North Norfolk - early October
| A period of settled weather and an opportunity to be away for a few days -so I went to the North Norfolk coast, first to the marshes at Burnham Norton and then on to Stiffkey and Warham Greens. There was much to see and enjoy in the wildlife and landscape: the first few flocks of wintering duck on the marshes, a passing female hen harrier, hawthorns rich with berries and thick with turning leaves, and high above strings of pink-footed geese moving between feeding sites inland and the coast. In every sheltered pocket along hedges and between ditches there were dragonflies galore. Lots of common darters, some brown hawkers and one or two much larger common hawkers. It was warm rusty red colour of the male darters that immediately caught my eye. One moment suddenly seen against the cold blue of the sky as they climbed high, then low down crossing the tangled autumn colours of barmbles and hawthorns, then darting in and out of the sunlight and shadows and sometimes settling - once on my sketch pad!  (Right) Four spreads from my A6 sketchbook. The close views are possible by using a small 'gallery scope' which helps explore the beauty and subtleties of the creature. After watching the dragonflies sometimes chasing high over the tops of the hedges I walked to the high bank at Burnham Norton and looked down across the landscape through the tops of hawthorns, (briefly a marsh harrier passed). A very different perspective creating lots of ideas for studio works. |
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