LETTERS, NOTES AND QUERIES

Containing this month: 
White Bell Heather by Nick Mayo
Kingfisher Attack by Russell Edwards
Moves afoot at the Original Ipswich Museum by Colin Hawes

White Bell Heather

On August bank holiday Monday, I was walking on Westleton Heath and, amongst great swathes of bell heather plants (Erica cinerea), came across one such plant with pure white flowers. They were not just pale, but really white. It was in full flower, whereas the mauve flowered plants were almost finished.

Closer inspection suggested that this was the same species as the mauve, but I cannot find any reference to white flowered bell heather in any of my flower books. Trawling the internet also directs me only to the mauve variety.

Detailed examination on the day was hampered by curious sheep, who were fascinated by this extraordinary creature on hands and knees in their midst and jostled each other for a closer look. A large colony of ants also took the opportunity for a spot of mountaineering, so I did not linger.

Can anyone tell me whether this plant is something different? If pressed (me, not the heather), I might be able to find it again, although I cannot guarantee this.

Miss Nick Mayo
Saxmundham

Kingfisher Attack

I was spending a pleasant half hour photographing a kingfisher (cover photo) from a hide at Alton Water when the kingfisher suddenly flew off its branch, which was overhanging the water and came straight at my face only stopping and going rapidly into reverse when it was about two feet from me. It then returned to its branch to continue diving for fish, preening and frequently defecating into the water (which is after all, our drinking water!) Some minutes later I was attacked again. This time the bird flew on behind the hide before returning to its perch.

I mentioned this experience to colleagues who had also been photographing the kingfisher: they also had been subjected to similar attacks.

There is a theory that the bird sees its reflection in the camera lens and attacks it thinking it has competition. This seems unlikely as I find it very difficult to see any reflections (except very bright ones) in the lens although undoubtedly the kingfisher has much sharper eyesight.

Russell Edwards
Holbrook

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Moves afoot at the Original Ipswich Museum

Geoff Heathcote’s November 19, 2011 9:0345, Spring 2000) came to mind a few weeks ago when I walked past the building, which still stands opposite the Methodist church in Museum Street near the centre of Ipswich (not far from the ‘new’ museum in High Street). Readers may remember from Geoff’s article that the original building was funded by public subscriptions and had as its first president, the famous entomologist the Rev. W. Kirby AM, FLS. Readers might also remember that in January 2000, the old museum’s facade appeared much the same structurally as it did in the photograph that accompanied an article by Paul Fincham in the East Anglian Magazine in 1960 (reprinted White Admiral 45, p.13) though the building was unused, boarded-up and badly in need of repair.

Sadly, over the following eight years the building remained boarded-up and in a state of disrepair, erosion and a leaking roof causing further damage to the external and internal structure.

However, at last something is being done to save this bit of historic Ipswich from further decline. Noting the scaffolding erected at the entrance to the building and workmen busy inside, I stopped to ask them about the project, and can now happily report that the original Ipswich Museum is undergoing restoration: the façade is being repaired and the building will re-open this year as a restaurant.

Colin Hawes

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