Nature Notes June 2022
Nature Notes June 2022
Walking the Walsingham Way gave me the opportunity to travel through ‘hidden’ parts of Norfolk. Most of the route was along quiet country roads with the occasional green lane adding interest. Between Ringland and Swanton Morley the roadside verges were very dry and sandy, so I was pleased to find the occasional interesting plant.
The following stage was quite different with banks bright with Birds-foot Trefoil and purple Bush Vetch. This was a much more settled countryside, with wide park lands dotted with veteran trees and grazed by cattle and sheep. A sign on a farm gate read ‘The Organic Pig Company’. With organic animals there are always flies, and there was a Swallow on wires above the road and a Pied Wagtail on the roof of a barn, both reliant on flies to feed to their young. Further on there was a cloud of House Martins feeding, the largest number I had seen all summer. There were fields of free range pigs nearby, which again were providing flies for them to eat, but also mud for nest building, both in short supply in the more arable parts of the county.
I detoured from the set route to visit Hoe Rough, an area of common land managed for wildlife. Bluebells alongside the path were going over but there were deep pink Foxgloves, white Lesser Stitchwort and glistening Meadow Buttercups. A narrow trod led to a small area of beautiful Green-winged Orchids; most were deep magenta with delicate green stripes on the upper petals forming a hood, and a paler, dotted lower lip. A Cuckoo called distantly as it searched for a mate. Many of you have also heard Cuckoos this year around Reepham, so we must hope that their numbers are increasing.
A long trudge through North Elmham was rewarded by a roadside verge of sky blue Meadow Cranesbill beyond. Near Sennowe Park I had the most exciting sighting of the whole walk: a stunning male Marsh Harrier slowly quartering the ground over a small valley of rough grass. I was able to see his pale crown and shoulders, and black and grey wing markings, as he scanned the vegetation in search of a frog or small mammal to feed to his chicks. He was being harassed by a crow but took no notice. He and his mate would have had a nest in reedbeds along the upper Wensum valley.
The third part of my journey took me through Stibbard where its brightly painted old phone box had been converted into a well-stocked library! A green lane leading to the hamlet of Croxton was lined with brambles which were just coming to flower. The air was buzzing with insects: honey bees; bumblebees; hoverflies; damselflies and many more besides. Dark Bush Cricket nymphs were sunning themselves and spiders were lurking amongst the vegetation ready to pounce on any unwary insect. There was even a freshly emerged Small Tortoiseshell butterfly making the most of this bountiful source of nectar.
I was pleased to be able to visit Little Snoring Church with its round tower, originally part of an older church, standing detached from the current building. At the churchyard gate there was a lovely stand of Wild Clary with its small, dark blue flowers surrounded by navy blue bracts, and the churchyard itself held a few plants of Meadow Saxifrage, both scarce in Norfolk. Just before reaching Walsingham I stopped to help a young Bank Vole which had presumably fallen over the edge of the road bank and couldn’t climb back to safety. It squeaked in fright as I scooped it up, but quickly scuttled away once safely on the bank top again. Fortunately it was some miles from the Stoat I saw crossing the road!
Do let me know if you see anything of interest. rachel.42rr@btinternet.com
