Wildlife

James Lowen

I had a Waxwing over my house in early November, shortly before the flock turned up just round the corner - so probably a pioneer of that group. But given the group's proximity, you would think they would visit my garden at some point. And so they did - observed by man-of-Norfolk's-autumn Dave Andrews who was dropping something off whilst I was out. Groan. Accordingly, the berries in my garden remained forlornly uneaten.

And so to classic late-autumn moths. Dave Holman brought round two Sprawler, which slouched appropriately. Matt Casey displayed Scarce Umber, Feathered Thorn, the fabulously furry December Moth, an unseasonable Brick and a tardy Angle Shades. Matt even kindly brought round Mottled Umber and two Winter Moths when I couldn't make it to his! All was well - and I didn't even need to attempt moth-ing on my own.

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1 Dec 2016 Late autumn UK

Since returning from Ecuador I have been doing rather too much work to really get out and about. Fortunately, wildlife appears to have come to my neighbourhood - meaning I could pop out for odd half-hours on several days. The birds, granted, were all one species - but a pretty one, at least. Then there were a few moths, courtesy of Matt Casey around the corner. I had loaned my moth trap to author Ed Parnell, so no invertebrates in my own garden this past fortnight.

So... the single bird species, as you will have now surmised, is Waxwing. There have been a couple of flocks, at least, in Norwich suburbs. I saw one group of 34+ Bohemian invaders at Jenny Lind Park on two occasions. And there's been another group of 54++ garrulous raiders as close as 150 m from home in New Costessey, which I've visited six or seven times.