I have returned from Norfolk, county of few surnames. What a brilliant weekend all round. I'm absolutely bloody knackered, but have come back with a few things to write about. But for now, just have a handful of photos of the area to let you know what we were dealing with.
This was Holkham bay. Holkham was the beach featured at the end of "Shakespeare In Love", and I think it was also the location for the All Saints video for "Pure Shores":
This is one of the tidal channels at Brancaster Staithe, at low tide. At high tide, even where I was standing was under water!
Some incredibly well-hung locals:
I was woken up by the dawn chorus at the next-door nature reserve, so stuck my head out of the window to take a photo of the village of Titchwell:
Ho for the salt marshes again:
This was a geoarchaeology and geomorphology field trip, to look at how mankind has shaped the landscape (and how the landscape has shaped mankind). The bedrock is Cretaceous chalk, which is chock-a-block full of flint nodules. A fact that was not lost on the Neolithic inhabitants of the area. More recently, the Romans built a fort, which was then cannibalised to build many of the local houses. The Enclosure Acts precipitated the mass exodus from the villages into larger towns and cities, and the eventual drive to reclaim the salt marshes and build sea walls and defences.
That's a very quick and dirty summary of what's happening (and no doubt there are more experienced geomorphologists who will tell me so!), but I'm still not quite there on the writing-serious-science front. There are a couple more things to talk about from a vertebrate point of view, and A Bigger Pot will have the botanical side of the weekend, but look out for a Cool Organism Thursday!
This was Holkham bay. Holkham was the beach featured at the end of "Shakespeare In Love", and I think it was also the location for the All Saints video for "Pure Shores":
This is one of the tidal channels at Brancaster Staithe, at low tide. At high tide, even where I was standing was under water!
Some incredibly well-hung locals:
I was woken up by the dawn chorus at the next-door nature reserve, so stuck my head out of the window to take a photo of the village of Titchwell:
Ho for the salt marshes again:
This was a geoarchaeology and geomorphology field trip, to look at how mankind has shaped the landscape (and how the landscape has shaped mankind). The bedrock is Cretaceous chalk, which is chock-a-block full of flint nodules. A fact that was not lost on the Neolithic inhabitants of the area. More recently, the Romans built a fort, which was then cannibalised to build many of the local houses. The Enclosure Acts precipitated the mass exodus from the villages into larger towns and cities, and the eventual drive to reclaim the salt marshes and build sea walls and defences.
That's a very quick and dirty summary of what's happening (and no doubt there are more experienced geomorphologists who will tell me so!), but I'm still not quite there on the writing-serious-science front. There are a couple more things to talk about from a vertebrate point of view, and A Bigger Pot will have the botanical side of the weekend, but look out for a Cool Organism Thursday!
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