2011 April - Little Thetford .org

Wildlife: Squirrel steals hole

Monday 25 April 2011 John Comments off

A pleasant walk around Bob Youngs garden this afternoon revealed a natural history delight. Examining the recently excavated woodpecker hole high up in the tree we saw an eye looking sheepishly at us down below. A few seconds later, a head poked out. It was not a woodpecker at all! It was a squirrel. As we said in another post, what comes out of a woodpecker hole may not be a woodpecker. We never imagined a squirrel!

Great spotted woodpecker. Photo Steffen Hannert

Gray squirrel. Photo CC-BY-SA from Wikipedia

Recreation: Karate for families

Saturday 23 April 2011 John Comments off

Sensei Lee Nash tells us of his family oriented Karate class held in the Little Thetford village hall on Tuesdays 7—8 pm.

Archaeology: Burnt flint

Tuesday 19 April 2011 John Comments off

Local archaeologist David Jacques discovered this burnt flint whilst rooting close to the woodpecker chippings in Robert Young’s garden on Sunday, 17 April 2011. Burnt flints have been found all over the area including Soham and Cambourne. Such finds provide evidence of human occupation from the late Neolithic through to the Bronze-Age. It is believed that the flint was put into the fire overnight and used to heat water in the morning.

Archaeology Archaeology

Archaeology: Curse tablets and other finds

Sunday 10 April 2011 admin Comments off

Dave Fletcher reported some of his finds to us recently. We especially liked five curse tablets, or lead curses, which were found within an area of approximately one acre close to the site of Harrimere Church. Dave has had the large tablet identified by Helen Fowler and two of the small ones by Anne Taylor, both of Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; although none of these suspected Roman tablets has yet been opened.