We are continually surprised that, in this ordered landscape, wildlife manages to cling on and, in some cases, seems to thrive. On our Newbourne safari the other day we saw a muntjac deer in this field, a single animal which seemed completely unconcerned by the large tractor and plough working close by.
Each field appears to be owned by a pair of red-legged partridge which prefer to lower their heads and scurry away when we pass and will only take off if we stop to watch them.
Approaching Newbourne, someone was sufficiently caring for their local wildlife to have climbed a tree and fixed a nesting box to its trunk, a box with a superb view across the fields. We had assumed its likely inhabitants to be owls but, while we watched, a pair of kestrels proved that it belonged to them.
These plants were crowded along the ditches on either side of a one hundred-metre stretch of farm track. They are field horsetails, a rapidly-spreading weed much hated by gardeners, and by livestock farmers as it is poisonous to grazers. This is the only place we've seen this species among open fields.
Butterflies are now out in good numbers. Peacocks, tortoiseshells and whites are common but we were thrilled to see an orange tip - only the males have these brighly-coloured wingtips - and....
....the first speckled wood of the year.
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