Nature in the raw....

This Sparrowhawk pounced a young Starling ten feet from my office window this morning...

More moonshots!

It's hard to resist photographing the Moon when the dense crater fields around the south pole are in strong relief. The violence of the impacts that produced these features is impossible to imagine: any one of them would have caused a global extinction event had it occurred on the Earth!

Fabulous night at the Prince Regent

Synergy had a blinding gig at this fabulous tradional seaside pub: despite the 'attraction' of the Fury fight in the lounge bar, we had a good crowd of revellers dancing and singing along from nine until midnight. Thanks to all the 'Synergistas' who supported us!

Amazing Moon

The sky cleared in patches just after sunset to reveal the waxing gibbous Moon high in the south. The seeing conditions were perfect, allowing some of the crispest images I've managed with a 300mm lens.

The International Space Station over Norfolk

Some very bright passes at reasonable times for the next few days...

Titchwell & Sculthorpe: an enjoyable stroll in the Sun...

Since neither Linda nor I had anything in the diary we decided on a drive out to the coast. Despite some horrendous road works we arrived at Titchwell before the crowds, walking out to the beach in the hope of some new waders en route. In the event the various scrapes and scrubland held very little, but Bearded Tits were performing their amusing acrobatics and Wall Browns were everywhere.

The beach was quiet, with just Sanderlings and Oystercatchers, but offshore a 1st summer male Eider was good to see, as were two pairs of displaying Little Terns. With no decent refreshments on offer and roadworks all along the coast, we headed inland to the Hawk & Owl Trust reserve at Sculthorpe. We've been members for a decade, but rarely visit: we couldn't believe how much it has developed since our last visit (to photograph the Coue's Redpoll)

A walk right round gave us a distant Cuckoo and a Peregrine, but we were particularly delighted by the teddy bear-ish Tawny Owlet!

SYNERGY at the Prince Regent

Bittern at Hickling (and other goodies!)

On the way home from Cley, Brian and I decided to stop at Hickling to see if we could add more waders to the day's north coast haul: fortunately, the rain stopped just as we arrived. As we were checking in the 'vol' on reception mentioned that a visitor had claimed a Purple Heron from the eastern end of Brendan's Marsh, so we made our way to the observation mound. On the way we watched a long-winged wader flying in tight turns over the marsh: we both thought Pratincole, but couldn't get conclusive photos.

No sign of the Heron, but a Hobby and Great Egret were perched in the trees, while Bitterns could be heard booming from several locations: a pair of Spoonbills flew east. We walked the rest of the circuit, getting good views of the usual warblers and a few groups of Bearded Tits, until just before the boat trip stage where a Bittern flew close by. No Swallowtails, but several each of Four-spotted Chaser and Hairy Hawker were good to catch up with.

Temminck's at Cley - plus an unexpected year tick!

Despite the gloomy weather forecast, Brian picked me up at 7.15 for a run up to Cley. The walk out to the centre hides gave us the expected warblers and a few Bearded Tits, but from Dauke's there wasn't much to see: just a few Avocets and Godwits, before a group of four Common Sandpipers and a Little Ringed Plover dropped in. Then, unexpectedly, a Common Redstart suddenly appeared on the fence to the left of the hide: I managed two fuzzy shots before it disappeared! We were just thinking of going to search for it when the pager alerted us that two Temminck's were visible from Bishop's Hide, necessitating a quick trot round through the drizzle! On arrival the only people in the hide were Sue & Steve Gantlett, who kindly pointed out the birds (which they had refound!) Coffee and Spoonbills before we moved on to Hickling...