Trip to Rutland, Suffolk and Norfolk (Part One)

 This is a report of a trip made by Sam Hood and myself.  Long in the planning stage and arranged to fit in with Sam’s commitments to work as ornithologist and world traveller.     We agreed to visit Helpston, the village of the poet John Clare whose work we both admire, and spend time at Rutland Water, the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust Reserve, prior to moving down to Suffolk and Norfolk.  We set off on day one the 9^{th of} February packed for possible winds, snow, ice and low temperatures.  We found little use for much of what we packed as the weather was spring like throughout.

Sam and I at John Clare's Cottage

John Clare's Cottage

Day one.  We left in good time to allow a few hours at Helpston, finding the likes of Red Kite, Common Buzzard and Kestrel on our journey.  The first of many Red Kite sightings during the week was at Wetherby.   We were soon at Helpston, which name derives from Anglo Saxon, Help being an old English personal name and tun meaning farmstead.  In John Clare’s day it was situated in Northamptonshire, but it is now in Cambridgeshire such are the vagaries of boundary changes.  Our first visit at this delightful village was to St Botolph’s Church which John Clare frequented, and to the man’s grave at which point another Red Kite flew over our heads, at which I feel sure John would have been delighted.  Later we received a very warm welcome from staff at John Clare’s Cottage, and we also had time to visit Lolham Briggs, an area loved by the poet and which inspired a number of his poems, The Flood being a favourite of mine.  Without realising it at the time I have passed this area several times in the past whilst on the London King’s Cross train.

On Lolham Brigs in wild & lonely mood

I’ve seen the winter floods their gambols play

Through each old arch that trembled while I stood

Bent oer its wall to watch the dashing spray

As their old stations would be washed away

(From The Flood by John Clare)

 Lolham Briggs provided us with several bird species which included a distant Peregrine Falcon, Great Spotted Woodpecker (H), Redwing and Fieldfare.  It was soon time to head for Rutland.  On arrival we had time to briefly explore the area around Rutland Water before heading for the hotel and watching the sunset over the water from our hotel room.  A check made by Sam informed us that a Crane had been seen at Helpston today.  No matter that we hadn’t seen it, as we believed we would see this species later in the week.

John Clare's grave.

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St Botolphs Church stained glass.

Room with a view over Rutland Water,

Day two.  Having had breakfast and packed our gear, we arrived at the Rutland Reserve early in the day and received a warm welcome at the centre.  Neither of us had been to this reserve before and soon become pleasantly surprised at just how grand and well managed the reserve is.  I believe the site now covers around 1,000 acres and there are hides around every corner and we had them all to ourselves.  A pet hate of mine is noisy hides so it was good to find peace and listen only to the calling wildfowl whilst imagining what the area may have looked like prior to the 1970s flooding of the area.  It’s certainly attractive now and a magnet for wildlife.

A special bird here for us both was the male Smew, so infrequent in our own area.  We found five Smew in total, at times the males displaying to the females.  The females are themselves attractive birds and certainly what we are more likely to sight in the Northeast England.  Great Crested Grebes were also there in large numbers, a bird we know a lot about having studied them on our local lake and have given talks to various groups about them.

As we began our walk a beautifully coloured Redwing caught the eye in the bright light.  I don’t intend to list here all the birds we saw on the reserve, but have listed a few to gave a flavour of our visit.  Mute Swan, Egyptian Geese, Gadwall, Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Goldeneye, Goosander, Little Grebe, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Dunlin, Redshank, Curlew, Common Snipe, Reed Bunting, thrushes, tits and finches.

Our next port of call where we were to stay for two nights was Aldeburgh, Suffolk so we had to pull ourselves away from Rutland Water and begin the long drive, much of it on a boring and busy main road.  Once off that road and onto the quieter roads of Suffolk the atmosphere changed completely and we found many old quaint houses and areas of beauty.

My mother, as a 14 year old girl, stayed in Aldeburgh for a year just before the Second World War broke out and I was brought up with tales of how she was able to step out of the house onto Aldeburgh beach, of how villages had been lost to the sea, of the friends she had made there with the fishermen and other folk and tales of the lifeboat service.   It had a significant impact on my mother’s life, and before she died she had told tales of her experience to Sam.  I’ve passed through Aldeburgh twice before, but have never stayed there or had the chance to explore, so I was eager to do this and introduce Sam to the town.

