I’ve been doing some local walks over the past month, so I was ready for something a bit different. I’ve always wanted to explore Haddiscoe Island, as it looks so tempting on the OS map. This became an island when a canal was cut through from the Yare to the Waveney, for the Wherries bringing goods from the coast to Norwich to avoid the greedy Yarmouth boys. The Norwich merchants weren’t to know how soon the railway would make this redundant! However, the Island became a self-contained backwater in the heart of the Broads.
Inauspicious start to the walk through boat yards in St Olaves
I was surprised by the amount of reed cutting going on. The gentle swish of the scythe has been replaced by the racket of powerful strimmers, but when this was behind me there came the chink-chink of bearded tits which were chasing around the tops of the reed. And then – popping out of the reed, a chinese water deer stopped and stared before bouncing off along the path. Nice to know that these are on the Island.
This was a fantastic walk, with big skies all around, no sound at all apart from the bird life, and a real feeling of getting away from it all. No hills here, just the curvature of the earth in every direction.
Just before the Waveney meets the Yare, the extensive Roman walls of Burgh Castle are seen over the water, and starting down the Yare, on the opposite bank, are the Berney Arms Inn and Windmill.
Berney Arms - no roads, but there is a railway stop nearby
On in the direction of Reedham, then the New Cut canal takes us back to St Olaves.
The walk was over 11 miles, and took me well over 5 hours, due to spending so much time looking through the binoculars. Kingfisher is always good to see. A short-eared owl was hunting, in the same patch as a barn owl. A marsh harrier was quartering, getting nearer, when it flushed a sparrowhawk, probably having it’s lunch in the reed, and I was surprised that the hawk saw off the harrier in no uncertain fashion.
A few photos on Flickr >>> here <<<
