The Magic of Hickling

With summer fast running out, it seemed the right time to go to Hickling once more and pay homage to Emma Turner on the centenary of her rediscovery of the bittern there. Hickling = Maurice Millard and his boat, and so we set off in the late afternoon with Maurice at the helm. It felt very August - muggy and dark green - and there was a regatta on at the sailing club, but once out on the broad we were virtually alone. We glided across, the wind dropping all the while, and had a look at Rowland Green's last studio (where we stayed) and then at his original place, the one in the mill. As we did so, a bittern suddenly flew above us, only a few metres away, before landing in the reedbed on the far side of the broad. Fantastic views! And perhaps the Spirit of Emma T? Then we paused next to her island, looked at some pictures of her which Maurice had found at Whiteslea Lodge and read a little from Broadland Birds. Maurice had actually been onto the island a day or two before and found an old gatepost in the undergrowth - unsure what this might be, as no remains left of her hut. He recalled how (not sure when) he had met a chap who had "celebrated" his 21st birthday in the remains of the hut, probably in the 1970s - holes in the walls and plants poking through then, apparently. Clearly the structure had deteriorated since the pic Maurice found on googlearth of two holidaymakers sitting outside it in the 1960s.... Anyway, it was good to commune with ET again. Saw some good birds later: marsh harriers, a hobby, wood sandpipers, blacktailed godwits and hundreds of teal. Plus an outrageous sunset to end on. There is something very special about Hickling and its broad; I can see why it captured ET.

A Grisly Ending?

After the euphoria (well, sort of...) of yesterday when the two young doves left their natal rosebush and moved to the mirabel tree down the drive came some bad news this morning. An array of collared dove feathers in the middle of the drive - a visit by Mr or Mrs Sparrowhawk. Sad, but hopefully the young dove is now sitting inside some baby sparrowhawks and so playing its role in the glory that is the ecosystem!

Carnage on the drive! One young dove down, but hopefully number 2 is still out there...

The World's Most Useless Nest Appears to Triumph

The nest is located just to the top right of the door

After weeks of scorn and ridicule, the flimsy platform of twigs in the rose bush outside the front door is about to make us eat our words. It's probably five weeks or so since a female collared dove appeared there, clamped on her apology of a nest and refusing to be bothered by any of the comings and goings at number 24. Her mate made only the rarest of appearances and, apart from one glimpse of an egg, which was about to fall out of the nest and had to be prodded back in by me, there was no evidence of anything going on underneath her. Until last week, when suddenly she had two large chicks, complete with feathers and looking exceedingly well cared-for. Precisely how this had happened without us noticing remains unclear, but today the youngsters are sitting outside the nest and looking as though their departure date cannot be far off...

 Sitting tight, waiting to grow up.

One chick ventures out of the nest, but no sign of any wingflapping yet.

After the Emperor

An impromptu expedition to the land of the Purple Emperor took Sue P and I to just beyond Peterborough, to Bedford Purlieus - a national nature reserve run by English Nature and the Forestry Commission. It's an amazing tract of ancient woodland, full of magnificent trees and reputedly the home of the Emperor... Typically, a hot sunny day in Oxborough had slid into a muggy overcast one at BP, but even so we were in for some real treats. 

A network of rides dissects the forest, with great plants and butterflies along many of them.

First up was a whole patch of herb paris, just after going through the entrance:

From then on it was great plants all the way, very diverse rides full of classic wayside flowers but also with some more unusual stuff, like nettle-leaved bellflower:

We also found a magnificent plant of Atropa belladonna, Deadly Nightshade, just coming into flower and the "Death Cherries" just starting to form:

The sun managed to burn through the cloud a bit and things really warmed up - lots of butterflies soon around, hundreds of meadow browns and ringlets, plenty of large skippers too. Then a single marbled white in one of the more open grassy areas, a lone small heath and several brown arguses:

Then the first of several silver-washed fritillaries raced by - they must be the fastest-flying of all the British butterflies, but as the sun came through they increasingly settled:

Lifting up pieces of corrugated iron left in the grassy areas produced four slow-worms under one and these two under another - lefthand individual at least 18 inches long!

Butterflying at Drymere

Time out from the bird sex book and off to Drymere for a forest walk with Sue P. Had heard much about this place from her and it didn't disappoint! Within two minutes of arriving we were watching up to half a dozen humming-bird hawkmoths, busy nectaring on viper's bugloss along with lots of large and small skippers. Fabulous Brecky plants all along the ride, including some specialities like corn spurrey and sulphur cinquefoil.

 Warm and sheltered, just how they like it.. full of flowers and butterflies in abundance.

Blink and you'd miss it: corn spurrey.

Sulphur cinquefoil - great colour and up to a foot and half tall, maybe more?

Fabulous musk mallow, and a proper pink one after the oh-too-subtle pale effigy seen at Cranwich the other week!

Some good birds about too - heard a garden warbler singing early on and then three tree pipits, all within earshot of each other and one busy parachuting, plus a buzzard sailing about. Chiffchaff, blackcap and yellowhammer too. And butterflies galore: red admirals, ringlets and meadow browns aplenty, a couple of very smart brown argus, plus scores of skippers - definitely saw one Essex, but mostly small and large. Some good dragonflies too, including an emperor on patrol. And the constant chirruping of crickets!

Not sure who this little chap is...

A little further on we started to see good stands of flowering bramble and honeysuckle - white admiral territory! Passed one clump absolutely covered in commas and red ads and then finally got to a huge mass of bramble in a very sheltered and very hot spot - and there they were, three white ads all busy nectaring. Two a bit tatty, the other pristine (but much shyer), great to see them!

Always cutting a dash, the white admiral steals the bramble show.

Carried on through the forest, along wonderful grassy rides and through surprisingly mixed woodland, finally emerging onto clearfell, where suddenly more floristic again -  saw kidney vetch here and, finally, my first British common blue of the year! Plus another tree pipit, a couple of woodlarks and a superb singing yellowhammer on a wire, busy competing with a rival only metres away. More great plants as we got back to where we started, including greater knapweed, and then a late rush of red ads and hornets, seemingly feeding on sap oozing from a lesion on an oak tree... Great expedition, and more butterflies than I've seen in two hours in the UK for a loooong time!

Greater knapweed - got to be worth having in the garden anytime.

The Return of the Clouded Buff

It's back! The blue riband moth of Oxborough made a return last night, a rather worn individual but looking great nonetheless. Haven't recorded one in the trap for two years, so good to know they're still around. Also had four each of small elephant and large elephant hawks, plus two poplar hawks, a rosy footman, a pale tussock and a white satin... Plus a squillion brown things. The barn owl was quartering the meadow while I was sorting the trap out, and a female sparrowhawk and a noisy fledged juvenile passed through the garden too. Lots of greenfinches about too, seemingly recovered from their decline of last year.

Clouded Buff. Very flighty and didn't hang about when I tried to relocate it onto a leaf...

Pale Tussock. The best hairy legs in town!

Garden Skipper

Some welcome hot sunshine this morning and by 10am there were already several butterflies in the garden, including this large skipper. Saw it - or another - two days ago, and I think they're the first here for a couple of years or so. It was zipping around very fast, nectaring on geraniums and stopping to bask every so often. Still haven't yet seen a common blue this year though!

I know it's small and brown, but they're sparky little things and always good to see!