Blogger: Melanie Beck, Assistant Leader of Norwich Nuthatches, the local RSPB Wildlife Explorers children's club.
It may have been grey and drizzly July day for the Norwich Nuthatches’ Summer Survey but we had a challenge to complete. We could not let a little rain stop us from trying to beat last year’s total of 64 different species! It would also be a great test to find out just how many we could name.
We began with a wordsearch to find 20 bugs hidden in the grid. It wasn’t as easy as you may think. We found bee cropped up at least three times but only counted if it had honey or bumble in front of it! This was going to be a challenge all of its own!
The first part of our survey meant we would be pond-dipping. As we had had such hot temperatures for a few weeks the water level in the pond was quite low so we weren’t really sure whether we would find many pond creatures. But we shouldn’t have worried. Our first catch was a water scorpion, followed quickly by other creatures that included greater water boatman, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, whirligig beetles, sticklebacks, pond snails and caddis fly larvae. A great start to our total, with William our official total recorder for the morning, writing them all down.
As we finished pond dipping we noticed the warm day had started to encourage out some insects. Meadow brown and ringlet butterflies flitted around us. Soldier beetles and bees were close by resting on the different plants as we started to walk towards the meadow. We saw nettles, hemp agrimony, goose grass, buttercups, clover, and daisies.
We made our way to the meadow, where we passed honeysuckle, brambles and thistles. In the meadow we found more wildflowers such as ragged robin, and marsh orchids. We watched a small white butterfly, a white-tailed bumble bee and a marsh harrier as we listened to a chiffchaff and black cap singing.
As we walked back, a dragonfly and emerald damselfly flew close by. We could name many different trees, from ash and oak, to alder, willow and birch. The birch even had the only fungi we found, birch polypore. By this time we needed just three more to beat last year’s total so we headed to the Reception Hide to look over the broad and were met by so many different birds! A grey heron and a cormorant stood on the island, two kingfishers flew past while mallards, coot and moorhens floated on the water. We could also see a robin, several blue tits and a chaffinch feeding close by. So as our morning drew to a close we waited for the final count from William.
We’d done it!! There were 78 different species on our list, far too many to name all of them on our blog! Not bad for a drizzly grey day. So the challenge has been set for next year – 78 to beat!