More snow!!



Snowy footpath

18th December 2010


A walk towards Northrepps in the morning after the previous evenings snow produced few birds with the highlights a flock of Skylarks. However, it did give me a chance to add some snow shots to the photo catalogue, puzzle over what were probably stoat footprints alongside the rabbits and walk off breakfast!



The sycamore bank behind us



New Zealand

Aukland by night



Fox Glacier

 So, New Zealand. This was more a family holiday but we navigated our way round using birding sites/areas as destinations – Tiri Island, Miranda, Cook Strait, Kaikoura, Arthurs Pass, Fox Glacier, Stewart Island and Dunedin for example, plus a bit of culture and wine - Rotorua and Hawkes Bay. November is the peak of the landbird breeding season but we managed most things except Yellowhead and anything which needed effort, like Kiwis.

Tiri was great. The conservation bodies have done a fantastic job but they are a bit overly cautious about reintroducing predators – asking people to check their hand bags for stoats seems a bit OTT. We day visited but still missed Brown Teal and the crake, the island having been taken over by several schools. We were however lucky to see Kokako, most of the local birds having been retrapped and shipped out to avoid in breeding. Greg the Takahe raised the question of what you tick or don’t, not a question I’m prepared to answer!


Little Black Shags, Rotorua


Lots of other landbirds proved tricky. For example we didn’t see either Tom-tit or Rifleman on the North island, the only Wekas we saw were on the road side in Fjordland (and not on Stewart Island – surprise) and even Brown Creeper proved tough. Tuis and Bellbirds were pretty common though, as were the hordes of European birds, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Redpolls, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Dunnocks, Yellowhammers, Starlings, House Sparrows being just about everywhere. Obviously the New Zealand farming regimes are more sympathetic than the methods our own “guardians of the countryside” employ!


Kaikoura

 

Braided river system, South Island



Lake Wanaka, South Island

 Seabirds are fantastic and you don’t really need to go offshore for some of them. Although we saw a lot from the Cook Strait ferry we also saw two races of Shy Albatross off Shag Pt and a “Gibsons” Wandering Albatross off Kaikoura headland as well as the Otago peninsular Northern Royals on the breeding colony. We’d recommend a visit to “Penguin Place” on Otago from mid afternoon to see Yellow-eyeds coming and going and its only a short hop from the albatrosses, which can usually be seen from the carpark. The ferry to Stewart Island goes a bit fast for real seabird watching but was still pretty good, particularly for diving petrels, though the crossing can be really rough.



Kea, Arthurs Pass

 As to the country itself? Well the people are really friendly, prices are similar to UK except petrol which is half price and the scenery ranges from old-style English pastoral – cows, sheep, deer in grassy meadows, to worrying, with what looks like over-grazing and subsequent erosion, to truly fantastic, especially around Kaikora and Milford Sound on South Island. If you are going, take a camera!


Fern bank, South Island





Northern Royal Albatross and Red-billed Gull, Otago



Cley 16th Dec 2010

A pretty awful day almost waiting for the promised ice storm.  Not much around the reserve of note excpt a Whooper swan flying round with Mutes, lots of Pinks early on and a presumed Ross's Goose with Greylags, no doubt from Kelling.  the hunt goes on for the high Arctic gulls!

Last few days

On Sunday it seemed about time to catch up with the Northern Harrier, but I first stopped at the triangle at Burnham Overy Staithe looking for Rough-legs.  No sign but a very pale Common Buzzard got the assembled birders going briefly, as did a weird harrier, rufous below, dark above with grey on outer upper wings and no obvious white rump which came out from Holkham and set off for Burnham Norton.  No diea at all and no chance for photos so this could remain a mystery.

On to Titchwell just in time to miss the apparent Northern Harrier at midday.  Lots odf stuff to see ther whilst waiting, including Water Pipit, Whoopers and a couple of Spot Reds.  the Harrier eventually showed well but looked a bit odd - I've now been told its got a broken leg.

Again, no shots but I retrieved the camera from the car for robins in the car park and sunset at Burnham mill, both slightly tweaked.

Autumn 2010

Back from nearly a month in New Zealand, returning to cold weather, waxwings and an apparent Northern Harrier at Thornham.  The blog got kinda forgotten in the autumn with so much going on locally and across Norfolk generally.  Patch-wise I only saw Yellow broweds, a wryneck, a Monties in-off, the Cromer Red backed Shrike and some nice seabirds including both storm petrel spp, a couple of long-tailed skuasand sooty shears, a grey phal or two and a smattering of poms.  I didn't catch up with Andy B's probable Citrine and the Bluetail at Trimingham was suppressed from all of us locally by a well-known Norfolk birder who doubtless had his reasons.

