I booked a rental car from 10th June to 14th June 2022 for a trip away from home to include visits to a number of sites in Devon, Somerset and Norfolk.
This was my third spring/early summer trip by car away from home, after those in late April 2022 and mid May 2022, and my main objectives were to visit Lundy island off the north coast of Devon for the first time and to watch and photograph the Beavers on the River Otter in east Devon.
However, my planned itinerary had to be amended right at the start due to the cancellation of the sailing to Lundy island and therefore, in addition to visiting the River Otter, I included a visit to RSPB Ham Wall near Glastonbury in Somerset plus visits to the Snettisham coastal park, NWT Weeting Heath and Cowles Drove near RSPB Lakenheath, all in Norfolk.
The undoubted highlight of my trip was watching and photographing the Beavers on the River Otter. The only other mammals that I recorded during my trip were Roe Deer and Grey Squirrel.
The Beaver highlight was closely followed by an excellent sighting of a Great Reed Warbler in Norfolk, this being an addition to my UK life list taking it to 354 species and to my Norfolk list taking it to 263 species.
In addition to Great Reed Warbler, I also added a further 2 species to my UK year list for 2022 taking it to 187 species: Stone Curlew and Spotted Flycatcher
During my trip, I also saw a Turtle Dove in Norfolk, my first sighting of 2022 after hearing 2 birds during my visit to Knepp Wildland in mid May 2022.
In addition, I also recorded the following butterflies: Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Small White
.... and the following dragonflies and damselflies …. Emperor Dragonfly, Broad-bodied Chaser, Four-spotted Chaser, Ruddy Darter, Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly
10th June 2022
After picking up my rental car at 5:30 p.m., I drove to Travelodge Chippenham Leigh Delamere M4 westbound for an overnight stay before the almost 3 hour drive the next morning to Ilfracombe and the planned sailing to Lundy island.
11th June 2022 …. Devon
I arrived in Ilfracombe at around 8 a.m. with plenty of time to visit Tescos to buy some food for lunch, park the car and walk to the harbour to pick up my return day ticket to Lundy island in the booking office.
To cut a very long story short, I queued for over an hour with all the other people waiting for their day trip or their outward journey to stay on the island but we were advised just before the scheduled sailing time at 10 a.m. that the MS Oldenburg ferry would not be leaving Ilfracombe.
Whilst it was a beautiful morning with bright sunshine and blue skies, it was also very windy and we were told that boarding the MS Oldenburg ferry would be very dangerous.
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For the rest of the day, I visited the following sites:
RSPB Labrador Bay near Teignmouth, Devon
River Otter at Otterton, Devon
See here for further information and photos
12th June 2022 …. Devon and Somerset
On 12th June 2022, I visited the following sites:
River Otter at Otterton, Devon
RSPB Ham Wall near Glastonbury, Somerset
See here for further information and photos
13th June 2022 …. Norfolk
On 13th June 2022, I visited the following sites:
Snettisham Coastal Park near Snettisham, Norfolk
NWT Weeting Heath near Brandon, Suffolk
Cowles Drove near RSPB Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk
See here for further information and photos.
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Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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