The Great Fen

Today I spent some time on part of the Great Fen 'Last of the Meres' trail, in the vicinity of Engine Farm. The landscape in this part of the Great Fen has a very distinct character - straight reed-fringed drains, undulating roads marked by skew-whiff telegraph poles, grassy fields with raptors hovering overhead and extensive views towards Holme Fen, the Yaxley ridge and the brickworks of Whittlesey. Most of all it's a place where you can experience space and solitude.

In mid-August the area doesn't immediately appear to be rich in wildlife, but as my eyes and ears became attuned, there was plenty to see. A host of freshly emerged small tortoiseshell butterflies were nectaring on the flowers of creeping thistle, struggling to maintain their balance in an unrelenting wind.

A yellow wagtail flew over and perched on a barn roof, chattering companionably to a host of goldfinches which sheltered in a nearby elder bush. Huge flocks of wood pigeons, along with a scattering of stock doves, rose up from neighbouring arable fields, while starlings lined up on the telegraph wires, occasionally producing mini-murmurations.

The Engine Drain was one of the few areas sheltered from the wind. Here I glimpsed a reed warbler family flitting across the flowering reed, only to be distracted by a sudden burst of azure and orange as a kingfisher flew low along the channel, before disappearing in the dense vegetation. The surface of the drain was dimpled with whirligig beetles, never still, and while watching them I caught sight of a grass snake swimming across the drain, before vanishing into the reeds.

It's so tempting to stride round the countryside but sometimes you can see so much more by paying close attention to a limited area, maybe even just standing still and waiting for the wildlife to come to you.