Frank & the Guide had been tinkering around in the Broads for years, but never wearied . Seemed like there was always something new going on, the changes of season, the migrations, the things which got better,  seldom........ (Frank wondered , at this point, why he kept writing 'Seldon' , and suspected that this  may be  a subliminal nod to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Having read all forty odd  Sherlock Holmes stories, perhaps the criminal from the Hound of the Baskervilles was on his mind, perhaps it was the fault of the Qwerty keyboard, perhaps perhaps, amazing the brain really, however maybe  not Frank's abnormally ordinary brain !

Yes picking up the thread, there was always something different from last week. Swallows seemed a bit late this year & the Cuckoo wasn't heard until the end of  April, but right on time, May 5th, the first Swift was spotted scything  (not quite a verb I agree) it's way over sunny Southwood ,waiting for his chance decamp into the summer palace under the pan tiles above their heads.

Having arrived at Upton on a splendid early May late afternoon, the peace was already palpable.  Stealing  around the ponds it was hoped that the year's first snake might be spotted, but not this time. Walking the familiar trail in silence, a certain lassitude filled the warm spring day, small frogs hopped across the path & the air was alive with birdsong, Wren and Chiff Chaff , Robin and Blackbird. At the bridge the Guide identified a Four Spotted Chaser, patrolling around in the sun, the first dragon fly of the season. Later they were to spy several more of the familiar 'Four Spots' as well as the blue green Hairy Dragonflies, normally amongst the first to emerge. Not a wild amount of bird life, the occasional Heron & Reed bunting etc. & no mammals to speak of, but Upton weaved it's usual magic to the last step.

Putting in at Sutton, it was a old grey hangover from winter morning, replete with cold north wind  and lowering sky. Perfect canoeing weather in other words, keeping the punters at bay, and so it progressed. The two miles from Sutton to Hunsett mill and not another craft underway. Surly bank holiday weekend should be hell on the broads, but up early it was a different story, tomorrow would be another day altogether  & as for Monday.........! No Kingfisher, but some wonderfully exploding Chetti's calls as well as signs of Coot making their nests and small families of Greylag and Moorhen already at the breakfast table. 
Bending around towards Wayford the road noise was more apparent & out happy pair tugged on  the paddles  ardently until safely on their way up Dilham Canal. Two other canoes, and a nice chap & his son on the bank  walking the course before having a paddle themselves, a  familiar enough run, nice & quiet; quieter than years ago when paddling back towards Dilham someone shot a ('no one was more surprised than me mate') Pheasant which came sploshing down just feet from the canoe, on that dour  bruised February  afternoon.  Getting up the last stretch was a quant really, the water very low, but fun all the same. On the home run, there was an encounter with a family of Grebes, which were a joy to watch, four little striped young  being constantly fed by one parent, diving, catching & feeding then with the same gracefully aquatic dexterity diving again. The other parent marshalling the brood around with aplomb.

Few more boats around on the way back, but nothing to take the peace away, half an hour's leisurely brew & sandwich on  the bank & then a run back down the broad alone again on the slowly transient waters, the breeze slowly dying with the seemingly endless day.

See you next time.

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Wilds of Norfolk was set up because of our unquenchable enthusiasm for the Norfolk Broads,  our small part of the natural world. We thought we'd like to try and give something back by helping other people enjoy the countryside and it's wildlife as well as do our own little bit to promote an interest in the natural world and it's conservation , not only for the wildlife but for the sheer exuberance of the precious life we're lucky enough to get the chance to live.

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