Sheep's-bit

In hindsight curry may have been a poor choice for an evening meal, as I was woken in the early hours of the morning with a desperate need for the loo. I couldn't find my torch but found my way through the dew-soaked grass under a starlit sky to the compost toilet on the other side of the field. When I arrived I realised that if I shut the door it would be pitch black inside - after a moment's consideration I decided that as we were the only people using the camp-site it would be quite safe to leave the door open, so sat in state watching the stars - a new experience for me!

After yesterday's storms, it turned out to be a beautiful morning and I watched the sunrise over a neighbouring field. We were then treated to a fly-past by a barn owl - always a lovely experience. After packing up the very wet tents, Chris and I had an early morning walk round Westleton Heath where the heather was stunning, before another shorter walk round Dunwich Heath where we spotted a fat lizard basking near the path, and a large quantitiy of marsh St.John's-wort in a ditch. This is a local species of acid water-bodies, more frequent in the west but decidedly rare in East Anglia.

After breakfast at the NT cafe I took Chris back to the farm to finish his work, and I went off to spend the day at Minsmere, which I hadn't visited for about twenty years. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time, though dipped out on the otter that had been seen very recently, and also missed the bearded tits that were apparently in a reed-bed, visible to the more experienced birders, but completely invisible to me!

Although I enjoy bird-watching, I realised that I am very much a botanist, because all the most exciting moments involved seeing rare and local plants, including heaps of marsh mallow along the track and fine assemblage of coastal plants on the dunes and shingle. One of my favourite species, that was flowering well, was sheep's-bit, which grows on free-draining acid soils and has declined significantly, particularly in central and eastern England, so much so that it's now considered Near Threatened in England, though it' population remains stable in the west of the country, and in Wales and Ireland. 

I picked Chris up about 6 pm and after a chat with the site owner, when we were buzzed by a military helicopter (which was surprisingly scary) we set off for home.