1st year Red- footed Falcon at Carlton Marshes!

On Sunday at 8.10am a Whats App message from the ever prolific rare bird finding machine that is Andrew E, stated there was a RFF Falcon down at Carlton Marshes, a Lowestoft proper tick for me. So I leapt in the car and by 8.40am I was walking down the main track in the company of Chris's M & D, we saw Andrew E and Maurice B looking across at a bush in the marsh just south of the main track and west of Tower hide. The excellent 1st summer male Red- footed Falcon was at at the top left of the bush. Perched and seemingly settled I noted the intersting plumage was usual uniform full grey plumage of the adult bird hadn't fully developed and there was an equally attractive orangy nape collar (whiter on the sides of the head) , white throat flecked with splodges of grey and orangy on the very rear flank and undertail coverts. Sadly, a couple of Magpies came over and flushed it as it flew first east then west and then south- west an perched on a distant elderberry bush. Later on in the afternoon, I joined Paul & Jane F & Gavin to see the Red- backed Shrike at the start of the Share Marsh track. It was perched to the left of a a large bramble bush and showed at mid distance. It was great to walk a few paces west and see the Red- footed Falcon perched on its favourite bush, if very distant. Apologies for the quality of the shots, these are record shots only as birds are usually so far away at Carlton Marshes & the Falcon today for me was no exception. At 10.16am, the immature Spoonbill was still asleep on the Turnpike Scrape, it did wake upo and have a feed too!

Orchids in deepest Suffolk & a trio of Little Owls

On Monday 24th June, I drove into deepest Suffolk on the trail of Fragrant Orchids and hopefully catching a few early Marsh orchids too. I arrived and parked up and walked to the Orchid area either side of the path, a boggy area, I was glad I had worn Wellington boots. I was pleased to soon see the newly out Fragrant Orchids either side of the path, with most on the right side of the path. I also saw 4 or 5 Early Marsh Orchids (all white- flowered individuals) too, with white flowers. I was also pleased to finally see some butterflies, a Meadow Brown and Small White butterflies. flying on the right side of the path. There was also around 5 Marsh Helleborines just starting to come out too. As I was driving back along the A143, the junction adjoining the A146 had closed so I was forced to divert but this proved to be very advantageous as at 9.08pm, I first saw one Little Owl on a telegraph post, it the flew over the road and onto wires on the other side of the road, a little further back from this I saw a second Little Owl perched on an another telegraph post at 9.10pm. As I was getting nearer home near some cottages at 9.28pm, a third Little Owl was also seen perched on a telegraph post. Incredible since before this year I hadn'd sen Little Owls for 2 years!

Broomrape around Riverside

On Thursday 18th June, I was keen to have a look at the Broomrape seen around Riverside, South Lowestoft. So directly after work, I headed there by the NSW building by the west side I was pleased to see several examples by the west side which hadn't been cut, sadly most were over but there were at least 3 Broomrape in good condition. I also had a look around Asda in the extreme east quadrant by the Buddlea bush area and there were quite a few Broomrape here including around 2 nice plants. sadly a load of youths were hanging around very close by in their cars, so as I had decent pics from the other location I decided to leave forthwith.

Rosie along Middleton Road, Gorleston

On Tuesday 18th June, news broke that the Rose- coloured Starling photographed in Gorleston was finally seen and pinned down to the vicinity of no.72 Middleton Road, just 5 minutes drive from the Hospital. So immediately after work I headed down there and drove back from the St.Andrew's Church roundabout and was fortunate enough to see both Rob Wil and Dave H. The only problem I had was I had no optics with me but Dave very kindly loaned me his bins as Rob directed me to the bird perched back onto roof tiles. later it did hop down and was by the lower front roof. sadly the bird was constantly 'hecking' coughing whether it had some parasite or tapeworm in it causing this constant 'coughing'. Otherwise it was a resplendent dault with alternate pink and black colouration with pink bill, mantle, rump and underparts and a shaggy black head crest and black wings lower flanks, wings, wing coverts and lower uppertail coverts and tail. It then flew to the top of the roof, before dropping down and disappearing, nice to see for around 20 minutes or so.

