarke]

Does anyone know if the Bee-eaters were seen again in East Norfolk this evening please?

 

[Tideliner]

David suspect you are talking about a different species of water beetle , probably a Dytiscus species which are voracious predators. The silver water beetle is a vegetarian when adult , almost twice the size of Dytiscus and very rare. Silver diving beetles are a red data species with both UK and European protection. The only two counties where they are regularly found in very small numbers is Somerset and Norfolk.

 

[Tideliner]

John while the rings around the spots suggest eyed ladybirds , I think its a 11 spot mainly be body shape , spot position and thorax pattern. The trouble with ladybirds is that they vary so much.

 

[ChrisBish]

2+ Spotted Flycatchers during a walk at Costessey Pits this afternoon were a very nice surprise!

Chris

 

[firstreesjohn]

while the rings around the spots suggest eyed ladybirds, I think its a 11 spot mainly be body shape, spot position and thorax pattern. The trouble with ladybirds is that they vary so much.

Thank you.

I’ve also been given the right IDea (11-spot ladybird Coccinella 11-punctata) in another forum and directed to this excellent resource:
http://www.ladybird-survey.org/species_desc.aspx?species=6455+59605

I’d consulted this, but wouldn’t have spotted (sorry!) the text below in a quick pic-flick.

The clue is in the “Other notes: Black spots occasionally surrounded by a thin yellow ring.”

 

[robinchittenden]

Buzzard

There are two petitions on the go at the moment one has 1,229 people signed up and its been going 3 days now and the other which hopes to get 10,000 people to sign has only 72 names
Poor Buzzards...not too good

Lack of signatures could be due to the people, who actually care about it, are still recovering from the unbelievable, jaw dropping, brazen, audacity of the idea and still can't believe its really true.

 

[CANARY NICK]

Chris Packham

Lack of signatures could be due to the people, who actually care about it, are still recovering from the unbelievable, jaw dropping, brazen, audacity of the idea and still can't believe its really true.

Chris Packham has asked his 30,000 followers on twitter to sign up on the buzzard petition

So lets hope people sign up

 

[Shaky09]

Chris Packham has asked his 30,000 followers on twitter to sign up on the buzzard petition

So lets hope people sign up

That's gotta help ( speaking of mr packham, reminds me springwatch starts tomorrow) I have to agree with robin -I think most people are in shock at this terrible idea. I'll be signing up as soon as I'm back from my walk with the little one !
Shaky

 

[Mark Batten]

Good one Mark, P.
Roberto Smithy, Saw a fabulous beetle today - I believe a fairly scarce North Norfolk sighting, a Great Silver Water Beetle, (hydrophilius piceus) a male I'm told. The C.C.C. of bugs I thought to myself.

This weeks record of the week is message in a bottle by the police..

 

[RobLucking]

Even better than signing a petition is writing to your MP to make your views known and asking him/her to raise your concerns directly with Richard Benyon, the Defra Minister responsible for this daft idea.

All the best and get writing!

Rob

Chris Packham has asked his 30,000 followers on twitter to sign up on the buzzard petition

So lets hope people sign up

 

[jontheo67]

Dilham Hawfinches

Has anyone got any further information on the 3 Hawfinches seen at Dilham today. RBA has then as being seen in the village late morning. I still have fond memories of the reasonably nearby Hawfinch at Rollersby in 2008. Any info would be gratefully received.