Having spent the week working in Suffolk, followed by two
days doing first aid in London, I found myself at a loose end for the weekend.
Fortunately, the lovely Sarah Harris was free for the weekend so I was able to
spend Saturday night with her, in Watton, right in the middle of the Norfolk
Brecklands.
We did not do so much birding, but did spend the best part
of Saturday afternoon exploring her patch of Thompson Common. The birding was
good for such a warm afternoon, with Cuckoo and a flyover Hobby being the
highlights, but with a nice compliment of common species as well.
The real highlight however were the Odonata on offer. At
Thompson Water, the main lake on the site, we found ample Red-eyed Damselflies,
as well as a single Norfolk Hawker. But then at the other end of the site we
found one of my remaining outstanding British Odonata species; Scarce Emerald
Damselfly.
I was completely oblivious to their presence here, until a
helpful noticeboard pointed them out. With this prompt, we started searching
the small ponds on the site and soon for three female and a single male emerald
damselfly species. Obviously though, this species pair is tricky, so good
photos needed to be taken, and when we got back we were able to confirm that
the individuals we had seen were indeed the rarer species, a new species for
me.
Thompson Common: Mute Swan, Gadwall, Mallard, Common Pheasant, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Cuckoo, Common Swift, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Grey Heron, Red Kite, Common Buzzard, Tawny Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Hobby, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Common Reed Warbler, Barn Swallow, Common Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Goldcrest, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Wren, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Pied Wagtail, Common Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Common Reed Bunting,
No comments:
Post a Comment