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There is still lots to see at Titchwell in early winter, during the last fortnight I've seen 8 mammals, over 30 wild flowers, several insects, many sea creatures washed up onto the beach, and 113 species of birds. The chinese water deer has been showing well on Thornham Marsh and there have been...

Finding new species during the late autumn and winter can be really hard, but I have managed four in the last fortnight. The first was a white powdery fungus on oak leaves, which I believe is oak mildew. I followed that with a new moth, a red green carpet which I found by the security lights on the servery...

It's been a funny couple of weeks. There have been thousands of birds around the reserve, notably gannets, auks, wildfowl, waders and jays , but somehow I managed to miss all the species such as leach's petrel, sooty shearwater and rose-coloured starling that would have added to the 'rambles'...

I love this time of the year, it is full of opportunities and surprises. With the dark evenings it is the season of night classes. One of my friends is taking lessons on fungi and her instructor is willing to identify specimens for his class. She took one from our car park for me, it was a southern bracket...

Here's the latest from Ray: The last two weeks have been very interesting. The icy weather has resulted in some great views of our winter wildlife. I've had close-ups of 5 mammal species, chinese water deer , muntjac , weasel , brown hare and common seal , plus a series of good bird sightings...

Ray's final update for the year. We wish him a very merry Christmas also; it has been a pleasure to follow his wildlife antics and I am certainly looking forward to what he may discover on the reserve in the new year! OK. I thought that identifying 1000 wildlife species by the end of the year...

The first thing I do every morning when I arrive at Titchwell is to check the gents toilet walls for insects and spiders. (Luckily not many people have witnessed this odd behaviour!) Apart from the potential for losing friends, it has netted me several species on my wildlife list, the latest two being...

During the last two weeks I have boldly gone to the outer edges of the reserve in my quest for new civilisations! Lurking in one of the dark recesses of the men's toilet I found a large house spider , and on the ceiling a daddy-long-legs spider . There are hundreds of fungi in the wooded area, the...

The exceptionally mild weather has encouraged me to spend more time than usual on the reserve during the last fortnight. It also tempted a young lady to completely strip off and go skinny-dipping, but she wasn't the streaker in my title. My streak , and the sprawler , were two of the six new moths...

Finding new species is getting a lot harder, so I've really got to keep concentrating and take any opportunities that happen along. As the leaves have started to fall from the trees along the entrance road there is now a much better view of the adjacent farmland and because of this I was able to...

What an extraordinary fortnight. With temperatures ranging from 12c to 29c, no wonder our wildlife has been confused! Four new species have found their way onto my list, which now stands at 909. Three were moths: pink-barred sallow , black rustic and satellite; and one was a plant - wild marjoram . The...

I've managed to see six new species in the last fortnight (total now 905) but only one of them was my own work. I found a tiny red velvet mite crawling about on one of the windows in the Fen Hide but the brown-spot pinion and garden rose tortrix moths were entirely down to the young ladies doing...

Our reserve has come up with another 13 species to raise my list total to 899. Four new moths - cream wave , white-line dart , square-spot rustic and frosted orange - came via the moth trap. I have always maintained that not enough attention is paid to the wildlife in the car park, and the last few...

I've had another really good fortnight with the list climbing to 886 . All of the new species, except one, could be described as creepy-crawlies! They included a twin-lobed horsefly ( chrysops relictus ) which, with it's dark-banded wings and vivid green eyes, didn't look like your normal...

After reaching 800 species Ray aims higher, with a new challenge to complete... Well folks, I have a new target of 1000 species to be seen before the end of the year. The 850 already noted have been put in alphabetical order and the 24 latest additions will be added in a new section. Two birds...

Ray reflects on his challenge to find as many different wildlife species as possible on the reserve over the past year. But what will the future hold for Ray's Rambles now that the challenge is complete? The year of Ray's Rambles is now over. On checking my notes I discovered that I'd...

Despite already reaching his target of 800 species, Ray is continuing to find new flora and fauna to add to his amazing list of finds... Spending a morning with Gillian Beckett, co-author of The Flora of Norfolk , and her husband Ken was a real treat for me. They very soon sorted out the ferns that...

He's done it! Ray has finally reached his target of finding 800 wildlife species at Titchwell in a year...with a month to spare! A Puffin fan-footed smooth hound? No it’s not a new type of greyhound! I am amazed that I have reached my target of 800 species with four weeks to spare. There...

As Ray nears his target of 800 species, he proves that no stone should be left unturned when on the hunt for wildlife at Titchwell Marsh. To get the best out of the reserve, there are plenty of events and lots of different areas to explore which can open your eyes to all sorts of wildlife. This...

More intriguing findings from Ray's Rambles... The Ray's Rambles list has leapt forward from 717 to 749 species! The additions contain some real class. I was very pleased to find a turtle dove, and I could easily have completed my year without seeing a brown argus butterfly . There have been...

Here's the latest update from volunteer and wildlife explorer Ray Kimber! A great fortnight - 41 species were added to the list, making the total 717. Wood warbler and red-necked phalarope are always good birds to see, but for me the best of the new birds was the very smart gull-billed tern...