Brenda dropped me at Cley today on her way to take a funeral at Cromer Crematorium (as you do!). I had with me a new lens to try out on my camera, the Canon RF 800mm – a very reasonably-priced addition Canon’s “consumer” lens range and one that I had read some good reviews of. It didn’t disappoint: It’s light to carry and seems – despite the fixed aperture of F11 – to do well in terms of getting enough light without having to set too high an ISO.
I managed a range of photos with it today, including several of a small group of ruff – as I mentioned previously not a common sight in the UK in summer – that included three of four fully “ruffed” males.
I also got great views of a group of about eight spoonbills near one of the hides.
Some of the commoner Cley birds were also on view.
Brenda writes: “Before I talk about today I need to add three more moths for yesterday. Sometimes I haven’t had time to check them or am waiting for James to verify. In addition to the two I mentioned we had a straw dot and two micros. Cochylis molliculana is a migrant micro that, according to the book, has been seen on the south coast. As James said, it has obviously made it to north Norfolk because I had one.
The other was crambus pascuella. Being able to photograph and then enlarge the image of these tiny moths is a revelation. This one’s markings are stunning.
And so, on to today’s moths. The heavy rain overnight did nothing to deter the moths. We had two new moths, the beautifully marked barred yellow and a cabbage.
One other moth is awaiting James’s verdict. I had a funeral at Cromer crematorium and dumped Steve at Cley on the way, picking him up on the return journey. In the cemetery some of the graves were gloriously adorned with biting stonecrop.”
New species for June 20th:
Moths: straw dot, cochylis molliculana, crambus pascuella, barred yellow, cabbage
TOTALS TO DATE:
Birds = 203
Moths = 123
Wildflowers = 210