GUN HILL - Discover Butterflies

GUN HILL
from www.discoverbutterflies.com the website
for the book Discover Butterflies in Britain
© D E Newland
Norfolk
View from the summit of Gun Hill, looking north-east
Gun Hill is a high sand dune
about a mile and a half from
Burnham Overy Staithe on the
North Norfolk Coast. It is
accessible only by walking
from the Overy Staithe or
from a nearby informal car
park on the A149 coast road.
A wide, sandy beach runs all
the way from Hunstanton to
Morston. Its mix of high sand
dunes, low mud flats and tidal
estuaries are part of the
Norfolk Coast AONB. Gun
Hill is near Burnham Overy
Staithe and within the
Holkham NNR. This is owned
by Lord Leicester’s Holkham
Estate and managed in
cooperation with Natural
England.
TARGET SPECIES
Dark Green Fritillaries,
Graylings, Brown Argus,
Small Heath and other
commoner species.
To reach Gun Hill, you have to walk for about half-an-hour, either from Burnham Overy
Staithe or from informal roadside parking about ½ mile east of the Overy Staithe, on the
A149 coast road. From the roadside lay-by, you walk for about ¾ mile through the Overy
Marshes and then go up onto the sea wall. Here you join the Norfolk Coast Path from
Burnham Overy Staithe to Wells-next-the-Sea. This is the footpath that you would be on
if you started from Overy Staithe. It is a good, hard-surfaced path for about another ¾
mile, ending in a boardwalk as it approaches the sandy beach. Now the Coast Path bears
right across the sands, but you bear left for Gun Hill. Then it is an easy scramble across
the dunes for about another ½ mile to reach the high point of Gun Hill. There are fine
views, south to Burnham Overy Staithe and west towards Scolt Head.
Gun Hill is a high sand dune, about 16 m above mean sea level, with well-established
vegetation but with a volcano-like blow-out at its centre. This is where high winds have
torn out the surface plants and lifted sand out to make a large, deep hollow. Around the
sides and to the east and south of this hollow, wild privet has become strongly established,
with many bushes at least 2m high. Gun Hill is at the western end of a long line of high
sand dunes called the Holkham Meals. Dark Green Fritillaries and Graylings have been
seen all along these dunes, but only occasionally, and the main Dark Green colony
appears to be centred on Gun Hill.
The first time I went, it was a sunny, hot afternoon in late June, the traditional weather for
the first week of Wimbledon. But there was still a keen wind across the high dunes and
butterflies were moving fast. During the walk to Gun Hill, there were plenty of Meadow
Browns on the hedgerows through the marshes, and Painted Ladies were everywhere (this
being the 2009 “good” year for them). Almost as soon as I climbed onto Gun Hill, I saw a
Dark Green Fritillary rushing between its brief re-fuelling stops. Except during early
morning and in the evening, males spend only a few seconds drinking nectar before
rushing on to continue their search for females in the grass below. During the next hour
or so, I must have had another half-dozen sightings, one of which was kind enough to
wait on a thistle to be photographed. The next day I returned, and saw another 8 or 10 in
the space of about an hour towards the end of the day. A couple of days before, I had
been to Horsey Warren, where there were more Dark Greens on the wing but I have been
told that they usually emerge later at Gun Hill and that the colony there builds up in July.
Most of the fritillaries that I saw on the wing at Gun Hill and Horsey Warren were males.
The females like to keep out of sight basking low down or egg-laying. Mating, if it occurs,
is invariably low down in long grass. The time to take photographs and to look for
females is towards the end of the day, when they will be found drinking nectar from
thistles or knapweed, or from brambles if there are any, or, at Gun Hill, from the wild
privet which flourishes here. The foodplant for Dark Green Fritillary caterpillars is
usually one of the species of the violet family. In coastal locations, heath dog violets are
used. These are quite similar to common dog violets in appearance, although they are
more straggly and they are hard to identify when their flowers have faded.
