This afternoon I had a couple of hours at Titchwell before heading off to King’s Lynn for a rehearsal. There was nothing out of the ordinary, but I did see yellow wagtails again, and had good views of a couple of marsh harriers. The most interesting sighting was when a largish (about 3cm long) jet black beetle wandered across the path in front of me. Sadly I was unable to get more than a very out of focus photo before the creature disappeared into the undergrowth at the side of the path, but I was able to identify it later (I bought Brenda a beetle field guide a while ago!) as ocypus olens, known as the Devil’s Coach Horse beetle!
Earlier on the walk I did get more photos of a male common darter dragonfly: I’m rather enjoying trying to get better at insect photos – they are amazing creatures when you get to see them close up.
Brenda writes: “New moths are continuing to arrive. Today I had my first mallow of the year but it eluded me when I tried to catch it, and there were two of a moth I knew I hadn’t seen before, the delicate. The book says that this is an immigrant moth and that very pale individuals are probably from hot dry places. It is not known whether they overwinter. Large yellow underwing numbers were up again – 64.”
New species for September 22nd:
Moths: mallow, delicate
TOTALS TO DATE:
Birds = 218
Moths = 233
Wildflowers = 280