November survey at Hemblington Church

Despite the cold and occasional drizzle, Linda, Sue, Peter and I carried out this month's survey, recording the first winter thrushes of the year and several skeins of Pinkfeet

Great Spotted!

Not rare, of course, but still: always a delight to have as a regular garden visitor.

Rendlesham Forest trip!

Our usual team of Jason, Paul, Jane, Linda and me spent the weekend in our favourite part of Suffolk, exploring Rendlesham Forest by day and at night. In between we enjoyed some great food, conversation and walks, lunching at Orford Beach Cafe and dining at the Wilford Bridge: both really terrific venues. Lots of Crossbills in the Forest, but all fly-overs: one flock was over thirty-strong!

A talk for BADCOG (Weather permitting!)

Tonight I'm scheduled to give a wildlife talk for the Blofield & District Conservation Group - a terrific organization that does amazing work in helping to maintain local churchyards, meadows and small reserves. We kick off at 7.30 at the Strumpshaw Community Hall, Mill Road, Lingwood.

Finally! Clear skies and a bright aurora

Two early morning rises allowed me - finally - to connect with a decent display of the Northern Lights: they suddenly flared at 04.15, just as the sky cleared. Interestingly, there was little or no green, just a lovely deep red.

Aurora!

Despite the overcast, this morning's aurora was so intense that  it was visible with the naked eye here in east Norfolk. Note, however, the latest moronic barrier to astrophotography: the increasing use of searchlights and lasers. Was there any need for this at 04.00?

Some terrific north coast birding!

Despite a persistent drizzle, Norman, Brian and I headed north west to Titchwell. On arrival we were informed that one of our targets - a Hoopoe - had just flown, so we walked out towards Parrinder Hide, quickly locating a large flock of Golden Plover. Another birder had already found the long-staying  juvenile American Golden Plover, and we all filled up at close range. Carrying on to the sea, I found a distant Scaup and a Guillemot, but with little else, we turned back to the Fen Trail. After a bit of persistence we eventually found a tit flock holding at least two Firecrests: these weren't in the mood to be photographed, however!

Back to Cley for coffee and a walk out to Bishop's, where we added Water Pipit to the daylist, before the pager sent us hurtling east to West Runton for distant - and fleeting - views of a Pallid Swift. 

Backyard astronomy...

Last night's beautiful waning Moon, nestled in Gemini, close to Jupiter. Also: this is what severely restricts astrophotography: the f***wit next door has these lights on most nights, all night..

Elevenses!

Look at the photos below... Do you notice anything?
Some years ago I became aware of a strange phenomenon: this coincided with Linda buying a digital bedroom clock that projects the time onto the ceiling in large red numerals. Like all / most other old geezers, I generally 'visit the bathroom' once or twice every night: I gradually realized that the times of these visits were frequently multiples of eleven - as in: 1.11, 2.22. 3.33 and so on. This occurs far too frequently to be chance! Similar timings often happen during the day time, too, but they are then only obvious on an analogue time piece.

Looking back through my diary of thirty years or so ago, I was intrigued to discover that the somewhat eccentric Uri Geller had reported the same phenomenon during a meeting I had with him. I wonder if any of you ever experience this outre occurrence?