Tags
common meadow-rue, common twayblade, common valerian, Dame's-violet, dogwood, great crested grebe, green alkanet, grey heron, guelder rose, hemlock, hop, marsh thistle, milk-parsley, Mute Swan, Norfolk, Ragged Robin, River Yare, RSPB reserve, southern marsh-orchid, Strumpshaw Fen, the Broads, wild flowers, yellow water-lily, Yorkshire Fog
It was our 22nd wedding anniversary in June and instead of buying each other gifts we usually plan a day out that we will both enjoy. We chose to visit Strumpshaw Fen which is situated in the Broads.
Pond at Strumpshaw Fen
We had hoped to see all sorts of birds here and I had set my heart on finding a Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon), as the Broads is the only place in the British Isles where they can be found.
Fenland
As was the case with many of our ventures last year, we didn’t have as successful a visit as we had hoped because the weather was miserable. It was cold, wet and windy – not a day for viewing rare butterflies or the Norfolk Hawker dragonfly or any of the birds we had hoped to see. However, we persevered with our walk round the reserve and saw a few things of interest.
A broad
Small fry – baby fish in the broad
Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) in flower
A waterway in the fen
Yellow Water-lily (Nuphar lutea)
The flowers are much smaller than White Waterlily flowers being only 6 cm/2.5 ins across and are alcohol-scented apparently!
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) with cygnets
Common Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) You can just see the pink flower-heads!
The River Yare
This might be Milk-parsley (Peucedanum palustre) the food plant of the Swallowtail caterpillar.
It might also be Hemlock! (Conium maculatum) They are both described as hairless biennials with purple-blotched stems. Hemlock’s stems are hollow and purple-blotched and Milk-parsley has ridged stems that are often blotched purple!
Ridged purple-blotched stems? I can’t decide!
More purple-blotched stems.
Hop (Humulus lupulus)
Dame’s-violet (Hesperis matronalis)
Guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus)
Common Meadow-rue (Thalictrum flavum)
Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa)
Ragged-robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)
Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre)
A meadow full of Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus)
The flower-heads of this grass are red-tipped and gave the meadow a pink glow!
Part of our walk was along Tinker’s Lane
Tinker’s Lane – looking back the way we’d come
Tinker’s Lane – looking ahead. Elinor is the figure in the far distance
Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)
Not a good photo of Common Twayblade (Neottia ovata) Though ‘common’ I had never seen this orchid before and was very pleased.
Common Twayblade
a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) that refused to look my way!
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
We enjoyed our walk round the fen and were pleased with the amount of interesting plants we had seen. I would like to return there this summer if possible to see the butterflies, dragonflies and birds we had intended seeing last year!
Thanks for visiting!
A Suffolk Lane 
That was a beautiful way to celebrate your anniversary! A belated Happy 22nd! A lovely walk in green space and so many things to see.
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Thank-you Lavinia. We bought gifts for each other for a couple of years and then found we didn’t need gifts but liked to spend time with each other. Sometimes it’s just a meal out but most times we arrange an outing. There’s never an opportunity for either one of us to forget the date as we like to plan something special.
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I enjoyed your walk too! You know your plants pretty well Clare. It’s nice to walk the fields and breath fresh air. 🙂
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Thank-you HJ. We love to walk even on wet and cold days!
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Your photos make me miss summer so much.
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It’s on its way!
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True!
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What a lovely day out – and so nice to finish with that picture of the Great Crested Grebe – one of my favourite birds! Completely agree with your approach about experiences rather than things. I won’t say that we never buy each other presents, but spending time together doing something we both love is always the best treat. Happy Anniversary for last June! 🙂
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Thank-you Liz. We still buy each other presents too which is nice, especially when it’s an unpremeditated gift!
I was so pleased to see the grebe – I hadn’t seen one for years but it was so far away I wasn’t sure if the zoom on my camera could cope. It did, but only just!
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‘Only just’ is always enough! 🙂
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Lovely photos as ever. You might like to know that I’ve just discovered that those yellow water lillies are known locally on nearby Semer Water as ‘brandy bottles’, precisely because of their smell!
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Thank-you! I will hoard that piece of knowledge!
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What an interesting walk, no wonder you both like it.
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Thank-you Susan.
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Hooray for soldiering o even when the weather didn’t co operate. Belated congratulations fron us too
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Thank-you! It was worth the walk just for the amount of flowers we saw.
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What a wonderful and imaginative way to celebrate your anniversary. Congratulations, Reggie
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Thank-you very much Reggie!
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I like that you saved these photos until winter, when we really needed to see some flowers and birds and running water!
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Thank-you! I’m glad I did it too, though it wasn’t done on purpose!
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Looking out my window at the drab colors, your post is indeed a bright spot. I love all of the greenery, Clare. The photographs are so beautiful. I especially like Tinker’s Lane. Happy belated anniversary. I think it’s great rather than exchanging gifts, you give the gift of time…there’s nothing greater, right? xo
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Thank-you Jill – you’re right; time taken together is the best gift xo
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Hi Clare, I am always impressed that you know all the names of the flowers. Reading this i learnt that we have Green Alkanet in our garden. It’s very prickly!
Great idea to have a day out rather than gifts.
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Green Alkanet is very prickly, I agree! It’s also known as the henna shrub because its roots produce red dye. The name Alkanet comes from the Arabic word ‘al-henna’.
