15/07/2022: Part 2 of 2: Hickling Broad
We then came to this Norfolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve that we never had before and we had a fantastic time, seeing so much wildlife one of the most unique lists of species I’ve ever seen overall today and taking in the beautiful fen landscape of lovely channels of water and the broad, reedbeds, lots of pretty scenes and a characteristic of the area windmill. I took the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth pictures in this photoset of views here today. It was also so good to go to the Norfolk Broads national park where we never had before an eleventh national park we’ve been to which is nice. There were an interesting few colourful leaves around as well as I have started noticing at home.
The vintage wildlife watching trip here to make it one of my days of the year peaked in a few minutes about midway through the visit, when I firstly saw a Brown Hawker flying like a rusty boomerang through the air, then I saw it again later on a smashing dragonfly to see for the first time this year. Then just after I was astonished to see a Bittern flying over! An amazing species that I’ve had the good fortune of seeing over the years including already this year but I have never seen one in flight. A very precious moment to see this elusive reedbed bird in all its glory in the open for a bit, what a moment.
Whilst watching these my Mum was tuning into skipper butterflies in a patch of grass as we checked the Small Skippers to see if any were Essex Skippers. My Mum was onto one that had the black antenna underneath. I then took a look at its upper side and snapped photos to notice the short and straight scent brand of the male compared to the Small Skipper’s longer and curved one parallel to the wing edge. What I felt might be the way to go with it personally if we could see that when I learnt the differences a few years ago. It was an Essex Skipper, and we were over the moon to see it. There was a strong sense of satisfaction to see this butterfly for the first time ever for us as it’s one so subtly different to another species and is around at home in the summer but we’ve just never got enough on one to confirm. But we had done it, a hugely welcome 48th butterfly species in my life and 39th this year level with my 2014 total as my joint fourth highest ever butterfly year list total a unique species to every other year of mine putting my year list in a strong position against my others. I had a feeling Essex Skipper was our most realistic target for our next new species so it felt brilliant to see it this year. After the Bee-eaters earlier I don’t recall a day when I’d have ever seen a new bird and butterfly in the same day with us at least three years into being into birdwatching by the time we got into butterflies so this makes this one of my greatest ever days of wildlife watching. We had come here whilst in the area on the off chance of a late Swallowtail a butterfly I dream of seeing we didn’t but to see a new butterfly anyway was amazing.
Also in these crazy few minutes we went into a hide and saw a Wren’s nest out the window seeing chicks peering out and an adult returning, a wonderful sight. In these few minutes as with a few times this afternoon I seemed to be anticipating and calling things well as I guessed it was Wren chicks before we saw the adult I’m not too knowledgeable on young birds, I spotted the scent brand to help confirm the Essex Skipper and I just had a feeling it was gonna be a Bittern before I lifted the binoculars to look for sure whilst this is not a common sight one flying in the afternoon really. This is a strong area for Bitterns with a sign further along mentioning about when they were re-discovered as a British nesting bird nearby which made the sighting sweet too.
It was a strong butterfly afternoon overall as in a good place to do another Big Butterfly Count I saw twelve Peacock they were everywhere here as they were at the Bee-eaters one doing well in Norfolk currently perhaps which was brilliant to see, six Gatekeeper, one Small White, one Small Tortoiseshell, one Comma, one Red Admiral this species shown in the final two pictures in this photoset here today, one Meadow Brown, one Ringlet and one Green-veined White with a high number of Gatekeepers and Peacocks seen on the walk overall and I saw a few more of others as well. So good to see so many butterflies. We saw a possible Purple Hairstreak as well. I liked seeing a few caterpillars here too including cinnabar moth and a possible tiger moth caterpillar which I got the sixth picture in this photoset of.
A key highlight today here also was my first Ruddy Darter dragonfly of the year on a boardwalk a splendid one to see always and a fair few Black-tailed Skimmers about beautiful ones to see. Common Red Soldier beetles and bees made nice sights on the walk seeing a lot of the former and quite a few flying which was notable. Late on we also saw a handsome Fox on the path and then running through a field which was a simply breathtaking moment to observe with a species I love.
Other bird highlights here were marvelous raptors Marsh Harrier and Kestrel with multiple seen well of each. Marsh Harrier is the windmill of birds one that is part of the furniture of Norfolk and East Anglia generally it’s a stronghold for them. We also got a fantastic view of a Kestrel on a wire on the way in and out not far along the road allowing for great photo opportunities the first picture in this photoset one I took of it on the way in. With Swallow doing it as well here and the Bee-eaters earlier it’s been a good day for seeing birds sat on wires. We had another thrilling moment when seeing two enormous Common Cranes in the air at Hickling Broad a key bird of this area too I was so pleased to see them my first UK sighting of this magnificent bird outside of WWT Slimbridge and stars of our 6th January visit to that Gloucestershire reserve the crane my 100th bird of the year that day as well as Marsh Harrier starred again today. Norfolk has been a key beacon of hope for this species for so long so it was good to see them here. Sedge Warblers dominated the day too we saw several and saw this striking bird very well. Seeing a Kingfisher quickly here alongside Goldfinches well the whole day combined with the Bee-eaters well to make it a day of very colourful birds. A young Shelduck was a great sight too.
There were some lovely flowers/plants here today headlined by hemp agrimony with so much around with purple loosestrife, pinappleweed, chamomile/oxeye daisies, rosebay willowherb, really nice nightshade possible bittersweet nightshade which the second picture I took today in this photoset shows, St. John’s-wort, dock, broom, plantain, thistle, one of my favourite flowers the foxgloves, possible bramble flower, pretty red dock, yarrow, hogweed, bindweed and ragwort nice to see too. The hemp agrimony, dock and chamomile or oxeye daisies made great colourful impressions on the landscape. It was great to see a mushroom too. What a first day off of the long weekend!
Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first ever Essex Skipper, my first Ruddy Darter and Brown Hawker of the year, five of my favourite birds the Marsh Harrier, Kingfisher, Shelduck, Little Egret and Sedge Warbler, three of my favourite butterflies the Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and I believe Purple Hairstreak, one of my favourite dragonflies the Black-tailed Skimmer, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat I believe, Great Tit including young, possible Long-tailed Tit maybe including young there was a lot of great bird song heard and presence of young birds today, Wren, Swallow, House Martin, Swift, Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Red-legged Partridge a nice rural bird sat on a raised surface which was a unique view, Bittern, Common Crane, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Egyptian Goose, Mallard, Moorhen, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Lapwing, Small White, Green-veiled White, Peacock, Comma, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper, I believe female Common Darters too, damselflies, Common Red Soldier beetle, bees, hoverflies, wasps, moth, Cinnabar moth caterpillar, the possible Tiger moth caterpillar and I believe I heard Cetti’s Warbler.
On the way to the hotel it was a glorious journey as the bright sun reappeared after it clouding over and we got more exquisite views of Kestrels today in this light a bird I’ve seen so well on car journeys this year and I saw a Common Tern over a lake beside the road and I believe Hares in adjoining fields. It was nice to see the sun starting to set with clouds going red as we got to the hotel familiar to us as we have stayed here most years when coming to the Bird Fair.
