Rain was forecast for the afternoon. This decided us to make a short morning outing to Hickling, to look for Dragonflies and Butterflies (esp. Swallowtail). We saw several Dragonflies but none identifiable apart from a fast flying Norfolk Hawker.
Pam had a short view of a flying Crane whilst I was opening the gate - I saw one on the way out. We spent half an hour in Bittern Hide, seeing many Bearded Tits, the usual reed birds and a single Hobby. On the way back to the parked car, I found a lovely clump of - what turned out to be - more Southern Marsh Orchids. They are so variable in both colour and size, we were hoping for something different. I had my DSLR with it's prime 18-55 mm lens to-day. That, and a good plant, led to probably my best photo yet.
The sky soon clouded over, not propitious flying weather for the Swallowtails. They should be busy laying eggs on the agrimony.
Pam taking photos of the clump of agrimony.
We did find some wildlife on the agrimony......
One of these great Woolly Bears, this one is that of a Garden Tiger Moth Caterpillar .
and Bumble Bees, this one is probably Bombus hortorum or terrestris?
The clump of flowers was near the grandly named Tower Hide.
We met several other silver birders, all looking for - and not seeing - Swallowtails. The man in Reception identified the caterpillar for us, thank goodness, I'm still flummoxed by the Bumble Bee ID............
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