Herring Gulls

 I'm seeing several gulls - too far away to see exactly what sort- from my front windows this summer due to the building work going on on the far side of the burial ground. They dug out a lot of soil to make a level spot for the two bungalows by the road and heaped it up along the edge. Now it's being levelled over all the rest of the  large site behind where the bungalows have been started. Gulls are very fond of newly turned earth.

The Herring Gull. Illustration from 'A Sparrow's Life's as Sweet as Ours by Carrie Ackroyd.

Each bird illustration has a page of information written by John McEwen.

 Herring Gulls have a wingspan of up to 5¼ feet and up until the second half of the 20th century were usually to be found by the sea. Lack of fish made them move inland and become a problem in many places where they often make newspaper headlines by stealing food from peoples picnics and violently excreting what they've just eaten when angry.

Apparently numbers have halved since the 1970s and they were Red Listed because of their rapid decline.

The photo below is from the time we had a beach hut at Felixstowe for a couple of years when Colin was poorly.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

St. Mary's Church, Coddenham

Coddenham is an old village - going back to the Romans - in Mid Suffolk, it isn't far from both the  A140 and the A14 and has tight bends and narrow streets not meant for heavy traffic.  I visited early on a morning when they were having a flower festival and some people were getting everything ready to serve coffees.

The tower is in an unusual place which might mean an earlier church was in a slightly different position.

The porch sits slightly at an angel to the church so that it faces directly up the road to the village

The church is wide with side aisles and a long chancel and clerestory windows let in lots of light

A couple of the lovely flower arrangements

And two of the stained glass windows

Memorial from 1855

Old clock mechanism on display in the church

Along with the flower festival they had a small display of old photos and information about the village

Stairs to the Rood Screen mentioned above

Just a short visit but much more about the church on the Suffolk Churches Index HERE

Back Tomorrow

Sue