Bluetail, Weybourne

I did venture out a bit seeing Arctic and Barred warblers at Holme, Bluetail at Weybourne, the BOS Pallas's (how did they find each other) a couple of Richards and GG Shrikes at Sheringham and of course the empid flycatcher - my boots took a week to dry out but I think (!) it was worth it.  Cley was mostly subdued during my visits there but the American Golden Plover was good and a bit of encouragement to check the local fields.  Not being a great bird photographer and finding their insistence in standing at the front tiresome I didn't get any shots of worth but I'll break out the old gear and give it a go again.

Happy wanderings

Just back from 3 weeks in France photographing orchids and butterflies in the Vercors and Alps.  Amazing place but I now have 4,000 photos to sort through.  Here' a couple of tasters though.

Apollo

Ghost Orchids

last month

Very little chance to do any posting recently as I've been preparing for an exhibit at Cley amongst other things.  Mothing has been interesting with a couple of new species including Sand Dart and heavy catches in the muggy weather, both here and at Cley.  Butterflies have been a bit thin but did include Swallowtails at How Hill and White-letter Hairstreaks locally

Sand Dart and Swallowtail

8th – 15th June

Good numbers of moths still including an aberrant Heart and Dart and a selection of pesky pugs, Grey, Slender, Common and Green etc.

Aberrant Heart and Dart

Birds have been quiet though two Siskins through the garden is unusual for this time of year. I have however photographed two good plants, several of the 100+ Purple Broomrapes close to us and Fen Orchid in the Broads, the latter much wanted.

 

Fen Orchid - left                Purple Broomrape - right

Dragonflies have included Variable Damsel, Hairy and 4-spot Chaser while butterflies, though generally thin on the ground did include a Swallowtail,our first ever UK-photographed Brown Argus, plus a first Painted Lady of the year and a couple of second generation Brimstones.

Variable Damsel

1st - 8th June

1st-8th June


A mixed bag of weather and lots of moths in the traps including record numbers of Heart and Dart, a few common migrants, our first ever White-pinion Spotted and Poplar Kitten and a couple of oddities which need a closer look.

White pinion spotted

A trip to Hoveton Hall Gardens in warm sunshine on 4th got our first Norfolk Hawkers, 4-spot Chasers, Black-tailed Skimmers and Emperors in UK as well as stacks of Azures and Large Reds, the latter also on our pond with a couple of BBCs.

Teneral Black tailed Skimmer

Birds have been interesting – I finally twitched the Cley Trumpeter Finch on its last day, didn’t do the Black winged Stilts but did make an evening dash to Cley last night for a new for Norfolk Blue-winged Teal and a bonus Spoonbill.

Portugal 2010

15th May

Arrived in Vilamoura in the western Algarve, knackered after up at 1.00 am and drive to Stansted. A painless flight with Easijet helped a bit though.

Walked round complex, saw little except Purple heron leaving the Villamoura park which now seems unkempt and almost derelict with the pond fenced off and developers signs up. No dragons, no phot'able butterflies

16th

First visit to the Salgados lagoon which was full but had been recently drained (again) so no Purple gallinuless, just 300+ flamingos, 15 Spoonbills, some dunlin, sanderling etc. Dragons included the rare Dark spreadwing (Lestes.macrostigma) mating in the dense, damp sedges, Iberian Bluetails and the odd Emperoer and Scarlet darter.

Next to the Rib de Boina, along the Monchique road. Excellent. Stopped north of the motorway bridge where there were Golden Orioles, 2 RR swallows, Little Ringed Plover, Nightingale, kingfisher, grey wagtail. Insects included 6+ Copper demoiselles, Epaulet Skimmer, Western dappled white and the ubiquitous Lulworth skipper. Further north along the road a left turn by a garden centre also had Western dappled white etc and looks good to explore further.


We visited the Barragem de Algarde en route back where the overflow channel was dry as usual but the pond at the end had Orange featherlegs, Scarce bluetail and Common blue butterfly.

17th

Qinta do Lago

Not many birds, 1-2 pr Purple Gallinules, a showy pair of Lt Bitterns plus Kentish Plover, 30 +Dunlin, 1 Knot, 1 Whimbrel on the Ria Formosa tidal channel.

