Thompson Wood 25 July 2026

With todays obsession with destroying our wonderful countryside with unprecedented house building, road building, loss of valuable land to solar farms, and the use of pesticides and insecticides, it is refreshing to see the creation of habitats for the benefit of wildlife and of course for our mental health. 

Thompson Wood is owned by the Woodland Trust and was purchased by the trust in 2021, it covers 279 acres and is one of the largest sites in Norfolk owned by the trust.  Once arable farmland, Thompson Wood will see a variety of important habitats being created, these include woodland, wood pasture, open grassland, and wetland.  The Thompson area holds some of the most important reserves in the country, the creation of this new habitat will significantly add to the area with its species richness.

Visit 25 July

My visit began at the village church, here was at least two singing Wood Pigeons, a singing Stock Dove, House Martins and a couple of Swifts overhead.

1. 'Putlog' or 'putlock' on Thompson Church.

Picture 1. This shows a feature known as a 'putlog' or 'putlock' on the side of Thompson Church, these features can also be seen at intervals going up church towers.  When the church was constructed many centuries ago, logs were inserted into the buildings walls creating a type of scaffold, as the men finished constructing the church the logs were removed and infilled with flint or other building materials.  Check some of these features because sometimes the logs could not be removed and were cut away so that the remaining logs were left flush with the surrounding wall.  

The path from the church to Griston Road saw a single Little Owl between a couple of Oaks, and in an adjacent meadow 30+ Goldfinches wandered between patches of Creeping Thistle to feed, many of these birds were juveniles.  In a Hawthorn on the path at least 3 Linnets were seen including a stunning male which had bright crimson breast sides.

2. An information board explaining the  recovery of 'ghost' Pingos.

Pingos were formed 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age.  The word ‘pingo’ is of Inuit origin and means ‘little hill’. As temperatures dropped, freezing groundwater caused the earth to heave upwards into ice-cored mounds. When the ice melted, the earth collapsed, leaving depressions behind. 

'Ghost Pingos' are those features which were infilled by humans to facilitate increased agricultural production, these ancient features are being restored, as they have been at this site.

A walk around the large grassland here was fairly quiet for birds, but was a good morning for butterflies which included many Gatekeepers and the stunning Painted Lady. 

3. Painted Lady - a good showing of this species this year.