Murky day and a Merlin on the Heath...

Lots to do today: the pre-Christmas rush seems to have started, so I had frames to make and meteorites to wrap! Also, we had the garden hedges trimmed and I managed a last (I hope!) cut of the lawn before the Spring...

The day wasn't completely bird-free, however: the drive back from the Post Office produced a dapper - but distant - little Merlin perched on a phone wire, while a Great Spotted Woodpecker enjoyed a brief spot of head banging in our neighbour's Oak tree: overhead skein after skein of Pinkfeet headed south-east.

 

Cattle Egret, Short-eared Owl, but dipping on a Dipper!

Brian is back from his expedition to Burma and Norman was keen to have a stab at the long-staying Dipper at Needham Market, so an early start found us at Hawks Mill on the River Gipping by around 8.15. Suffice to say that a two-hour vigil and regular checking of all the weirs failed to deliver the goods!

Brian and Norman both fancied a visit to Shingle Street so they could break their year-tick duck for Short-eared Owl. A long walk past the first three Martello Towers added nothing to the day's tally, apart from an encounter with Gary and John Richardson (who, perhaps surprisingly, are not related!) Having failed to photograph some flighty Corn Buntings, we started to walk back to Brian's car: it was he who found our SEO, right by the first Martello Tower! Never very close, we all managed some reasonable shots.

We moved on northwards to Iken, where it looked as if we were going to 'enjoy' similar bad luck as we had at Needham Market: a flock of four Egrets along Sandy Lane all had black bills and yellow feet. We checked out the farmhouse where the beautiful Lincoln Red cattle often wander on the lawns, but no sign. As we drove back along Sandy Lane once more, I counted five Egrets: the Cattle Egret had been hiding among the bullocks! All of us filled our SD cards and yet again I cursed Wex for still having my decent lens, three weeks after I took it in for a simple warranty repair.

And so home - briefly - because Linda's car was ready to pick up: I'm mobile again!

 

 

 

One of Brian's terrific images...

 

Great White Egret at Bowthorpe Marsh

Linda's car is still undergoing transplant surgery, so I dropped her at work at 7.30: a Brent Goose flew across the southern by-pass from Whitlingham Lane, which was a surprise. I carried on to Bowthorpe to look for Waxwings: to cut a long story short, I didn't find any in a forty minute search!

Knowing that the oft-returning GWE had been seen in its usual part of the Yare Valley, I put on my boots and waded along the flooded paths towards the church. A flash of white caused momentary excitement, but it was a Little Egret. Further on, though, I climbed a mound of earth and found myself looking at the Great White: nice to renew acquaintances!

On the way home I stopped at Jenny Lind Park: no Waxwings there at the time, either, and every berry had been stripped from their preferred tree. As I drove eastwards along the A47, a flock of about 15 Waxwings flew south over the road, so perhaps they've moved on....

 

Night visit to Rendlesham Forest...

As is widely known, I guess, I have fairly unusual interests / beliefs for a scientist. As well as a life-long interest in the paranormal (see my website: Chilling Tales UK ) I have researched and written about the UFO phenomenon for many years.

Probably one of my favourite places in East Anglia is the region around Rendlesham Forest: it's fabulous for birds (Roller, Sandhill Crane, White-tailed Eagle etc) and was the site of the UK's most compelling UFO encounter. I have been fortunate enough to lecture at events in Woodbridge on a number of occasions and have collaborated on several of the excellent 'Haunted Skies' volumes, written by ex-detective John Hanson.

The Forest is still a strange place, exhibiting all kinds of unusual paranormal phenomena: Linda and I spend several nights a year prowling the trackways with infra-red cameras and nightscopes and often record images that are hard to explain. I attach a few from this weekend...

The 'mists' and orbs are genuine phenomena: we continually check that we are not photographing our own breath, and we frequently observe the orbs. Insects look entirely different, I assure you. The IR images were part of a sequence taken a minute apart: the curious 'skinny figure' appears only once: it has the same recorded temperature as I do - and no, I wasn't leaning against a tree or post!

 

 

 

Cattle Egret at Iken, Short-eared Owl at Shingle Street and Mabel the Tawny Owl!

We'd arranged to spend the weekend with friends in Suffolk: both are keen UFO researchers, so we had intended to spend some 'dark time' in Rendlesham Forest. In the event, Jason had to have knee surgery and Paul was struck down by prawn-induced food poisoning, so it was just Linda and me.

Despite Hurricane Albert (or whatever!) we had a fabulous time! First stop was Iken, where we eventually tracked down the returning Cattle Egret for satisfyingly close views: at times it shared a pasture with a Little Egret.

A move to Shingle Street and a couple of miles walk gave us Short-eared Owl and Stonechat, as well a lovely confiding Reed Bunting.

After a fish and chip lunch (happy anniversary!) in Melton, we drove the few miles to Ipswich, where, after a couple of false starts, we found the long-staying Tawny Owl Mabel dozing in her oak tree! Passers by were thrilled to look at our 'back-of-camera' shots, and to borrow our binoculars for a close view.

Back to Rendlesham Forest after dark: some very interesting results (particularly with Linda's infra-red camera!) which I'll post tomorrow. So: a great weekend, despite the 2.00am fire alarm at our hotel. Sadly it was pouring as we left Ipswich, so we carried on home without stopping at Needham Market for the Dipper....

 

Anniversary Moon!

It's our 22nd wedding anniversary today - a watershed, since we were both married to our previous partners the same length of time! We're celebrating with a day in Suffolk, hoping to pick up a few of the winter specialities, as well as a walk around Rendlesham Forest so Linda can try out her infra-red camera.

The Moon was absolutely fantastic this morning: the three conspicuous craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina were close to the terminator, and you can easily recognise the fact that they are of different ages, youngest at the top, oldest at the bottom! Although 'super Moons' get the media attention, the full Moon is absolutely useless for astronomy, since there's no relief: a last quarter like this morning's is much better for picking out mountains, craters and other features.

 

A walk around the patch and a close call....

Linda's car is in the garage for a new gearbox, so she needs mine for work: this means I'm marooned at home! No worries: I always have plenty to do. After lunch I thought I'd go and take another look at our local Reeve's Pheasants: to my horror I found a shoot in full swing on just the part of the Heath they've been frequenting. I asked the Keeper if the guns left the Reeve's alone - to my surprise he replied that a few would probably be shot by accident, but: continued:

"It doesn't matter - they don't cost much more than an ordinary Pheasant!"

There was a time - many years ago - that I half-believed the game shooters'  apologia that they were the true guardians of the countryside and that without proper keepering and maintenance there'd soon be no wildlife left. This gentleman's attitude and that of his many chums in the Highlands makes this argument completely untenable. Bearing in mind that it was probably a gun on this estate that killed the Little Bustard last year and you have to question the sense in arming someone who can't pick out a Reeve's Pheasant in close flight from a regular Pheasant.

A few highlights on the walk included a few Pinkfeet, Redwings and Mistle Thrushes as well as an apparent near miss in the skies above Norfolk!