Dragons included Long Skimmer in the scrub, Black Percher plus Scarlet and Red Veined Darters and Iberian Bluetails along main lagoon plus three Small Reds and several Small Redeyes along channel back towards farm at west end.


The day was getting hotter so we retreated back stopping at the Vilamoura nature reserve for a quick visit to re-find the place amongst the new development. A short walk produced a few nightingales along the track and Small Redeyes and Common Blue damsels on water tank by the entrance.

18th

A mostly butterfly day spent at BWs sites (we think)

Bensafrim

After a couple of false starts with just Lulworth Skippers we found a road with pretty good undisturbed country and amazing displays of wild flowers. One hillside had good nos of Southern Gatekeepers, stacks of Meadow Browns, a few Blues which were probably all Silver studded, all overlooked by Little Owl, Stonechat, Dartford Warblers and Southern Grey Shrike while down the road there were Cleopatras in a stand of bushes and flowers near some beehives.

For lunch we stopped at Rib de Boina again where we found 2/3 Epaulet Skimmers, 2 Copper demoiselles, similar birds to two days previous (plus a gathering of White Storks) and a few whites.

Back toward the Motorway we explored the road/track west toward the new golf course. Two of the 3 species of Skipper, Sage and (on range) False Mallow were new along one track plus Lulworth Spanish Marbled White and Common Blues accompanied by rattling Subalpine Warblers

19th

Salgados

Apparently being ploughed now along the western shore by an earth mover and JCB! So much for the RSPB protection. One day this superb site will either get workable protection or be abandoned to yet another golf course!

The boardwalk was being sprayed with creosote so after a wander round the bushes, seeing Bee eaters, Hoopoes and 4 Iberian Hares we abandoned the place for lunch at Silves. Good choice as a Western Olivaceous was singing from tamarisks between the main car park and the river.

Spent the afternoon in Algarve Shopping.

20th

Spent the day in the Monchique area. Foia itself had Rock bunting, Dartford and Melodioius warblers, Whitethroats, Blue Rock Thrush and Red rumped Swallows as well as lots of Stonechats. Butterflies were mostly Small whites but there were some freshly emerged Spanish Festoons, a couple of bright fritillary sp and a Scarce Swallowtail. The pond by the car park was amazing for dragons with 2 Emperors, 2+ Broad bodied Chasers, a male Epaulet Skimmer, a couple of species of Emerald damsels and 2/3 Dainty damsels plus a good stand of serapias orchids

Acting on info provided by Teresa Farino of Iberian Wildlife http://www.iberianwildlife.com/ we stopped twice on the 267 running west, south of Monchique, the first on the bend at N37.18.949, W08.35.554 where the small stream held Beautiful Demoiselle, Brown Argus, Melodious Warbler and our first Chaffinches of the trip. The second was a logging track picked at random at N37.17.956, W08.39341, between Casais and Marmalete, where we saw Long-tailed blue, Langs Short tailed Blue, Spanish Gatekeepers, Western Dappled White, Marsh Fritillary, a newly emerged Keeled skimmer, a couple of Alpine Swifts and several Serins.

21st

With the girls at the beach I went to the two large reservoirs NW of Villamoura. The track below the dam of the Barragen de Funcho at N37.15.445, W08.22.968 was productive with several Rock Buntings, Crag Martins, what was probably a singing Orphean warbler and a Purple Heron as well as Long tailed Blue, Langs Short tailed Blues, Spanish Gatekeepers, Sage Skippers and a distant Violet Dropwing. Leaving the dam behind, a stop on the roadside at N37.15.545, W08.22.768 produced two Two-tailed Pashas round a Strawberry tree. No chance to photo them which is a pity because they are really stunning. Moving on, a hunters track at N37.15.754, W08.21.773 had several Keeled Skimmers round a small pool as well as Spanish Gatekeeper, Sage Skipper and Langs ST Blue again.


My final stop in the hills was in the dried run off channel of the Barragen de Arrade which was quiet apart from several Orange featherlegs and Common blues. Back in Villamoura I did solve the mystery of the track off the Laguna/Millenium Golf Course road near the winter roost site – it leads to a set of water purification lagoons which could be interesting in passage periods, though there were just coot, pochard, gadwall and a few gulls there as best I could see.


