36th: Old Sludge Beds – Devon

We were on our way down to the extreme south west of the country and decided to stop off at a reserve, to stretch our legs and see what the fabulously named Old Sludge Beds held for us.

First of all, the reserve is in a seriously beautiful place that is sandwiched between the Exeter Canal and the River Ex. It’s also nestled amongst all the trappings of modern humanity. It’s overlooked by the M5, right next to some sewage works and a short walk from a university rowing club.

The reserve itself is a small reed bed that Devon Wildlife Trust have been generous enough to thread with a path and boardwalks where it gets too boggy. The reeds were full of seeds as we moved from summer to winter, which made the most wonderful sound in the wind. The sound was beautiful and calming, making a natural counterpoint to the constant background hum of the motorway. We could hear lots of birds and even caught the occasional glimpse of one as it flashed across the path. However, we hadn’t got a good sighting of anything and although the views and sounds from inside the reeds, with the trunks and branches of long dead trees stretching above us created a fantastic atmosphere, it felt a little incomplete without the usual sighting of some wildlife. This was completely unfair and selfish, nature doesn’t owe us anything after all. The only defence I can give is that we’d probably been spoilt with all the sightings on visits to the previous 35 reserves. I don’t think we’d yet visited a reserve without some thrilling encounter.

We were almost at the exit of the reserve and we were trying to track some dragonflies to see if I could capture some video when a huge hornet flashed past. I tracked it, following it back and forth for about 10 minutes and it drew me back into the reserve until, after a few false starts where it seemed to settle on the path, only to take off again as I raised the camera, it suddenly dived to my right and settled, I raised the camera to my eye and started recording, only to realise that it was attacking a large dragon fly. There was a struggle and it appeared as if the hornet was stinging the dragonfly, but I’m not sure that was actually the case. As I switch from my camera to my phone to get a better view I realised the hornet was going straight for the neck and was in the process of decapitating the dragonfly! Completely brutal.

It achieved it’s goal and the head separated from the body in a few seconds. There was no doubt who was the winner here. It was completely gruesome to watch but also fascinating, to see this natural drama unfold before our eyes. Another reserve visited and another completely unique encounter had. I find it truly incredible the sheer depth and fascination the natural world holds. I’d say there’s very little chance this will feature in an artwork, but a real privilege to witness none the less.