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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 34 BRECKLAND MARG RUTTERFORD
Travellers from the London area approaching the Six Mile Bottom district will notice fields bordered by Scots Pine. This is a sure sign that they are approaching Breckland. Leaving the chalky boulder clay behind, they will enter the sandy Breckland at Red Lodge. Breckland is a place of wide open skies and, when easterly winds blow, which are frequent in early spring, can have brilliant sunshine and white, billowing clouds. We of the Breck call them 'fine weather clowds'. This is the driest area of England, for the prevailing southwest winds lose much of their moisture before they reach East Anglia. Dust storms are prevalent in Breckland. Sitting in my car on Maid's Cross Hill one afternoon in March, 1990, I watched dust blowing off some sandy fields at Wangford and piling several feet high against a grassy bank, just as drifting snow will hang on ditch sides. One area of Blue Fescue (Festuca caesia) had disappeared under six feet of blown sand. In the past, Scots Pines were planted along roadsides in Breckland. These trees had the leading shoot cut out, so that they formed a hedge, but they were seldom kept trimmed and were allowed to grow away so that they are very distorted today. Between Barton Mills and Tuddenham is a good example of where trees were trimmed, forming an impenetrable hedge, with mature trees every fifty yards. Lilac was often planted in the Thetford area to form a windbreak and, when in flower, a very nice one. Pits can be seen in many fields. These are where marl, a chalky clay, was dug, carted, and spread over the sandy fields to stop erosion and improve the soil. Most of these pits are now overgrown with Hawthorn, Eider, Buckthorn, Wild Rose and Box. Breckland is a unique area, stretching from West Stow almost to Swaffham in Norfolk. It should be visited again and again if all the flora is to be examined and savoured, and visitors should be prepared to crawl on hands and knees to see the minute early Breck flowers. Much of what was open Breck has been planted with coniferous forest (at first Scots Pine, and now the more rapidlygrowing Corsican Pine) by the Forestry Commission. Many field naturalists condemn this, but I think it has produced wonderful country. The forest rides contain all sorts of Breckland plants, and bird life has increased. The healthy smell of the pines is welcome when air pollution is all too common. I can remember all the Scots Pines being planted. Now I can walk where whole blocks of the forest have been clear-felled and replanted. It is exciting to walk over such country. It was here that John Trist and I were wandering when we came upon a big colony of Crown Vetch (Securigera varia) growing side-by-side with Fine-leaved Vetch (Vicia tenuifolia), which is a Continental vetch resembling a large edition of Tufted Vetch (V. cracca). It made one of the finest pictures I have ever seen in the field. Seeds of these alien species must have been brought in by birds. The three Speedwells which flower in early spring are found in the Brecklands (see plate 2). The Fingered Speedwell (Veronica triphyllos) has now become extremely rare on the edge of sandy fields where it could be found
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without fail a few years back. Changes in farming practice have brought to the edge of extinction. Breck Speedwell (V. praecox) is still holding its own, especially where it was first found at Barton Mills. Spring Speedwell (V. verna) is thriving better than the other two species on dry heathland where rabbit burrows can still be found. Scratched areas which have been reclothed with Vegetation are good sites for Spring Speedwell, but the plants are very small and not easily seen without a hand lens. A good many botanists have fallen by the wayside with this plant. Sand Sedge (Carex arenaria) can frequently be seen on the sandy heaths where it grows thickly enough to make Walking hazardous. I can remember a smallholder who had three or four cows and a horse who used only Sand Sedge and Bracken for litter. He, like other older men, always called it 'Spear Grass'. Unless a scythe was kept very sharp indeed it was impossible to cut this sedge. However, these men of the past were expert at hanging and sharpening a scythe. Bracken was cut in late August and left to dry on long swathes, and then carted home for litter and covering potatoes in clamps to see them through the winter. Within the Breckland there are many interesting areas of fen, fed by freshwater springs and containing some rare and beautiful wild flowering plants and grasses. These are always exciting places to explore. At Santon Downham on the Norfolk border, where the Little Ouse flows quietly along, there is an attractive area of fen giving way to sandy breck - giving the best of both worlds to the botanist. Here can be found Drooping Brome (Bromus tectorum), a naturalised alien grass which I have known to grow there for many years. Flint knappers carried out their ancient craft at Brandon, producing gun flints and Square blocks of flint used for facing work on churches and other buildings. Many were beautiful and stood for centuries. Lamentably, many old cottages have been wantonly destroyed to make way for modern, much less attractive buildings. Much of the flint used came from Ling Heath, and the disused, overgrown ancient flint pits are now home for the Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), which is frequent in this area. Another noted 'Breckland speciality' which is found here is the Field Wormwood (.Artemisia campestris), which is very rare. Some of the most interesting areas of Breckland have been built upon and we will never again see some of the beautiful displays of flowers I remember so vividly. On one corner of a field on the south side of some mature Scots Pines I once saw Grape Hyacinth (Muscari neglectum), Sand Catchfly (Silene conica) (see plate 3), Fingered Speedwell, Breck Speedwell and Rue-leaved Saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites) all in flower together. Grape Hyacinth is gradually getting less and less common on boundary banks where in the past it made a welcome splash of colour. It is rather sad. Although huge airfields cover much of Breckland, especially Lakenheath Warren, there is still access to the east where large areas of open Breck are covered with beautiful Purple Milk Vetch (Astragalus danicus). Here Stone Curlews once nested. I can remember seeing fifty or more congregating with young birds during moulting, as late as November, before migrating. Although
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only those with permits are allowed on the airfields, like the Battie area in Norfolk they do give protection to some species. There are big colonies of Spanish Catchfly (Silene otites) on the airfield, and the rare Perennial Knawel (Scleranthus perennis ssp. prostratus). I have always thought that the Breck country between Icklingham and Santon Downham was the best for the true Breck plants, but most of it is on the Elveden Estates and private property. However, all Brecks are beautiful, especially during warm spring showers when all the minute Vetches, Cresses, Forget-me-nots and Mossy Tillaea (= Mossy Stonecrop, Crassula tillaea) are flowering, and they have given me pleasure in all weathers, sunshine, rain and dust storms, and even when the bitter east winds are blowing. Marg Rutterford Marg, as he was always known, was a well-informed naturalist and an authority on the Breckland. He lived at Lakenheath all his life. He died in 1991 and his obituary was published in the Transactions (Vol. 27). Members who are interested in the history and flora of the Breckland should read Marg's "Recollections of a Countryman", published by Bruce Rutterford in 1992.
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Plate 2: Three rare Breckland Speedwells, A: Fingered Speedwell (Veronica triphyllos L.); B: Breckland Speedwell (V. praecox All.); C: Spring Speedwell (V. verna L.) (p. 22 & p. 106).
Plate 3: Sand Catchfly (Silene conica L.), a Nationally Scarce plant found in Breckland and on the Suffolk coast (p. 107).