A somewhat damp beaver!

The Moon only appeared very briefly last night ( at around 4.00am) and even then was behind a watery veil of cloud. I took a couple of photos just for a record of the event: with luck the last super moon of the year (on December 4th) will coincide with clear skies.

Beaver Super Moon

Tonight's full Moon (if it's not cloudy where you are!) is a super Moon: this occurs when the Moon is both full and at perigee (closest approach to Earth) at the same time. It's only slightly larger, but people often comment that it appears a little brighter.

The photo is of last's night's gibbous Moon, just one day off full. The young ray crater Tycho shows up particularly well.

Rewarding morning at Cley

My turn to drive: we headed north to Cley, arriving before 8.00am. A brief visit to Bishop's revealed absolutely nothing to set the pulses racing, so we carried on to the East Bank. With help from a couple of friendly locals, we managed to pick out the long-staying Grey Phalarope on Pope's Marsh, whizzing around among the Shovelers. A walk out to the sea gave us just a fly-by Kittiwake, so we returned to  Bishop's, where Jacquie B and her crew were happy to point out a very close Water Pipit. After a bit of a wait, we added an unusually-marked Whinchat to the day list, as well as Water Rail and numerous Godwits.

Next stop was the visitors' centre for tea and scones, before walking out to the Centre Hides. A distant Spotted Redshank and a handsome Buzzard were about the best of it, so we returned to the car, driving along to Salthouse Duck Pond, where we enjoyed close views of a drake Pintail at two metres range!

The Moon and Saturn

Last night the waxing Moon was close to Saturn: I tried using a 2x extender on my R7 and 100-400 zoom combo. The extender meant I didn't have to crop to obtain a large image: I think the result is better, but I did need a tripod.

Synergy at Desmond's Restaurant, Lowestoft

Our best evening ever? Well if Carlsberg made gigs...
Desmond, the larger-than-life and highly talented restaurateur, invited us to play for his family and friends to celebrate his 60th birthday: that's him in the white Cab Calloway suit! He joined us to give an impressive rendition of 'Minnie the Moocher' - neither he nor we had ever played the song, but, regardless, it was a show-stopper! Birthday boy Desmond painted the amazing portrait of the band that adorns the wall of the Italian restaurant: I wonder how long it'll stay up...

Tonight's gig!

Synergy are playing at a private party tonight: the venue is a bijou restaurant owned by the 'birthday boy'! He is a well-known artist, and, flatteringly, has painted a mural of the band in the restaurant!

Waxing gibbous Moon

The sky was really clear at sunset, allowing detailed photos of the Moon. Distinctive craters Tycho, Copernicus, Plato and Clavius were all really obvious.

The night sky (and International Space Station) in November

Here's the quintessence of my upcoming (November 4th) chat with Jules Button on Suffolk Sound Radio. There are some pretty decent passes by the ISS this month, so worth looking out for!

Brown Shrike: fifth species of Shrike this year!

 ...and all in East Anglia! Today's target was another long-staying bird - a juvenile Brown Shrike at Hollesley, near my old stamping ground, the Rendlesham Forest. An early start should have seen Brian and me on site by 8.00am: in fact there were so many road blockages and detours, it took us an hour longer! Still, fortunately the bird was easy to see (which was a relief) although photography was through two chain-link fences - not ideal!

Other birds included Woodlark, Crossbill and Dartford Warbler - none of which we managed to photograph - before moving south east to Shingle Street. A good walk around failed to add anything to the day list, and neither did a trudge around Minsmere. (Still: lunch in  a little farm shop near Westleton was good!) And so home...

Oh go on then! One last look at the comet..

The skies briefly cleared to the west last night, so it seemed silly not to have another look for Comet Lemmon: I didn't even have to leave home, since it was visible from the drive! At mag 4.7. it's not quite a naked eye object, but, despite a slight haze, I found it without too much trouble using my Pentax K3 and 300mm prime.

Beautiful crescent Moon

Yet again: heavy clouds rolled over at sunset, but not before I managed a couple of shots of the waxing crescent Moon.

Marine tank update

Our little reef tank is still flourishing: a colony of green, hairy discs at the top of the reef is increasing in size daily, so that there's probably no room for any additions...

Happiness is....

...getting a 'last cut' on the lawn before the rain started this afternoon. (Funny how little things like this are such sources of pleasure when you're getting on a bit!)