Brampton, Norfolk

Welcome

Brampton and Oxnead Parish Council

  • Hornets and other insects in Brampton

    It has been a good year for most insects. After a relatively mid winter, followed by a wet spring and then better weather in early summer aphid numbers seemed to rocket.  There was much concern on the village allotments as early brassicas seemed to be in danger of disappearing in plague levels of aphids.  Spraying followed, but not with excessively toxic commercial insecticides, but with soap-based sprays. Possibly not as immediately effective as shop-bought sprays, but certainly less polluting.  The Brussel sprouts gradually recovered.  Nature does have a way of balancing things out. First the Ladybirds arrived in numbers – they helped a lot.  Then the wasps arrived, large nests were made in the dry ground and they also acted as the gardener’s friends. Left alone, they cause very little trouble and do an immense amount of good.

    This autumn, Brampton has also seen a the arrival of large numbers of hornets. British Hornets, not the invasive Asian Yellow-Legged Variety (which decimate bee populations). Native Hornets are large, some are over an inch long and they are really an impressive sight. They are most active in the warm evenings from twilight onwards.  They are attracted to artificial light and will ‘knock on the window’ at light shining through. In spite of their fearsome-looking appearance they are much less aggressive than wasps.  If they get into the house, it is best to guide them out rather than kill them. They feed on other insects and on some plant-based nectar or sap. The nest will diminish as the cold weather arrives and solitary queens will disperse to over-winter and will form new colonies next summer.  More information on Hornets can be found on https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps/hornet

     

  • Gathering flocks – House Martins

    2025 has been a successful breeding year for many birds species.  Indeed, many Swallow nests have produced two or even three broods over a summer which has been rich in insect life.  Some but not all of the Swallows have left the UK as yet.  House Martins, which are welcomed by many as guests over the summer can been seen gathering in large flocks as they prepare to depart.  Over the last two weeks flocks of  House Martins numbering 60+ individuals (including a few Sand Martins) can be spotted over Oxnead Hall and Hall Farm as they build up reserves for the autumn migration.   It will not be long before they disappear for the winter.   They will overwinter in West Africa – both Guinea and Nigeria have been cited as their favoured destinations – but in truth, more migration research is still needed into the habits of this summer visitor.

  • Brampton: Autumn and the Michaelmas arrivals

    Over the last few days the evening has arrived with golden sunset. It feels like a time of change – the last Swallows skimmed the last stubble of the harvest a few days ago, before heading south. The autumn migrants have arrived from the north.

    It was last Wednesday evening, whilst accompanied by a post-hopping Barn Owl, that we heard this year’s Golden Plover. Their plaintive whistling calls carry to us, above even the traffic noise along the Buxton Road. It was twilight, the sunset had been spectacular and darkness was falling fast. Every year flocks of Golden Plover rest for a few days on tawny arable fields above the old Roman Road. We could hear their calls but their restless flocks were invisible.

    This morning’s clear skies, after a light frost, rendered the chance of seeing them altogether better. Looking south we soon spotted the flock of about fifty birds, their silhouette unmistakable – on knife-shaped wings they wheeled and turned, in synchrony their colours alternating dark and pale as they flew. Flying for fun, circling and settling before setting off again. All the time their whistles carrying down to us, earthbound.

  • Brampton Autumn – silence with burst of birdsong

    It is the Autumnal silence which hits you on an early morning walk from Brampton to Oxnead. Silence punctuated only by occasional sharp bursts of song – a Robin, the screech of a Jay and the repetitive fluting of a Nuthatch in the Keeper’s Wood. Then there were Kingfishers – a pair chasing and calling upstream to the mill pool, another single bird calling from a perch above the sluice. It has been a good year for Kingfisher numbers so far, with numbers increased from a successful breeding season.

  • Brampton in September

    This week the House Martins abandoned our skies and headed for warmer climes. Recently they had gathered in wheeling flock of 40+ over the village – something akin to training flights for the late fledged young combined with a feeding frenzy. Air Temperatures had been high since Tuesday and the sky had become that deep shade of blue – cloudless and somewhat oppressive. Temperatures hit 32 degrees C (89 degrees Fahrenheit in old money) and activity on the ground had slowed. Then I noticed that they had gone – as ever to some unseen signal they had dissappeared. No stragglers apparent since then as I write this on a Saturday evening. The place is somewhat quiet without their movement and their cheerful calls.

  • Brampton – soaring Buzzards

    Buzzards have moved from rare to commonplace in Norfolk over the last twenty years or so. However common they are, I still thrill to the site of the family groups that soar on the village thermals. This morning (Sunday)  we watch as a group of four – presumably tow adults and two young – slowly circle over the Common. We immediately assume, probably wrongly, that the individual which soars at a higher level, conveniently away from the others, is the male. The other three circle one another, calling constantly and occasionally making contact in some form of aerial game of tag. A feint and a roll, one of the pair turning upside down as they touch talons in mid air – some form of pretend exchange of food or some such. All through this their mewing calls drift down from a sky of almost Italianate blue.

  • A Brampton Autumn: a heavy berry crop foretells of a hard winter (?)

    Brampton wears her Autumn coloursimage

  • Autumn encounter

    During the Autumn twilight a pair of Roe deer made their silent way out from the woodland edge. The breeze blew gently in our faces so they continued unaware that they were being watched. Unaware that is until one of our restless dogs gave the game away. The doe looked up and eyed us cautiously. There was no flight for safety. Instead they ambled quietly along the old hedge line and carried on with their foraging.

    Roe in the gloaming
    Roe in the gloaming

  • Deer in October

    As I drive out of the village each morning, three deer watch. They stand knee-high amongst the sugar beet. Their coats have turned into an Autumn hue of dark russet brown, the red fox gloss of Summer having long gone. The Buck only relaxes as I am just about to drive under the bridge. They return to their task – grazing to build up their fat reserves.

  • September wake of Buzzards

    Warm afternoons in September often bring the Buzzards through. The local family group or “wake” maintain contact with one another with their mewing cries. They share a thermal but not at a single altitude – I tend to notice the lowest first and then, as my eyes adjust, another, then a third and a fourth. Each higher than the last. The group seem to circle lazily, but then you become aware how far and fast they are drifting. They are watching, scanning, looking. Gathering as if at a funeral. A wake of Buzzards.