Horsey seal colony: 'From Here to Eternity'!

Having enjoyed some absolutely first-class birding, Linda and I took the three kilometre walk along the dunes from Horsey Gap car park to the Grey Seal colony.

This well-known attraction is visited by thousands of walkers and photographers every year, particularly between November and January when the cute, fluffy white pups are born. Two things always slightly irritate me, I have to say: dog walkers who let their pets off the leash right by the seals and people who take their young kids within a couple of metres of them: I wonder if anyone has ever been bitten by a territorial bull or a female defending a pup?

Today the seals were having a fine old time, touching noses and mating in the surf: it put me in mind of the film mentioned above where Burt Lancaster smooched Deborah Kerr as the waves broke over them!

 

Rough-legged Buzzard, Siberian Stonechat and another Shrike!

Linda & I dived out to Caister for a look at the Siberian Stonechat - only the second we've seen in thirty years birding together! We were the first on site and managed reasonable views despite the huge numbers of dog walkers, some of whom were quite offensive.

As the crowds began to build, we moved north to Horsey Gap, where the first bird we saw as we climbed from the car was a beautiful frosty Rough-legged Buzzard! These are the best images I've ever taken of the species and are barely cropped at all!

A walk along the dunes to see the seals (pictures tomorrow!) produced lots of Stonechats and a distant Great Grey Shrike - my sixth of the Autumn!



 

Astronomy: you're forced to!

Since I'm always up and about by 5.00am it's great to have something impressive to look at through the kitchen window while I'm making a cup of tea!

At the moment the three planets Venus, Jupiter and Mars are nicely lined up in the pre-dawn sky, but elsewhere there's lots to see: Orion with its seven bright stars and even brighter 'hunting dog' Sirius are well-placed in the south, while the Pleiades are high in the south west. I took a snap of the second star of the 'handle' of the Plough / Big Dipper / Great Bear to show that it's actually a binary pair, Alcor & Mizar (although the situation is a lot more complex, since Mizar is actually a quadruple system!) The ability to see Alcor - the fainter of the pair - has been used for millennia as an eyesight test!

Strumpshaw Fen: distant delights...

My elder brother Rob dropped in for an overnight catch-up: today, he arranged to meet Robert, an old friend from his Cambridge days...

Everything was a long way away (not least because many of the 'hotspots' are crammed with algae and water plants)

Nevertheless, we had a great time, noting Great Grey Shrike, Kingfisher, 2+ Stonechat, Otter, Fieldfare, Redwing and lots of Snipe as we walked to the Tower Hide and back. A Great Spotted Woodie pushed a Jay from its perch on a dead tree: most amusing!

A quick astronomical 'heads-up': Venus, Jupiter and Mars are still close together in the dawn sky: well worth looking out for!

Raining Shrikes!

Hot on the heels of the news that there are now THREE Great Grey Shrikes at Strumpshaw, I nearly ran over two on my way back from Blofield Post Office: they flew from the side of a hedge along Bullacebush Lane and were so close I had to brake to avoid clobbering one!

Brace of Shrikes and a whisp of Snipes!

Having a couple of hours free, I thought I'd take a look to see if the Great Grey Shrikes were still at Strumpshaw Fen. A few others had taken advantage of the beautiful weather: Tim Rix was in station on the Sandy Path and soon pointed out a solitary female Bearded Tit, of which I managed one dodgy photo! While Tim and I were waiting, amazingly a Bittern 'boomed' three or four times! We looked at each other in disbelief, but I promise you it happened!

As I walked round to Tower Hide I noticed a Shrike on a distant Willow exactly where I'd seen him last week. After a few photos, I moved westwards, snatching a shot of a big flock of Snipe wheeling over the reedbeds.

In Tower Hide I bumped into Mick and his lovely (and long-suffering) wife Mary as well as an old acquaintance: Dave from Rassay! Tim joined us, having not noticed the Shrike by Accidental Broad. After a bit of craik, I noticed a second Shrike fly in from the left. Still very distant, but everyone seemed pleased to see it. At one point I'm sure I saw the first bird fly in from the right and perch well back from the second: the photos aren't worth posting. On balance, I'm pretty confident both Great Greys were still at the Fen this morning....

Lots more Snipe asleep in front of Tower Hide, as well as a few Brimstones and Migrant Hawkers: several skeins of Pinkfeet flew over too.

Planets!

From top right to bottom left: Venus, Jupiter and Mars in the pre-dawn sky today:

in the second photo you can see three of Jupiter's Galilean satellites...

A spectacular alignment: rarer than any of the birds currently on offer on the North Coast, but I wonder how many people are aware of it.

 

 

Red-flanked Bluetail and Hume's YB Warbler!

A last-minute decision found Martin and me heading northwards to Wells Woods, where we arrived in plenty of time to find a parking space at the beach car park.

A short walk found us at the drinking pool with a small gallery (which included Strump regular Clive) Following many fleeting fly-bys, the Red-flanked Bluetail posed very briefly for photos: not the best, but good enough for me!

We decided to go in search of Yellow-broweds and Pallas's, but were astonished to see how many people were patrolling the woodland paths: literally hundreds! After a brief walk and somewhat less brief wait Martin and I glimpsed the Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler flitting around in the canopy with Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests, which - luckily for us - was calling incessantly.

After a coffee stop at Cley, we moved on to Muckleburgh Hill, but yesterday's OBP had departed overnight: lots more 'crests and Chiffies, though!

Last stop was Beeston for very distant views of the Isabelline Shrike with lots of over-flying Redpolls to add to the day's tally.

Last interesting bird was a Red Kite being mobbed by crows at Roughton.