Bluethroat at Salthouse

After a thoroughly enjoyable day pottering around the sculpture trail, cafe and antiques shop at Bayfield Hall, followed by a lovely lunch at Cley Smokehouse Cafe nearby, Peter, Sue, Linda and I were keen to round the day off by having a bash at the juvenile Bluethroat along Beach Road, Salthouse. To my surprise, a fairly short wait was rewarded by pretty good views as this dapper little chat perched - briefly - on a wooden gate.

How to visit the North Coast and miss everything!

Norman and I had a day free, so headed north in search of some of the recent passerine migrants. We started with a seawatch at the coastguards, which gave us just several groups of newly-arrived Brents streaming westwards but little else. A move to Walsey Hills provided close views of some more Ivy Bees and lots of butterflies: only a brief glimpse of a Yellow-browed Warbler, though.

Coffee, then the East Bank, where we heard several parties of Bearded Tits, but saw little to get the pulses racing. Salthouse next, where the morning's Bluethroat was no longer available: we decided to drive home via Hickling, where once again things were a bit quiet: distant Cranes, Hobbies and Great Egrets, but nothing much to point the new camera at....

Wildlife in the village hedges

Our small village is lucky enough to have an excellent General Store / Post Office: this means my daily run to post meteorite orders can be done on foot. Not only is the half-mile walk and back good exercise, it often turns up interesting wildlife - I've seen Osprey, Hobby, Peregrine and four other raptor species over the years.

Many gardens have high hedges of leylandii, privet, laurel: some of these are interwoven with ivy. Yesterday I was pleased to discover that one of my favourite species - Ivy Bee - has begun to appear on the ivy flowers that are their preferred pollen and nectar source. These charming and placid little creatures have the same 'cuteness' as Honey Bees, but with darker stripes a bit like a wasp's. Talking of which: there is a nest of these aggressive insects in a leylandii hedge in our close that necessitates a wide detour!

The International Space Station in October

The ISS begins a sequence of bright early morning passes in mid-October (I've omitted a couple that are dimmer than mag +1)

Kelling Heath Star Party: come and see us in person!

On Saturday Linda and I will be at this bi-annual event, selling meteorites, meteorite jewellery and beeswax products from Linda's hives! Fingers crossed: the weather forecast is good at the moment, so it'll be nice to meet so many astronomer friends! Totally free entry: it's a great venue with proper loos, cafes and lots to look at! (Just a short walk away is Kelling Heath with its resident Dartford Warblers!)

The night sky in Octobeer

My monthly broadcast on Suffolk Sound is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11.20 am. In case you can't join me, here's a brief sum-up of what you might see during the month (if the sky ever clears!)