Профиль

"Psst, hey Toady, I don't suppose you could give me a ride, could you?" "Sure Mr Newt, hop on..." OK, I didn't actually hear this conversation, but I did see a Smooth Newt walk over the top of a Common Toad in my shed this morning, while I was going through my moth trap. #Toad #Newt

This Omophron limbatum (sometimes called Spangled Button-beetle) appeared in my garden moth trap last night. Despite looking like a cross between a ladybird and a diving beetle it’s actually a very unusual ground beetle (Carabidae). It’s very active and runs extremely fast! #UKbeetles

This is well worth listening to…

#BirdHybrid

We had to visit the in-laws in East Kent last week. We stayed at an AirBnB near Ash again where I caught lots of moths I don’t see in Norfolk very often (or at all), including this stunning little Promalactis procerella (Beautiful Silver-mark). #TeamMoth #KentMoths

There's Hollyhock at my village fish & chip shop so I looked for Hollyhock Weevils (Rhopalapion longirostre) while waiting for my order. I found a nice flea beetle and a different weevil. I haven't keyed them yet but I think they're my second Podagrica fuscipes and my first Aspidapion aeneum.

This seems to be quite an unusual #BirdHybrid. Not immediately sure what it is but wondering if it could possibly be Ruddy Shelduck x Blue-winged Goose? Fascinating!

I found several female scorpionflies in Bintree Wood yesterday. All three UK species were suspected in the field based on their wing pattern and thorax colour, and today confirmed by checking their genital plates. Panorpa cognata was only my second record and my first female. #Mecoptera #UKinverts

Here’s a photo of a Giant Lacewing that’s about a thousand times better than the one I posted yesterday! They really are superb insects!

This week I’ve been poking around in streams and under bridges in the two areas that Giant Lacewing (Osmylus fulvicephalus) has been recorded in Norfolk. This morning I struck gold at East Carleton. Recorded here in 2022, which was the first in the county since 1963.

This little Cosmopterix scribaiella (Reed Beauty) was a nice surprise in my garden moth trap on Tuesday night. They’re spreading but not many record in Norfolk yet. There are no reed beds in my little garden so presumably it wandered here from somewhere else. #NorfolkMoths #TeamMoth

The warming seas are producing some very unusual seabirds in Yorkshire…

Coleophora siccifoliella (Keeled case-bearer), netted in flight beside a hedgerow in mid Norfolk early one morning recently. If I’ve done my maths right this is the 55th species of Coleophora I’ve recorded as adult. #NorfolkMoths

Doing a bird survey in farmland in the middle of Norfolk this morning the last thing I expected to see (especially in mid June) was a Diver sp. flying south at 5am. Probably Red-throated but I didn’t see it quite well enough to be 100% sure. #NorfolkBirds