People and places...

A few shots from this week's trip to East Yorkshire... (Spot the Corn Bunting on top of the concrete pillar!)

Gentle reminder!

Up on the Moors and in the Forest: six more year ticks!

A visit to Wykeham Forest, Hille Green Bridge and the moors above Kirkbymoorside gave us Crossbill, Bullfinch, Grey Wagtail, Dipper and Red Grouse, as well as flight views of Merlin! A great way to finish our northern expedition ...

Three more year ticks!

The weather forecast was not particularly promising, so we started the day at  Flamborough: a brief seawatch by the 'foghorn' produced a single Manx Shearwater heading north. A patch of blue sky sent us back to Bempton (via a jacket purchase for Linda at the RNLI shop at South Landing!) This was a great move: while drinking a cup of coffee we enjoyed super-close views of a hunting Barn Owl - finally!

Walking along the cliffs in both directions produced excellent shots of the usual Auks, as well a bridled form of Guillemot. Best of all: a Shag at the base of the cliffs, viewable only by hanging over the railings!

A couple of days in Yorkshire

Time for the Summer Wine Crew plus Linda to make our annual trip to Flamborough & Bempton. For once the 'usual suspects' of the cliffs and chalk grassland surrendered to the camera with little fuss- the only missing species was Shag.

Great night at the Copper Beech!

A terrific evening at this new venue: great atmosphere, great crowd.... We'll be back!

Two ticks and two 'Gardes de Boeuf'

Linda had arranged to deliver some wax wraps to the Visitor Centre at Cley, so we stopped on the way at Weybourne to look for the reported Marsh Warbler. Fairly soon after we arrived we heard it calling briefly, followed by a couple of short flight views: a Grasshopper Warbler was much nearer and possibly showed itself once or twice.

After delivering the wraps (and enjoying tea and cakes) we drove along Beach Road to photograph a couple of Cattle Egrets doing just what they're supposed to do: a Spoonbill was on Pat's Pool...

The night sky in June

 It never truly gets dark in the UK in June: the solstice on the 20th leads to the longest day of the year. (Incidentally: contrary to what I've heard on TV, the radio and in classrooms, the seasons are produced by the tilt of the Earth's axis - in Summer, the north pole is tilted towards the Sun, in the Winter, it's tipped away) Despite this, several planets are still visible:

Jupiter will rise before the Sun at around 03.30 in the constellation of Taurus

Mars rises a little earlier at around 02.30. On June 3rd the thin crescent Moon will be close by

Saturn is visible for longer, rising at 01.00, with the last quarter Moon coming close on the 27th & 28th

The winter constellations have disappeared until the Autumn, being replaced by the familiar constellations of Cygnus (the 'Northern Cross') Lyra and Aquila, whose brightest stars Deneb, Vega and Altair make up the famous Summer Triangle.

An amazing and beautiful spectacle that may occur in June is a display of Noctilucent Clouds. An hour or so after sunset the northern sky can be covered by a tracery of electric blue threads and waves. The origin of this phenomenon is not fully understood, but is possibly caused by the long-set Sun illuminating extremely high clouds of ice crystals.

The crescent Moon visits the twins!

Just after sunset last night the thin crescent Moon hung low in the sky below Castor and Pollux - the 'Heavenly Twins' that are the brightest stars of the constellation Gemini. My favourite lunar crater Petavius was beautifully illuminated, showing all the features that make it so interesting: central peaks, internal rille and strange, elongated neighbour Pallitzsch