Toft Time Team

Today is the first of a two-day Time-Team dig in our village of Toft. With a £10,000 Heritage Lottery grant, and the help of expert archaeologists from the University of Cambridge, we are carrying out a dig around the village. Toft already has some exciting discoveries, including mysterious Roman graves near the Brook. The archaeologists are excited by rare features such as the ridge and furrow field in Home Meadow. As a result, the Heritage Lottery Fund picked us from among hundreds of contenders around the country to have the chance to discover our story.
It was very hot in our corner of a field down the High Street. We went down in 10cm layers after taking off the turfs. The first three layers produced several finds of ceramics, glass, an old nail and some clay pipe stems. These were recorded in situ and then taken to base at the Church where we washed and dried them.Unfortunately the fourth layer was totally unproductive so we are wondering whther it is worth going deeper. See tomorrow's exciting episode..................................

Little Grebe at Rainham Marshes

 I spent a contented couple of hours watching and photographing a pair of Little Grebes (Dabchicks) with a chick at Rainham Marshes. The sexes are similar but in this pair the male had a much brighter head and took no part in the feeding the chick though he did protect the territory and see off any Coot or ducks that came too close. Not a single Dragonfly on the wing despite the temperature being in the mid 20s. Maybe the Dabchicks are responsible as I saw at least 5 large larvae presented to the chick in those 2 hours along with small fish.

Burwash Manor Farm

I paid a first visit of the year to the Dragonfly pools at Burwash Manor Farm on Sunday as it was to be a hot 

afternoon. Lots of  Four-Spot Chasers and Emperor Dragonflies around. There is a wonderful poppy field there - I only had a 300mm lens so these are taken lying down and looking through the field.

Cambridgeshire Orchids

 The Common Spotted, Fragant and Lizard Orchids are at their best in Newmarket area at the moment. The Lizard orchid is a very variable species as seen from these examples and is not at all easy to depict successfully.

Horse Racing at Newmarket

We wandered onto the race course during a walk at Newmarket Heath and took some photos of the racing. The first few at 1/1600 second

I then tried a bit of panning as they galloped down to the start - 1/125th for the first and then1/60th. The latter seemed the better shutterspeed so took some race images at 1/60th.

Kingfishers at Slimbridge

 Called in at Slimbridge on the way back from Somerset and was delighted to see Kingfishers there again from the Hide. Apparently, they started to nest in the bank and then deserted. From their behaviour, they have a nest elsewhere. In the first series, the kingfisher caught and then dropped a fish. In the second series a fish was caught then knocked on the head before turning it to present head first at the nest burrow.

Barrington Court

Barrington Court is a Tudor manor house begun around 1538 and completed in the late 1550s near Ilminster,Somerset. The house was owned by several families until 1745 after which it fell into disrepair and was used as a tenant farm. After repair by Alfred Hoare Powell, it was the first house acquired by the National Trust, in 1907, on the recommendation of the antiquarian Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. Colonel Lyle leased Barrington Court from the National Trust in 1917. He was the grandson of Abram Lyle, who introduced Golden Syrup. Barrington Court is noted for its Arts and Crafts-style gardens for which garden designer Gertrude Jekyll provided planting plans. It is now open but unfurnished which helps show off the intricate wooden panelling collected by Lyle.