Pintard! And a kettle over the Heath...

Having not enjoyed a walk for nearly a week, I dropped in at the Fen this morning: very little about other than lots of ducks and Marshies (including the well-known dark individual) and a Little Egret.

It was a pleasant surprise to bump into Brian: we walked around the western half of the reserve together, commentating on the absolutely appalling state of the paths. Those that aren't closed for bank repairs are almost too muddy to negotiate...

I needed to visit the Post Office, so left Brian to log out and drove to Thorpe Green, where I quickly located the famous 'Whitlingham Lane Pintard' - a strangely attractive Pintail / Mallard hybrid. Interesting that its characteristics are inherited from the male of the two species! I'm not by any means an expert in duck genetics, but this suggests that females carry a full set of male plumage genes.

Arriving home and starting work in the office, I heard the familiar call of a Buzzard over the garden. Rushing out into the garden, I found group of three displaying together. While I was aiming the camera my kind neighbour Sue 'phoned to tell me about them! One bird was a lovely pale individual.

Worth looking up for!

Tonight the Moon & Jupiter (the largest planet in the Solar System) will be side by side in the night sky. Even though the Moon is just past full, Jupiter is so bright that this will still be an impressive spectacle.

Here's a photo taken last night when they were further apart...

Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown

So sad to hear of the death of yet another of my heroes, the charming Capt. Eric Brown.

As an ex-Navy pilot myself, I am particularly proud to have met Capt. Brown on a number of occasions: he was the first person to land a jet on an aircraft carrier, holds the record for the highest number of deck-landings and of the number of 'types' flown by any pilot. At well over 400 and including legendary German aircraft like the Me262 and Komet this is a total that will never be beaten.

Above all, Captain Brown was a quiet, modest gentleman with a wonderful sense of fun....

Hypocrisy at the Beeb!

What do these TV presenters have in common:

* Jeremy Clarkson

* Tim Wonnacott

Answer: both are inarguably popular personalities who were sacked / suspended from long-running TV series for falling foul of the Beeb's faceless mandarins. Clarkson apparently got his P45 for smacking a junior producer who undoubtedly fell short of expectations (but you can't hit people and get away with it, can you? Unless your name is Prescott, of course!)  It seems unlikely that Clarkson's ill-advised use of the word 'slope' had much to do with his departure, since his old buddy May came out with exactly the same 'gag' on his current BBC programme....

The amiable Wonnacott was given the elbow for reasons as yet unclear: leaks from the BBC suggest they might have been related to Clarkson-esque bullying (sic) or possibly a refusal to donate an appearance fee to charity. All most strange!

Even 'stranger' (and this is where the hyprocrisy comes in!) is the fact that both presenters continue to be seen in repeats on the BBC. Could it, perhaps, be that the organisation is still keen to milk the cash cow of these phenomenally successful programs, while appearing to distance themselves from the alleged non-PC antics of their stars?

More bizarrely: on the recent series of Winter Watch, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan repeatedly made smutty innuendoes around the occasionally-used name for a male Black Grouse:

“I’ll get Michaela out of bed to show her black cock in the flesh,”

"The promise of black cock live first thing in the morning is a very real one"

In fact these two are even worse at the casual smut game than were dear old Bill Oddie and Kate Humble (Remember the 'Wing-trembler' and 'Horny Stag Beetle' episodes?) Oddie has since claimed that he was never told why he was sacked, but it is rumoured to have been related to 'an incident' involving Ms Humble on Brownsea Island. Personally, I always found Bill & Kate a far more engaging and entertaining partnership than Packham & Strachan: in any case, I see it as a typical piece of BBC double standards that the diminutive Mr Packham and the 'Hitman & Her' fugitive Ms Strachan get away with far worse pre-watershed smut that the other four....

First of the year!

Just back from our first meteorite / mineral event of 2016: the delightful Essex Rock & Mineral Show at Collier Row in Essex (Not far from where I grew up in the fifties!)

Decent crowd and plenty of fun and we came home tired but satisfied with the day's work!

Experts!

Here's an anecdote I thought I'd share with you!

When Linda located 'our' Firecrest at Minsmere on Wednesday, it was some way from where a 'gallery' had formed to look for the reported pair of birds: it was right by the main access road at Scott's Hall Cottage. She picked it out by call (I've ruined that end of my hearing spectrum with years of standing in front of 500W PA systems!)

Brian and I quickly got on the bird and started clicking away: he has (I think) the new Nikon 300mm f/4E PF ED VR and got some really great shots, particularly when it fluttered down into a rhododendron bush just half a metre in front of me!
A small 'tour' group broke off from the main party (which was being assisted by a totally charming and very knowledgeable Vol / Ranger) to tell us that they were watching the Firecrest and that we should follow them. I replied that they were most kind, but we were watching a really confiding individual. Brian showed them the picture below: their group leader retorted 'That's just a Goldcrest!' and led his friends away!

