Buzzards: don't they just make your day?

When you're out in the garden and the plaintive mewing of a pair of Buzzards causes you to look up, isn't their 'flirty' display wonderful to see? So free and full of obvious joy...

The Burtenshaws at All Saints, Hemblington

I was asked to help set up the projector and so on for a terrific talk by Joyce and Andrew about the life and martyrdom of St Christopher. As some of you may know, there is a marvellous late medieval mural about the saint on the northern wall of the nave - well worth a look if you're nearby.

Great to see Joyce and Andrew again, as well as friends Brian and Gerlinde in the audience!

More-a Aurora!

Another 'purple sky' evening, with a fairly bright aurora from around 10pm: more predicted, too!

Another aurora!

Checking the 'Aurora Watch UK' website before going to bed I discovered there had been a super-bright aurora from 9.00pm: I set up my camera and took some 15 second exposures and was pleased to see that, despite a bright waxing gibbous Moon, there was still plenty of colour in the northern sky.

Cley and Wells: a six mile walk for not too much!

A start at a very windy coastguards at Cley gave us just distant views of a pair of largish shearwaters and three Cattle Egrets on the Eye Field. A move to the centre hides added a couple of Little Stints but not much else, so we walked back to Bishop's: just Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwits and a decent flock of Ringed Plovers (Presumably Steppe RPs)

After coffee we went out to the sea along the East Bank: still some Sandwich Terns but, apart from the first Pinkfeet of the year, nothing else of note, so we decided to finish off with a walk through Wells Woods. No sign of the reported Wryneck in the Dell, but we did see the first of several Spotted Flycatchers. We had better views of several more by the Drinking Pool and among the pines, as well a good flock that included all the regular tits, as well as Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

How to find the Andromeda Galaxy, M31

Several people have e-mailed or FB'd to ask if I could give directions to find the Andromeda galaxy, which is currently well-placed high in the night sky. Despite being over 2,500 light years away from us, M31 is the nearest major galaxy: some time in the future our galaxy (the Milky Way) will collide with M31 - what a catastrophic event that will be!

Anyhow: here's a photo showing exactly where it is in relation to the familiar - and bright - constellation Cassiopeia, as well as a recent photo I took with a 300mm prime lens, using the 'startracker' facility on my Pentax K-3.

A few migrants at Horsey...

...but not the ones we were hoping for!  With a morning free, Linda and I trudged through the drizzle from the Nelson Head track to the Plantation and back: we had hoped for Pied Fly, Wryneck and Redstart, but in the event had to be content with Spotted Flycatcher, lots of Wheatears and a few Stonechats. Still: five miles before lunch was quite therapeutic - lots of seals, too!

Foiled by the fog!

At the moment, just before dawn, the tiny, innermost planet Mercury is at its highest above the eastern horizon: even better, it is snuggled right up to Regulus, the leading star of Leo. from the office window at 04.30, I could see that the sky was clear, if a little hazy, so I quickly dressed, grabbed a camera and tripod and headed out to the top of the Heath. As I climbed out of the car I could hear three species of owl: Little, Tawny and Barn - the latter I actually watched gliding across the fields. Unfortunately, I could also see that there was a fog bank moving in from the coast: within minutes the sky was obscured. I just managed a couple of shots of Mars and Jupiter before even they disappeared: interestingly, I captured a meteor just below Mars.

Imogen Corrigan at Hemblington Church

Renowned historian Imogen Corrigan visited the Church to present a talk on pilgrimage from the middle ages to the present. A capacity audience filled the pews and listened attentively to Ms Corrigan's fascinating account, which was followed by tea and cakes and a tour of the Church led by friend Sue: who knew there was a goat carved on a pew end?