Country diary: On the trail of the elusive Breckland pingo | Kate Blincoe

Stow Bedon, Norfolk: East Anglia's glacial lakes - lost to most of the UK - are the focal point of a wetland walk back in timeMy son leads the way, setting a fast pace, while my daughter wants to stop and look at everything - a tiny froglet crossing our path, a peacock butterfly that settles on her hand. Our first pingo was quickly followed by our second, third and fourth, as we pushed further into an unknown landscape.In the ice age, as glaciers retreated, areas of water remained frozen underground, hard lens-like discs of ice shrouded in soil. When it thawed, the soil sank down, leaving shallow hollows that then filled with water to become a rare type of pond. Known as kettle ponds or pingos, Norfolk's Breckland is pocked with hundreds of them, forming a swampy, nature-rich wetland habitat that can be explored on the Great Eastern Pingo Trail. Continue reading...