Upton Marsh: more Norfolk Hawkers than you can shake a stick at!

Brian and I met at the public car park at Upton Boat Dyke and took an early eight mile walk around the marshes. To be honest, we didn't expect to see much: even at 7.00 am the temperature was over 20 degrees! In the event we passed an enjoyable three hours and managed a few photos and possibly even lost a few pounds!

Norfolk Hawkers and Meadow Browns were everywhere: I counted over one hundred Norfolks in a hundred metres. We were surrounded by them all the way round: as the Americans are found of saying, you do the math! Lots of blue damselflies of the regular species: Variable was a first for the year, as was Emerald. Chinese Water Deer were grazing close to the paths: look at the tusks on these bad boys! Other notable birds included Reed, Sedge and Grasshopper Warbler and Common Tern.

The experience was slightly marred by a middle-aged man in a Toyota Landcruiser driving along behind us: we had to scuttle off the bridleway to let him pass (with no acknowledgement, of course.)  Luckily his window was open, so I could tell him what I thought of him! Later, we caught up with him, scanning a field of young calves from the window of his vehicle. We couldn't believe it when he asked us if we'd seen a black Labrador that had '...run off somewhere.' (Yes: there are plenty of 'All dogs on a lead' signs.)