Wednesday, 24 July 2019

Norfolk

We went to Norfolk to stay with old friends. There were loads of insects and quite a few interesting birds. Life pan-list grew hugely. Beer was consumed.

We went to Latitude for a day which was good fun, particularly liked the disco diner, disco caravan and disco shed. Let's Eat, Grandma were excellent. Sons of Kemet were a sonic assault (in a good way). Sadly missed most of Celeste's set, she was excellent. Glimpsed Norfolk Hawker whilst there. Ate some very good takeaway - Indonesian vegan curry highly recommended.

On the way home we flew up the coast from Norwich, over the Wash, over Flamborough and Filey, over our old house pretty much (wrong side of the plane).

First, photos from a Norwich garden.

 7-spot Ladybird

 Araneus diadematus

 Megachile sp, a male, any identification ideas, gratefully received.

 Bombus pascuorum

 Honeybee

 Arion subfuscus

 Gatekeeper

 Holly Blue

 Common Darter, thanks Graeme for spotting the (not so) deliberate mistake, now corrected. Sympetrum striolatum

 Harlequin Ladybird

 Lucilia sericata

 Oniscus ascellus

Philoscia muscorum

Porcelio scaber (red form)

Pretty sure this is a Tree Slug Lehmannia marginata, need to check again as I'm not 100%.

Also saw Comma, a few hovers and other bits and pieces.

Earlham Cemetery just down the road is a brilliant place, in there I found:

 Cuckoo bee, Bombus vestalis I think (now a confirmed ID).

 Rhagonycha fulva

Bombus lucorum agg / terrestris

Hedychrum niemelai / nobile - can't get to species except with a specimen, they were only split in 2015 and prior to that niemelai was misidentified as nobile in the UK. It's a female and you need to see the third sternite well so I understand. A brilliant beast, neither species common, a parasite of Cerceris ruficornis, C. arenaria, C. rybyensis and C. quinquefasciata, it likes Golden Rod, lots of that in the cemetery.
 Eriothix rufomaculata, common enough.

As above, topside

Male Oedemera nobilis

As above, female.

 Propylea quattuordecimpunctata

 Small Skipper

 Small Skipper

 Sphaerophoria probably scripta, a male.

 Volucella pellucens

More to come.... from Minsmere, Kelling Heath, Latitude and Titchwell.


Agapanthia villosoviridescens - a magnificent beastie, on Hemp-agrimony at Minsmere.

Ok time for a good bird, there were two Caspian Gulls at Minsmere. One of which was a show off and the other went and hid behind an island almost as soon as I found it. Photos digiscoped in low light, with my travel scope, so not bril'.




We saw Stone-curlew really well, lots of Marsh Harriers, Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Spotted Redshank. Louise saw a Bittern.


Small China-mark - flash and no flash.

The Small China-mark was squeezed out off top insect spot by the magnificent Agapanthia villosoviridescens, time for another picture of this beast and here's the NBN link with a bit of information about its biology and distribution (remembering the NBN is a bit out of date, most likely) https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0020151160


Draft Ghost Ship was was very much enjoyed in nearby Southwold, with a fish and chip supper, Adnams beers are inextricably linked with Minsmere from many years past.

3 comments:

Imperfect and Tense said...

Wow, some cracking insects and photographs! The dragonfly is a Common Darter, Sympetrum striolatum.

Alastair said...

Thanks Graeme, aaaahhh, spent ages identifying everything and then write the wrong name down of something I know. Better to use scientific names and then I don't make daft errors like that.

Alastair said...

Graeme,there were dragons everywhere, unfortunately didn't have optics to check out the Norfolk Hawkers, they were flying around the lake at the Latitude site, Henham Park. Also there Lesser Emperor apparently. We did see Emperor at Titchwell, no photos though, and plenty of Southern Hawker.