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Monday 21 September 2015

Where Clare Wandered



The Woodland/Heath walk that I feature in some of my posts is actually a Nature Reserve of some 90 Hectares (220 acres) in area. (See link at the bottom of this post)

It was also an area that the Poet John Clare regularly walked as a boy and wrote poems about including "Emmonsales Heath". He was born and lived a short distance away in a nearby village.

Here are some images taken on my latest walk around that area. (19th Sept 15)


Plenty of Bumblebees to be found.






Black Bryony

Sloe Fruit

There is certainly an abundance of Common Darters and Ruddy Darters at the moment.
First five images are all Common Darters.

Females





Male


Male and female Brimstone were not difficult to find.


Common Blue Butterfly, this male was the only one I found as they are nearing the end of their flight time.


A pleasant surprise just as I was making my way home was to find another Painted Lady.
Soon he along with many others, will reach the South coast and wait for a favourable North Westerly wind to take them across the English channel.





Small White Butterflies were also easy to locate, but many not in the best of condition now.




Harebells can be found all over the heathland area.


Clematis vitalba (Old Man's Beard) adorn many of the woodland edges.


Oak leaves turning




23 comments:

  1. Hi Roy Will check out the link later as my bird class is imminent! You are so fortunate to have this Nature Reserveso close to home. There is always plenty to see there dn all your photographs arewonderful. My favourites today are of the Painted Lady.

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  2. Such a lovely stroll! Speaking of lovely, your header picture is gorgeous!

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  3. I write about my area all the time, as you can probably tell, but in no way could I write poetry about it. I'm simply not good enough, or patient enough, to do poeting.

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  4. These are such lovely photos especially the black bryony berries and the harebell. One of the things I've intended doing for a while is to visit the area where John Clare grew up and which inspired so much of his poetry, seeing this lovely place makes me want to see it even more.

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    1. Thanks D. Yes the local area including Helpston where Clare's cottage is would be worth a visit.

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  5. Beautiful post and nice contrast to the recent farmland post. The brimstone image is fantastic.

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  6. Hi Roy, it still looks like summer around you and your walk. Lovely photo's of this nice day. Dragonflies and butterflies and a beautiful landscape. You must have felt lucky that day.

    Kind regards,
    Marianne

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    1. Thanks Marianne. I did feel especially lucky finding the Painted Lady just as I was leaving.

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  7. Enjoyed looking at your images Roy, I like the ones of the bumblebee and also the Ruddy Darters.

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  8. Great post, it is a small preserved patch but it preserves many insect species!
    If I may say so, your 5 first photos of dragonflies are all Common darters (stripped legs), the 2 following one are indeed Ruddy darters (black legs) ;-)
    Superbe pictures of the Painted lady, one of my favourite butterflies :)
    About "my" fox, he is wild and doesn't feed on bins... That's why is lean!! LOL!
    Enjoy your day, Roy :)

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    1. Thank you so much Noushka, I bow to your far superior knowledge.

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  9. A simply beautiful post Roy with so many stunning photos to enjoy, though special mention goes out to the superb shots of the Painted Lady :-) The bees were also lovely to admire and it certainly looks like you have been making the most of the recent fine autumn weather!

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    1. Thanks David, I hope the good weather lasts a while.

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  10. ...you hit the jackpot of images. I love the feel of autumn showing through in them. (No wonder Clare wandered there...the open fields are inspiring and beautiful.)

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  11. Wonderful captures! I love the dragonflies. They're gorgeous critters.

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