Trip to Norfolk & the Broads

On Sunday 16th, a trip into deepest Norfolk, to an area of heathland, I hadn't visited before, I drove through a swathe of silver birch trees to the car park and from the gate walked right, almost immediately I saw and photographed a briefly confiding Silver- studded Blue butterfly, I walked down the path for some 5 minutes, initally I saw a male and female Yellowhammer flew onto a small bush. I walked over to a wet area and immediately spotted a few examples of my quarry, Heath Spotted Orchid there were around 30 on this area plus a few hybrids and by the reedy area some Southern Marsh Orchids too. I was hearing several Willow warblers and I saw my first Willow Warbler for over 2 years when it hopped up from the bush and the flew to an adjacent bush, a second Willow Warbler also showed too. I could also hear a Wood Lark singing and I saw the bird briefly fly away. I also saw a Dragonfly sp. that had me totally stumped. Speaking to Jane F, she mentioned Keeled Skimmer and looking in the books when I got back, that's what its is a fantastic immature male Keeled Skimmer. I could hear Cuckoo too, walking down to a roped off area there were more Heath Spotted orchids, Southern Marsh Orchids and 3 plants Marsh Helleborines about to flower soon. Meanwhile 2 Buzzards wheeled overhead. walking back near the entrance gate, a Mistle Thrush flew down onto the path briefly before flying back. What a fantastic place I will back! I then drove to a Broad, a taking the boardwalk to the centre that is ALWAYS closed, I scanned over the broad and spotted the superb Osprey nest and the female Osprey sat on the extreme left of the nest. After 10 minutes the male Osprey flew in with a fish clutched in one talon, a few minutes later it flew off left still with the fish clutched to its talons! Close to the centre I could hear the distinctive mewing of 2 Mediterranean Gulls wheeling around, 1 second year bird with 2 black bands oin the tips of its primaries and 1 an adult bird with pure white wings. They kept wheeling around. I looked back at the nest and I couldn't see any Ospreys so I walked back by the boardwalk near the car park, I saw a Lesser Stag Beetle fly onto the boards, I quickly got my camera out but fitting the flash unit spooked the beetle and disappeared into the gap between the boards just I was ready to take its pic! Next onto a traditional site for fen Orchid, going to the usual area, I searched for 30 minutes and eventually saw 1 small Fen Orchid just north of the path near a bush.

Minsmere eastern race Common Tern (longipennis)? & some close encounters!

On Friday 14th June after work, I went straight to Minsmere and from the South Hide, I was disappointed to see no sign of the Roseates or the putative Eastern Race Common Tern. A race I saw in China in 1999 but not seen by me in the UK, so I was keen to see it. There was a subdued summer plumaged Grey Plover and lots of Sandwich Terns at the back around 150 birds but no sign of the rarer Terns. I could see 2 birders scoping something intently from the East hide so I decided to walk around and join them. On the dunes I saw 3 adult male Stonechats all pretty obliging and a young immature Stonechat too near the Public Hide. I joined Jeremy & ian from Stowmarket who had seen 'The Tern' but it had flown off 5 minutes previously. We did see the subdued summer plumaged Grey Plover. Jeremy and Ian left. Ian had told me the bird would frequent the dried mud island directly in front off or to the left of the hide. I then saw a number of Terns settling on the island in front including several 5 Sandwich Terns and the Tern in question. Roughly, the size of a Common Tern with an obvious all black bill, black cap with a little white coming through on the forehead, it significantly showed very grey flanks in flight, the tail was slightly eclipsed by the closed wing and it short dull reddish legs. This was the putative Eastern race Common Tern 'Longipennis.' The bird sat on the right most flank of the island only flying when disturbed when it flew back, before even flying onto the closest post in the water giving superb views albeit with stormy gun metal battleship grey skies causing problems with the lighting for photography sadly. On leaving the reserve, I was driving down the entrance hill when amazingly, I saw a Badger literally scampering down the road, it body arched up in the middle as itran before it diverted left under the Rhodedendron bushes, my first ever live Suffolk badger! As I turned up the hill, I saw a female Sparrowhawk with a Dove, suspected Stock Dove fly right low over the road and I had to brake to stop hitting the bird as she flew directly across my path and at car bumper level and right out of sight still carrying her prey item with her. A short drive and I looked into the Stone Curlew field and I saw the fine Stone Curlew active at the top by some tall grass and it would walk right a little way then stop and then repeat the process.

Turtles and Frogs!

