On Safari in Norwich

As has happened several times in the past, the streets of Norwich are playing host to a colourful collection of animal sculptures: Elephants, Lions, Gorillas, Giraffes and Rhinos - 51 in total. Since it was a beautiful Summer's day, Linda and I drove in early and spent four hours seeing how many we could find. We didn't intend walking outside the city centre on such a hot day, but nevertheless managed to photograph 32!

The Moon and Venus

Venus was a splendid sight in the dawn sky, rising in the east well before the Sun: its gibbous phase could be seen quite easily with binoculars. Higher in the sky the last quarter Moon displayed some beautiful crater fields and other features: virtually every crater on the Moon is named after somebody (usually a dead scientist, writer or philosopher) There were a few exceptions: the Apollo11 crew had craters named for them, as did astronomer Sir Patrick Moore.

Odds and ends!

While we were chasing all over the county with Paul looking for butterflies, we naturally came across a few  birds: Spoonbills, Wood Sandpiper and Yellow Wagtail at Cley, Great Crested Grebes at Ranworth and Stonechats, Linnets and a Willow Warbler at Horsey...

Dark Green Fritillaries at Horsey

Paul's last morning started with a change of plan: our car had a flat tyre so we had to use his beemer! Our first stop was Ranworth, with a quick scan of the old oaks for Purple Hairstreak: no luck, but we did find a well-grown Swallowtail caterpillar.

We parked at Horsey Gap and walked south, finding a Dark Green Frit almost immediately: it took a little longer to find one that would co-operate for photos! In total we came across five or six in various states - most were pecked or faded, but one or two were still quite smart. Lots of other species: Green-veined White, Tortoiseshell (including a tiny example), Common Blue, Gatekeeper and Ringlet. Birds were few and far between, but we did manage some  Stonechats and Linnets and a bright Willow Warbler (?)