A remnant rectangle of wetland, two square kilometres of wildlife that before humans drained the fens was part of a 2,000 square km wet, peaty wilderness. Many species have disappeared, but an exuberance of intertwined life still thrives on this little patch.
Dragonflies whirr and twist over the dykes, hunting and holding territories. Marsh sow thistles abound; eight-foot-high stalks circled with spear-shaped leaves and topped with a candelabra shedding downy seeds. Between the oaks, in the heart of the reserve, expansive bushes of wonderfully aromatic bog myrtle tower over our heads, and through them chunky yellow and brown hornets hunt for insects.
The hornets are nesting in the porch of the stilted Rothschild Bungalow, built in 1910 by the millionaire nature reserve pioneer Charles Rothschild to accommodate visiting natural historians. The papery nest is vibrant with hornets, rasping and rattling as they pour in and out, while their sisters build extensions, feed grubs and keep a look out.
It is an intimidating operation, but they know their strength and I know that their fearsome reputation is based on just that, fear. European hornets, Vespa crabro, are self-confident and tolerant; they do not react as I slowly approach the nest and observe their industry.
Not even the flash of a camera a couple of feet from the nest entrance perturbs them. Eventually one firmly butts my forearm – “OK, that’s enough human.” I take the prompt and make my retreat.
The ditches are stuffed with the feathery fronds of greater bladderwort. The bladders are grain-sized flattened green purses that spring open when triggered by passing water fleas, sucking them into a digesting prison. The buttercup yellow flowers, not unlike those of toadflax, poke out of the water. A couple of months ago I found lesser bladderwort in soupy pools of sphagnum in an Irish peat bog and the contrast with that plant’s diminutive and pale flowers is striking.
On the end of a white willow twig is bizarre green leafy blossom, a rose gall. A boisterous response to the chemicals released into the bud by a growing larva of the gall midge Rabdophaga strobilina.
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