Well, the rain finally arrived in Norfolk last night and it was well needed! The rain lingered into the morning and once passed over it was finally still enough, and dry enough, to ring! I caught 21 individuals overall, with 7 individuals of 4 species new, and 14 individuals of 6 species retrapped. It was a pretty slow morning, until one round where I caught an entire brood of young Blue Tit in one net! They were from the box in the Pines that I ringed a couple weeks ago so nice to see them still thriving. For retraps I had 7 Blue Tit (6 juveniles), 1 female Goldcrest, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Wren and 1 Reed Warbler. I also caught 1 new Sedge Warbler, 2 new Goldfinch, 3 juvenile Dunnock and the first juvenile Robin, which look completely different just out the nest with their mottled feathers. A good day and nice to be back ringing after what feels like relentless windy conditions for the past week!

Juvenile Robin 

An extremely busy moth trap this morning with some very nice moths. We had a whopping 90 Cinnabar which were the bulk of the catch! We also had 1 Angle Barred Pug, 2 Buff Tip, 2 Bordered White, 2 Lime Speck Pug, 2 Small Elephant Hawk, 1 Diamond Back, 4 Green Carpet, 2 Treble Lines, 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character, 5 Vine’s Rustic, 4 White Ermine, 1 Black Cloak, 1 Fern, 1 Lyme Grass, 1 Sharp Angled Peacock, 5 Large Yellow Underwing, 4 Flame Shoulder, 1 Willow Beauty, 2 Mottled Beauty, 1 Cnephasia agg., 1 Gelechiid agg., 1 Common Wainscot, 1 Large Nutmeg, 1 Blood Vein, 1 Bright Line Brown Eye, 1 White Point, 1 Chamomile Straw, 1 Black-fronted Straw, 1 Garden Grass Moth, 5 Meadow Grass Moth, 1 Giant Water Veneer, 1 Large Pale Masoner and 1 Rosy Wave. The Rosy Wave is a nationally scarce moth and locally distributed in Norfolk. It’s a coastal species and well recorded on sites on the coast where its foodplant occurs, Sea-beet! This appears to be the first (or one of the first) records of this species this year, according to Norfolk Moths.

Rosy Wave

For butterflies today, I have been mainly on our reserve ringing so haven’t seen as many species as usual but Wall Brown and Small Heath have been active around the Observatory today. We also have Large Red Damselflies and Blue-tailed Damselflies around the pond, but still quiet for Dragonflies.

Shannon Clifford – Assistant Warden

NORFOLK BIRD NEWS FROM RARE BIRD ALERT

Norfolk Purple Heron 1s Hickling Broad NWT still 12.40pm in flight over Brendan’s Marsh c52.7402,1.6006. Park at c52.7422,1.5949

Norfolk Common Rosefinch 1s.male singing Weybourne still 12.30pm at Weybourne Scrape c1/2ml west of beach car park +viewed from beach tho elusive c52.9495,1.1293 Viewed from c52.9498,1.1303

Norfolk Marsh Warbler Weybourne still 11.40am west of Beach Road in reedbed SW of beach car park +showing well c52.9473,1.1387. Park at 52.9485,1.1398

Norfolk Common Rosefinch 1s.male singing Weybourne again at Weybourne Scrape c1/2ml west of beach car park +viewed from beach c52.9495,1.1293 Viewed from c52.9498,1.1303

Norfolk possible Black Kite Norwich flew NW along River Wensum towards Drayton at c11.10am c52.6477,1.2472

Norfolk Purple Heron 1s Hickling Broad NWT flew from Broad Viewpoint towards Brendan’s Marsh/100-acre reedbed area at 10.14am c52.7402,1.6006. Park at c52.7422,1.5949

Norfolk Marsh Warbler Weybourne still west of Beach Road in reedbed SW of beach car park at 9.05am +showing well c52.9473,1.1387. Park at 52.9485,1.1398

Norfolk possible Glossy Ibis reported near Downham Market at south end of Stilt Fen at 6.58am (viewed from train) c52.5665,0.3473