Reintroduction/reinforcements work when the initial drivers of species extinction/declines have been addressed (and the species was clearly a native which was impacted by man) and should be used when natural recolonisation is unlikely/impossible...

You can’t usually tell even with a supremely good quality photos - you would need a detailed close-up view of the tip of the abdomen in side profile, and for it to be a male! Chrysoperla pallida was only recognised as distinct after specialist lab equipment was used to record their inaudible songs!

Yes, there are a couple of families of brown lacewings as well as the more familiar family of larger green lacewings. However Chrysoperla carnea is a green lacewing that turns brown in winter and that’s very probably what you have here (either that or the rarer Chrysoperla pallida).

I tend to follow the same process I learned for moth genitalia for other insects too, i.e. macerate abdomen in 10% KOH to enable clean removal, clean in water, then alcohol, then Euparal Essence then set on a slide in Euparal. Probably not conventional but seems to work for most things so far.

I suspect this is a pure Pink-footed Goose rather than a hybrid. Other than an excess of white I’m not seeing anything to point to another species. We’ve had some strange Pink-feet with abnormal white on the head in Norfolk including white eye rings and unusual amounts of white on the face.

Certainly get that impression. I've not been entirely consistent with recording these at my garden moth trap but have done so more diligently in recent years - yet recorded fewer. This chart shows the numbers I've recorded by year.

You might have seen the one I’m using which is pretty good, but I think it’s still beta version pre-release. Message me if you want more info.

Makes all that effort worthwhile, if ever that was in doubt. And what a fine specimen too! Fabulous find.

I've only just got round to processing the photos from that day so here are some more: one of 6 Little Stints, a Little Ringed Plover and a Ruff. All birds I don't see on my local patch very often.

#Titchwell 🪶

There’s little / no evidence of the presence of these species. The one mention in an historic document of tree frogs specifically says they were NOT the frog in Norfolk. And to suggest these species were driven out by humans is pure fantasy. No mention of them in this academic book on the subject.

Great to finally meet you at (nearly) the end of it! Here’s to a fabulous 2026!

I would have probably suggested leucistic Teal but a similar bird last year was identified as a Sarcelle a Bavette, a variable hybrid bred from Teal, Yellow-billed Teal and call duck (small domestic Mallards). Not sure if they necessarily include all three so perhaps just Teal x call duck?

Nice one. Apparently they can also feed on Red Bartsia.

Those Dainties are rather nice.

Beast. I caught one here in 2023 which was a nice surprise. It’s often worth getting a photo of the underside of the beetle with the diving beetles as the colour and the shape of the coxal processes can be helpful for the ID. They don’t right themselves easily so it’s usually quite easy to get.