John & Lin's Continuing Adventure in Their Caravan: Strumpshaw in Norfolk

Strumpshaw in Norfolk

Monday 24th May 2021🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌦️ 🌦️ 🌞🌞

This morning started with more rain and initially we thought we might be stranded in the van all day, but as morning turned to afternoon the sun managed to glimmer out and that was all the encouragement we needed to don our walking boots and set off out over the fens. The RSPB site and huge areas of marsh land are within a five minute walk, and each time we've been so far we've been lucky enough to spot some sort of wildlife, and today's encounter included a family of swans which hissed very threateningly as we tried to pass😨. John suggested I should turn my back on them and sidle by so then they would't feel threatened, but I think the boot was on the other foot cos the one that was out of the shot below lunged towards me and tried to bite my bottom 😱!

And while we were sat having coffee this little chap popped out of the reeds and I'm not sure if it was us watching him or him watching us😂😂

Tuesday 25th May 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌦️ 🌦️🌧️ 🌧️

The weather today was a bit of a repeat of yesterday but this time we well and truly got caught by it☂.

Our aim was to walk the 8 or so miles around one of the 12 circular walks of the Wherrymans Way starting and finishing at Rockland St Mary. In it's entirety the Way is 35 miles in length and runs between Norwich and Great Yarmouth, and for the part we had chosen today we knew that some of our 'stroll' would follow the banks of the River Yare so we were hoping for a few more 'sightings'. However, our hopes were mainly in vain, but what we did get was an extremely good ...........soaking and we also had to indulge in a bit of bog trotting😂!

Walking in the Rain with the one I Love😂

Did I say it was muddy?

It didn't rain all the time and it wasn't muddy all the way but we did do a fair bit of slipping and sliding as we went!

But 'hey ho' it was lovely to be out and it was quite funny watching each other negotiating the ankle deep mud, and at least neither of us fell in!

Eventually the rain gave way to some diluted sunshine so towards the end of our walk we had the pleasure of viewing St Mary's Church on Surlingham Marsh without raindrops misting our lens.

The Church was built back in the 14th centenary and is one of 124 round tower churches in Norfolk. Today it stands within a small RSPB nature reserve but as we'd already walked a good distance we decided just to admire it from the roadside and not to explore any further.

Wednesday 26th May 🌞🌞🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌦️ 🌦️

Today started with a visit to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Hickling Broad which is the largest of Norfolk's Broads and it also boasts the largest expanse of reed beds in the area. Along it's banks there are quite a few Hides and Observation areas and we were told it's home to numerous species of birds and other wildlife, but on a wild windy and very cold day there wasn't an awful lot to see except a few geese with goslings and a huge expanse of very choppy water.

Greylags with their babies.

It seems that these geese are the ancestors of most domesticated geese and traditionally, in times gone by, they would have been eaten at Michaelmas after being cooked with port and mustard!

After about an hour's worth of exploring the rain started to pitter patter and by then we were both freezing so we hightailed it back to the car in order to sit in comfort while we made our big decision😂! Should we give up the day as a bad job and just go home, or should we continue with our plan and visit Cromer? The latter won out but by the time we got there the rain was coming down in stair rods so initially we thought we'd made a bit of a mistake. However, by the time a warm reviving coffee had been sipped the rain had more or less stopped so we headed off into the town in search of fish and chips! Now, as you would imagine Cromer has lots of such eateries but we were heading for Mary Jane's Fish Bar because there they fry them in Beef Dripping😋!

So after that hearty meal had been consumed we set off towards Cromer Lighthouse which sits on the cliff at Foulness and has been there since 1669. Before that time a light was shone from the top of Cromer Parish Church to act as a guide to passing ships.

Our walk also took us past the crabbing boats that had been drawn up onto the beach, and that set us off wanting to sample some of the delicacies that they'd caught, possibly earlier in the day

On our way back we came across a memorial to Henry Blogg

It seems he was a skipper for Cromer life boats between 1909 and 1947 and in that time he and his crew rescued 873 people. On the memorial he was described as 'One of the bravest men who ever lived'

And finally, we rediscovered the Baggots who we've come across before on a previous visit several years ago! The Baggots are a flock of goats who during the summer months reside on Cromer's steep cliffs and their job is to keep the vegetation on the slopes under control!

