Blog and Published Pages
Went back to Frampton Marshes this week. Quite active site. The Spoonbills are still there, but i never saw them. These shots taken towads the 360 degree hide in the tall Teasel.
There was a nice display from two Lapwings. Film to follow.
Last Wednesday I went on a walk in Cambridgeshire with an RSPB warden on a growing local reserve, The following film records a murmeration that we not expecting. The starlings were likely all fledglings of this year. They ‘were maybe, learning their craft’. Fascinating to see them join in as ‘squadrons’!
If you want to see such sights join your local RSPB group or go out and find them for yourselves.
Quite close to Stamford in Lincolnshire and the A1 road, is this delightful and important wildlife reserve. Several species of orchids and scarce butterflies, etc. The Marbled White was in abundance Saturday 8th July 2017, together with some orchids including the Pyramidal orchid. Here’s a selection:
Cons: Not suitable for disabled as path is steep and bumpy. No facilities. Dofg walkers abound.
First summer visit to Wicken since about 1993! Yes that long. Much to see, and the Early Marsh Orchids are bloomi
ng marvelous! In 1993, there were about 20, but this year it is in the hundreds if not thousands! Well done NT.
I aslo noticed this specimen on my visit on the Summer trail (West of site). I believe it to be the Southern Marsh Orchid or an outside chance of it being the Marsh Fragrent Orchid. It was at least 9 inches of bloom, which is what caught my eye.
Sadly, no sightings of Hen Harriers, but I heard this week that they have but four breeding pairs in England right now! Wicken Fen is worth a visit, butt ake the insect repellant!
Gret evening out in Cambridgeshire at the Ouse Washes reserve. Spent the evening observing this young Barn Owl hunting.
Spent a very good afternoon and evening at Frampton Marshes on the border of Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Run by the RSPB, the staff were friendly and te facilties mmaculate. The outlook onto the scapings was amazing, with Little Egrets just a few metres in front of me! Too easy for a photo though!
If you have never seen t he Nightjar, well you are not alone. As a nocturnal creature, you just get fleeting glances of it at dusk and at dawn. I went to Dersingham Bog Nature Reserve in North Norfolk at the weekend with the RSPB and had my first sightings of this strange bird. In fact it is only in silloette that you see it, but even that is a great sight, given the way it flies. Firstly, there’s the sound as it comes out. A ‘churring’ sound best desribes it, and it cannot be mixed up with any other bird. Incidentally, a Nightjar is also known as a Goat-Sucker!
Then it is on the wing and flaps around across the heathland, which is its favourite habitat. Whilst waiting a sighting, the Barn Owl and Short-Eared or Little Owl were a welcome sighting as was the Woodcock in flight. At one point the Nightjar sat next to a Short Eared Owl on a branch in the far distance. Even stanger!
Before Dersinham Bog, we went to the Sandringham Estate. Not much to say about the bird life, but I snapped a common bue damselfly and a Speckled Wood Butterfly.
Oh yes and apparently Pooh Bear lives here!
Melbourne Woods in the background:
Way back, well I really mean very way back, I was just about 10 years old and enjoying being an innocent boy in an untechnical world, so different from today. It was summer and I was in Melbourne Park, somewhere I went every day during th summer and most days in the winter too. I was with two junior school friends and we were playing on the edge of the Melbourne Woods, which is at the back of the park for the uninitiated. It was a mecca for us kids and we spent a lot of time there just hanging about, playing kick the can, when we were not at the Melbourne Junior School at the top of North Avenue in Chelmsford, Essex. This day I was with another boy, Terry I think, can’t remember, and a girl whose name I believe was Marie.