22nd


Today we paid our annual trip to Cap St Vincent, which if anything was windier and eventually more overcast than usual. Stacks of Pallid Swifts with the odd Common and Alpine, good numbers of Chough and the occasional Peregrine and Raven were most visible but a bit of scrapping around, especially along the main hedge produced Woodchat, Spectacled W, Thekla and Crested larks (we think) and the fort at Sagres had a Black redstart. There were some smaller bits amazingly, mostly in the sheltered areas with Red veined and Scarlet darters, False Mallow and Lulworth Skippers as well as the ubiquitous Southern Gatekeepers, Clouded Yellows and Meadow Browns.


Ever a glutton for punishment we dropped in to Salgados en route back. No further destruction and a change in weather had brought in stacks of waders like 200+ Dunlin, 30 + Sanderling, 30+ each Knot and Redshank, a few Greenshank and a lone Whimbrel. This is a very special place that needs preserving.


23rd


With overcast and cool conditions we spent R's last morning at Qinta do lago looking at Little Bitterns, Purple Gallinules ands a few Kentish broods. Few dragons but there was another Black Percher and a striking creature which turned out to be a teneral Black-tailed Skimmer and not the hoped for gomphus sp . Hardly any butterflies again though but a water vole was nice as was a small snake and the ever present frogs.


24th


With broken cloud and cooler temperatures we did the walk to Paderne Castle, parking at the old wash station. A few Hoopoes and Woodchats and a calling Golden Oriole were the only birds of interest but there were several interesting insects including two hairstreaks, Blue spot and the new for us False Ilex, Spanish Gatekeepers, Western Willow emeralds in the trees by the river and another, teneral Epaulet Skimmer, while yet another Violet Dropwing disappeared before I could record its image for posterity. Val was stung by a bee which happily only caused her discomfort, but was fatal to the bee


25th


Another grey morning and the delightful sight of a flat back tyre put paid to the early(ish) start. We eventually sorted the thing out and got a new car from Avis which was not as nice as the Peugeot. As we were that way we visited Qinta again in improving weather where there were now several male Black Perchers along the lagoon edge, chasing off Scarlet Darters and ignoring the Iberian Bluetails. Only one male Small Red was in their ditch but a few Small red-eyes showed nicely while back in the scrub by the lagoon there were at least one each of female Epaulet and Long Skimmers.


Just one pair of Purple gallinules showing today, feeding their young but the Great Reed warblers were especially visible and audible. Star bird however was the female Little Bittern motionless by the main hide allowing some great, if slightly reed-interrupted photo opportunities.

26th

Setting off for Monchique we diverted to the road up towards Odelouca dam. After a couple of quiet stops a hunting track at (N 37.13.160, W 08.30.573) was fruitful with Southern Gatekeepers, False Ilex or Ilex Hairstreaks, Cleopatras and a (out of range)Southern Marbled Skipper. A dragon near the entrance proved to be a Blue eyed Hooktail, while on the other side of the road the river itself had Orange featherlegs and an odd darter, which was probably a teneral Red-veined. Birds were good with a cooperative Great Spotted Woodpecker hiding in the shade and a couple of male Golden Orioles giving good flight views.

We made our final visit to the Rib.de Boiba at N 37.12.254, W 08.32.151 where there were no more Copper demoiselles but a couple of male Epaulettes showed well with several Scarlet Darters, while on the track down a couple of newly emerged skippers were probably False Mallow.

27th

A day wandering round the harbour with only a couple of Red rumpeds with other hirundines over the park to show for our efforts.

28th

Last full day, spent at the Rib de Algibre, doing the first part of the walk mentioned in the Sunflower Guide. Dragonflies were active along the shingle banks and tracks, mostly Green-eyed Hooktails ssp unguiculatus but also several Copper demoiselles, a couple of Epaulettes and an Emperor. Butterflies were showing well, mostly common stuff but one False Ilex Hairstreak was nice as was a hornet-sized hoverfly and a couple of small snakes. Birds were the usual mix along Algarve rivers but its still nice to hear Golden Oriole, Bee eater, Iberian Chiff and Nightingale, while Wood Pigeons were unexpected! Pity about the jeep safaris but they have to have their fun, I suppose.

29th

Dropped the car back into Avis and caught our flight back to Stansted from Faro, with just a small delay.

Conclusion and thanks



The weather was generally hot and sunny and the timeshare was its usual impeccable self. Knowing that birds were going to be mostly breeding this trip was always about butterflies and dragons. Thirty species of butterfly was good, with at least eight new for us, as were 24 dragons with six new. Bird highlights were the cooperative Rock Buntings and the singing Western Olivaceous warbler while general frustrations were the lack of the two Baton blue-type butterflies (we were probably in the wrong place) and the apparent ongoing destruction of the Salgados Lagoon.

