Wednesday 13th - Saturday 16th June 2012
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| Star bird at Welney - a female Black-winged Stilt |
I spent a few days camping with Mr Masters senior recently based in Norfolk at Yaxham, near East Dereham for a third year running. The weather was relatively kind, certainly better than back in Glos, with most of the rain being at night. One of the highlights was a female
Black-winged Stilt at WWT Welney, where we stopped on the way. Also here my first
Variable Damselfly which was a target species for the trip. The few other Odonata on the wing here included a
Hairy Dragonfly. A drake
Garganey was also nice and a good supporting cast included a
Greenshank,
Little Egrets, the ever-present
Whooper Swans,
Avocets, and several lively
Redshanks and
Lapwings.
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| The Black-winged Stilt was initially at Lyle Hide but was chased by two Black-headed Gulls to Friends Pool. |
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| Immature Variable Damselfy at Welney |
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| Avocet at Welney |
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| Reed Bunting, Welney |
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| Whooper Swan, Welney |
On Thursday morning I headed for RSPB Lakenheath Fen for a very early start. A male
Golden Oriole sang intermittently and I got a brief glimpse as it flew through the westernmost Poplar stand. Two
Bitterns were booming and I got nice views of
Bearded Tits and up to eight
Marsh Harriers. Two
Hobbies were noted, and a
Roe Deer. Courting
Cuckoos, around six in all, provided additional entertainment.
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| Mistle Thrush, Yaxham |
After breakfast we headed for the Broads. The first port of call was How Hill. I saw only one
Swallowtail here, which made a brief sortie across the River Ant before flying back to the other side. The main attraction for Swallowtails at this site is Marsh Thistle, which was only just coming into flower after the unusually cool start to the month. A single
Norfolk Hawker was seen.
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| Swallowtail nectaring on Yellow Flag, Hickling Broad |
At NWT Hickling Broad later, the weather had warmed up sufficiently to produce a wider range of insect life. Five
Swallowtails were dashing amongst the reeds seeking out
Yellow Flag for nectar. The individuals I saw all appeared very fresh, and restless, hence not a brilliant photo (I also fumbled the camera on the one occasion I had a clear view of one next to the boardwalk and it ended up on the wrong setting!). I noted the fresh green growth of
Milk Parsley, the Swallowtail's larval food-plant, which won't be in flower until July. A single
Norfolk Hawker was also here and other Odonata included two
Four-spotted Chasers, c8
Black-tailed Skimmers, an
Emperor,
and several
Azure Damselflies. Bird interest included two
Marsh Harriers.
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| Milk Parsley, Hickling Broad |
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| Black-tailed Skimmer, Hickling Broad |
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| Little Gull, Titchwell |
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| Meditarranean Gull, Titchwell |
On Friday, we arrived late morning at RSPB Titchwell Marsh after an unsuccessful stint earlier near Great Ryburgh (no longer an official watch-point according to a local I met) hoping for Honey Buzzards. At Titchwell, birds included 22
Little Gulls, two very smart summer-plumaged adult
Mediterranean Gulls, several hundred
Knot and
Bar-tailed Godwits,
Little Ringed Plovers, and of course
Avocets. Despite a strengthening southerly breeze, it was sunny after an earlier shower and the beach was the perfect place for our packed lunch with the shelter of the dunes behind us. Lunch hour produced several fishing
Little Terns,
Common Terns,
Sandwich Terns (plus another group of 26 along the shoreline to the west, and
Gannets. A
Wall Brown was on the main path on the way back to the car park.
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| Both adult Meds, Titchwell |
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| Tightly-packed Knot, and Bar-tailed Godwits, Titchwell |
A stop-off at Creak Abbey en-route back to camp produced two
Grey Partridges, also an
Oystercatcher pair on the stream. Birds around the campsite during our stay included two pairs of
Mistle Thrushes, very tuneful
Song Thrushes singing from early dawn, a
Willow Warbler,
Chiffchaff,
Green Woodpecker,
Whitethroat and
Yellowhammer.
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| The Windpump, Wicken Fen |
We stopped off on the return journey at NT Wicken Fen for the afternoon. Although still a breezy day we we enjoyed unbroken sunshine and good Odonata photo opportunities in spots sheltered from the wind. Several pairs of
Variable Damselfies were seen mating. There were good numbers of these, also
Azure Damselflies and a couple of
Large Red Damselflies. The only dragonflies were two
Four-spotted Chasers.
Orchids noted were
Early Marsh,
Southern Marsh, and
Common Spotted. A single
Brimstone was the only butterfly. Bird interest was secondary, but I noted a
Cuckoo calling, and at least one
Hobby.
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| Mating Variable Damselflies, Wicken Fen |
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| Variable Damselfly - showing the key ID features - including broken antehumeral stripes ('fangs dripping blood') - separating it from Azure |
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| This Variable highlights the origin of the common name - the antehumeral stripes are much more broken, and the black shape on the second abdominal segment (S2) has a much thicker 'stem' to the typical 'wine glass' shape |
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| Azure Damselfly - complete antehumeral stripes, 'beer glass' shape on S2, and more blue on S9 near the tip of the abdomen |
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| Four-spotted Chaser, Wicken Fen |
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| Early Marsh Orchid, Wicken Fen |
In summary, a great few days.
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