Hickling and Potter Heigham: keeping it local!

I had arranged to meet Brian at Hickling NNT Reserve (it being posted all over the net that it was now open) However, when we met (separate cars!) at the entrance road, all the gates were padlocked. We assumed that these wouldn't be unlocked until 9.00: since it was only 6.30, we returned to Potter Heigham, parking by the Church and walking through the woods to the Weavers' Way footpath. It felt quite odd walking twenty feet apart, but it was a pleasant chance to catch up with each other's news.

I don't think we expected to see much in the way of new species: and we didn't! Lots of Willow Warblers, Whitethroats, Cetti's and Blackcaps, as well as good - if fleeting - views of a Grasshopper Warbler and several Bearded Tits. The Tern platform on Rush Hill Scrape was fully occupied by Black-headed Gulls, much to the apparent annoyance of ten or so Common Terns! It was good to see a Red Deer at the edge of the woods: that's four species I've seen since 'lockdown' started. There had been a terrific hatch of Four-spotted Chasers - they were everywhere - and there were also plenty of Hairy Dragonflies as well as the expected damsels. New for the year was a Wall Brown: anyone able to i/d this large caterpillar?

Brian had to return home at nine, so I carried on round to Potter Heigham Marsh. About the first thing I saw was a mint-fresh Swallowtail, quickly followed by a distant Bittern. Apart from Sedge and Reed Warblers, that was about it, so home to label and box some new Martian meteorites!

(Footnote! Thanks to Mike and Geoff for confirming the i/d of the caterpillar as that of a Drinker Moth)