We booked into the White Lion (possibly the oldest secular building in Aldeburgh) which is next to the beach, our room with sea view and only yards away from the famous Tudor Moot Hall, where among many historic happenings, witch trials took place.  Late afternoon was taken up with an exploration of the town, me pointing out the house where my mother had stayed eighty-five years ago and a cuppa and cake in a tearoom.  We ate out that evening, and yes you have guessed, we had fish and chips!  We completed our bird and mammal list before retiring.  Mammals that day had been Muntjac Deer, Brown Rat, Grey Squirrel and Grey Seal.

A wish come true.  Me at dawn on Aldeburgh beach.

Deserted beach at dawn.

Day three.  Our plan today was to make RSPB Minsmere the principal part of the day, but before that we were to carry out a duty.  We were up before dawn and out on Aldeburgh beach and at the tideline in order to watch dawn emerge.  We had the long stretch of beach to ourselves.  To me the visit to Aldeburgh was poignant and none more so than for this vigil.  We spoke little, preferring to listen to the thud and swish of the tide as it met the shingle of the beach.  This sound was only broken by the laughing calling of an odd Herring Gull, a flock of Turnstones calling as they flew  by, and the occasional crunch of shingle under our feet if we moved.  Dim light became brighter under an overcast sky and I imagined Benjamin Britten’s Dawn Sea Interlude playing in my head in what was a superb atmosphere of calm and tranquility.  A beautiful piece of music written by Britten for the Opera Peter Grimes, when Britten lived in Aldeburgh.

Tudor Moot Hall at dawn, Aldeburgh.

We ate breakfast and were soon off to Minsmere, the RSPBs large and premier reserve.  With the view of Sizewell Power station in the background it has a haunting feel at times but it doesn’t spoil the experience.

We had some very special moments here the highlights being three Marsh Harriers displaying directly in front of the Bittern Hide with amazing acrobatic skills as they practised food passing and called, three good sightings of Bittern in the air, our first Whooper Swans of the trip, Great White and Little Egrets in numbers, Green Woodpecker calling, Dartford Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, numerous calls from Bearded Tit with a male seen nicely on the outer reeds.  Sam’s friend Ptolemy (Ptol to his friends) who works in Norfolk joined us for a time and to his credit it was he who found the Dartford Warblers.

We found that the hope for Glossy Ibis had flown off, but nevertheless enjoyed the singing of Skylarks as we looked for it off the main area of the reserve.  Other sightings included Barnacle Geese, Egyptian Geese, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Grey Heron, Kestrel, Water Rail (H), Black Tailed Godwit, Avocet, gulls including our first Lesser Black Backed Gull of the trip, Great Spotted Woodpecker (H), Stonechat, Goldcrest, tits, Jay, Goldfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch and Reed Bunting.  We enjoyed a nice lunch in the centre which was required after a good bit of walking today.

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Curlew River stained glass window

We were back in Aldeburgh mid to late afternoon and had time to visit the church and see the amazing Curlew River stained glass window that commemorates Benjamin Britten.  I love stained glass, and this one has such vivid and beautiful colour.  Curlew River is an opera by Britten and although the river is mythical it is based on the River Alde where Britten, who was quite a naturalist, watched Curlews feeding.  We’ll be doing that tomorrow.  We also visited Britten’s grave, where buried next to him is his long-term partner Peter Pears.  Isobel Holst is buried nearby.  Time would not allow for me to search out the graves of families known to my mother such as the Paget’s and the Abbs but we did spend time at the memorial to and graves of lifeboatmen who lost their lives in the tragedy late in the 19^th century.  My mother was a great supporter of the RNLI and I now understand more clearly why.  We also looked at the 18^th century grave of the local surgeon which was of great interest.   We again spent some time in Aldeburgh town and later had a very nice meal at an Italian Restraunt.  We’d managed not to spend cash in the bookshops we visited.

Curlew River stained glass window.

Mammals seen today were Red Deer, Muntjac Deer, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit and Grey Seal.

This is just the beginning, more coming soon.  If your wondering why there is a lack of wildlife images, Sam and I took a conscious decision to relax and enjoy the wildlife without humping cumbersome heavy camera equipment on this trip.