Stone Curlews and Cuckoos: must be the Brecks

I picked Norman up at 07.00 to beat the A11 traffic down to Mayday Farm. The regular drinking pool was unusually quiet: the presence of a Goshawk and two Sparrowhawks may be part of the reason! As we were wrestling with the unfeasibly complex new parking machines, Alan, a birder from - I think - Halesworth arrived: he hadn't visited before and so walked round with us. Not the variety enjoyed by Brian and me on our visit, but we added Grasshopper Warbler, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler on our way around. Lots of Woodlarks, on the ground, in trees and in song flight, and possible Whitethroat and Tree Pipit too.

A move to Weeting Heath finally gave us Stone Curlew for the year, while Cockley Cley added Roe Deer and Curlew.

Early rise for a comet...

With a chance of a clear eastern horizon, I crawled out of bed at 03.30 and drove out to the top of the Heath. The target was the snappily-named Comet C/2025 R3 PANSTARRS, which had reputedly brightened to 5th magnitude. However, it is currently in the constellation of Pegasus, very low in the East before dawn, so a thin veil of cloud didn't improve prospects. A break in the haze at around 04.30 revealed the appropriate region of Pegasus, and allowed somewhat unimpressive views of my 27th comet!  (I've added shots of Cygnus, the Plough - and its famous binary stars Alcor & Mizar - and Capella, to demonstrate how poor the 'seeing' was!)

Beautiful sunrise

This morning's dawn sky was an amazing vista of reds, pinks and blues: only lasting for five minutes, the colours rapidly faded to grey.

Desmond's: a truly memorable gig...

A terrific way to wind down after sixty years of live music! Our host Desmond made us most welcome and the sell-out crowd stayed for three encores before we had to wrap: a great night!

Possibly my last Synergy gig: Desmond's in Lowestoft

We have two bookings for later in the year, which I would, of course, honour if required: but tonight could be my final performance with Synergy, the best band I've ever played with. Fingers crossed for a great evening!

Spoonbills from Dauke's Hide, Cley

Year ticks galore at Cley!

Norman, Brian and I made the usual early start and were in Bishop's Hide by 7.45. A Cetti's Warbler sat still for photos right by the car park: the first of several we saw. In truth the most interesting birds from Bishop's were the Black-tailed Godwits, many of which were in gorgeous breeding plumage: some bore rings of various colours, but I couldn't read them! Distant views of a Short-eared Owl and several Swallows livened things up, before we moved to the Centre Hides.

As we walked, at least four Sedge Warblers sparked up: must be Spring! A pair of Little Ringed Plovers and more Swallows were good to see, as were a couple of Spoonbills. We decided to walk round to East Bank, where distant views of a pair of Spotted Redshank were noteworthy, as were much better ones of a couple of male Bearded Tits.

Coffee on the terrace was followed by a drive to the beach, followed by a trudge out to the 'new' North Hide. Eventually we managed really hazy views of a Wheatear (and numerous F-35s in mock combat)

A brief walk at Morston was unproductive, so we headed back to the Yare Valley...

Booted Buzzard!

There was a Booted Eagle reported from Cley yesterday, which turned out to be a pale Buzzard. I would never criticize people for making an honest mistake like this: better to call out and be wrong than be right and keep quiet, IMHO.

Today, while Linda, her Mum Mary, brother Barry and I were enjoying lunch at the Walled Garden, Little Plumstead, there were lots of raptors passing over. One of these needed looking at, before revealing itself to be a Buzzard: just for a second though... (I was shooting with an 18 - 135 TP lens, so apologies for the picture quality.)