Sutton Hoo

We couldn't come to Suffolk without visiting this internationally important site and it was well worth a visit...especially as we are National Trust members, so avoiding the entrance fee!  We began in the museum where a range of real and replica artefacts illustrated the sites history. Once again a good standard of interpretation - things have come on since I worked in interpretation! We then went round the site including the viewing platform that gives a bird's-eye view of the mounds. We then followed the woodland walk, where we were lucky enough to hear Nightingales singing and then a couple squabbling and flying into the bush opposite us, so we could see them briefly. Talk about the icing on the cake! 

The cloisonne technique, with garnets, in the King's belt fittings....exquisite.

Shoulder clasps ...two curved pieces joined by a solid gold pin and inlaid with garnets and millefiori glass.

A horses decorative bridle, from the warrior horseman grave.

Incredible detail...

And of course, that helmet! 

Detail of the shield that was buried with the King. 

It was most likely made in Sweden - I had no idea how far and wide many of the finds had come from. 

The Great Ship burial mound.

The mounds.

East Wretham Heath

After Grime's Graves we popped in to Norfolk Wildlife Trust's East Wretham Heath. It has characteristic Breckland vegetation and a couple of nice meres. We didn't see anything stunning, but pleasant circular walk. 

Lovely old pines ...

One of the meres...

Early Mallard ducklings...

Gadwall.

Some very vocal Little Grebes.

Egyptian Geese. 

 

Grime's Graves

Over 20 years ago we took the kids to Grime's Graves, yesterday we revisited this English Heritage site. Grime's Graves are a series of pits - mining shafts, where Neolithic man cut flint out of the chalk to make tools. There are more than 400 shafts and the site was first named by Anglo-saxons as Grim's Graves, meaning pits of the pagan god Grim. There is a short interpretive trail and you can go down pit no 1, not the same pit as we had gone down all that time ago, but still good to do. An excellent audio visual show projected onto the walls at the bottom of the pit and it was nice to handle items from box a beautiful flint finds. 

The site...

Artistic interpretation (English Heritage) 

Pits....

Down the pit ....

Screenshots from the audio visual...explaining chalk formation...

Flint knapping....

The middle bottom flint was found sitting on the surface, locally, just a year ago...

Stone Curlews at Weeting Heath

Well what a treat! We headed for Weeting Heath Nature Reserve in the vague hope of seeing one of these rare birds ...there are two nearby hides that over look a rough stony field. We went to the west hide where the Stone Curlews were clearly visible - lovely to spend some time just observing them wandering round doing what they do. For once they are a good news story with their numbers increasing thanks to conservation efforts. It is now estimated that there are 350 breeing pairs in the UK, compared to 150 in 1985. 

Bawdsey East Lane and Orford Ness

A day exploring - first to Bawdsey East Lane, a well known fossil site for sharks teeth. We parked at East lane carpark, but mistakenly turned left along the shingle ridge rather than right along the beach with the London Clay exposures. You can never do too much research! Anyway a pleasant start to the day, even if all I returned with was a pocket full of strange shaped bits of flint! We'll know next time. One thing that continues to be of interest is the sheer number of defences, this time a WW11 gun battery and another Napoleonic Martello tower. The tower looks really shabby - but inside is a classy private property. 

After this we went on to Orford Ness where we had views across to the military buildings. As we had Rocky we couldn't visit, so we walked along the sea wall a little, looking across to the site, but to be honest it was pretty cold and windy, so we bought some Pinney's oysters and returned to our van for tea and cake! 

Along the sea wall at Bawdsey, with the shingle beach dropping off steeply to the right.

Towards the Martello tower from the battery.

Looking back along the correct beach - sadly by now the tide had come in! 

A hasty retreat from the beach.

The Martello Tower...a 'very Suffolk view' ..as is below. 

A resting Swallow.

..and  then on to Orford Ness....

Looking across to the shingle bar...

Returning along the seawall.

Dartford Warbler - classic!

 After the Dingle Marshes we returned ot Dunwich Heath to try and get a better photograph of a Dartford Warbler and then have a brew at the dog-friendly National Trust Cafe. Well within a couple of minutes we spotted two Dartfords, one of which did the classic 'sitting on gorse' pose...we then continued round the reserve, going farther than last time, exploring more heathland - beautiful! 

On the way back - a brief stop and a few snaps of Blackthorn. One thing we have been really impressed with are the hedges - there are many of  them and unlike in Cumbria, they haven't been hacked back...