Couple of year ticks and some decent waders at Cley

It seems ages since I've had a day out with Norman & Brian (what with covid and other mishaps!) so today was a very welcome break. We started the day with half an hour scan of the tamarisks at the Salthouse beach road turnoff, in the company of a very pleasant couple from Blakeney. The target was a 'somewhat elusive' Greenish Warbler: they'd seen it the previous evening and a couple of times before we arrived. Amazingly we 'enjoyed' two second views: brief, but conclusive.

Next stop was Bishop's Hide, where we quickly located (with directions from a friendly Scots birder) a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper. It was as far away as it could possibly be, but we all managed a few record shots. (Our Scottish friend let us see the bird really well through his telescope!)

Other birds began to appear: Green Sandpiper, Snipe, lots of Ruff and Black-tailed Godwits and a patrolling Hobby. A walk along the East Bank was unproductive until we reached the sea, when the familiar 'seven whistles' alerted us to a passage of Whimbrel. The centre hides added nothing in particular, so we called it a day....

Wow!

Sometime during the night Birds of the Heath had its 1.5 millionth visitor! Many thanks to all of you - regular and occasional - for inspiring me to keep going when so many blogs are fading away...

August wildlife survey at Hemblington Church

These surveys seem to take place later and later each month: a function of how busy all four of us are! Not too many birds around today - I'm sure things will be different next month...

This months passes by the International Space Station

Some terrific passes this month: I've left out the dimmer or really early ones!

Alfresco!

Unexpectedly, when we arrived at the Copper Beech, we found we were playing outside! Despite all the recent health issues we turned in a good performance and are back (inside!) in November.

Frustrating!

Just the other side of the hedge at the end of our garden is a strip of rough ground that borders a mint field: the hedge isn't ours, unfortunately, so we can't easily view the field Neighbour Peter, however, has excellent views from his garden and upstairs windows and has been watching a family group of three Green Woodpeckers for the past week!

Amazing planetary alignment

Once in a lifetime? Someone out there will know, but I don't recall seeing such a fabulous line-up: the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury close together in the dawn sky. (I hadn't intended getting up early, but a glance from the window at 04.15 was all the incentive I needed to head up to the top of the Heath!)

Oh! I watched a Tawny Owl flying over the recently-harvested barley fields too!

SYNERGY at the Copper Beech

Back in the saddle! An early evening gig at a terrific venue just to the west of Norwich...

Beautiful waning Moon

Still 'stuck indoors' with Covid, so my posts will be mostly astronomical at the moment! The waning crescent Moon is just above Taurus in the eastern sky, so easy to photograph: its southern polar crater field is amazing, with Tycho, Clavius, Maginus and Longomontanus particularly prominent. The huge ray crater Copernicus on the border of the Mare Imbrium and Mare Nubium shows its central peaks and terraced walls. Amazing to think the Moon is a quarter of a million miles away!

Uranus - but no Mercury!

Since - in theory -  all eight planets are currently visible, I thought I'd have a bash at another couple (I've already photographed Venus, Jupiter and Neptune this week, you may recall)

Uranus is considerably brighter than Neptune (5.7 compared to 7.8) and is much easier to find: at the moment it's in between Taurus and the Pleiades.

Despite a thorough search I couldn't pick out Mercury below Venus and Jupiter: perhaps I'll have more luck later in the week - on Thursday the crescent Moon will be close by.

Booted Buzzard!

Glancing through the office window, I saw this beautifully-marked raptor: until I got the bins on it I briefly hoped it might be the Booted Eagle, back for another visit! Still: a very distinctive bird.
Lovely to see our 'roof covey' has returned to the garden: such engaging birds!