Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham

Tweeting about the wildlife found at the Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK).

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

...you no longer wish to support a platform that enables harm and divison, please come and join me at Bluesky. It's not quite the same as X so if you want advice on how to get the most out of it by all means get in touch. You can find me there @applewildlife.bsky.social (3/3)

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

I have not posted under this account for a long time and took the decision not to resume doing so as I witnessed X's embrace of racism, intolerance and rampant disinformation. X's purpose is now to serve its owner's political and personal agenda and its values are... (1/3)

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

…wholly incompatible with my own. I have found far more positive and genuine engagement on ad-free Bluesky and as that platform gains popularity it is becoming less of an echo-chamber and more a comminity for sharing and discussion. If like me… (2/3)

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

There were 30+ Fieldfare feeding in the big meadow on the north side this morning. I don’t often see Fieldfares feeding in this field but there are sheep there at the moment and I suspect that’s not a coincidence. I often see thrushes in the sheep field on the south side.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Fascinating facts and figures about the importance of dandelions to bees. And this is just bees - many other types of insect depend on dandelions too. If you have a lawn encourage dandelions to grow in it, and don’t “tidy” those wild patches. We need to look after our insects.

[Fairyland Trust @fairylandtrust]

Did you know that dandelions are a vital food source for bees and a Queen Bee needs 50g of nectar to get her colony going, meaning she needs to visit a whopping 2340 dandelions!

Find out more via https://t.co/678knVLa7J🐝 👑

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

@Norwichbirder @bigglesandannie Thanks James, knew you would know and thanks for the ID tips too.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Multi-tasking female... It seems that the male Common Red-legged Robberfly doesn't have the female's undivided attention as she is busy tucking into her prey, a parasitic wasp.

This genus of robberflies is unusual among robberflies for eating parasitic wasps as well as flies.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Woodpigeons scattering one way, Jackdaws and Rooks the other. Why? No gun shots or other loud noises but this was a bigger reaction than Sparrowhawks or Buzzards get. A few seconds later the answer appeared, powering towards me and over my head: a young (non-breeding) Goshawk!

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

This little beetle is the nationally scarce Phloiophilus edwardsii, the sole member of the family Phloiophilidae. I found it on a wooden fencepost at the bottom of the meadows one night last January, but have only just worked out what it was. It's a littl'un at around 2.3mm long.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

I haven’t heard that this was seen from the Cathedral Meadows, but if anyone had been there at the right time and looking in the right direction then it would certainly have been visible from there.

[Dave Appleton @applewildlife]

Watched this White-tailed Eagle at @Pensthorpe & Ryburgh/Sennowe. Then when it was in the air I figured I'd be able to see it from my patch (N. Elmham). Drove to a vantage point in Elmham with a view to looking back to Ryburgh, but it beat me there and I got my best views yet.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

@scientistke1 @kwskenya @citizentvkenya @PolandMFA Ah, no, closer views the next morning revealed that the ring was in fact blue, not green. I don’t know where it is now though - hopefully it hasn’t suffered the same fate as yours.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Big excitement this evening as a White Stork roosted on the church roof. Storks are very rare in Britain, but they also escape quite often, and this bird's green ring probably indicates that it's a Polish bird that's been rehabilitated in a UK wildlife hospital then released.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Some nice drone footage of the meadows here…

[Chris @Chris_B_1988]

North Elmham - County School area of the @midnorfolkrly and @ElmhamMeadows seen from above earlier today: https://t.co/HX3FUtzCJ2

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

A few splashes of colour at the meadows on Monday including this Blue Tit along the track and Goldfinch along the railway.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Happy New Year everyone. A scarily warm start to the year resulting in Lesser Celandine flowering already and nearby Red Admiral butterflies and Buff-tailed Bumblebees flying. Hares boxing in the parish too. Nice to see, but a sad reflection on the state of our climate.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

I'm no expert at recognising the various grasshopper species by ear, but Lesser Marsh Grasshopper is one I've heard elsewhere and am pretty sure I've never heard at the meadows. So it was a nice surprise when I realised a grasshopper I photographed here recently was this species.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

A selection of moths included Dark Chestnuts, Black Rustic, Rhomboid Tortrix, Red-green Carpet, Feathered Thorn, Brick and, shown here, Pink-barred Sallow, Angle Shades, Green-brindled Crescent and Lunar Underwing.

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

A walk round the meadows last night was mainly spent looking for moths feeding on Ivy flowers, but there were a few other things to see too. Like this White-lipped Snail riding on the shell of a Garden Snail...

[Cathedral Meadows, North Elmham @ElmhamMeadows]

Also unexpected was this Common Toad at least 3 foot up in a hedge sat on an Ivy leaf. It was still in exactly the same spot when I walked back past over 1.5 hours later (but turned through 90 degrees). I don't remember ever seeing one above ground level before.