Lots to enjoy just after sunset tonight: Mercury is approaching maximum eastern extension: on March 8th it will be as high as it ever can be. With a telescope or binoculars Venus shows a crescent, supposedly the reason that Astarte was depicted with a crescent headdress. Meanwhile, further east, the Moon is in between Jupiter and the Pleiades - hard to photograph, but you get the picture!
Just Norman and me today! We drove straight to Stiffkey to look for the recently present Lesser Whitefronts (and the ever-present Glossy Ibis) Despite a good scan from several vantage points, neither of the targets were on show. However, as we headed back to Cley I saw the geese fly in: stopping at the flint barn we walked back and got some terrific photos.
Apart from the first Spoonbill of the year, the walk out to Bishop's wasn't particularly productive, although there were even more Avocets and Ruff than last week.It was nice to chat with ace 'togger Roger Tidman and his friend. The East Bank wasn't much better (we'd missed the morning's Twite flock) so after coffee we drove along to Kelling Heath, where we added Raven and Woodlark to the day list (the latter - the only one we saw - flew past as we chatted with Sue and Steve Gantlett)
At sunset, while I was photographing the crescent Moon and this week's planetary spectacular, this US cargo plane flew over from the direction of Mildenhall (ie: from the south west) What on Earth is it carrying slung below its fuselage? And what is it emitting from it?
I just managed a single shot as this dapper Sparrowhawk dashed low through the garden. With all the doves, pigeons and Blackbirds that feed here every day, it's like an 'all you can eat' buffet for him!
Linda suggested a drive to Lynford for a walk, with a lunch stop somewhere pleasant: a terrific plan in theory, but not only was the traffic terrible on every road out of Norwich, but the Arboretum was rammed with dog walkers and elderly toggers.
Nevertheless, we found a couple of quiet spots and enjoyed good views of some decent woodland birds - Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Siskin, Nuthatch and, best of all, a couple of Yellowhammers. Lots of Buzzards but - for us at least - no Hawfinches. Great to bump into ex-pupil John Edwards and his dad Nick, who'd recently returned from visiting the Spectacled Eider in Holland!
After lunch at the 'Shepherd's Baa', we drove a couple of miles north to the Goshawk layby. After a minute or two a large Gos drifted over very high with three Buzzards. Last stop was Watton Antique Centre, where I couldn't resist a bargain 'Penny Lick' to add to my glass collection!
This is the 'hard copy' of next Wednesday's monthly chat with Jules Button on Suffolk Sound radio.
Despite all the media hype, it was never possible to 'see eight planets' in February: two of them are far too faint to be naked eye objects and two others are too close to the Sun! However, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are still pretty splendid!
It's six and a half years since we set up our marine nano-tank: despite a few setbacks (and with messy regular maintenance!) we're still enjoying watching its colourful inhabitants growing and developing...