Occupied with playing we were unaware that someone had seen us untill we saw him arrive on a bike from behind but to the side of us. He braked fairly quick and jumped off the bike and headed straight towards the ditch that seperated us from the park. Jumping over it he came to the path in the woods that we were on and immediately staretd talking to us. It’s so long I cant really remember his exact words, but he went up to one of my friends, and said let’s all play a game. It was Marie of course, he seemed to try and avoid us boys. I still think he never actually saw us boys amongst the trees, just a young girl on her own. When he did realise we wer there too, he made something up about a game. He wanted Marie to go one way round he woods with him and for us two boys to go the opposite way and we would meet at the back of the woods. Stunned, and with something not quite right, we boys looked at each other and declined. Whether that was instinct I will never fathom. Anyway he still insisted, and as he was probably in his twenties or thirties, he started to go away from us, but very slowly and was hard for us little people to offend. We reluctently started off in the other direction. Still a bit unhappy, we hid behind a fallen tree and waited to see if he would go the other way round with Marie. They were at all times in our view though. I think we agreed not to go as he had said and waited to follow them if they went off. We were quite frightened at this point, but something told us that what was happening was not right. We were talking and he heard us, looked round and found us behind a tree. Exactly what he said I cant remember, but I believe he repeated his ‘go round the other way’ command. When it was obvious we were not going to do that he must have decided it was time to go and jumped back over the ditch, mounted his bike and off he went, never to be seen again. We, of course were relieved and wondering hat all that was about?
I forgot about it after the weekend and was sitting in my class on the Mondasy or maybe Tuesday, when I was summoned to the headmaster’s office. Had no idea what for, I had done nothing wrong that morning, although I cannot say I had never been summoned before! Well, I entered the room and as well as the Head, there were two other adults there. They were not introduced to me I dont believe. The head recalled the day in the woods and could I tell these people what exactly had happened. So I told them what I have just written above. They asked a few questions, can’t recall what though. The Head said I had done the right thing, but I did not exactly know what he meant. When I had finished I was sent back to class. A few minutes later the other boy Terry, was called out of class. At break we said what had happened and left it at that. Thought no more of it and got on with being a boy. Never mentioned it again to Marie, didn’t seem important. Now I realise that the adults were police officers and that Marie’s mum must have contacted the police about it. Never crossed my mind to tell my parents.
The next day, at assembly, the head made some sort of statement about not going with older men without permission, etc. It then clicked it was the incident in Melboure Woods that had caused this and felt quite guilty, even if I had not not directly named. No one after that week ever mentioned it. Never told my parents, it did not seem important for a 10 year old, more interested in the Test cricket scores than personal safety. I have though, always remembered it and wondered did we boys save the girl’s life or integrity? Did we all escape some mad man’s grasp? Who knows, but I have never forgetten the event, even if I may never tell anyone about it again!
At last, I have published the second volume of his biography, the first ever attempted, despite my previous warnings saying it could never be written!
Covering the years 1800 – 1850 it uncovers the real George Wombwell story, not the myths that have surronded him over nearly two hundreed years.
This is the time of year when you want to remember all those that fell in wars, old and new. That gave their lives for ‘our tomorrows. Today I want to add a new name to that list, not because he died back in WWI, but because he didn’t and I’m here today as evidence of his survival. Why now would I want to add him? Well it is because for 50 years or so, I have not known he was my grandfather. It only came to light from a chance remark my sister made (and she did not know either till very recently) about my mother’s roots. I had a grandfather of course, a large, but very gentle man to me and my sister, or at least I’ve always thought he was my grandfather! I loved him dearly and still do of course now he has been gone for many years. My childhood would not have been the same wiothout him. I have not anyone else to fill his palce in my life. Alas my real grandfather has passed on before I could get to know him, but I have the notion that he fathered my mother (and that’s a story for another time), and hence he became my maternal grandfather.
Alfred, a simple farm labourer, volunteered during 1916 and was posted as a gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) to the Somme during late July 1916. If he had joined any earlier and had been posted a few weeks earlier, he would have seen the July 1st offensive against the German lines and maybe not have lived to tell the tale. As it happens he arrived at a place called Fricourt which as one of the many front lines was a place of both success and failures. As a gunner he would have been subject to much shellfire, but managed to survive the whole of 1916. During this period his unit, the 67th RGA, was also posted to Passiondale and Armens, both hot spots of WWI. He finally surccumed to a shrapnel injury in late 1917 and returned home via one of the many hospital ships, being then discharged during 1918. This is though, not a story of heroism, he was no hero, he has no special honours bestowed upon him, just the campaign medals he received during 1921.
So I will remember him in particular, along with those less fortunate than Alfred, and thank him for my beginnings in life. I’ll never love him as I loved the grandfather I knew of course, but there will now be a place in my memory for him and a reason to still find out more of what happened back then during WWI and how he became to be my garndfather.