You should never go back!

Since I had nothing 'on' today, I thought I'd pop back to Whitlingham to try for better photos of yesterday's Goosanders. Needless to say, they had departed overnight! Elizabeth Dack and I walked the circuit of the lake, hoping the missing sawbills might have relocated to the river, but the only birds of note were a couple of Goldeneye, a 'scaup' lookalike Tufted Duck and some curious all-green Mallard types!

Back home, the garden was full of birds, including both Gold and Greenfinches: most welcome!

Unexpected Goosanders - but no Iceland Gull

Linda has been spending a few days with her grandchildren in Coventry: just before I went to pick her up from Norwich Bus Station the pager announced that an Iceland Gull was showing well at Whitlingham Country Park. I knew there wasn't time to pop over before meeting Linda's bus, and thought it would probably be dark by the time she arrived: I didn't bother taking my camera. In the event the bus arrived earlier than expected and Lin suggested stopping at WCP on the way home. 

A brisk walk from the car park revealed just two birders on site - but fortunately these were Steve Smith and Dot Machin. They pointed out a group of two - then four - redhead Goosanders, but hadn't seen the gull. Steve kindly let us take a good luck at these most welcome sawbills with his 'scope before leaving. Linda and I stayed on a little longer and were able to enjoy the Goosanders at closer range as they swam towards us before flying towards the island. Linda grabbed a couple of shots with her 'phone: you can pick out the Goosanders in the first two - honest, Guv!

Venus and Saturn snuggle up in the twilight!

At the moment Venus and Saturn are drawing together in the south-western sky at sunset: last night (at 5.30) they were a splendid sight, as was Jupiter high in the south. They will be even closer on Monday night, with the waxing crescent Moon joining the party!

The ISS is making some good passes too: last night it skidded past Jupiter and Mars

Ménage à trois

The beautiful blue sky persuaded three of our local Buzzards to venture out for some early-afternoon soaring: all three flew close together, occasionally touching talons. Eventually our 'regular pair' flew off northwards, leaving the newcomer alone...

A solitary Greenfinch briefly alighted in our Crab Apple tree, becoming species number 98 for the year: in the past they've been one of the first.

Comet E3 and a faint aurora

With a frosty evening, no Moon and clear skies, I thought it might be worth crawling out of bed at 04.30 to see if I could improve on my previous attempts to photograph this year's comet. Sadly, despite using GPS tracking, the results were still very unimpressive: just a woolly green blob with a hint of a tail. A long exposure of the northern sky revealed a hint of an aurora...

Whitefronts

A nice flock of Whitefronts flew north west over Blofield Heath this morning: I think this might be a garden tick!

Sunspots

The Sun is looking very adolescent today! I bet there'll be an aurora tonight.
(Usual reminder: never look at the Sun with optical aids or the naked eye!)

The BBC shoots itself in the foot AGAIN

OK: I'm old - I admit it! But BBC Radio 2 used to supply me with a musical soundtrack to long drives, cooking and tedious office work. Steve Wright, Simon Mayo, Vanessa Feltz and Ken Bruce played good music with stylish, entertaining fills. Now they've gone, there's nothing (apart from Lisa Tarbuck, of course!) to keep me tuned in. Yet another example of the BBC controllers pandering to minorities.

For the past year Lin and I have listened to Greatest Hits as our default radio station: excellent news that Ken Bruce is joining them - let's hope Steve Wright can be persuaded to do the same.

Fascinating reading for a freezing evening!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found Garry Bagnell's part-autobiography a really amusing and compelling read. His obsession with seeing new birds (which many of us share) is matched by his meticulous accounting of how much each 'tick' has cost, while the revelation that he also collected plane registrations and Pokemon Go characters should not, perhaps, surprise us!

I have all the usual bird identification guides, of course, but the books I enjoy reading most are those that share with us details of the author's birding exploits. Some record details of a specific quest: seeing 300 species in a year, achieving a 500 UK life list or, like Phoebe Snetsinger, the incredible goal of seeing virtually all of the world's birds! If you haven't read Birding on Borrowed Time it's a fascinating - and ultimately pognant - document.

All of those below are books I have read many times each: I find them entertaining and compelling. Do I have a favourite? Not really, but I have to admit that Richard Milington's Twitcher's Diary was the main factor in my ambition to achieve a list of over 400 species.

A skyful of planets!

Just after sunset last night, it was possible to see four planets: five if you include the Earth, seven with binoculars! In the southwest, Venus is moving towards Saturn: next week (23rd) they'll meet up close to the Moon. Jupiter and Mars remain two of the brightest objects in the sky: Mars is close to the Pleiades star cluster.

Smew at Rollesby!

Despite the heavy frost and icy roads, Brian, Norman and I headed to Rollesby to see if we could connect with yesterday's four redhead Smews. When we arrived at 'The Waterside', the gates were still locked: fortunately a super-kind lady was just arriving - she unlocked and directed us to the small bird hide. As well as the four smart little sawbills, we enjoyed both Little and Great White Egrets: amazing to see Arctic and Mediterranean species side by side!

We moved on to Hickling, where a complete circuit (including a visit to Stubb Mill ) added two more Great White Egrets, Merlin, Hen Harrier and a couple of Cranes... Last stop was St Benet's: no geese, but 20 or so Bewick's.