Pingo Hunting In Breckland

Recently the rules about travel in this country were changed, but nobody seems to be sure what they now are. Apparently we can travel any distance to the coast, to the countryside or to see friends while at the same time minimising travel! We had no intention of travelling as far as the coast or to any popular hotspots. Neither would we travel over the busy Easter period, but instead we would go searching for pingoes.

So we arrived at an isolated, empty car park and set off along a quiet path amongst holly trees. We wondered whether the pingoes would be easy to see or if they'd be hiding behind vegetation. We didn't have to wait long before we encountered the first one....

Yes, pingoes, or more precisely pingo-ponds, are nothing but small shallow pools. But pools with a long and interesting history.

Back at the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago, this was an area of permanently frozen ground. Beneath the frozen layer there was chalk rock which contained unfrozen water. In normal times that water would form springs, as it does now not far from my home. But with the upper layer frozen there was nowhere for the water to go and it froze on reaching the colder ground. Here it accumulated forming large lens-shaped lumps of ice, pushing up the overlying soil into circular mounds.

These mounds were actually the real pingoes. As they grew higher and steeper the overlying soil and sand began to slip off down the sides, so that when the ice "lens" melted the whole structure collapsed and left depressions which now forms the ponds. That, rather simplified, is how these ponds were formed - and there are dozens of them in this area as we shall see.

But first we have to continue along a farm road past a field of llamas. There are quite a few breeders of these exotic beasts around in the English countryside these days. This was also the site of Thompson College, which was a small colony of priests founded in 1349 to pray for the souls of Sir John de Shardelowe and his Lady. "Thompson" is not the name of a person, as you might suppose, but the name of the village hereabouts.

I know, I know, we're supposed to be looking for pingoes, not old bits of broken-down garden wall. I just liked to way the sunlight was falling on the tumbledown stones. Have some pity on my brother who has to hang about while I take such pictures!

A little further along there was an old Romany waggon, or "vardo" as they called them. I wonder if a travelling family finally settled here, keeping this reminder of their past. Or maybe someone just picked it up at a sale; though I rather hope it was the former.

The farm road began to peter out into a rough track with a few mighty trees growing along the field edge.

Then we were making our rather muddy way over Thompson Common, which is maintained by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust with the help of some Konik ponies. Regular readers of this blog will start to think that the whole British countryside is swarming with Koniks, but alas that is not the case, though they are becoming more numerous on nature reserves. This area is one of the few places in the land where you might find a rare Pool Frog - we found a frog but it was just the common kind.

The path then threaded its way through Thompson Carr, an area of flooded woodland with more pingo ponds. You will notice that all the pingoes have slightly different characteristics, making them ideal sites for varied wildlife and in summer they are said to be great places for dragonflies and butterflies, as well as less charismatic species.

Most of the time the water had the good manners to stay off the path, though from time to time we found ourselves crossing deep mud on logs and branches thrown down by earlier walkers. At times there was a fence to hang onto, at other times we tiptoed precariously across.

When we weren't concentrating on our footing we were able to look out for birdlife. Not all of it was as obvious and obliging as this family of Mute Swans, but at this time of year the calls give away the whereabouts of many smaller birds. Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Coal Tits, Marsh Tits, Reed Buntings and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were all found in this way.

Birch woods are always good places to look for fungi, even in springtime.

We're not even half-way through our walk yet, but I think I'll leave it there for now and conclude the trail in the next blogpost.

Coming next time: A Roman road, a vanished railway line, more pingoes and a ghost! Don't miss it!

Take care.