On Sunday 9th June, I travelled into deepest Suffolk to a traditional site for Turtle Doves, when I arrived I immediately saw a Red Kite quartering the area by the side road. There was a fresh breeze and it was cloudy consequently birds were hard to see, I could hear Yellowhammers but it took an hour before a fine adult male Yellowhammer perched in a bush. This bush was just behind a group of mature bushes. Scanning for Turtle Doves initially no luck, I saw many Wood Pigeons, several 5 Stock Dove and Collared Doves though. After 75 minutes, the sun broke through and bathed the landscape in a warm golden light and almost immediately a Turtle Dove started 'purring' from the group of mature bushes next to me, I walked back a little and I could hear Dove-like peeping noises surely these were young nestlings? Sure enough, a super Turtle Dove flew up and perched on a horizontal branch, joined by its mate, a second Turtle Dove, they were perched up for around 50 seconds before flying back into the bush. This was clearly the site of a Turtle Dove nest, so I immediately left the area and left them to it and walked back to the car. Lets hope they successfully rear all the youngsters and they fledge to maturity. Next visit, was another site in deepest Suffolk for Frog Orchids. I walked to the usual ara and almost immediately I found 1 Frog Orchid, then another, another and another, totalling 4 Frog Orchids all in the same area, further back a tall pale Frog Orchid found made 5 Frog Orchids in total. There were also quite a few c50 Pyramidal Orchids, especially near the start of the walk. Another reason why localities are sometimes not advertised on my blog is illustrated by the last photo. I hope the perpetuator is caught and locked up.

Lizard Orchid in coastal Suffolk

About a week ago, I heard about a Lizard Orchid seen in coastal Suffolk, found by Jane & Paul F but sworn to strict secrecy to protect the plant and again today I travelled to the site to see how it had developed. About half the sepal flowers were out. The evening sun bathed it in sunshine. About half the plant, the lower flowers were out. I also saw 43 Pyramidal Orchids with a nice group of 30 the inland side of the path, around 5 Bee Orchids seen too, a male Stonechat was seen and as I walked back on an area where the beach led to June, I saw a Tiger Moth in front of me but which one? I had to move if as it was on the path and in danger of being trampled, it alighted on my camer bag before I put it on some Marram Grass, where amazingly another Tiger Moth was sighted. As I was walking back to the car past some cottages, it was heartening to see 3 screaming Swifts flying low over the ground. On the drive back home on the left hand side after a village and before a layby on the right, I saw an amazing Little Owl perched on an old telegraph post by a Farm, it later flew back to another telegraph post 100 metres further back. This is my first Little Owl for 3 years, they have declined dramatically, so I am withholding the locality of this bird. POSTSCRIPT: Consulting: Townsend, M., Waring, P. and Lewington, R. (2007) The Moths of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Gillingham: British Wildlife Publishing. book when I arrived home, it was clear the Tiger moths, I had seen were Cream-spot Tiger Moths. I think this is a new Moth species for me!

Local orchids

Local orchids, I saw 3 Bee Orchids this morning (Saturday 8th June)