This amused me immensely! Another photographer (who had spent two days obtaining some exquisite photos) came over and confirmed we were looking at a third individual. We chatted for a while and reflected on the growing prevalence of 'expert' birders with a couple of years field experience. He pointed out how many of these have blogs where their profiles often include self-styled titles such as 'environmentalist, eco-activist and conservationist'. It goes without saying that many of these 'eco-warriors' spend weeks at a time in far-flung birding destinations such as Central / South America, Nepal and Antarctica adding to their 'World Lists'.

Now I'm not a massive believer in anthropogenic GW, but, if I were, I'd have to point out to these 'environmentalists' that their carbon footprints are probably only exceeded by those of politicians ferrying to and from climate change conferences!

East Coast mop-up: Green-winged Teal, Smew and Firecrest!

Linda, Brian and I headed south-east for a walk around Minsmere: we had three target birds (see above!) and managed to see - and photograph - all of them!

On our way to Minsmere we stopped at Blythburgh and I quickly found the Teal, but failed to notice I'd left the exposure compensation on the setting I'd used to photograph the Moon last night! Ooops! By the time the admirable Brian had sorted me out the Teal had vanished behind an island to roost.

Deciding to return on the way home, we carried on to Minsmere. A brisk walk to East Hide found us enjoying distant views of an engaging red-head Smew, while the scrub around the South Hides held a decent flock of Siskin.

After lunch we walked to Scott's Hall Cottage (encountering a small group of Red Deer on the way) and amazingly soon located two Firecrests: Linda found the first by call. At one point this charming little sprite spiralled down to ground level just a foot in front of me!

On the way home we stopped at Blythburgh again: against the odds we relocated the Green-winged Teal right out in the open, obtaining some decent (if distant) photographs. A great day out!

 

Great Moon!

Lovely Moon tonight, with the terminator running through some great crater fields...
Also, the ISS was bright (but so was the [overexposed!] sky!)

A genuine mystery from East Norfolk...

In 1941 Pilot Officer David Watson was based at RAF Watton, Norfolk, flying Blenheim light bombers. On a training flight over the east of the county, the young New Zealander spotted something strange in the rural landscape: on his return to base he invited his Flight Commander, Peter Meston, to accompany him to investigate further.

Watson had noticed that in several remote areas of Norfolk piles of agricultural lime had been laid out in straight lines, each ending in an arrow-head. It seemed obvious that these apparent pointers had not been made by accident, but rather appeared to have been oriented to indicate large grassy meadows that could serve as landing strips. Next to these in every case were brand-new conspicuously-painted red barns with unusually wide access doors.

Subsequent investigations at a number of Norfolk sites revealed that all farms possessing one of these strange barns were owned by the same property company, the directors of which were Dutchmen with known financial links to Germany. It was also claimed by other pilots that in several cases, chicken hutches at the farms were laid out in the shape of a swastika!

The whole matter was kept secret for sixty years until Meston told his story on television: I carried out my own investigation and discovered that many of these barns still exist, near the villages of Sporle, Beighton, Cantley, Halvergate, Paston, Guestwick and South Repps.

Seventy years later the results of an intensive MI5 investigation have still not been released, but it has been widely accepted that the barns were built to accommodate Nazi glider troops and their aircraft in the run-up to an invasion.

Trying hard to save an old friend...

We've had our 'company van' for more than ten years, clocking up nearly 100,000 miles. Like Trigger's broom, it contains hardly any of the original LDV Cub as which it started life, but it has been a great servant, taking us all over France on birding / gastronomic trips as well as carrying Linda and me (and, often,  our famous 'Space Station' marquee) to airshows and meteorite events around the UK.

We've birded all over the UK in the van, from Yorkshire to Devon, secure in the knowledge that anything locked in the back was protected with strong security features.

Recently I noticed that the steering was becoming stiff, so booked in to the local garage: they quickly diagnosed that a new steering rack was required. Horror of horrors! The item is no longer manufactured! After exhaustive searches, I found a supplier of reconditioned units who will deliver to Norfolk. Fingers crossed: I'm hoping that the van, Linda and I have a lot more adventures ahead of us....

Sailly Bray, Picardie

Loaded up at Autographica

The offending item!

Wells Beach

Le Touquet

A weekend in Suffolk

Linda and I drove down to Woodbridge to spend the weekend with some other UFO enthusiasts around Rendlesham Forest: these were our old chums Paul, Jason & Rosie, as well as new friend Tom.

On the way we stopped off at Blythburgh, where we failed to locate the Green-winged Teal, and Thorpeness, where there was a pleasingly large flock of Whitefronted Geese.

Right by RAF Bentwaters a pair of Buzzards displayed over the woods.

Following day and night walks through the Forest and a decent supper in the 'Cherry Tree', Paul, Linda and I adjourned to the bar of our hotel for a nightcap!

On the way home we stopped at Blythburgh again: this time we found the GWT, but it wouldn't play ball, only revealing itself (off camera!) when it raised its head to display the curious bill saddle it's sporting!