Pebblebed heath

Sadly today it was time for us to return home, after three days of being cared for extremely well by J and P. We lingered over a leisurely cooked breakfast, and then, after an impromptu photoshoot, Pete and I headed off to explore the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths, a nationally important area of heathland that neither of us had visited before.

We started off at Bicton Common, where there were extensive views and a surprisingly large number of soldiers shooting at each other. We thought that there would be red flags separating us from their training area, but there was nothing. Presumably they were using blanks, but we took the precautionary approach and turned back before we got too close!

We then visited Bystock Pool nature reserve where we found some wonderfully boggy areas with Sphagnum mosses in shades of vivid red and orange, Bog Bush-crickets, Black Bog-rush, a Four-spotted Orb-weaver (see extra) and a Slow-worm. Not to mention four delightful Exmoor ponies who were busy tackling the invading scrub. Our last stop of the day was Aylesbeare Heath RSPB reserve, where there were more fine view but very few birds - not really the right time of year for their specialities.

The drive home was fairly smooth until we tried to turn off the A14 and found that the A605 to Peterborough was closed after 8pm. This meant a diversion via Huntingdon, where the northbound exit to the A1 was also shut. The diversion was very confusingly signed, so I ended up doing a  somewhat extended circular loop before I realised where I was supposed to go. For a while we'd wondered whether we'd ever make it back to Peterborough  - I was very, very glad when we finally made it home!