Of birds and butterflies

So Norfolk is quite good isn't it?


We saw loads of stuff, including some life firsts (bearded tits, long tailed duck, bittern, various warblers, and a certain amazing bird of prey) , but just as impressive as the fact that Norfolk has so many birds that you practically trip over them, we also racked up an impressive mammal and butterfly list. So in light of the fact we found a veritable shitload of biodiversity, here are some very edited highlights...

orange tip butterfly

speckled wood butterfly

a common cockchafer, which seemed to not be very good at staying the right way up

early purple orchid? (maiden is welcome to correct me on this )

A muntjac that lept in front of our car

An obvious highlight of our Norfolk trip was a boat trip to Blakeney Point, and saw plenty of common seals, a grey seal, all four tern species, piles of oystercatcher and more suprisingly brent geese, and a sing female long tailed duck flying over our heads and landing on the water as we landed on the shore.

Common seal trying not to float away apparently

four sandwich terns (copyright Parus for this one)

One of the most entertaining birds we saw wasn't massively rare, but was absolutely stunning. I think Parus has a video of this sedge warbler somewhere, I'm hoping that he will be putting it up for us to share :)

sedge warblers are awesome :)

Other highlights included barn owls and tawny owls keeping us up in the night, loads of cuckoos, bearded tits pinging over the reeds at Titchwell, a little ringed plover at Cley, and a bittern flying out of the reeds at Lakenheath on the way home.

This is the best barn owl picture I have out of about 20. Oh well :)

ahh, East Anglia how I love thee...

I am sure we will be visiting again in the not too distant future, and camping was good fun. As long as we don't have a screaming 18 month old in the tent next time I'm definitely up for a revisit.

One day I might tell you about how I lost my mobile phone somewhere in a forest for a day, and the adventure we went on to recover it...

To the coast for easter

Seeing as how I have to stay up late in the hope that TFL will update their system so I can sort out my lost oyster card before going into work tommorrow, thought I might as well update my blog :)


I managed to get away for a couple of days to Swanage with the parents this weekend, and was very lucky with the weather. Not great in terms of bird rarities, but some nice photo oppurtunities everywhere so thought I'd take advantage of the sunshine.

My parents don't really understand this whole nature and birding thing that I seem to like, so I thought going on a guided walk at Durlston Country Park (just down the road from our flat) might help to explain it, seeing as this is the perfect time of year for birds singing, trees in blossom etc etc etc... It was a shame then that said guided walk was run by a local with a penchant for folksong and different species of sedge and grass (there are many in case you were wondering) rather than pointing out the more "sexy" species they have on their site. I was hoping to get some tips particularly on bird song, but no such luck. Even so, we saw some pretty interesting stuff...

Green veined orchid. Not pictured: the green veins. You will have to trust me on this :)

Spider orchid

There weren't really any birds pointed out that I hadn't already noticed and told my parents about already (skylark, blue tit, chiff chaff...) but there were heaploads of stonechats perched on fences/gorse bushes looking particularly stunning, and hopping around with nest material.

Stonechat with a goldfinch (please note actual real life lighthouse and everything)

We spent sunday on the beach for a bit being annoyed by some posho's on jetskis, before going on our climb up to the top of old harry, you know just because.

old harry rocks from ballard down.

It's nice once you're there, but can't say I've never been much of a fan of hills. I blame growing up in Essex :)

Umm, can't think of a link but here is some gorse, it's very pretty no?


PS Anybody know what this is?!



This bird was calling repeatedly for hours on end, always staying just out of your line of view and hiding as soon as you got out your camera or binoculars. Bastard.

Anyway, TFL are still being annoying so I am giving up and going to bed. Hope this post wasn't too plant-heavy for you bird lovers :)