Spotted Redshanks at Cley: the video!

Spotshanks!

A morning at Cley with Norman wasn't desperately productive, but a pair of Spotted Redshanks on Arnold's Marsh were nice and close for photography. Other birds included lots of Ruff, Marsh Harriers, Bearded Tits, a dozen Pintails and a bright Black-tailed Godwit.

The Moon and Jupiter

A spectacular conjunction of the Moon and the gas giant planet Jupiter, close together in the morning sky just before sunrise (Mars was nearby too!) Three of Jupiter's moons can be made out if you look closely!

The bombers may have gone, but the fighters haven't!

Although the USAF has apparently scuttled back to the US from Fairford, Lakenheath is obviously still active: Typhoons and F35s have been dogfighting high over East Norfolk all day...

The Moon, Mars and Jupiter

This morning the Moon was very close (in the sky!) to Mars: Jupiter wasn't far away, either and will be even closer on the 6th: if you're up and about, will certainly be worth a look!

Still a few Butterflies about

Despite the Buddleia having only a handful of  flower heads, it was visited by two Peacocks and two Red Admirals today: all in mint-fresh condition.

Even more astronomy!

Well: in response to quite a few requests, here are three more labelled images to finish off the 'lunar tour'!

More lunar astronomy...

Several people have contacted me to ask if I could post more named images of the Moon, so here goes! The last quarter Moon, with craters labelled in green, mountains in white.
The image of the Straight Wall shows that it is located inside an ancient lava-flooded crater.

Selenography!

The Moon was spectacularly clear in the pre-dawn sky, so I thought I'd label some of the most obvious craters - these can all be picked out with binoculars or a spotting 'scope.

Waning Moon

A brief gap in the murk allowed good views of the waning gibbous Moon (waning - becoming smaller: gibbous - more than half illuminated) Some excellent crater fields along the terminator: I've labelled a few of the more impressive features, including the 300 mile long escarpment Rupes Altai

Some decent seawatching on the North Coast

Three year ticks today! With early morning drizzle, an easterly wind and work going on by all the hides on the reserve, Norman and I spent an hour sea watching at the Coastguards. We were rewarded with close views of Red-throated Divers (most in summer plumage) Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets and Little Gulls: best of all an Arctic Skua chased a group of Sandwich Terns quite close in. A Bonxie was too far out to photograph...

A walk along the Iron Road produced a couple of possible Caspian Gulls and dozens of Mipits but little else, so we returned to the VC for coffee, followed by a stroll out to the sea along the East Bank. A Razorbill and lots more Gannets were close in and a couple of fly-bys seemed good for winter-plumaged Black Terns. A drake Eider was another pleasant surprise! Walsey Hills was next, where a brief wait was rewarded by views of a flittery Yellow-browed Warbler - I managed just a single photo!

We finished the day at Kelling Quag, where a female Stonechat posed nicely, as did the eleven Red Kites and two Buzzards that circled low overhead! (Remember when both were scarce in Norfolk?)