Three days of summer!
`Make the most of the good weather` was our cry for this year, as summer weather seems in short supply at the moment. This week was forecast as sunny for most days and three days were marked as potential `days out`.
We were lucky as we managed all three days. One to Redgrave and Lopham Fen, another to Pipers' Vale Nature Reserve with its stunning views of the Orwell Bridge, and the third to Ramsholt Church on the Deben River, to see the poppies all around the churchyard.
So, here are images from all three days to remind us of at least some summer in 2021!
As you can see, the churchyard is a riot of colour at the moment. Certainly a view to remember.
In amongst this colour, with the River Deben as a backdrop, you have an interesting church as well. See my previous post.
Moving on to the next sunny day, and a trip to Pipers` Vale. This is a Nature Reserve that is worth visiting for its flowers and butterflies, but also its views of the Orwell Bridge.
Two views of the Orwell Bridge. A magnificent structure by any measure.
Textures in the water at the base of the bridge.
Salsify, spotted near the bridge. It is a root vegetable, apparently, belonging to the dandelion family, being known also as the oyster plant because of its similar taste when cooked. The root is similar in appearance to a long, thin parsnip, with creamy white flesh and a thick skin. In the same way as many root vegetables, salsify can be boiled, mashed or used in soups and stews.
Bumble Bee
Common Blue butterfly. We have seen these and the Marble White on this site many times before.
Here is a Marble White taken a few days later. Included, as the ones I took on this day were not up to scratch! Still Pipers Vale though.
Day three was a visit to Redgrave and Lopham Fen, noted for it Dragonflies and Raft Spider.
First two images are of a male Norfolk Hawker. The Norfolk hawker is a rare species, with clear wings, green eyes and the characteristic yellow triangle shape on the dragonfly’s body which make this endangered dragonfly very distinctive.
These little creature are the young of the Peacock butterfly I believe.
So to the great find on a visit to Redgrave and Lopham - the Raft spider. We had seen it here a year or two ago, but it is quite elusive so we were well pleased when a lady suddenly said "look, there`s one".
The spider was first identified in the UK in 1956, at Redgrave and Lopham Fen. Following their discovery, a number of new pools were dug to encourage population expansion. However, water extraction from the nearby borehole and a series of droughts in the 1980s reduced the population to only two isolated areas on the reserve. Throughout this period irrigation of the pools inhabited by the spider enabled the continuation of the population. The removal of the borehole in 1999 was expected to trigger an increase in population as water levels returned to normal. However, a study carried out in 2006 showed that no noticeable change had occurred. The population of the fen raft spider at the site remains small and restricted in distribution, but stable.
Longhorn beetle
Lastly, as we were almost next door to Bressingham, we had a wander around the gardens before heading home. The gardens are beautiful this time of year and, having had plenty of moisture, looking lush and colourful.
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