Another fantastic gig!

Back to the Blues Bar! Tucked away in a back street in Lowestoft, this is a truly legendary venue, with amazing hosts, loyal customers and a terrific atmosphere. This was definitely one of our best performances!

SYNERGY at the Gorleston Clifftop Festival

Just back from opening the two day event on Gorleston Cliffs: great weather, terrific audience! I reckon we smashed it (as the youf say!) Back for more at Lowestoft Blues Bar tomorrow!

The folly of not carrying a mobile 'phone!

I actually do own a mobile 'phone, but only take it with me when I'm out somewhere on my own, or if Linda and I want to separate and then meet up in Norwich or somewhere. It's not that I'm some form of old Luddite: I run two blogs and two websites (both of which have had over five million visits!) and am a frequent poster on Facebook and Twitter (or 'X' as it now likes to be known) It's just that I rarely feel the need to chat while I'm enjoying a meal or day's birding!

However, as I was walking to the local post office this morning I really wished I had the 'phone in my pocket, because I could have obtained at least some record of three unusual species on my local patch:

1) A Small Heath butterfly on a privet hedge

2) An Osprey circling overhead and drifting northwards

3) A Ring-necked Parakeet squawking from the top of a roadside conifer!

I have seen both the birds from my kitchen window: believe it or not, I have video (sadly on VHS!) of an Osprey nearly landing on the lawn in high winds a few years back, while an RNP flew past me while I was trying out a new lens in the garden! (That's the heavily cropped photo below)

Gorleston Clifftop Festival!

Synergy are opening the show on Saturday at 1.00pm: be great to see some of you there!

Hemblington Church wildlife survey

Doesn't time fly? Sue, Linda, Peter and I met at the church under clear blue skies (for a change!) to carry out the monthly wildlife survey. As you'd expect, birds were pretty thin on the ground: nevertheless there were enough to keep us interested. Lots of butterflies and some nice dragonflies too...

Decent morning at Hickling

With bad weather forecast for after lunch, Brian, Norman and I decided to keep it local with a walk around Hickling NWT Reserve. First stop was the 'Mound' at the west end of Brandon's Marsh: nothing much on the open water, but the first of seven Great White Egrets flew low overhead.

We carried on eastward towards Stubb Mill, picking up Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Dunlin, Greenshank and six more GWEs on the way. From the raised area at the other end of the marsh I tried to photograph some Spoonbills on their nest: they were impossibly far away! A smallish pale raptor glided in and perched in the next tree: if last week's rare visitor hadn't decamped south I would wonder if this might have been bird of the day! It's hard to think what it could have been...

Returning to the mound, I noticed a large raptor over towards Hickling Broad: an Osprey! Although it never came close, we enjoyed watching it being harrassed by a Marsh Harrier before it finally found some peace and quiet.

The rest of the circuit added Hooded Crow, Crane and Hobby to the day's tally, before we moved to Latham's for coffee.

Space rocks!

Indeed it does! I've just updated my meteorite sales website SPACEROCKS UK: lots of new pallasites, common chondrites, moldavites and other extraterrestrial collectables!

If you've ever promised your partner the Moon, we can definitely help you out!

SYNERGY back at the Blues Bar

Great venue: great music: great to see some of you there next Sunday!

The spottiest Sun for ages!

I can't remember ever seeing so many sunspots: bear in mind there's probably a similar number on the other side! Sunspots do have an effect on the weather and radio transmissions: it'll be interesting to see what happens over the rest of the summer.