NT Sutton Hoo ... or ... If You Go Down To The Woods

Well, it may not have been a teddy bears' picnic, but it was a joy to experience an unexpected encounter with a pair of Muntjac deer as we walked away from the picnic site overlooking the river Deben. The photos were taken with my zoom lens as we had no wish to cause alarm. One of the deer watched us closely, but neither seemed perturbed by our presence.

There were very few small birds about in the wood. We saw crows, gulls and pigeons overhead. I wonder who will gorge on these remaining berries. 

We were looking out over the estuary towards Woodbridge when a Kestrel landed on a bare branch and perched there surveying the scene for a few seconds. 

The Kestrel flying off

Preparing for take-off

Showing its beady eye

Were we friend or foe?

Woodbridge on the far shore

Our sunlit path

Wolf in the woods (for 'wolf' see here ... and for Sutton Hoo wolf purse lid see here)

NT Wicken Fen

We have visited Wicken Fen nature reserve in Cambridgeshire many times, but I don't think we have ever found the reserve as busy as it was last Saturday. It was, of course, half-term. It was also what I might describe as an exceptionally warm summer-in-spring day. Some (the agile ones) climbed the new temporary viewing tower and were able, for a few moments at least, to look beyond the crowded boardwalks to the expansive reed beds and wide skies that are such a feature of this area.

Perhaps with so many visitors about it was not surprising that we failed to see many birds. However we watched a Marsh harrier in the distance; and were treated to some lovely views of a Kestrel, as you can see in the photos below.

The small boat, the Mayfly, that is used for boat trips up the lode a bit later in the season was still in dock...

As I peered into a watercourse where we have seen Grass Snakes and Caddisfly larvae in summer, I noticed this rather fine (?duck) feather...

The windpump is such an iconic feature of this reserve, and those who follow my blog will know that I can never resist a shot or two...

We very rarely see Sparrows in our home patch so it is always a joy to hear their song when we walk down towards the Fenman's Cottage in Wicken.

Quite a few Sparrows were sporting their bird ringing bling...

Well, you know I find the wind pump an irresistible subject...

I felt the picture below represented the sense of 'winter into spring'...

Catkins have been in evidence for some weeks now, but this was my first 2019 sighting of Pussy Willow...

Yet more views of the wind pump...

... and the Kestrel.

I believe the tree below is an Alder, sporting its catkins and (false) cones...

Our last visit had been in November. Such a lot of work had taken place on the reserve since then. We don't ever remember seeing this pool area so clearly. You can see where reeds have been harvested.

I took my sketch book but that was as far I got: one of these days I will try to catch those sails in pen and ink...

There are some beautiful little signs around the reserve, like this one ...

... and this one on a wooden seat in an area where you can sit and watch dragonflies in the summer.

The area which forms the Butterfly Trail in summer is always one of my favourite parts of the reserve, and this area is also signed appropriately...

We noticed on our November visit that the path around the Butterfly Trail area of the woodland walk was receiving attention. This time the path had been smoothed out and, ramp apart, felt much safer for those of us who use walking sticks.

A huge amount of work had been done on the trees and bushes in this area: take a look at my photo below. I gather this is all part of good husbandry and conservation. I will watch this space with interest in the months to come to see what transformations take place.



We so enjoy looking out for species such as the Brown Argus on this part of the reserve. It is my favourite spot for doing the annual butterfly counts. You can read about the Wicken Fen Butterfly Trail here. A list of (named) butterflies seen in the area can be found here.

Like most people, I feel strongly that the next generation should be given every opportunity to enjoy nature and to learn the names of species for, surely, we care most about the things we know. Like Robert Macfarlane, Margaret Atwood, Mark Cocker and others, I feel sad that so many nature words were removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary to make space for words that fitted the zeitgeist of our scientific and technological age. We need technology, but we also need biodiversity and literature to help us appreciate nature. During our time on the nature reserve, we spoke to members of one all-age party who were enjoying a checklist of wildlife (reminiscent of the popular I-spy books), ticking off the features and creatures they encountered, and listening out for the call that would identify a particular bird. I was impressed.

Having read a post on Jim's Birding Blog about visitors to the Brecks, I began to wonder on that busy Saturday, and this was February and not August, about the effect of the human footprint on the rare creatures (some brought to light during Chris Packham's Bioblitz in 2018) who live on the reserve.

I am still wondering...

We headed back to the entrance for a pot of Earl Grey (David and Caroline), a cheese scone (David) and a gingerbread sheep (guess who!). It was lovely to be able to drink our tea outside in such balmy conditions.

We listened to the Sparrows and watched them watching us...

We love the changing light and the way it affects the landscape. The sun was low by this stage of the day...

I have just found this site which gives quite a good summary of the reserve. And if you like facts and figures, this site might also be of interest!

