Peace and Tranquillity
Several weeks ago my wife, Sarah, found out about a holiday cottage in the Norfolk Brecks and she sent me the link while I was doing the school run. I will confess; I didn't even look at the pictures of the inside before I messaged back "book it!".
After a tough few weeks of three of us coming down with COVID, our weekend in the cottage was in danger of being badly affected, but we just about managed to recover in time to get away. The cottage was stunning and we all fell instantly in love with the place from the moment we arrived. With woodland on three sides and an open area of recently planted Pine with Gorse growing in profusion.
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Tree-tops Cottage |
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View from our bedroom |
We felt at home instantly and made ourselves comfortable in the conservatory while the kids explored the house and garden. This was to become our living space for most of the weekend in between walks and playing with the kids in the garden. It also enabled us to watch the local wildlife whilst relaxing with a cuppa. The perfect place!
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Conservatory where we chilled out...a lot! |
After getting settled in, we decided to take what turned out to be a very short walk to Lynford Arboretum. The trees en route were alive with Willow Warblers, Garden Warblers and both 'Crests although I couldn't get on the Firecrest no matter how much I tried...
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Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler habitat |
Our evening stroll around the Arboretum was idyllic and we almost had the whole place to ourselves. Specimen trees from around the world towered above us and I could only imagine what bird life was residing in the distant canopy but felt no pressure to spend too much time looking; I was just happy to be in the peace and tranquillity of this Breckland oasis. |
Majestic Pines and Firs |
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Green Hairstreak on one of its larval food plants, Gorse |
Further along, a solitary Green Longhorn, Adela reaumurella flitted fairy-like above our heads, rarely stopping for longer than a few seconds. A patch of Cowslips were, perhaps, past their best but after a few weeks of Covid isolation, they were the first I had seen this year.
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Adela reaumurella |
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Cowslips |
As we approached Lynford Lakes, the trees along the margins were alive with insects which Howard systematically identified for me. With a Reed Warbler providing the accompanying soundtrack, we saw dozens of Red-eyed Damselflies amidst clouds of St. Mark's Flies and mosquitoes of an undetermined species which were either not hungry or non-biting.
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Large Red Damselfly |
I was hoping to find some leaf mines of the Eriocrania moths. There are 6 possible on Birches so I checked a lot of trees on our walk but failed to find a single one. Maybe I was too early or perhaps I just wasn't looking at the right sort of Birch...
There were moths though... We saw a couple of Silver-ground Carpet and a couple of Gorse specialists in Grapholita internana and Cydia ulicetana
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Cydia ulicetana |
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Cydia ulicetana |
We picked up several more species of butterfly including Comma, Holly Blue, Small Heath and Small Copper
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Small Copper |
Back at the cottage we had a small photo shoot of the moths from the night before and while we were in full swing, a couple of other interesting insects joined us at the picnic bench. I think this leaf hopper is Javesella pellucida. A splendid Acorn Weevil and Crucifer Shieldbug also dropped in.
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Javesella pellucida |
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Acorn Weevil |
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Crucifer Shieldbug - Eurydena oleracea |
As evening approached we all went for a leisurely stroll around the arboretum where Howard identified at least 9 Firecrest territories whilst my best find was this Oiceoptoma thoracicum which was trying to get into a dog poo bag behind a tree!!
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Oiceoptoma thoracicum |
We finished the day off with a chippy dinner washed down with a couple of ales followed by a dusk viewing of a roding Woodcock from the garden gate.
Sunday started off cloudy after a much milder night and my moth traps were heaving! I jotted down over 50 species including at least one I'd never seen before. More on that shortly. The forecast had originally been for thick cloud and rain but long bright spells and patchy cloud was what we got so there were more opportunities to see a range of insects making the most of the garden Bluebells before heading out for another circuit of the Lynford Water area.
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Orange Tip, female |
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Brimstone |
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Alder Fly |
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Mayfly |
Howard and I eventually met up with Sarah and the boys who had been paddling in the lake. The lake was fringed with Birch, Alder and Sallows and was here that Howard spotted what I had been searching for all weekend: the leaf mines of Eriocrania moths! Once I had got my eye in, I also started to find them and within an hour we had identified 4 different species! I was delighted to see so many Eriocrania sangii which was a new species for me.
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Eriocrania cicatricella |
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Ancylis unculana, my star of the weekend |
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Barred Hook-tip |
So, a fantastic weekend with excellent company in an amazing location. With a vast number of insects and a wonderful section of birds, trees and flowers on show, Tree-tops Cottage has instantly become one of our favourite places; looking forward to the next time we stay there!
For an excellent blog with far more detail on the more interesting birds and insects, check out Howard's mammoth effort here: