Aurora!

Following yesterday's early start and somewhat tiring eight hour birdrace, I really wasn't motivated to stay up after midnight in case the auroral display developed into something special.... but here are some photos from around 11.00pm.

Cley Bird Club - annual bird race

Linda and I headed north to Cley to take part in the CBC's new year bird race, starting at the Coastguards at 08.30 and travelling around the 'Cley Square' several times until dusk. We visited Walsey Hills, Salthouse, Cley Reserve and Blakeney. We headed inland to Wiveton, adding Great White Egret to a decent total of 40 or so species, before returning for tea and a scone at the Reserve Centre. The Eye Field gave us a delightful Golden Plover, while the beach added Kittiwake and Common Scoter. Moving on to Morston gave us several new waders and a third Water Pipit - close enough to photograph!

We returned to Bayfield for cheese on toast (we'd visited earlier adding just Nuthatch) The feeders by the cafe were, as usual, very busy, but only Coal Tit was new. The flooded fields by Glandford Ford produced a bonus Grey Wagtail.

Having been tipped off by Sue & Steve Gantlett we visited Cley Sewage Works, quickly locating one or two Chiffchaffs: only later when looking through the photos did we realize we'd also 'seen' a Goldcrest!

Last new birds were at Salthouse - the long-staying drake Pintail and a pair of Stonechats - and a couple of Canada Geese that fellow-racer Jo.King told us about. Back to the VC to total up: 80 species, plus three more that only one of us saw....

Wild Swans and a visit to the apiary.

This morning Linda decided to check on her hives, fearing the worst after the recent freezing weather. In fact there were no signs of life in a couple, but another appeared to be managing. On the way home we stopped off at Ludham Airfield and were pleased to find a herd of thirty-four Whooper Swans which, on inspection, contained four Bewicks. Back home the cotoneaster has been discovered by a decent flock of Redwings - always a pleasure to see in the garden.

Year tick at Bintree Mill!

But sadly not the elusive Black-bellied Dipper! Amazingly, Moorhen was a new year bird, despite several trips out into the Broads. Linda and I shared our Dipper Dip with Norfolk birding royalty, in the form of Mark Golley, Lynette and Mick Saunt.

Frosty Moon!

Last night's waning Moon was exceptionally 'crisp'! The 'Sea of Crises' (Mare Crisium) was particularly striking...

Divers and Beans! A productive trip to the North Coast

Brian picked me up just before dawn for an uneventful drive through the snowy countryside, arriving at a frosty Cley at around 8.30. Following a fruitless seawatch (just a seal pup in the surf) a visit to Bishop's Hide revealed that the whole reserve was frozen solid: no waders or waterfowl! We quickly decided to head west to Wells North Point Pools, where the Taiga Bean Goose was immediately viewable with a flock of Greylags. Next stop was Wells Harbour: we paid for a couple of hours parking and walked to the Lifeboat Slip. Almost immediately we were enjoying fabulous views of a Great Northern Diver and a Red-throated Diver, both at close range! A short walk towards the town added a distant Red-necked Grebe out in the channel.

We made the short hop to Lady Anne's Drive where I quickly located two Tundra Bean Geese: frustratingly I failed to find them with the camera!

Back to Cley for coffee before moving eastward to Sheringham. Despite a long search, we failed to locate the Eastern Black Redstart, but added an unexpected Snipe to the day's total - it was sheltering beneath a bench by the sunken garden!

It's all happening here!

Good gracious! There's a Buzzard perched in our sycamore tree! The locals aren't impressed!

New garden bird! And more year ticks from the office window

I was thoroughly enjoying the antics of the dozens of birds that have been drawn to the garden by Linda's heavy feeding regime when a Great White Egret flew low across: by a fabulous piece of good fortune I had the camera pointed at the Ginkgo tree, catching the Egret as it flew north west (Straight over Peter and Sue's garden!)