JBftJTISH MUSEUM iHATWAL HISTORY) TRANSACTIONS 2 SHAY m EXCHANGED of GENERAL LIBRARY , TRANSACTIONS OF THE NORFOLK AND NORWICH NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY ISSN 0375 7226 Volume 30 Part 1 (May 1994) Editor P. W. Lambley OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 1994-1995 President: Professor D. Bellamy O.B.E. :e-Presidents: Dr. R. Baker, P. R. Banham, A. L. Bull, K. B. Clarke, E. T. Daniels, A. Dorling, K. C. Durrant, R. E. Evans, R. Jones, Mrs J. Robinson, M. J. Seago, F. J. Taylor-Page. Chairman: R. Haney, 124 Fakenham Road, Taverham, NR8 6QH. Secretary: Dr. A. R. Leach, 3 Eccles Road, Holt, NR25 6HJ. Assistant Secretary: Mrs J. Negal, ‘Inishmore’, Newton Flotman, NR15 IQS. Treasurer: D. I. Richmond, 42 Richmond Rise, Reepham, NR10 4LS. Membership Committee: Mrs A. Brewster (Chairman), C. Dack (Secretary). Programme Committee: Miss J. E. Smith (Chairman), Mrs C. Haines (Secretary). Publications Committee: D.A. Dorling (Chairman) P. W. Lambley, M. J. Seago, R. Haney (Editors). Research Committee: P. Banham (Chairman), M. Poulton (Secretary). Hon. Auditor: J. E. Timbers, 68 New Road, Hethersett. Elected Members of Council: M. Baldwin, A. Brown, J. Butcher, N.S. Carmichael, F. Farrow, J.G. Goldsmith, D.E. Mower, D. Paul, M. Poulton, B. Sage, M.D. Smith, M. Thain. Co-opted and Representative Members of Council: A. G. Irwin (Museum), Dr. W. Sutherland (University), J. Lewis (Norfolk Naturalists Trust), P. W. Lambley (English Nature). REFEREES OF PRINCIPAL SPECIALIST GROUPS Birds (Editor of the Report): M. J. Seago, 33 Acacia Road, Thorpe St. Andrew, Norwich NR7 OPP. Mammals (Editor of the Report): R. Haney, 124 Fakenham Road, Taverham, NR8 6QH. Bats: J. G. Goldsmith, Castle Museum, Norwich NR1 3JU. Amphibia & Reptiles: J. Buckley, 77 Janson Road, Southampton, SOI 5GL. Insects: K. C. Durrant, 18 The Avenue, Sheringham, NR26 8DG. Mollusca: R. E. Baker, 25 Southern Reach, Mulbarton, NR14 8BU. Higher Plants: A.L. Bull, ‘Hillcrest’, Main Road, East Tuddenham, NR20 3JJ. East Norfolk. Mrs G. Beckett, Bramley Cottage, Stanhoe, King’s Lynn, PE31 8QF. West Norfolk. Mosses & Liverworts: C. R. Stevenson, 1 1 1 Wooton Road, King’s Lynn. Lichens: P.W. Lambley, The Cottage, Elsing Road, Lyng, NR9 5RR. Algae: K. B. Clarke, Decoy House, Browston, Great Yarmouth Fungi: R. E. Evans, “Chanterelle”, Church Road, Welborne, Dereham. Marine: Dr. R. Hamond, Scaldbeck, Morston, Holt, NR25 7BJ. Photography: R. Robinson, 5 Southern Reach, Mulbarton, NR 14 8BU. FRONT COVER: Swallowtail Butterfly (Photo: Ivan Loades) DECADES OF CHANGE: A COLLECTION OF NORFOLK ORNITHOLOGICAL CAMEOS DURING THE PAST YEARS; FORTY iTlf'll uni i ion ivhjocc M. J. Seago (NATURAL HISTORY 33 Acacia Road, Thorpe, Norwich 2 5 MAY 1994 Michael Seago has edited the annual Norfolk Bird Report in its presen fomia^finmAPJGED issue covering the events of 1 953. GENERAL LIBRA The first Report which I edited contained contributions by al noot a hundred observers, supported by Gresham School Natural History Society and by Cambridge Bird Club whose sphere of influence then covered the complete Brecks, Fenland and Wash basins. Fortunately a dozen or more of the original contributors remain active watchers today. Detailed information from the Norfolk Naturalists’ Trust reserves at Scolt Head, Cley and Hickling was promi- nent, together with contributions from Anthony Buxton at Horsey and Robin Harrison at Scroby Sands. The Report also features the East Coast tidal surge in January 1953 when Cley Bird Observatory suffered great damage. The beach advanced 30 yards inland and bushes round the Observatory were buried under five feet of shingle. That year just over a thousand birds were ringed. Today the NNT maintains 38 reserves occupying a total of 6650 acres. Other conservation bodies including English Nature, The National Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Broads Authority, Woodland Trust and Norfolk Ornithologists Association have all acquired or manage valuable properties within the county. Breydon Water became a Local Nature Reserve in 1969. Bird ringing continues on a large scale. An annual total of 25,000 birds ringed has been exceeded on more than one occasion. During the last 40 years communication amongst bird-watchers has changed almost beyond recognition. The former ‘old boy’ network evolved into the establishment of commercial telephone networks providing a wealth of informa- tion - mainly relating to rarities and semi-rarities - which have now been overtak- en by personal pagers. Superb optical equipment and reference books, field guides and such weighty tomes as ‘Birds of the Western Palaearctic’ enable iden- tification of the rarest vagrants to be achieved with confidence. More often than not, today’s photographers will capture the rarities on film - with stunning results. I would like to describe some of the gains and losses which have occurred during recent