Dad's Army radio show at Bury St. Edmunds

On Tuesday 4th June, Jenny and I travelled to Bury St. Edmunds Theatre Royal to see the Dad's Army Radio show featuring Jack Lane and David Benson. I have been the fan of the series since the early 1970's, when it was first shown on TV. It is without doubt, in my view, the finest comedy/ sitcom that has ever been made. With brilliant scripts by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, timeless comedy including stellar performances by the original ensemble cast of Arthur, Lowe, John le Mesurier, Clive Dunn et al. I am very fortunate to have a long personal history with Dad's Army, unfortunately I didn't see the original cast stage show in the early 1970's but my dear late father took me to see Arthur Lowe in 'Beyond a Joke' at the Theatre Royal in Norwich in May? 1981 and John Le Mesurier a year or two later at the same venue in 'Hay Fever'. I was very fortunate to meet both actors and their wives (Joan Cooper and Joan Le Mesurier) afterwards and they were very charming and accommodating to such a young and enthusiastic fan of the series. After that at the first Great Yarmouth Film festival at the then Great Yarmouth Hollywood cinema, they had a rare showing of a lost dad's Army episode and I was very fortunate I knew the organisers and with the permission of Archant, I was able to present laminated copies of press cuttings of articles to the guests of honour. These cuttings were photocopies from the Great Yarmouth Mercury from 1969 and 1970 when external filming for the classic episodes "Sons of the Sea" and "Menace from the Deep" were filmed at Winterton Dunes and Great Yarmouth Britannia Pier. The guests of honour were Bill Pertwee (Chief Warden Hodges), Frank Williams (The Vicar), Pamela Cundell (Mrs Fox) and (very sadly the recently passed 2 June 2024) Harold Snoad (the TV series producer and co-writer/ adapter of the Radio TV series scripts). Again it was a pleasure to present these laminate copies to the stars at the interval and they were delighted to receive this local memorabilia and they were all very charming. Later on again, the stars appeared at a special dad's Army tribute at the Bressingham Steam Museum and we had to queue up for almost 2 hours to meet and chat with Clive Dunn (Lance Corporal Jones), Bill Pertwee (Chief warden Hodges), Frank Williams (the Vicar), Pamela Cundell (Mrs Fox), Wendy Richard (walker's girlfriend, Shirley) and the writers and creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft. They were all again very charming and spent time with all their fans despite me being near the end of the queue! Finally, I got to see Ian Lavender (Private Pike) at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft on Friday 18th January 2002 in the 'Ghost Train', a play written ironically by Arnold Ridley (who played Private Godfrey). I went up to the bar after the show and I think Ian Lavender was quite tired as he wasn't very chatty but did sign a wonderful autograph for me so I am very grateful for that. Finally I was due to go and see Philip Madoc (who so memorably and brilliantly played the German U-Boat captain in probably the best ever Dad's Army episide, 'The Deadly Attachment') at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft on Thursday 7th April 2011, but unfortunately he fell ill and the production was cancelled) Sadly, all these great stars have now passed on. The baton has been truly passed onto Jack Lane and David Benson, who brilliantly capture and encapsulate both the voices and the mannerisms of the whole cast, superbly recreating TV episodes as radio adaptations. Their love and enthusiam for the series is obvious and infectious and it was wonderfully nostalgic to see the audience singing along to 'Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?' between the episodes and responding with great gusto and laughter. Both Jack and David are dressed up in the familiar olive green Home Guard uniform and stand either side of a large 1940's radio with a sign lit stating "on air". Being in this wonderful old theatre, with these 2 stars was very evocative and if you closed your eyes it almost felt as if you were in the presence of the original stars themselves doing the stage show. Their voices, comic timing and enthusiam for the script shone through and the adaptation was marvellous. It was superb and brought many personal nostalgic memories of watching the original series with my parents. The 3 episodes they were created for radio/ stage were later TV episodes not adapted for the radio, 'For the love of 3 Oranges', "The Miser's Hoard" and 'The Making of Private Pike'. Afterwards, both performers were in the foyer selling memorabila (I had already purchased all the items!) and I raced over to see them talking to Jack about my enthusiam of the series as young boy recording the audio episodes including the final 2 episodes aired at the show and how brilliant they were recreating this great show. Jack took on the persona of Captain Mainwaring, Clive Dunn, Private Pike and Pike's girlfriend. Whilst David took on the persona of Sergeant Wilson, Private Godfrey, the Vicar, the Verger, Hodges the warden. I told David about my meeting with Arthur Lowe at the Theatre Royal and how brilliant he was with co-recreating the show with all his wonderful voices and mannerisms. Both performers were again very charming, I thanked them both for how wonderful they were with the late Frank williams when they met him and both signed not only my programme of the show but also the CD of a recording the Dad's Army radio show, they reorded and released. This show is highly recommended, it is unmissable for any Dad's Army fan and I will definitely go and see it again when new dates are announced in the autumn of 2024.

Chlorantha Bee Orchids by the

On Sunday 26th May, at a location in deepest Suffolk, I counted a total of 58 Chlorantha Bee Orchids, I only counted the ones near the path, there must have been numbers approaching 3 figures I also counted 78 Bee Orchids too, including a couple of variants.

Bee Orchids & Nightjars in deepest Suffolk

On Sunday 2nd June, at one site, during the afternoon I counted just 15 Bee Orchids with no Clorantha White Bee Orchids present at a site in coastal Suffolk, disappointingly the landowner had mown a metres perimeter around the whole area obviously cutting down some Bee Orchid plants. I ventured into deepest Suffolk to try and sea Nightjars, walking down the path we heard 2 Willow Warblers singing and I saw a bird drop down. I heard a brief churr of a Nightjar and at 9.40pm suddenly the churring started in a clearing, I suddenly saw a bird, a fantastic Nightjar fly across the ride. It started churring from this side of the ride, whilst another bird churred from the same area as the previous bird, amazingly Rob spotted it, a second fine Nighjar perched on a manmade structure. It was churring away. We also saw Muntjac and heard one barking from the deeps of the Pine tree woods.

Corton seawatch

On Saturday 1st June, at Corton Baker's Score, 15 C Scoter flew N 3 C Scoter flew N and around 30 Gannets in total flew S- most were adults, a group of 6 Terns including 2 Sandwich Tern flew north, whilst a close Fulmar flew north just off the cliffs and I was joined by Rob H & I picked out an Arctic Skua flying far out to sea.