Our first day out for a month, and so much has changed. The memory of rain while I was in hospital has long evaporated, and we are back into drought. Summer has become autumn already. We headed by rail to Needham Market, somewhere we haven’t been, other than speeding through on the train, for a decade. Just because we can!
Our walk was along the River Gipping, starting at the impressive station, Grade 2 listed in ‘mock Elizabethan’ style, one of the few stations to have been unceremoniously dumped by Beeching but subsequently reopened. Thence, through the Cattle Tunnel, it was onto the grassland known as the Camping Ground, recreational both now and in history: ‘campan’ was a mediaeval ball game that was played there and variations of which evolved into both rugby and soccer.
Little to see in the droughted grassland itself apart from that hardiest of late summer nectar sources Yarrow, and surrounded by tree plantations, including Field Maple covered in the mite galls of Aceria macrochela, another sign of the advancing season.
At least by the River Gipping there was moisture, even though the flow was evidently at a low ebb. A few Banded Demoiselles, Willow Emeralds and Common Darters were out hunting, as indeed were flocks of pondskaters searching for trapped insects to suck dry on the meniscus. In common with so many other rivers at this time of year, the dominant plant was Himalayan Balsam, undeniably beautiful despite its habit of choking out native plants. But without it, what would bumblebees do…it was buzzing! Only Purple Loosestrife was fighting its corner valiantly against the balsamic onslaught and yes, it too was feeding insects, including Small and Green-veined whites.
In just a few more open locations other water plants included Water Mint and Gipsywort, while up on the drier bank sides, struggling through the Nettles, were some lovely specimens of Small Teasel, only to be found in this semi-shaded, ‘near to but not in water’ niche, and not a common plant hereabouts.
The shade was provided by Alders, and fruiting Blackthorn (a good year for sloe gin is in the offing!), Alder Buckthorn and Dogwood, with scrambling Hops, not yet pollinated showing there is still life in summer yet!
Plentiful insect life in the riverine corridor included Commas, Peacock caterpillars, a lumbering Elephant Hawkmoth larva seeking out bare ground for pupation, and Dock Bugs in a complete range of instars. A smart parasitoid wasp might have been Bracon otiosus, but they are legion and there are no accessible sources of information and images.
Further upstream the river has been made to work, with channels cut from it to power the water mills, the still, impounded waters covered in dense mats of Least Duckweed …
… while Hawks Mill now stands impotently (but attractively) over the waters it once harnessed, creating abstract reflections of the Mill Stream walls.
Into the town, first stop was the impressive St John the Baptist Church, with its magnificent double hammerbeam roof. It was here ten years ago that, encouraged by Jude, I first let my eyes and heart appreciate the wonder of ecclesiastical architecture: it’s not just ‘a pile of old stones’!!
And the rest of the village is also impressively historic, with a fine High Street, although sadly suffering from the curse of cars, all seemingly driving on through, not stopping and spending. Thank goodness then for our final stop the Rampant Horse pub: an outstanding lunch, including some of the best whitebait I have ever had, plus sea bream for me and Mediterranean vegetable risotto for Jude. That and a couple of pints and it was back to the station. A fine first foray out, all in the name of a sustainable recuperation, and we will be back, especially to that pub! And next step, back into the pattern of monthly short breaks…not long to wait now!