decades, dealing in turn with the county’s main habitat areas: Broads Several species have greatly changes status and none more so than the Bittern. A survey in 1954, following an intensely cold spell when the broads, parts of Breydon and stretches of the Bure, Yare and Waveney all became iced-over, resulted in 55 springtime Broads boomers. Forty years on, the population has declined to two boomers. Fortunately, a few sites remain occupied in north Norfolk. Summering Water Rails have also declined as have Grey Herons. The traditional heronries at Wickhampton, Fishley and Mautby are all deserted. Trans. Norfolk Norwich Nat. Soc. 1994 30(1) 1 Montagu’s Harriers last nested in 1956 although cereal crop nesters began colonising west Norfolk in 1965. Marsh Harriers have staged a remarkable come-back. For several years during the 1970s none nested in Norfolk. Yet in Harriers 1993 1 1 pairs bred successfully in the Broads area alone. Some Marsh remaining all year occupy a Broads winter roost in company with Hen Harriers and Merlins. Enigmatic Cranes have attracted much attention and speculation since arriving in 1979. Successful breeding has taken place on more than one occa- sion and the group at present numbers nine individuals. Bearded Tits although in decline and no longer a county speciality, continue to occupy the largest reedbeds. A much wider national distribution nowadays leaves them far less vul- nerable to local weather conditions. Apart from isolated low-lying pockets, Broads grazing levels are normally too efficiently drained nowadays. As a result breeding populations of Redshank, Snipe and Lapwing have all become much reduced in numbers. This situation has not been helped by ever increasing numbers of Foxes. Yellow Wagtails are in decline. However, recent years have seen the estab- lishment of a large autumn roost of several hundreds in reeds within the shadows of the Roman fortress at Burgh Castle. Among wildfowl, groups of both Whooper and Bewick’s Swan have become established in the vicinity of the Thurne Broads. And the middle Yare valley continues to attract the country’s sole permanent wintering population of Bean Geese. Numbers declined to a mere 25 during the 1964/5 winter, but more recently almost 500 have been pre- sent. Breydon Water Ever since its establishment as one of the first reserves in the country, even pre- dating the Society for the Protection of Birds (now RSPB), Breydon has contin- ued to attract a galaxy of waders, gulls and terns. It also remains a principal haunt of Spoonbills wandering from Holland just as it did a century ago. Tfie estuary walls are patrolled daily and result in an unending selection of avian visi- tors. Thanks very largely to the constant efforts of a single Breydoner, this tide- way continues to produce additions to the county list including Terek Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs both in a single year. The same observer has detected a total of over 18 Broad-billed Sandpipers confirming the fact that this dark stripy wader remains a Breydon speciality. Apart from the Berney Reserve, the adjoining marshland levels are too well drained and no longer echo to the display calls of nesting Redshank, Snipe and Lapwing. But there is some recompense and the increasingly large breeding colony of Common Terns occupying rafts and platforms at the eastern end of Breydon is the most successful in Norfolk. In 1993 a total of 143 pairs raised 156 young to the flying stage. Returning to the marshland, the skeins of Pink-footed and White-fronted Geese which formerly roosted on Scroby Sands have become but a memory. In their place each winter Breydon is attracting thousands of Lapwing and Golden Plover following the establishment by the RSPB of large sanctuary areas. Yet a few winters ago such spectacles were undreamed of. And the latest and most welcome addition during the 1993/4 winter has been an assembly of several hun- 2 dred Black-tailed Godwits. No two winters are alike. An unprecedented total of well over a hundred > Short-eared Owls spent one winter at Halvergate. More recently 130 Lapland Buntings wintered in the same area. Yarmouth North Denes Special Protection Area: The war-time Little Tern colony on Yarmouth central beach was abandoned just as soon as mines and coils of rusted barbed wire were cleared and public access restored. Treacherous Scroby Sands was then colonised, but high tides and summer storms meant limited breeding success. The bank, once extending three miles in length and a mile in width at low water, began decreasing in size during the 1965/6 winter. A build-up between 1972 and 1976 was only tempo- rary. Since then the sandbank has been covered during each high tide. The sur- viving Little Terns were forced to move and reunited with a remnant still attempting to rear young on Yarmouth North beach. But endless disturbance and the activities of egg-collectors meant few successes.