For generations, Burnham Overy provided a port for the surrounding villages, but
commercial shipping ceased after the First World War when competition from the
railway could be resisted no longer. Now Burnham Overy Staithe is a busy centre for
sailing. To reach the sea, small boats come and go along Overy Creek which passes
between Scolt Head Island and Gun Hill. Burnham Overy mill is a notable landmark on
the A149 about ½ mile west of the Staithe. At the end of the 19th century, there were
three separate mills here. A 16 hp steam engine drove 4 millstones, a watermill used the
power of the River Burn to drive 3 millstones, and the present windmill drove three more
millstones. The windmill was given to the National Trust in 1958, having not worked
since 1919 and has been partially restored. It is now used for holiday accommodation.
Holkham National Nature Reserve stretches from Burnham Norton in the west to
Blakeney in the east and covers some 4,000 ha (15.5 sq miles). Scolt Head is a separate
NNR, and both Holkham and Scolt Head NNRs fall within the North Norfolk Coast SSSI
which covers 7,700 ha (30 sq miles). Its management consortium includes the National
Trust and the RSPB. For birders, the whole area is well-known for migratory birds and
wintering waterflowl, including brent and pink-footed geese, and wigeon. Breeding bird
communities include sandwich terns, little terns, common terns, avocets, and bearded tits.
The dunes and salt marshes support many different plant communities. On the dunes you
may find sea rocket and saltwort, sea sandwort, centaury, bird’s-foot trefoil, pyramidal
orchids and bee orchids. The rare Jersey cudweed may also be found on the damp,
leeward side of the dunes. On the salt marshes, you can expect to see sea aster, sea
lavender, sea purslane, sea plantain and sea wormwood as well as many other common
and rare seaside plants.
A feature of the North Norfolk coastline is that it is in a constant state of flux. To the west,
at Holme and Brancaster, localised erosion is threatening grazing marches and the golf
club, while at Holkham the opposite is taking place. The dune barriers in Holkham bay
have been growing since the 1950s. The result is that the beach behind the dunes here has
become muddy where once it was sandy, and samphire and other saltmarsh plants have
taken hold. Recently, I met a couple at Holkham Gap who had not been there for ten
years. They were astonished to find that the flat beach behind the dunes was now green
where they had remembered it as yellow.
West side of Gun Hill, looking east
Boardwalk of the Norfolk Coast Path, approaching the
shore
End of the boardwalk; Gun Hill
is to the left
Little Tern breeding area, north of Gun Hill
Mudflats south of Gun Hill, looking west
Mudflats in the evening sunshine
Scrubby vegetation on Gun Hill
Sheltered vegetation where a Dark Green Fritillary found
a flowering thistle
Vegetation on Gun Hill, looking north
Masonry relic on Gun Hill
View from Gun Hill towards Burnham Overy
View from Gun Hill towards Burnham Overy
Ordnance Survey marker on Gun Hill
Meadow Brown (f) in evening sunlight on the path
through Burnham marshes
Dark Green Fritillary (m) at Gun Hill in late June
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary at Gun Hill
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Wild privet on the south side of Gun Hill
Grassy vegetation on the north side of Gun Hill,
looking north with Scolt Head on the left
Vegetation on the south side of Gun Hill
Birds on the north side of Gun Hill
LOCATION
Explorer Map 24: Norfolk Coast Central
Landranger (pink) Map 132: North West Norfolk
Grid references:
A149 lay-by car park: TF853428
Gun Hill: TF851458
Gun Hill is on the North Norfolk coast near Burnham Overy Staithe. This is about 12 miles east
of Hunstanton. There is parking at Burnham Overy Staithe or at an informal car park on the A149
about ½ mile east of the Overy Staithe. Both car parks are about 2 miles from Gun Hill. Walking
is straightforward because the paths are easy, but they are not suitable for wheelchairs. It would
be possible to sail to Gun Hill from the Overy Staithe, but landing is difficult because there is no
landing stage. Walking on Gun Hill involves gentle scrambling and should not prove difficult
except for the rabbit holes. These are everywhere and a dangerous trap for the unwary.