Closer!

Venus and Regulus, getting closer before their conjunction just after sunset tonight.

Mediterranean birding on the North Coast

Brian, Norman and I spent the morning at Cley and Kelling, revisiting the Squacco Heron at the Water Meadows before adjourning to Bishop's for distant views of the adult Glossy Ibis that has graced Pat's for several weeks. After coffee we moved to the centre hides, where a couple of juvenile Bearded Tits were good to see. (One surprising bird was an adult Gannet that actually flew over the new North Hide!)

Last stop was Babcock Hide, where the juvenile Glossy Ibis was feeding on Watling Water for over an hour: nice and close too!

Coming together!

Venus and Regulus - the brightest star in Leo - are getting closer every day: on the 9th they'll be side by side above the western horizon at sunset.

Squacco Heron at Kelling

Having filled up with butterflies at Foxley Wood, Linda, Paul and I zoomed north east to Kelling Quags, where the handsome Squacco Heron was briefly on show! At times it 'buddied up' with a Great White Egret...

Wonderful Butterflies at Foxley Wood

Great mate Paul drove over all the way from Derbyshire to hunt for butterflies with Linda and me. Our chosen venue was Foxley Wood, near Guist: not only is this a terrific place for White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries, it also holds a good number of the beautiful Valezina female form of the latter.

The main reason for the visit, though, was to try to connect Paul with a Purple Emperor. Although it took us two hours, we eventually managed to see and image a female, with help from a small group of enthusiasts who'd located her in a tall Oak tree. In total we saw seventeen species in the wood including well over a hundred Silver-washeds!

Southern Migrant Hawker - in the garden!

All goes to show: almost anything can turn up almost anywhere!

Buddleia bonanza!

Where would our gardens and urban landscapes be without the plant discovery of 17th Century botanist Adam Buddle?  The prolonged dry weather held back the flowering of the large bush outside my office window, but the recent rain and following humidity persuaded it to burst into bloom! The result has been daily visits by literally dozens of the 'usual suspects': Meadow Browns are a little less regular!

A Dakota over Norwich Airport

The Douglas C47 from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made three circuits of Norwich Airport this afternoon. While not as impressive as the Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane trio, it was still great to see (and hear!)

Venus visits the Lion!

Super-bright Venus is a splendid object above the western horizon at sunset: as the sky grows darker, a bright star becomes visible to the south. This is Regulus, the leading star of the constellation Leo. At magnitude +1.4, this blue-white binary is the 21st brightest star in the sky. Over the next few nights Venus will move even closer, until the two objects are just two minutes of right acension apart: very close indeed!

Black-winged Stilts and a Spotted Flycatcher: two year ticks before breakfast!

It was a bright, blustery morning, so I left home at 05.00 to try and catch up with the pair of Black-winged Stilts that have been present at Titchwell for a couple of days. With absolutely no traffic, I was in Parrinder Hide by 06.00, chatting with a pleasant Worcester birder who I'd met at Bempton last month! We soon located the Stilts, right over in the south east corner of the scrape: luckily there was virtually no heat haze, so I managed a few shots. (A couple of Spoonbills were sieving away in front of the hide.)

Walking back to the carpark I noticed a young couple with whom I'd been chatting: they were examining a pale raptor towards Thornham. Photography revealed the bird to be a very unusual male Marsh Harrier, similar to the recent 'Montagu's' at Cley.

I decided to spend two minutes in the carpark looking for the elusive Spotted Flycatchers: amazingly, I found one straight away, and was able to call over the young couple for a look!