Anne's Journal

 Sunday October 29 The end of BST, Autumn fall back hour. Not an extra hour for me, Pam appeared in my bedroom announcing that it was 9 o'clock when it was actually only 7a.m. We were due at Cley after 10.30, hence her slight panic. Another really rare moth trapped by a memeber of our group was the cause of the unplanned visit to Cley Visitors centre.  Last weeekend it was Mike's Red-headed Chestnut, only the fourth Norfolk record. To-day was Greg's Cosmopolitan , also the fourth record. Norfolk status Scarce Immigrant. Pure white hindwings characteristic amongst similar species. Records from Eccles (N. Bowman, 1997) Hainford (D. Hipperson, 2000) and Hemsby (R. Irvine, 2017) Veri fication Grade Comment: Very rare.   The group does very well. Apart from moth-ing, always a pleasure, the last two weeks have been plagued by bad weather systems. On the whole, we have escaped the worst of the wind and rain . Last Monday night's monumental deluge led to brown-water flooded r...

  Saturday October 14       A date famous for : the Battle of Hastings, and the birthdays of Steve Cramm, Cliff Richard and Pam. It was Pam's 86th. Many of her previous birthdays were spent on the Isles of Scilly, when the expectation was for a 'good' bird to mark the occasion. She was not often disappointed. I remember Blue Rock Thrush, Common Nighthawk, Blackburnian Warbler and Black-eared Wheatear. We did make at least twenty five October visits during a time when Scilly was THE place to be in October. The western Isles have since taken that title. Our intention has been to visit Framton Marsh. We haven't been since it became such a well developed reserve with a Visitors Centre. A conversation where it was said that the walk from the Disabled car park was still quite a way and a poor weather forecast changed Pam's mind. Snettisham it was. As it turned out, despite a strong wind, it was a lovely day. The sun shone from an almost cloudless sky, it was a pleasure to...

Thursday October 12 It had me puzzled. Pam found a pretty little micro moth on an outside window. I had no memory of seeing it before, I couldn't find it in the moth book, and ObsId told me that it came from South Africa. I sent a photo to Richard E who responded very quickly. I had seen one before. The first was found on a window by Ian and Sue. It was dead when we saw it - but we found a live one ourselves a few days later. This year, we have found four in total. Mike and a few others have also trapped one, or found on on an outside window. Musatima Nitidalis   Norfolk status Adventive species, now resident in Norfolk. Native to Australia and New Zealand, this adventive moth was first recorded in the UK in Dorset August 2009, thought imported with ferns as a result of the horticultural trade. It has since spread widely, with multiple sightings from other sites in southern England. The larvae feed on various ferns such as Bracken. New for Norfolk in May 2020 when an adult mot...

 Sunday October 8 When I first became interested in watching birds, I would browse through the identification book - pre Collins and not the Observer Guide - when certain names would appeal to me. I longed to see a Siberian Rubythroat, Wallcreeper and Curlew Sandpiper. My first Curlew Sandpiper was seen near the Great Pool on Tresco, Isles of Scilly, pointed out to me by the late David Hunt. Look at its white rump as it flies, he said. Wallcreeper took rather longer, still not  a British tick. Hours in a Turkish gorge with large lorries roaring, by to no avail. A few days in the Picos mountains of Northern Spain brought about the longed for bird. We'd used a vertiginous glass elevator to take us up the side of a mountain, walking tremulously across an open slat bridge before crossing a flattish upland moor with scattered boulders. Alpine Accentor, another wanted, was first. I sat on a rock scanning. There it was. At last. A dull bird until its wings flashed red and black, my f...

 Tuesday October 3 We should have expected it. We didn't. Anne Harrop's email to Richard announcing that, from this week, they were closing on Mondays so the moth traps would be put out on Tuesday nights, came as a surprise to all. Especially as she'd sat with us on Tuesday last so that Andy could identify some leaf mines. Pam has an early appointment with a Dermatologist at Cromer Hospital in th morning, so we shall be late. Ian and Sue are missing completely, owing to a previous engagement.  We went to Winterton Dunes this morning whilst Sam was at work, we haven't been since the Spring. It's very popular with both locals and tourists. We paid the now £1.80 for an hour's parking and scoped the sea - from the car of course, as it was raining from time to time. A stationary ship was a useful point of reference. At least twenty Common Scoter hastened by,  a regular procession of juvenile Gannets - all black plumage - and a single third winter bird, flying south. ...

 Sunday October 1 Out by 8.30. early for us these days - on a dull grey overcast day. Thus it stayed, all day. It was much better for birds than of late. Six Swallows on the wires at Ebridge Mill was  good start. Our second brood of House Martins left a few days ago. Even though we missed the height of  very high tide at Snettisham, there was still time to see clouds of Knot morphing along the shoreline. The last pit was full of Greylag and little else. Four men walking along the edge of the pit beyond the Shore Hide probably explained that. They appeared to be collecting something. There were still four cars and a trickle of birders lingering from earlier, with the usual dog walkers and strollers. The plaintive whistle of Grey Plover was the background noise, Dunlin, Redshank, Golden Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Egrets, Shelduck, a lone Turnstone and Curlew appeared from, and disappeared down, the many creeks and pools left by the receding water. Hundreds of Oyste...