The Moon and Venus: drifting apart....

Still a splendid sight n the evening sky, the two brightest celestial objects are moving apart as the Moon continues on its 28-day passage around the Earth: they'll meet up again at the end of March...

Expand your mind! Buy one - or more - of my books!

All six of my books (plus the brand new second edition of 'Our Forbidden Moon') are available from Amazon and elsewhere all over the 'net. BUT! You can order directly from me at a reduced price, AND I'll sign them!

Our latest addition! Have you ever seen anything so cute!?

 Our new Boxfish: she's called 'Sweetcorn' for obvious reasons! She's a voracious feeder: algae, copepods, shrimps and bits of fish. Despite her tiny fins, she can get on a fair old lick too, even against the current!

 

 

The Moon and Venus: a stunning sight!

The Moon and Venus are really close tonight: a spectacular sight in the western sky. They will gradually drift apart, but will come close again in March.

Really worth having a look if you've got clear skies (as we have in East Norfolk)

Water Pipit and White-fronted Geese: a couple of videos!

Two shortish video clips of yesterday's star birds!

The Moon and Venus snuggling up in the evening sky!

It's a clear, bright evening here in East Norfolk, and Venus and the Moon are a glorious sight in the indigo skies above the western horizon. These two beautiful objects will get even closer over the next day or two: well worth a look! I notice a bright star (in between the constellations Pisces and Cetus) just to the south of the Moon, too...

Egrets, Spoonbills and Whitefronts: Holkham delivers the goods!

With just half a day at our disposal, the 'Summer Wine Crew' headed north to Cley. The walk out to Bishop's Hide convinced us that 'doing' the beach circuit was not an option, but we stopped in the hide to enjoy a cup of tea. Apart from fifty or so Avocets and a fly-through Kingfisher, there seemed little about: then suddenly I noticed a delightful little Water Pipit just in front of the hide. This charming and active little bird put on a great show before departing eastwards: we did the opposite, and moved on to Holkham.

£3.20 bought us a couple of hours, so we decided on a walk to Jordan hide, just to stay out of the chilly wind. On the way we added Buzzard, White-fronted and Brent Goose to the day list, as well as the first of, perhaps, four Great Egrets. Although somewhat distant, nine Spoonbills were good to see: at one point they were joined by two Little Egrets and another Great Egret. As we drank some more tea, we noticed two more Great Whites in the reed beds, and were delighted when a decent flock of White-fronted Geese dropped down right in front of us!

Back to the car (adding Snipe to the burgeoning year total) With time running short, we drove back to Cley for a brief - and completely unproductive - seawatch. And so home!

Distant grey blob in a hedge = Great Grey Shrike at Fincham!

Since Linda and I had business in Watton, we made a longish detour to Fincham, where a Great Grey Shrike had been reported yesterday. When we arrived on site, the first people we met were Tina and her birding friend Rod: they kindly pointed out a small, pale blob in a hedge around 400 metres across the field! Luckily, a kind birder with a scope let Linda and me take a squint: excellent! It's been a couple of years since I've seen a GGS, so this one - although distant - was very welcome.

Also present at the site were lots of Buzzards (one of which did a great impression of a female Marshie) a very close Red Kite and two kinds of deer: Roe and Muntjac. Lovely to chat with Linda & David (coincidence!) a delightful couple who were among the first to notice the bird and who live just a few hundred metres along Black Drove

Acle Beer Festival: looks like I'm in a band again!

Tim, Olly, Garth and I were invited to a 'Jam Session' at the Acle Beer Festival: in the event, this evolved into a gig, since no other musos turned up! We played for over three hours, with just a couple of breaks and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing! So thanks to the organisers for inviting us and the good folk of Acle for giving us such a great reception!

 

 

Tussling raptors over the Heath

As Linda and I were driving home (following a dash across to Taverham Garden Centre for some RO water!) we were delighted to watch a prolonged tussle between a Red Kite and a Buzzard, just before the 'Brick Kilns' pub.

My first book: new edition out soon!

My first book was overdue for an update, so it's been reworked, re-edited and has additional data and images. It should be available on Amazon and elsewhere in a week or two.

If anyone with an open mind would like a signed copy at reduced cost, just e-mail me!

A fabulous meteorite!

Although Linda and I are gradually easing towards retirement from the meteorite business, this will initially involve cutting back on the long-distance shows: we used to attend fifty a year! We'll carry on trading from our website SPACEROCKS UK until we can no longer pick up a 'phone!

Today we sold one of the largest iron meteorites we've had for a long time: at just over seven kilos it's a real whopper! Sorry to see it go, really!

Two of my favourite species - it will surprise you!

In my opinion, Stock Doves are very underrated by birders: they are beautiful, gentle creatures, with a lot of 'Turtle Dove' about them. Now we no longer have a large hedge on our eastern boundary (not our fault!) neither Turtles nor Stock Doves breed in the garden, but the latter are still frequent visitors.

My other favourite is the Red-legged Partridge. Yes: they are alien birds, continually released for the pleasure of the mindless cretins who think 'game shooting' is a sport, but that's not their fault! Again: look closely. They are beautiful little birds with endearing natures - even when they 'chukka chukka' on the roof at dawn!