Tonight I'm scheduled to give a wildlife talk for the Blofield & District Conservation Group - a terrific organization that does amazing work in helping to maintain local churchyards, meadows and small reserves. We kick off at 7.30 at the Strumpshaw Community Hall, Mill Road, Lingwood.
Two early morning rises allowed me - finally - to connect with a decent display of the Northern Lights: they suddenly flared at 04.15, just as the sky cleared. Interestingly, there was little or no green, just a lovely deep red.
Despite a persistent drizzle, Norman, Brian and I headed north west to Titchwell. On arrival we were informed that one of our targets - a Hoopoe - had just flown, so we walked out towards Parrinder Hide, quickly locating a large flock of Golden Plover. Another birder had already found the long-staying juvenile American Golden Plover, and we all filled up at close range. Carrying on to the sea, I found a distant Scaup and a Guillemot, but with little else, we turned back to the Fen Trail. After a bit of persistence we eventually found a tit flock holding at least two Firecrests: these weren't in the mood to be photographed, however!
Back to Cley for coffee and a walk out to Bishop's, where we added Water Pipit to the daylist, before the pager sent us hurtling east to West Runton for distant - and fleeting - views of a Pallid Swift.
Look at the photos below... Do you notice anything?
Some years ago I became aware of a strange phenomenon: this coincided with Linda buying a digital bedroom clock that projects the time onto the ceiling in large red numerals. Like all / most other old geezers, I generally 'visit the bathroom' once or twice every night: I gradually realized that the times of these visits were frequently multiples of eleven - as in: 1.11, 2.22. 3.33 and so on. This occurs far too frequently to be chance! Similar timings often happen during the day time, too, but they are then only obvious on an analogue time piece.
Looking back through my diary of thirty years or so ago, I was intrigued to discover that the somewhat eccentric Uri Geller had reported the same phenomenon during a meeting I had with him. I wonder if any of you ever experience this outre occurrence?
Linda and I fancied a pre-lunch walk, so drove the short distance to Ranworth, parking in the last available space opposite 'the Maltsters'. (We were pleasantly surprised to find that none of the passengers of these cars had preceded us to the boardwalk!)
The walk out to the floating Visitors' Centre was surprisingly bird-free, although we did catch a fly-by glimpse of a Kingfisher from the hide: several Common Darters and a female Brimstone were noteworthy. Just a few wildfowl on the Broad, with a Sparrowhawk, Buzzards and Marsh Harriers over the woodland. One raptor visible through the foliage seemed to be a Peregrine, but it was 'seen off' by a Buzzard.
The walk back was more productive, with lots of Siskins, a couple of Nuthatches, a Great Spot and a female Reed Bunting, as well as 'heard only' Crane and Water Rail.
The Moon is passing through the constellation Gemini at the moment: tomorrow it will be at its closest to the mighty planet Jupiter. Even a birding telescope will show Jupiter's four largest Moons - worth a look if you've never tried!
Tonight's full Moon (if it's not cloudy where you are!) is a super Moon: this occurs when the Moon is both full and at perigee (closest approach to Earth) at the same time. It's only slightly larger, but people often comment that it appears a little brighter.
The photo is of last's night's gibbous Moon, just one day off full. The young ray crater Tycho shows up particularly well.
My turn to drive: we headed north to Cley, arriving before 8.00am. A brief visit to Bishop's revealed absolutely nothing to set the pulses racing, so we carried on to the East Bank. With help from a couple of friendly locals, we managed to pick out the long-staying Grey Phalarope on Pope's Marsh, whizzing around among the Shovelers. A walk out to the sea gave us just a fly-by Kittiwake, so we returned to Bishop's, where Jacquie B and her crew were happy to point out a very close Water Pipit. After a bit of a wait, we added an unusually-marked Whinchat to the day list, as well as Water Rail and numerous Godwits.
Next stop was the visitors' centre for tea and scones, before walking out to the Centre Hides. A distant Spotted Redshank and a handsome Buzzard were about the best of it, so we returned to the car, driving along to Salthouse Duck Pond, where we enjoyed close views of a drake Pintail at two metres range!
