This afternoon we had our first Fieldfare of the second winter period: it posed for a couple of photos in the Ginkgo before flying into the cotoneaster to feed. (A Great Spotted Woodpecker also drummed briefly in the Ginkgo, but I was too slow to grab a photo!)
I dragged myself out of my sickbed to join Linda, Sue & Peter to carry out this month's wildlife survey. Despite it being 'slightly' warmer, we saw no flying insects at all: as usual, Kites and Buzzards were the headline species!
Early this morning - possibly because of the heavy frost - our cotoneaster was briefly visited by a small flock of Redwings. Frustratingly, they remained hidden until driven off by the resident Blackbirds, pausing in the tall sycamore just long enough for a couple of photos. Meanwhile our personal covey of Red-legged Partridges has taken to roosting in the centre shrubbery, before warming up on the roof!
The gas giant planet Jupiter is well-placed in the western sky at dawn: at over ten times larger than the Earth, it reflects a vast amount of sunlight and is a super bright object. It has dozens of 'moons', including four really large ones that (along with Saturn's rings) were among the first discoveries made by Galileo with his primitive telescope.
This morning Ganymede was lurking behind Jupiter, but the other three Galilean Moons were easily visible with binoculars.
My first 'outing' since being laid up with a chest infection was to take a couple of swift pictures of Venus (hanging low in the south west) and the ISS passing overhead through Cygnus. It's hard to get focus and exposure just right with the International Space Station when the background sky is still bright, but you'll get the idea! (Notice how - apparently - close another satellite gets!)
There's a strange 'flying rod' on one of the Venus images...
Just after sunset - and for the rest of the night - the Moon and Mars were close together in the sky. Even with my 300mm lens, Mars was a visible 'blotchy' disc!
If - as Linda does - you feed the birds all year round, then a sudden cold snap like yesterday will bring an influx of different species in unusually high numbers. Natural hostilities are generally forgotten: although the dozen or so male Blackbirds that arrived spent more time squaring up to one another than they did feeding!
As I was sorting out some meteorite orders just now, I glanced out to see a mob of corvids - Rooks, Jackdaws and Magpies - chasing a Red Kite around our sycamore tree. (He didn't seem too bothered!)
Today my wonderful life and business partner Linda and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. She is - has always been - the perfect wife: supportive of my various enterprises, loving, forgiving, incredibly hard-working.... but above all, considerate, intelligent, witty, and caring. She is loved by everyone who knows her!
This morning the Moon was close to Elnath, the star that marks the tip of one of Taurus' horns. Nearby (and super bright) was Jupiter. Seeing was so good that a couple of the giant planet's cloud belts can be made out, even though I was only using a 300mm prime lens!
Having been in bed for two days with 'man flu', I dragged myself out to Burgh Hall to play with our wonderful band 'Synergy': despite the constant sniffing and nose-wiping, the consensus was that we gave one of our best performances!
