Red Kite over the Heath

Neighbour Peter sees Kites more frequently than I: he has an excellent uninterrupted view across the fields to the north. Today, as I was mowing the lawn, a very pale-headed Kite flew quickly past: luckily I had the camera out on the patio table!

Dusk and dawn astronomy: Mercury and Jupiter

At sunset last night I drove up to the top of the Heath (where there is a terrific 360 degree horizon) to look for Mercury, the smallest planet in the Solar System. It's also the most difficult to see, being close to the Sun. At the moment it's at its greatest eastern elongation, so I eventually managed a few 'snaps', despite the haze over Norwich.

This morning I crawled out of bed at 04.15 and drove to the same spot to catch the long-anticipated four-planet conjunction. All the Astro magazines and websites have been banging on for ages about how rare a sight it is to see Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn and the Moon all together in the eastern sky. In the event, by the time they had risen, the sky was too bright to see anything other than Jupiter and the Moon!

Buckenham Marsh

A quick walk to the windpump before the weekend crowds arrived failed to produce yesterday's Stints or Spotshanks. There were lots of Ruff (including a couple of black-plumaged individuals) a pair of Pintails, Buzzards and Marshies, as well as a Green Sandpiper that flew across the path as I walked back to the level crossing. Sedge Warblers were everywhere, but just two Reed Warblers were calling.

Sunspots!

Despite rotating at 4,400mph the Sun is so big that it takes just under 27 Earth-days to spin round once! Nevertheless: the large sunspot group can be seen to have moved quite a bit!

Welney WWT: Glossy Ibises, Spoonbills and lots more!

Sue and Peter joined Linda and me for a drive across the Fens to Welney. We arrived just as the reserve opened, and immediately walked along to Lyle Hide in search of the reported White Stork. When we arrived we found it had 'just' flown off: this recurred throughout the day! However, a flock of four Glossy Ibises were much more obliging, flying in front of the hide several times before settling close by.

Other decent birds came a few at a time: a pair of Pintail, two Spoonbills, several handsome Ruff, House Martins and Swallows, four lingering Whooper Swans and - my favourites - lots of Tree Sparrows. A great day out in beautiful, sunny weather.

Amazing sunspots!

Let me start by saying never look directly at the sun, with or without optical aids! These photos were taken with a purpose-built Coronado solar scope and a filtered 300mm lens on my Pentax DSLR.

These are the largest, most impressively-structured sunspots I have personally seen - certainly the best I've photographed. I should imagine we can expect further outbursts - maybe even aurorae - over the coming weeks!

Temminck's, Ravens, Ibis, and some overdue year-ticks!

The 'Summer Wine Crew' were back together for a day out on the North Coast. First stop was a well-known landmark, where a handsome pair of Ravens are feeding a well-grown juvenile: how wonderful to see these magnificent corvids back on the Norfolk breeders list!

Further along the coast at Titchwell we 'enjoyed' distant views of Short-eared Owl and Temminck's Stint through the heat haze, while Little Ringed Plover and Ruff were lots more obliging. Grasshopper & Cetti's Warbler were briefly on show and one of several beautiful male Marsh Harriers soared overhead.

The drive back east was rewarded with Red Kite, more Marshies and a sudden flush of Swallows: more of these - as well as Sand Martins - were hunting over our last stop, Kelling Water Meadows. Our target bird here was the reported Glossy Ibis, which we found without trouble: other notables included Whitethroat, Stonechat and Grey Partridge.

Making arrangements!

Probably because I'm the vocalist (and know lots of songs!) it fell to me to produce 'gig' folders for the six members of the band. These contain all the lyrics, chords, arrangements and set lists of the 30+ numbers we are currently performing. What you see here is about 100 hours work!