There and Back

The scene that greeted us as we arrived at Dunwich Heathland to start, as it turned out, the Pirate Trail. Armed with a leaflet with the route marked, and a pen, we set off ! The heathland really looking colourful.  This was the object of our searches - a board with a clue printed on it, which had to be copied onto the leaflet ... such as this! One of the objectives of the day was for Izobelle to take her first photographs with her own camera. So lets photograph all sorts of things! Then perhaps Nana will help me fill in the clues. Then I can run onto the next clue! Then a rest while mummy tells me something I don`t quite believe! Although it was funny. These grown ups say this smells lovely, so we have a group sniff. Then mummy spotted this lovely caterpillar on the path which turned out to be an Emperor Moth or Saturnia pavonia (if you speak Latin) Then, having completed all the ...

We chose to go to Fermyn Woods Country Park as it has a reputation of having a large number and variety of butterflies. We booked into a B&B cottage nearby in the village of Sudborough in what appears to be a converted farm building in the back garden of the owners house. It was perfect, and at a really good price. But first, to the woods to see what was about in the afternoon sun! The whole area around the villages of Sudburough and Lowick, and also Fermyn Woods itself, were once part of the vast Rockingham Forest. It was named after the village of Rockingham, where the castle was a royal retreat. Over the years the forest shrank, and today only a patchwork of the north-eastern forest remains. The area became a royal hunting ground for King William I after the Norman conquest. The term forest represented an area of legal jurisdiction and remained so until the 19th century. The forest boundaries were set in 1299, although the boundaries returned to a smaller area as a resul...

Wicken Fen was the very first nature reserve owned by the National Trust and has been in their care since 1899. To quote the National Trust :  `For more than 100 years we've worked hard to protect the rare species that live at Wicken through intensive management of the fen habitats. This has become increasingly difficult and by the late 20th Century it had become clear we could not protect this unique place because the nature reserve was just too small & too isolated.  The Wicken Fen Vision is an ambitious project to create a landscape scale nature reserve stretching from Wicken Fen to the edge of Cambridge, creating new habitats for both wildlife and humans. In 1999, we launched the Wicken Fen Vision, a 100 year plan to extend the reserve from Wicken to the outskirts of Cambridge, covering an area of 5300 sq hectares.  Our aim is to buy land as and when it comes up for sale, and restore it to fen and wetland habitat. We gradually raise water levels and use ...

The whole purpose of this trip was to visit Skomer and hopefully photograph the puffins, so today was much anticipated. we checked first thing in the morning and to our relief, the ferry was running. In fact, because of the previous cancellations, it was running more trips than normal. We manage to get tickets for the 11:30 am with a return of 5:00 pm. So plenty of time to wander around the island. The day was gray and misty but lifted as soon as we stepped onto the shore giving us glorious weather for our stay. So, onto our boat for the 15 min. trip. One of the first indications that you are entering a special place, is the presents, overhead and on the water all around the boat, of hundreds of puffins. As we landed they were perched all around us just watching and seemingly unconcerned. Having had our guide giving us the details of the great care to be taken around these wonderful creatures and the other inhabitants of the island, we headed off to the main puf...