A damp morning on the North Coast: Egrets everywhere

With a very unpromising weather forecast, Brian, Norman and I headed up to Cley, starting with a seawatch at the Coastguards. A few Red-throated Divers loitered close inshore, with a stready passage of Scoters and Gannets halfway out.

While the other two drove round to the Centre, I decided to walk instead, being immediately rewarded by eighteen or so Cattle Egrets between the west and Blakeney banks. Half a dozen Little Egrets were mixed in with them.

After close views of three Kingfishers from Bishop's Hide and our usual scone and coffee stop, we took a quick look at Salthouse before heading west to Holkham. Here we added at least ten more Cattle Egrets and two Great White Egrets to the day's tally, as well as a possible continental Coal Tit: it certainly lacked the usual olive-green mantle and had a small crest.

The ISS in the dawn sky

The International Space Station sailed past the Moon at around 05.50 this morning...

Waxham: no Hoopoe, but a pleasant walk in the sunshine

Linda and I had business in Potter Heigham, so we carried on to Waxham, parking at the end of Money Lane and walking out to the coastal dunes. Despite an hour's scan of the fields the Hoopoe didn't emerge from the foot-tall sugar beet - at least not while we were watching!

Lots of Linnets and, inevitably, Pink-footed Geese, as well as distant Buzzards and Cranes. A Snipe was an unexpected sight, in the middle of a cereal field opposite Flegg High.

The Moon and Jupiter at sunset

A day after full, the waning Moon was close to Jupiter in the eastern sky last night. Jupiter's four largest satellites were visible, with Europa just emerging on the left and Io, Ganymede and Callisto on the right...

The International Space Station in November

These are the transits of the ISS for the next couple of weeks: all early morning, I'm afraid!

Rock & Roll and a lunar eclipse!

I dashed out during the interval at last night's Synergy gig to photograph the partially eclipsed Moon and super-bright Jupiter: most impressive.

Fabulous night of rock and blues at Heathlands SC

Many thanks to the decent crowd who ventured out in the somewhat 'moist' conditions to enjoy three hours of non-stop live music. Forget tape machines, boy bands, karaoke and introspective post-pubescent warblers with small acoustic guitars: this is how music should be: loud, rhythmic and, above all FUN!

Breakfast at Black Barn Farm: it's a wrap!

As well as from her Space Jewellery website, Linda sells her beeswax wraps (a 'green' and very hygienic way to store food) at several local outlets. One of these, the Black Barn at Salhouse, has an excellent cafe where we've had tea and cakes in the past. Since Linda wanted to check if the deli needed more wraps, we thought we'd try their veggie breakfast. It was absolutely superb: great food (and lots of it!) well-presented and at a very reasonable price: highly recommended!

Ghost of the Heath: beautiful Buzzard!

This is the third winter that we've had the pleasure of this strikingly-marked male Buzzard over the garden. (We know it's a male, because we've seen him mating!) He hung around most of the afternoon today...

Partial Lunar Eclipse

While Synergy are (hopefully!) entertaining the blues fans inside Heathlands on Saturday, there will a partial lunar eclipse from 7.30 - 8.30pm. This isn't a particularly dramatic event: just a reddening of the south polar region of the Moon as it passes through the Earth's penumbra. Definitely worth a look if it's clear, especially since Jupiter and Uranus are close by. The full Moon will rise (in the East!) at around 5.00pm and the effect will be most noticeable at about 8 o'clock.