It was time to leave the fen to its night-time creatures and head for home. 

Wall Brown butterfly and Other Creatures at Carlton Marshes

Bank Holiday Monday seemed set fair (after colossal downpours in Dunwich on the Sunday afternoon), so we took a picnic to Carlton Marshes, a reserve in the care of Suffolk Wildlife Trust near Lowestoft, in the hope that there would be butterflies and dragonflies about. We did indeed see a few, but felt the numbers were low for this stage of the season.

We had barely arrived on the reserve before another visitor with binoculars asked if we had seen birds of prey. We caught glimpses of the Marsh Harriers, but it was this pair of kestrels who made their presence felt. As you can tell, they were some distance away from us when I took this record shot.

I took this photo of Cuckooflower because although we heard more than one Cuckoo, we failed to see any of these elusive summer visitors. I discovered later that the caterpillar we encountered, a Drinker Moth larva, is a favourite food of the Cuckoo.

These caterpillars spend the winter hibernating in a partially grown state. This one was stationary on its stem: most of its feeding will take place under cover of darkness.

We kept an eagle eye out for odonata. There were a number of brown dragonflies on the wing, and I suspect some may have been Norfolk Hawkers. We found this beautiful Chaser in our favourite part of the reserve... It looks a bit like a Scarce Chaser to me, but I'm not very sure.



The photos below show the damselflies we encountered around the dark dykes ... Most were Large Reds (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). My camera found it hard to focus when there was so much contrast between the sunlight and the dark water, not to mention the iridescence of the insects themselves.

Do the legs look red on this one, indicating Small Red? Not sure...

Large Red Damselfly

I believe the creature below is a male Azure Damselfly.

Blue or Azure? I'm not sure...

I wonder if anyone can identify this casing which is pretty much actual size...



I noticed silken threads above the casing, and have pinpointed these with orange lines in the photo below ... Do you think they are linked to it? I wondered if they were made by spiders, but odonata may be a more obvious guess.



Speaking of spiders, we checked the places (photo below) where we thought we might see a Fen Raft Spider, but our searching was not rewarded on this occasion ...

 

I did, however, see a tiny Green Orb Weaver spider on a bush ...

Sadly my camera failed to focus. It was about half the size shown above.



This is the path through our favourite part of the reserve. The new reeds were shimmering in the sunshine and it was still pretty damp underfoot in places.

There are plenty of watery habitats in this area ...

and plenty of logs for insects.

Reptiles haven't been forgotten: look at these reed piles, perhaps two metres across.

The wild flowers were spectacular, particularly the swathes of Ragged Robin and Meadow Buttercup.

Ragged Robin, close-up

We noticed this orchid, too.



Something moved, and there in a bush was a Reed Bunting. It was pretty camouflaged against the foliage.



Such a beautiful path!

We had noticed a pair of Mallards earlier in the day. They were still there when we passed by later on.



They blended in well with the light and shade.



And speaking of 'blending in', the bottle may well match those beautiful purple shades on the drake's speculum, but what a shame to find plastic rubbish dumped like this. It was over on the far side of the dyke and I guess one would have needed a net to remove it.



We noticed a young family of Moorhens enjoying the water.



It was soon time to head back for a thermos of tea, but there was a Kestrel to watch on the way.

This Red-headed Cardinal Beetle was hiding in the shade of the nettles.

There were some beautiful stalks of Pink Campion (below),

I'm not sure whether this is a particular kind (Common or Greater, perhaps?) of Bird's-foot-trefoil, but it was putting on a good show of bright yellow colour. The Common variety is a particularly valuable plant in the butterfly food chain.

The path to Oulton Broad was lined with a variety of purple Vetch ...

I always feel that pictures like the one below with a sail appearing in what seems to be the middle of the landscape represent a typical and tranquil East Anglian scene.



There were a good number of Starlings around the picnic area, and one or two Sparrows ...

Sadly I hardly managed to photograph any butterflies. Those that were about, the Orange Tips and Common Blues were pretty skittish. The Peacock below rested for a few moments.

Perhaps our best sighting of the day, though we didn't realise at the time, was a Wall Brown butterfly. We had been told that they were about, but we failed to see any in the area that had been recommended to us. However, we eventually saw a butterfly in the mud: assuming it was going to be Small Copper (I had seen a flash of orange), I grabbed my camera and took the picture below from a distance with my zoom.

It was only when we got home and uploaded our photos that I was able to see very clearly that the insect was indeed a Wall Brown, which I think may be a first sighting for me. Science suggests that this species may be the victim of climate change, which is perhaps why I have not seen these insects before.

I enlarged the photo, and while the quality is poor, it makes a good record shot. It also makes me want to see another Wall Brown, and next time I will hope to recognise it immediately.

Postscript: is it more usual to refer to this species as Wall or Wall Brown? Both terms seem to be used interchangeably on the web.