Thanks go to Teresa Farino at Iberian Wildlife Travel http://www.iberianwildlife.com/ for generously sharing site information with me and Bernard Watts in Norfolk for butterfly sites in the area.  We are also always grateful to the authors of the Sunflower Guide to the walks in the Algarve which is a constant mine of information.

Portugal

Have just got back from 2 weeks on the Algarve and a report/photos are in prep.  Highlights were 24 species of dragons/damsels and about the same number of butterflies, with quite a few new ones.  the weather was mostly hot and mostly sunny so birds were at a premium, especially raptors but there were plenty of waders in our second week at Laguna Salgados.  This has to be one of the best sites in the area, if only they would leave it alone!! 

12th May 2010

More cold northerly winds but the weather was mostly sunny so did a couple of trips out either side of lunch. After photographing small long horned moths (which I need to identify) at East Runton, a visit to Beeston Common produced my first dragon of the year, a Large Red Damsel as well as Green veined White.

Large Red Damsel

Trimingham in the afternoon was cold but a sheltered patch inside the wood had a couple of very fresh Green Hairstreaks amongst a swarm of St Marks flies, so the lack of birds was slightly compensated for.

Green Hairstreak

The local Swallows look well fed though in the shelter of the hedgerow and there seem to be lots of Blackcaps and Whitethroats around generally, so the birds aren’t all staying put round the Med!

6th-9th May 2010

More cold northerly winds and not much to see, though I did at least get half decent views of the three Temmincks Stints at Cley on 6th. Mothing is chronic with between nil and 6 moths in the trap and there are few butterflies about. The local Early Purple Orchids mostly look a little stunted this year, perhaps as a result of the cold winter (?) and I did manage to find a photographable Orange tip braving the cold, windy conditions. Roll on spring (again)!

Early Purple Orchid and Orange tip

28th/29th April

28th April


One of those days which made me glad to have moved to Norfolk. After a couple of days of steady migration locally, a phone call took me to Sheringham where a fair selection of migrants had arrived including two Ring Ouzels, 50+ Wheatears, several flava wags and odd Garden and Sedge Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats, Whinchats and lots of Whitethroats. The Hoopoe took longer to locate but showed well enough while icing on the cake were the three Common Cranes and two Red Kites which drifted west.

More butterflies are about with Holly Blue, Orange Tip and Speckled Wood seen in the last few days while moths on 28th/20th included two Streamers (our second and third locally) and a Herald.

29th April

Cley was pretty good on my day there with two distant Wood Sands, several Common Sands, Whinchat, two Blue-headed Wags with a few Yellows, more Wheatears and stacks of singing Sedge Warblers. No sign of any groppers though and moths in the trap were quite poor. Flowering Alexanders were attracting a variety of insect life including plenty of St Marks flies and some distinctive wasps (see below) and bees I’ve yet to identify

St Marks Fly and Wasp sp, Cley

24th- 25th April

Good numbers of migrants around locally both days with the overcast SWs and drizzle on 25th dropping stuff, particularly Wheatears, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers in all over. Highlights were Osprey, my first Merlin for two years and at least four Ring Ouzels round Hungry Hill.

The garden produced our first Holly Blue of the year and a Water Carpet in the trap last night, while all sorts of insects are being attracted to the flowering Alexanders, including hoverflies, German wasps, Harlequin Ladybirds and mining bees.

Mining Bee, German Wasp, "Syrphus" Hoverfly, Harlequin and another Mining Bee

The last few days

With mostly chilly temperatures and northerly winds little exciting has happened. Several commoner summer migrants have come in including a couple of early Swifts on 20th but numbers remain low locally. Moths have generally been the same but we had garden record numbers of Common Quaker (35) and Hebrew Character (15) on 20th/21st. Brindled Pug and Early Thorn have both appeared briefly but are about 2 weeks later than norm and the first white butterflies are on the wing with Holly Blues and Orange tips. More photography opportunities with bees and bugs in the garden though.

Bombus pascuorum and Brindled Pug

Bird migration picked up yesterday (23rd) with the change to SE winds, highlights being another Red Kite, several Yellow Wags and steady numbers of hirundines. The moth trap last night had our second Pale Pinion of the year, so they are obviously getting commoner up here.

14th/15th April

All quiet really so I took the opportunity to practice being a photographer locally.

Wood Anenomes, Forsythia and Alkanet, Overstrand

Cley on Thursday was quiet and freezing but probably worse for the two Swallows and three Wheatears which must have been pining for warmer climes.
Ominously, ash on the car this morning!