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I may have a go and make some dye. I wondered about alkanet, it seemed a strange name. Now I feel like I have an exotic named plant.
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So nice to see these photos on a grey blustery day!! Happy 22nd ;o) xo Johanna
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Thank-you Johanna. I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply! I have only just found your comment – I don’t know why I never saw it before. I enjoyed looking at all these green photos from the summer though I remember it not being very warm!
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I love the tradition of giving each other your undivided attention and time for a day, what a thoughtful idea!
The weather may not have allowed you to see the insects and birds that you wanted, but there were so many beautiful flowers to make up for that. Some of them look similar to flowers that we have here, but most of them are completely new to me. I hope that you get the chance to revisit this place again when the weather is better.
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Thank-you Jerry. I wasn’t too disappointed that day because of all the plants I saw but yes, I would like to return there on a warmer brighter day this year if possible.
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I hope that you get to see the butterflies on your next visit. You are bound to get some better weather this year because it can’t be worse than last year’s.
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You’re right there! The weather was lovely in September and October but the summer was a wash-out.
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I can’t think of a better way to spend an anniversary. The orchids alone would have been enough to make the trip worthwhile for me, especially the marsh orchid.
That plant does look like hemlock but the stems are ridged and the examples I’ve seen here have all had smooth stems. In any case I certainly wouldn’t be eating any of it!
The flower heads of the viburnum look just like those on our hobblebushes (Viburnum lantanoides.) It’s one of our most beautiful native shrubs and I can’t wait to see them blooming again.
Even if it was a gray day it was a great walk!
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Thank-you Allen. I was reluctant to touch the plant to see if the stems were hollow! I love our viburnum too – its berries and autumn colour are good though not as bright as your lantanoides.
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I don’t blame you for not wanting to touch the plant. I don’t know if the toxins can be absorbed through the skin or not but it’s not worth the risk.
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My thinking exactly!
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Looks like a plant I identified as hemlock a few years ago – the pigs ate everything else in the field but left the stuff with blotchy stems. Went to Strumpshaw about ten years ago on a nice summer day – outstanding day walking round. Keep meaning to go back, though I suspect the weather makes a big difference. Better luck next time..
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Thank-you! Here’s hoping we get a summer’s day in summer this year!
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Yes, it would be nice. At Blandings Castle it is always summer – something I feel we should imitate. 🙂
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Hear! hear!
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Looks like you had a great time even if you didn’t see what you’d hoped to
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Thanks for sharing! Was lovely to see all that green in the middle of winter. 🙂
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Yes it was a most enjoyable walk.
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Beautiful photos! Sometimes those rainy days bring out the colors even more than the sunny ones. I hope you’ll see the butterflies next time around.
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Thank-you Sheila. I’ll make sure I go there on a sunny warm day next time!
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How I look forward to the changing of the seasons, you always capture the seasons so well and I look forward to another year in your company and also Mother Nature’s.
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Thank-you so much Ste J!
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Amazing post! Love this
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How very kind! Thank-you.
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I love Strumpshaw Fen, dear Clare ⭐ 😀
Such greenery, natural spots, beautiful landscapes…
I think you made a great choice: this place instead of “potential” material gifts. Some things and memories are priceless! 😉 sending much love, my friend. Happy weekend.
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How kind, my dear Aquileana! Much love and best wishes back to you my friend. Hoping you are having a great weekend too xx ❤ xx
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I’ve always fancied visiting the broads Clare, I have this picture of them in my mind that is full of atmosphere, though I’m told I might have read too many crime novels set there!
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I know exactly what you mean! The broads are beautiful on a peaceful summer’s day but on a cloudy,windy day in the autumn with no-one about it can be quite unnerving to be alone listening to the wind in the reeds. PD James book ‘Unnatural Causes’ is set on the Suffolk coast at Minsmere and I can never walk past the bird-hide on the beach without thinking of gory bodies!
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Goodness! I thought I’d commented on this post, but I guess not. 😦 It’s all so pretty. Except for not knowing if a plant is poisonous or if it’s something benign. 😀
I agree that it seems better to take a little trip or do something different on a special occasion.
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Thank-you Lisa. I am fascinated by plants and insects and all wildlife and should just admire them for being interesting or beautiful. But I can’t seem to leave it at that; I have to know their name and all about them! It frustrates me when I can’t properly identify something, especially something that could be poisonous!
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I certainly can’t blame you for that!
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Okay — after enjoying your post, I’m seriously ready for Spring! Sorry about the missing swallowtail butterfly, but you still got in some nice sights! and what a great tradition – to share a special day together on your birthdays.
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Thank-you Cynthia. We find that now we have been together for a while we don’t really need presents, nice though they are! Time together to capture a few more memories for our future is something that means so much more to us.
We have had a colder winter this year though only one lot of snow so far which melted within a day. Lots of hard frosts and any amount of freezing fog has refreshed us and hopefully killed off a few of the bugs and mildews that have plagued our gardens for the past few years. I hope that the cold lasts a little longer but there are signs of spring here already. The first flowers on my witch hazel and I heard a bird tentatively try out its spring song this morning! Here’s to an early spring for you in Canada!
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Very interesting blog post! Thanks.
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Thank-you very much!
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