Planetary line-up

You may have seen posts all over the 'net about an 'amazing line up of all the planets' in the middle of this month. As is often the case, this is a total piece of click bait! The simulation below shows what might be visible at dusk on the 18th: Mars will have set before the Sun, and won't be visible until later in the year (It's close to the Moon and Jupiter in the dawn sky in October) Saturn will be to the south, while Venus and Mercury will be just above the  glow of twilight: you'll need a cloudless sky and clear eastern horizon: good luck with that!

Territoriality!

At the moment we regularly have twenty or more Blackbirds of all ages and sexes feeding on apples and suet that Linda puts out. Despite the freely-available food with plenty for everyone, the Blackbirds stand by their favoured item for hours on end if not disturbed, driving off all others that approach! (A metaphor for modern humanity!)

Sunspots!

Finally, the clouds part briefly to reveal a watery Sun with a couple of impressive sunspot groups. (Remember: never look at or photograph the Sun without the proper equipment!)

All those Snipe - but no Jacks!

There were five or more Snipe visible on the cut reeds in front of Bishop's Hide at Cley yesterday - but not a sign of a Jack Snipe, even using my infra-red detector. Lots of Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits on Pat's too...

Great day on the North Coast: some special birds...

Despite the less than promising weather forecast, Brian, Norman and I left early and sped through the gloom to Cley. A few Snipe were in front of Bishop's, but that was about it, so we decided to drive westwards to visit Bayfield Lake. The drake Goosander was a little distant, but good to watch, while a couple of White-fronted Geese were more difficult to pick out! After coffee we moved on to Stiffkey: in the flooded fields by the side of the road we found two Glossy Ibises and a lonesome Cattle Egret - the first of the Egret Trio we collected during the day!  Last stop was Burnham Overy, where a longish walk eventually gave us distant views of a Red-necked Grebe - the second of the year.

Snow Moon

Tonight's fancifully named full Moon, through a gap in the clouds.

Nostalgic visit to Duxford

When Linda and I ran 'The Space Station', selling space-flown items, astronaut autographs and so on, we 'stalled out' at many airshows around the country. Over the years we attended nearly fifty events at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. We had some terrific times and chatted with lots of famous aviators: we also met great friends Paul and Jason and Jason's children Thomas and Rosie on  many occasions. Today we enjoyed a reunion at the Museum, reminiscing on the great space and aviation memorabilia that had made up our amazing inventory and which brought us all together 25 years ago...

Little Owl 'on the patch'

I think Linda and I have been part of the rota for unlocking / locking Hemblington Church for around eight years now: while this can be a bit of a pain on cold, wet mornings, it's often a real delight on days like today... With bright sunshine and clear skies we were thrilled to see our local Little Owl in its nesting tree and then on nearby farm buildings, while the Heath's resident flock of Guinea Fowl were roosting in their favourite tree. At the Church the inevitable appears to have happened: it looks like Stock Doves have moved into the new Barn Owl box!

Tundra Beans at Buckenham

Linda and I had stuff to do in Brundall, so we drove home via Buckenham, where a large flock of Pink-footed Geese had roosted overnight. We pulled over behind a tree and scanned the flock for a few minutes before locating at least four Tundra Bean Geese. I carefully wound down the window to take some pictures when a Red Kite flew low over the flock, putting the whole lot up. Although they only moved a hundred metres or so, the birds were now behind a rise in the ground, and it was much harder to pick out the Beans: nevertheless, I reckon I managed to find a couple.

Grand Annual Music Quiz!

It's that time again! Great prizes, live guitar rounds, classical and modern music rounds... Always a popular event, so get your tickets NOW! (In aid of local charities)

The night sky and International Space Station in February

Unfortunately Jules has had to postpone this month's 'Suffolk Sound': chat - hopefully it can be rearranged. Here are the astronomy highlights for the month ahead. (Worth pointing out that the February 24th pass of the ISS at magnitude -3.9 is brighter than Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and any star: Sirius, the brightest, is 'just' -1.4. Only the Moon and Sun are brighter!)