12th April

12th April


After a morning in I went to Kelling Heath after lunch, mostly to do some macro photography. I did however bump into a Dartford warbler chasing a Whitethroat and, while watching these, a Red Kite drifted over.  Nice start on a cool but sunny day.

Searching the gorse for photo opportunities eventually proved rewarding with Gorse Shieldbugs, an as yet unidentified spider, stacks of 7-spot Ladybirds and Buff-tailed Bumblebees gorging themselves on catkin pollen.

Gorse Shieldbugs, spider sp, Buff-tailed Bumble and 7-spot Ladybirds

9th-11th April

9th April


What a frustrating day! Trimingham was quiet, just one Swallow through plus the possibility of a Common Buzzard nest in nearby woods to keep an eye on. A trip to the farm shop was terminated on the news that Andy had two Red Kites over Hungry Hill, one of which (plus four Buzzards) I managed to see after a quick dash round to near the nursery. Then I probably saw a Common Crane flying right past the house but it was just a shape disappearing behind the neighbours! Some compensation in the garden afterwards with Brimstone and several Commas, Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks moving through, plus finding that the Blue Tits were still around the nest box and the tadpoles were hatching.

10th April

Another fine day saw a crowd gathered on Incleborough Hill but after several hours with only very distant Sandwich Terns, Sparrowhawks and probably local Buzzards, attention wavered a bit and the micro life on the gorse became compelling. Unfortunately I had no camera to capture the array of shield bugs, spiders and other stuff but I will next time! Just as we were packing up however a Common Crane flew steadily south east, so not only did we see it but also most of the local birders as it flew over Northrepps.

11th April

For the first time this year we put the Actinic trap on in the garden as well as the MV with spectacular results, record numbers of Early Greys and Clouded Drabs. It probably helps that Great Tits haven’t found it and it also covers much the same area as the MV so intercepts moths drawn into the garden by the bright light. Spent all morning at the allotment with Willow Warbler, a couple of Blackcaps and several Chiffs as a reward as well as three or four Small Toroiseshells.

6th-8th April

6th April

A frustrating morning saw me on our nearby high point, raptor watching in what should have been ideal conditions, clear, breezy, warming southerlies. Nobody told the raptors though and it was a blank apart from a couple of resident Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawks, plus a migrant Sand Martin.  Even more frustrating was a falcon seen briefly which may have been a very early Hobby.

Moths are picking up nicely with record numbers for the garden 6th/7th of Clouded Drab (8), Small Quaker (10) and Common Quaker (32) plus our latest Dotted Border and earliest (by two weeks) Nut-tree Tussock. It’s a crazy spring!

8th

Cley was better than of late with a few Swallows and Sand Martins moving west in the beautiful breezy, sunny day, three Wheatears on the Eye Field, a few Sandwich Terns along the beach and plenty of Marsh Harrier activity. Water levels are high though, which may bode well for waders late spring. Both Peacock and Small Tortoiseshells were on the wing. The highlight of the day had to wait a day or two to be confirmed when a trip round a couple of websites confirmed the small finch that flew west past the centre after lunch was a Serin.  I thought it was, having seen a yellow rump and given its size but the short trilling flight call wasn't the mass of jingling I was used to from Portugal etc.
There was plenty of wasp activity round the ivy in the garden when I got home and fair numbers of moths in the trap, with another late Dotted Border and our first Red Chestnut, Engrailed and Twenty-plume moth of the year, plus our second Diurnea fagella – thanks to Jon Clifton for the i/d. No sign of the frog spawn hatching yet.

Diurnea fagella and Common Wasp

1st-5th April 2010

Following the excitements of late March, early April has been quiet both birding and with the moth trap. The latter picked up over the last two nights with milder, drier conditions producing our latest ever March Moth and decent numbers of Common Quakers. Migrant birds are still at a premium as yet with only Blackcap added to the year list so far. The sunny weather on Sunday 4th did bring out a couple of Small Tortoiseshells, the first butterflies I’ve seen for a while. Cley last Thursday 1st was quiet enough with the freezing strong westerlies that I spent some time photographing landscapes!

Cley Windmill

30th March

After a pretty wet night I was surprised to find a pristine Pale Pinion in the moth trap.  This is a rare but increasing moth locally and one we've taken a couple of times previously.

Pale Pinion

A walk locally produced a few singing Chiffs but not much else in persistent drizzle.