Pre-edited version of the 'Wildlife roundup' published in the Autumn issue of 'Tern' magazine by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust covering the autumn by Robin Chittenden

Every so often, and it is getting less often, with climate change, the weather conditions are such that birds leaving Scandinavia that intend heading south, following the continental coastline, inadvertently cross the North Sea to north Norfolk. They are referred to as drift migrants. This autumn the weather conditions aligned twice in a major way during, resulting in a large deposit of migrants at various coastal locations including NWT Holme Dunes & Holme NOA, Blakeney Point, Burnham Overy Dunes and East Hills. We’re taking about hundreds of birds and in such numbers that they are referred to collectively as a ‘fall’. It was a joy to see Redstarts, Pied Flycatchers, Spotted Flycatchers, Whinchats, Wheatears and Willow Warblers buzzing about, and often all lined up on fence wires together and squabbling over favoured perches. Although the vast majority departed the first night after they arrived, some stayed on for a few days, to re-fuel before, continuing their journeys south to Africa. Mixed in with them were a handful of more uncommon birds, including several Wrynecks (you can’t see too many of them), a few Icterine Warblers and Red-breasted Flycatchers and a Greenish Warbler. At the same time there was a massive influx of Red Admirals that seemed to be perched on every bit of vegetation along the coast.

It’s been a good year for White-rumped Sandpipers and RSPB Snettisham was the place to see them in numbers, although you had to time your visits to the ‘spring’ tides. These high tides mean the waders get pushed to the edge of The Wash and on to the pits at RSPB Snettisham, and thus within identification range. The White-rumped Sandpiper is a fairly plain looking wader from North American and can look surprisingly Dunlin like (which is the default small common estuarine wader), especially in winter plumage, and will easily merge in with a flock of them. They have a proportionally shorter bill and tend to have a more upright stance. There are plumage differences but when they fly the white rump is a giveaway. You’ve then just need to double check it’s not the more common Curlew Sandpiper, which also has a white rump. At least six and possibly as many as eight were present. An unprecedented number in the UK. Other White-rumped Sandpipers were seen at NWT Holme Dunes, NWT Cley Marshes and RSPB Titchwell, so maybe they are breeding, in small numbers in the Arctic on the European side of the Atlantic.

Several species of dragonfly have extended their populations northwards as the weather becomes more favourable for them. One that seems to be taking its time is the Southern Migrant Hawker, also known as the Blue-eyed Hawker. Although it has established colonies in south Essex for several years it is only very slowly moving northwards. It perversely, it would seem for a dragonfly, prefers dried up ditches and ponds, so in fact could turn up nearly anywhere. Having said that it seems to so far have a preference for NWT reserves having been seen over the last few years at NWT Thompson Common and NWT East Winch Common and this year at NWT Syderstone Common and NWT Cley Marshes. Look out for a largish dragonfly but not as big as the more regular Emperor or Southern Hawker but more the size of a Migrant Hawker but with paler sides to its thorax, which is the bit between the head and the tail (by the way the tail is the abdomen).   

The largest, and arguably the most colourful and eye-catching Grasshopper (not including Bush-crickets) in the UK is the Large Marsh Grasshopper. I was surprised to learn it had become extinct in Norfolk, as I hadn’t realized it had been here in the first place. I had seen it in its UK stronghold in the New Forest. Happily, it is being re-introduced in Norfolk by the Citizen Zoo. They began releasing captive reared adults in 2019 at a few sites in west Norfolk, and this year they were also released hundreds in The Broads. In what they called a 'Hop of Hope' project, over seventeen hundred Large Marsh Grasshoppers were let go this summer in Norfolk. These had been cared for by volunteer ‘Citizen Keepers’ who provided food for them once they had hatched from eggs and until they were released as adults. The volunteers gathered to free the hoppers of hope at the chosen release spot. A very happy event. Check out how to get involved at www.citizenzoo.org.