Extremely clear skies revealed some terrific crater fields on the waning gibbous Moon. Nearby, Jupiter and Mars are close (and getting closer!) in the constellation Leo. The blue colour of Leo's brightest star Regulus is plainly visible, as is the fiery red of Mars. (The Moon's glare didn't quite obscure my favourite constellation, Orion)
I'll be having my monthly chat with Jules Button on 'Suffolk Sound' at 3.20 on Friday afternoon: meanwhile, here are the highlights!
Linda and I grabbed an early breakfast, before driving the short distance to Buckenham Marsh. Despite a good search through the flocks of Wigeon, Teal and Shovelers, we failed to locate last night's Grey Phalarope - a terrfic local find for Steve Smith. Only birds of interest were a female Garganey and a white Pheasant: plenty of Little Egrets, Marsh Harriers, Kites and Chinese Water Deer.
Good to bump into Martin, a fan of Linda's honey, and Jonathan, with whom I taught at Mundesley around 25 years ago!
Despite the drizzle (and still feeling decidedly under the weather) we headed north to Cley, parking at the beach to search for the long-staying Desert Wheatear. Having failed to find this dapper little chat last week, we were delighted to discover it feeding on the pill box. We spent an hour watching this confiding individual: we stood still and let it come to us!
A large flock of Golden Plover on the Eye Field and a mixed wader flock on the beach were noteworthy, before we drove round to the VC and walked out to Bishop's. Almost the first bird we saw was a Water Pipit, which we quickly realised was associating with four others, a Meadow Pipit and a Snipe! (A 'frosty' Stonechat was interesting...)
After tea at the VC, we walked out to the sea along the East Bank: just a nice flock of Pintail on the Brackish Marsh, a few Razorbills and lots of juvenile Gannets: and so home!
Always nice to see a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the garden, albeit through a rain-spattered window, dense foliage and persistent drizzle!
As always: the full Moon is a beautiful sight in the Autumn sky - until the clouds began to bubble up, the visibility was excellent. (You can plainly see that the rays from the young crater Tycho pass right around the Moon: what an impact that must have been!) Saturn is below and to the left...
The nearly-full Moon was hanging just above the eastern horizon when I got up this morning: it always looks much bigger when it's low in the sky...
Back in September I posted on the blog that younger birders might finally get to 'unblock' Nutcracker this Autumn: I hadn't anticipated the opportunity would occur in Norfolk! Linda and I left as soon as we could, but parking was already a little problematical. A large crowd (including most of the well-known locals) had already assembled, trying to glimpse the bird through gaps between the houses: after half an hour or so the Nutcracker obliged by perching in a Birch tree for perhaps a minute.
One little thought: there were a number of people in the best spots who'd seen the bird several times - down to just a couple of metres. It would have been considerate if they'd've moved on as newcomers arrived...
Linda and I drove north through a busy Wroxham to the fast-disappearing village of Happisburgh (pronounced 'Haze- bru'!) The juvenile Rose-coloured Starling that had eluded Brian, Norman and me yesterday was allegedly showing quite well, so - despite the gloomy weather forecast - we thought we'd have a bash. In fact, we didn't have to wait at all: the charming little 'yellow-billed biscuit' was grovelling around a couple of pallets of bricks, on which it eventually perched. It flew off for an hour, returning to pose on a phone wire before being chased to the far side of the field by a pugnacious Blackbird.
Bonus year tick was a drake Velvet Scoter: no photo, but a kind birder let me have a good look through his 'scope.
