Suffolk with Brian: Hawfinches, Bearded Tits and Great White Egrets...

...but still no Short-eared Owls!

Having exhausted the possibilities of Ludham and Winterton, we thought we'd give Walberswick a bash. On the way south I was keen to look for the reported Hawfinches at Sotterley Park, near Blythburgh. Against expectations, I found one, then three more of these delightfully chunky birds at the top of a Hornbeam tree

Next stop was Walberswick: we walked through the heath down to Corporation Marshes and searched for a couple of hours: no SEOs, but two Great White Egrets and a flock of Bearded Tits were some compensation. 

We decided to finish the day at nearby Minsmere: a brisk walk out to the sluice pools quickly revealed that the hoped-for Lesser Yellowlegs had flown off just before we arrived. Snipe were new for the year!

RSPB garden birdwatch at Hemblington Church

The annual RSPB birdwatch event will take place this weekend at Hemblington Church. As always, Sue, Linda, Peter and myself will be on hand to point out the birds and there'll be hot drinks and cakes available too! It's usually quite productive and good fun: birds we've seen in the past have included Buzzard, Red Kite, Little Owl and Golden Plover!

Sparrowhawk

This beautiful Sparrowhawk dropped into the garden for lunch today: bad news for the female Blackbird, but it's nature, 'red in tooth and claw...'

The International Space Station slides through Orion!

Always impressive when the ISS passes through a prominent constellation: last night its transit took it right through Orion's belt. Jupiter is still a brilliant object in the south west: you can see it peeping over my roof in the last photo!

Fieldfares everywhere!

It was Linda and my turn to unlock the Church this morning: as we drove northwards past the 'airfield', we noticed a huge flock (500+) of Fieldfares enjoying the sunshine - and manure! The photos are a bit dodgy, having been taken through the passenger window! Lots of Buzzards, too.

I mentioned the Fulfers to Peter, who informed me that the field over our garden fence was also hosting a big flock! Apparently there had been Mistle Thrushes with them: that would've been a year tick...

Venus: I've started, so I'll finish!

Some shots of Venus just before dawn: these were taken through my office window!

Nightmare at St Benet's Abbey!

After lunch I persuaded Linda to join me for a last crack at the Short-eared Owls at St Benet's Abbey. For those of you who've never visited the ruins, they lie at the end of a long track which can be a little difficult to find. 

We arrived at around 2.00pm and passed a pleasant - but totally unproductive - couple of hours. At four o'clock I finally gave in to Linda's suggestion to go home for tea: the car, however, had other ideas - the battery had gone flat! We had no jump leads (we always carry a set in the boot) and neither did the last couple of remaining birders. Linda phoned our breakdown service, who said they could be with us by 5.15!

Remember I remarked earlier about the remoteness of the car park? Despite giving the breakdown driver our 'three word' co-ordinates and postcode and accurate directions from the Ludham Dog, he got lost! By the time he arrived we were both freezing cold and starving! The only minor reward for our outing was a distant Barn Owl, lots of Cormorants and a herd of 20+ Whoopers that came in to roost when it was nearly dark.

Venus and its phases

At the moment Venus is climbing in the dawn sky and moving further away from the Earth: its crescent is gradually growing until - when it reaches the other side of the Sun (superior opposition) - it will present a 'full Moon' phase. Both the inner planets (Mercury and Venus) display Moon-like phases as they travel around the Sun. Despite popular belief, so do the outer planets, but because of our relative position to them, the maximum is only around a 1% reduction in the area of their visible discs. This occurs when they are at quadrature (when there is a right angle between the Sun, the Earth and the planet)

Three spot stake-out, but still no SEO!

Brian and I had intended venturing south to Walberswick in our quest to photograph a Short-eared Owl or two, but the weather forecast was pretty dire, so instead we visited three sites that have delivered for several of our birder acquaintances.

First stop was Winterton, where we dodged the showers and walked for three miles around the northern dunes: all we saw were dozens of Magpies, half a dozen Buzzards (one of which looked good for Rough-legged at first!) and a few Marsh Harriers. We moved on to St Benet's by way of Waxham and Hickling, finding a nice flock of Fieldfares on the way. A two hour watch was utterly unproductive, as was a scan of the grazing marshes at Ludham Bridge. It began to rain, so we called it a day!