The Sun's chromosphere was covered in spots this afternoon: small, but plentiful. Last night a CME (coronal mass ejection) hit the Earth, producing a decent aurora: sadly it was still light here in the UK, but fingers crossed: the Moon is a thin waning crescent, so shouldn't affect visibility too much...
Our Blue Goby has sadly died. He has, as they say, had a good innings - we enjoyed his antics for over two years while the online pundits predict a life span of 18 - 24 months. We'll leave the tank for a couple of weeks to stabilise before replacing him - hopefully with another Goby.
Meanwhile: many thanks to Sue who has looked after him so well during our odd weeks away.
With a real 'scorcher' on the cards, Norman, Brian and I met early and headed north to Cley. We were the first people in Dauke's Hide and were rewarded with close views of a feeding Spoonbill before it - and everything else - was flushed by a Marsh Harrier. The hide was full of Swallows, including some cute fledgelings, while the reedbeds held the usual Mipits, Reed Buntings and Wrens.
The longish walk to Bishop's didn't add much apart from a couple of Ruff, so we adjourned for coffee and scones. From the Reserve Centre we could make out a group of Great and Little Egrets right out by the 'Big Pool', so snack finished we strolled along the East Bank for a look, picking up numerous small groups of Bearded Tits on the way.
The nearest we could get to the egrets was just past the Richardson shelter: even then the four GWEs and two LEs were just white blobs in the heat haze.
After an icecream we headed home by way of the Glaven Valley, where Brian and I heard - and eventually saw - a couple of distant Ravens.
...as opposed to meteorites! Every week I receive at least half a dozen e-mails from hopeful correspondents who think they've found a 'genuine meteorite'. They rarely put it in those terms, of course: they are frequently very sure of themselves to the point of abruptness. A typical e-mail would read:
"I found this meteorite on my drive / the beach / while walking the dog. I know it's a meteorite because it's attracted to a magnet / is nothing like I've seen before / it looks like the ones on your website. Would you like to make a sensible offer for it?"
In the thirty or so years I've been selling and lecturing about meteorites only a single person has ever shown me the real article: the other (several thousand!) have mostly been one or other of those in the image below:
The past week's unusually large number of sunspot groups have travelled around to the other side: the Sun's 'surface' takes around 24 days to complete one rotation - although this period depends on the latitude.
A few new, smaller groups are beginning to emerge from the top left, so watch this space!
Some incredibly bright passes by the ISS next month, although they are all very late or very early: night owls only!
Despite occasional issues with red 'velvet' algae and a total rebuild last month, the tank and its inhabitants seem to be flourishing: maintaining a reef tank is a time consuming, but rewarding pastime...
I was doing a spot of gardening when I noticed that an unusual number of jet aircraft were passing over from west to east - presumably on their way to Schiphol. As I watched the contrails broadened and merged until the sky was covered in a pearly haze. (A little later there was even a solar halo) Within perhaps an hour the completely clear, blue sky had disappeared under a veil of haze. An increasing number of people are suggesting that this frequently-observed occurrence is actually an attempt at 'messing' with the global climate...
As I was photographing the clouds forming a beautiful, atypical Marsh Harrier flew across the garden: for what might it be mistaken if it were seen at a distance?
I was just about to start breakfast when the pager announced that a Caspian Tern had been found at Buckenham, just five minutes from my front door. I checked on 'X' and was reassured by a post with photos by the finder, Drew Lyness. I threw on some clothes and was walking down from the station before 07.30, just in tine to watch a Red Kite and Marsh Harrier spook all the birds on the pool! Drew was still there - the only birder all the time I was present - and he confirmed that the tern had flown west. I thought I might as well stay for the half an hour I had available - Linda needed the car for a doctor's appointment.
After perhaps ten minutes I picked up the Caspian returning across the marshes and was pleased to see it drop down to its previously favoured spot. It received quite a bit of grief from the Avocets but more than held its own! Relectantly I left the tern - and Drew - to their solitude and drove home. (Ironic footnote: as I'm typing this the surgery has phoned to cancel Linda's appointment!)
Today it was Norman's turn for a morning out! We met early and were in the Glaven Valley by 7.45, searching for the Raven family that can frequently be seen around a large pig farm. Just as we arrived the farm hands drove a pair of tractors onto the fields to feed the waiting pigs, causing all the corvids to fly off! We gave them a few minutes to reappear, but, when that failed to happen, we drove the short distance to Cley.
The walk along the East Bank was fairly uneventful, although a couple of Bearded Tits and two Spoonbills were good to see. After coffee we revisited the pig farm, where I finally managed a couple of flight views of a Raven: the local Hares were much more obliging!
Last night the Moon passed in front of Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. Unfortunately, I had to wait for a cloud bank to roll away before I got a photo: still - very impressive!