Thursday 27th May ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅

Today was our day for visiting RSPB's Minsmere site but to get there we needed to drive about 30 miles and cross the Norfolk/ Suffolk boarder but it was well worth the journey. Minsmere covers about 2,500 acres and lies in the valley of the Minsmere River and has the Dunwich cliffs to the north and the Sizewell cliffs to the South (along with the Sizewell nuclear power station). It's made up of huge areas of reed beds, open water, lowland heath, grassland and woodland, along with a section of shingle beach which is washed by the North Sea.

While we were there we explored many of the tracks and trails and also made use of the hides and observation areas that are strategically placed to allow visitors to observe while the wildlife gets on with it's daily business.

Ava the Avocet admiring her reflection in the water.

Today our sightings included lots of avocets and black headed gulls. The info boards told us that the avocet is the emblem for the RSPB but it seems we're lucky to have them because they became extinct in Victorian Times due to hunting and egg collection. Luckily, thanks to work done by the RSPB since about 1947 they've reestablished themselves!

We also managed to spot some Bar Headed Geese with their chicks. Apparently these birds are not endangered or particularly rare but several of the inhabitants of the hide we were in at the time agreed that they, like us, hadn't seen any before.

Lapwings, loads of ducks and geese along with terns, herons and a very lovely little egret were also included in today's sightings. Many of the birds had chicks or were sitting on eggs waiting for the stork to arrive😂

And then in our final hide we had the pleasure of watching a hawk ducking, diving and settling on a nearby tree. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that it was a hobby hawk but when we got home and had time to look him up we were quite convinced that it was probably a Merlin

Friday 28th May 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

Holkham Hall was today's target but to get there we had another fairly long drive, and if we're honest, it turned out to be slightly disappointing because the place seemed to be almost entirely devoid of picnic benches and sitting on the grass was a bit of a 'no no' because in many places it was covered in bird, deer or sheep 💩💩💩. Therefore, after a fairly long stomp mostly around the perimeter of the grounds, we could find nowhere to rest our weary bones while we consumed our picnic, and in the end an old log on the on the edge of the lake had to do! But from there we spied large numbers of what we thought were trout swimming in the lazy waters of the lake - it would have been a fisherman's paradise!

Holkham Hall

The very beautiful old flint Church of St Withburga which we walked to feeling
sure we'd find bench within it's grounds - but no😒

The Coke Monument.

Holkham Hall is the seat of the Earl of Leicester and was built between 1734 and 1764, and within it's grounds there are many acres of farm and parkland along with several buildings that could be called follies. These included an Obelisk, an Ice house and The Coke Monument that has war images on one side and a big cow on the other! Also, along with huge numbers of farm animals there are a herd of about 400 Fallow Deer.

After we'd done at Holkham we toddled of to the very near by Wells Next to the Sea but because we were already tired from our earlier long walk we really didn't do the pretty town justice, but never mind, it will always save for another time.

Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th May 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

At last, some proper warm sunshine! So on Saturday we did no more than nip out to get some goodies and then sat and bask in the gorgeous rays for the rest of the day!

And Sunday also turned out to be a fairly lazy day but we did go out for lunch😂😂😋 ! However, as is usual for us, going out for lunch usually includes a picnic - and today was no different. So sarnies were made, our flask was filled and walking boots were donned and then we took ourselves down to the local RSPB site again - but this time with the intention of butterfly spotting. Apparently, Strumpshaw Fen is one of the best places to see Swallow Tail butterflies, but alas, we spotted, little blue butterflies, orange tipped butterflies and several red admirals but the swallow tails remained elusive!

However, our trip was certainly not in vain because we were lucky enough to have some fantastic views of a pair of fairly rare Marsh Harriers and a more common Buzzard. Apparently, back in 1971 there was only 1 pair of Marsh Harriers in the UK but now, 50 years later, that number has increased to 400 pairs but that still makes them rarer that golden eagles! The bird we were watching swooped and glided over the marsh and then dropped onto it's prey making a tent like covering with it's wings, and then a little later it flew up again and perched on an old tree stump just a few yards in front of us.