Grey Skies over Sutton Hoo

Saturday was a very grey day, but we were keen to get some fresh air and decided that NT Sutton Hoo was our best option. There seem to be a lot of changes happening over the site at present, not least the construction of this 17 metre high viewing tower.

The Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship was 27 metres long, and was dragged up to the site in the photo above.

Sadly there is no lift so the tower will not be accessible to all, but for those who can climb, it will provide views not only of the Royal Burial Ground (you can see a couple of the mounds in my photo), but also of the river Deben, which lies in the valley behind. 

The sudden flicker of sunlight was a welcome sight on a grey afternoon.

The photo above was taken on Saturday, showing the work in progress at the base of the tower...

...and I took the photo above last summer when the area was being excavated. 

It is always a joy to see the Herdwick sheep on the site. Apparently, and not surprisingly with the 'wick' ending, the name comes from the Old Norse word, herdvyck, meaning sheep pasture. 

 I took the photo above on a grey day last June, but have reposted it to give a little more impression of the site.

The photos above and below show a metal installation (i.e. model/reconstruction) of the ship by the visitors' centre.

I looked so hard for some wild spring flowers, but without much success. There were some lovely daffodils, ...

...a few late snowdrops,

...and some beautiful blossom. I think it may be Blackthorn as there did not appear to be any leaves in evidence.

We noticed the raised beds and assumed they were part of a sensory garden, but it turned out to be a 'dye garden'. 



I look forward to seeing it again once the plants have grown a bit. 

The names alone conjured up aspects of Anglo-Saxon life in my imagination, but the Woad plant actually originates from the area that is now south-east Russia (K.G. Gilbert, in Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences, 2003).

These Woad plants seemed to be thriving. 

We visit Sutton Hoo several times a year. I wonder what we will see next time. The site is usually a good habitat for Skylarks and Small Copper butterflies. We noticed that a number of bramble and gorse bushes had been removed. I just hope the construction work will not disturb the wildlife habitats too much. 

Excavation at NT Sutton Hoo (and a Damselfly, of course)

We decided to visit to NT Sutton Hoo again this afternoon before the heavy showers arrived, and we were so pleased that we did as we discovered it was the last day of an excavation, the first for almost three decades, which is being carried out by MOLA (see this link too). There was plenty of digging and panning going on, and we were able to see some Neolithic flints and Bronze Age potsherds that had come to light.

It was a strange afternoon, with short bursts of hot sun followed by humid swathes of grey cloud. There were plenty of people about but few insects. We noticed one very large orange and black sand wasp (like the Red-banded Sand Wasp here), but it was too fast for my camera. I see the linked website actually mentions Sutton Hoo as a location, so perhaps I am on the right ID track.

I presume these little holes in the area near the mounds were made by ants, wasps or some other 'digging' insect. 

What a lovely spot for an excavation! 

A new viewing tower is to be built in this area, but I was disappointed to find that there are no plans for a lift to make the feature more accessible.

 You can see just how sandy the soil is.

We had a good look around this area of the site before heading back towards Tranmer House (below).



I kept my eyes open for insects and eventually found (what I think may be) a Common Blue Damselfly on a leaf ...

On our way back to the exhibition area we paused to check the small patch given over to wild flowers...



There was a good-sized carpet of this yellow-green sedum: I'm not sure how 'wild' it is and I'm sure I know it by another name (update 4 June: the name I was trying to remember is Stonecrop). 

The dog rose below in the wild flower garden reminds me that June is already upon us. We bought a few bedding plants to brighten up our own garden on the way home, and hopefully to attract more insects. We checked again for bats this evening, but failed to see any. There was one Cockchafer/Stag Beetle floating around: it narrowly missed my hair!

Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Knettishall Heath Reserve

Having left Thetford behind us (please see previous post), we headed for the wild expanse of Knettishall Heath, which is in the care of Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is the Trust's largest reserve, and even on a dry Bank Holiday afternoon, we saw very few other people once we left the main car park. We decided to start out on the red rabbit trail...

We passed areas of deciduous trees...

... and areas where there were mainly conifers.

On a cloudy afternoon, a few patches of blue sky were particularly welcome.

There were corrugated iron sheets for reptiles. I wonder who was lurking under this one. Adders are occasionally seen, and there are Grass Snakes, Common Lizards and Slow Worms in the area. We shall have to return on a sunnier day...

This Breckland heath is an ancient landscape: the photos above and below show the bowl barrow tumulus at Hut Hill.

It was too cool for most insects, but there were occasional sheltered spots in dappled sunshine...

... and we noticed this Green-veined White butterfly in just such a spot.

When I was scanning the leaves for ladybirds through my zoom lens, I noticed the creature above (and below). I think it may well be a day-flying Fairy Moth (aka a Green Longhorn).

And yes...

... there was a single ladybird. I am not sure whether it is a Cream-spot or an Orange. The three spots on the wing shown on the right (straddling the top of the elytra) in the photo below could suggest the former, but I have a hunch there is more to it than that! I have yet to log the sighting on the UK Ladybird Survey via iRecord, so watch this space. The ladybird flew up in the air then came back and perched on the leaf.

There is plenty more for us to explore on Knettishall Heath on a future occasion, but by 4 o'clock we felt in need of a cup of tea so we drove to the garden centre at Bressingham. There was plenty of steam in the adjacent gardens.

Pine Hawk-moth eggs at NT Sutton Hoo

After recent days of grey cloud I was keen to make the most this afternoon's lovely weather. NT Sutton Hoo was looking at its best. The mounds are in the background and the Visitors' Centre is beyond. 

 The blue flowers on the right of the mound are Harebells (you can't tell from the photo!).

There was also a good sized patch of Scabious, however ...

... what excited me at the time, and even more afterwards when David checked his Twitter feed, were these small white eggs on one of the pine trees. The tree was just inside the central roped-off mound area, making it difficult to get close enough for my camera to allow me to take a good macro shot. But at least I have a record of what are (it seems) eggs of the Pine Hawk-moth, Sphinx pinastri.

I am giving this identification because a glance at Twitter revealed that Molly Carter - who tweets as ‏@CuratorMolly - had seen not only the eggs but also a magnificent caterpillar here at Sutton Hoo only a few days ago. You can take a look on her Twitter account by clicking here. You might also like to see this brilliant model!
 

Don't forget that it is Moth Night (which goes on until 12 September 2015). Next year's theme will be Hawk-moths.

One of the Sutton Hoo Kestrels this afternoon

When I was up at Sutton Hoo last time, the local Kestrels were making their presence felt. I was delighted to find that the pair were active again today.

Kestrel over the Sutton Hoo burial mounds

Autumn is beginning to have the upper hand, and we saw a lot of fungi around the site.

Is this a Parasol Mushroom?

As we turned to leave, we saw a Hornet (too quick for us to catch on camera, my fifth Hornet of the season) in a gorse bush along with this spider, who had no intention of going anywhere.