Redpolls and an Iceland Gull at Cromer!

It's been a while since Linda, Norman and I have had a trip out, so (despite poor Brian being struck down with the 'flu) we headed north through the mist and drizzle to Overstrand. We parked on the cliff car park and plodded westwards to the golf course: no sign of the long-staying Iceland Gull, but the mist had by now turned into fog, so that wasn't perhaps surprising!

Deciding the elements were against us we carried on to Cley, where we spent a fairly unproductive half hour in Bishop's Hide before adjourning for coffee and scones. A drive out to the Coastguards revealed just a few Brents, so we decided to head home by way of Felbrigg. On the way, however, I had one of my flashes of insight (or luck, depending on your perspective) and persuaded Norman to return to Cromer. This time we parked by the Church and walked west to the Greenkeeper's workshops. 100m before we reached them, I noticed the 1W Iceland Gull right by the hedge! It was totally unconcerned by the presence of the golfers and approached to within 10m of us!

A small group of birders was waiting patiently by the gateway to the workshops: they'd seen at least one of the Coues's  so we joined them for a while. Linda wandered off along the pavement towards Cromer, returning quite quickly to tell Norman and me that she'd located a flock of Redpolls through a gap in the hedge. Thirty seconds later we were looking at a dazzlingly white-rumped,frosty Redpoll among a group of Lessers at around 20m range. This seemed much paler and smaller than some of the accompanying Mealies, but a couple of birders whose opinion I value (cheers Keith B and Steve C!) have e-mailed to say it seems to be a Mealy.. There was a very bright bird present which some observers are calling a Coues's, but it had a very pink blush to its breast, which I hadn't thought was found in Arctics..

Regardless, it was a great half-day session, despite the unpromising start: good to be out and about again

 

 

Rare event in the dawn skies!

If any of you read my post about the ISS yesterday and gave it a look this morning, you'll have witnessed the astonishing sight of it passing in front of the Moon! Fabulous to see!

Wild Swans at Clippesby and St Benets and the first Cranes of the year.

Still too poorly for a proper day out, but Linda and I took a run around the Acle - Potter - Ludham loop at lunchtime. The first herd of Bewick's and Whoopers were by the turnoff to PH at Clippesby: no chance to stop, but they were close enough to I/d by species. No swans at Ludham Airfield, but lots of Fieldfares following a muck-spreading tractor. The Cold Harbour track produced the next herd of swans: these were quite near St Benet's, but in a dip that precluded them being seen from the Abbey track. As I scanned the fields towards Ludham, a distant pair of Cranes put in a brief appearance...

 

 

The International Space Station

For those of you who are interested in things 'up there' that don't have feathers, the ISS is in the middle of a run of bright passes just before dawn: tomorrow it will travel from west to east at 05.40 and again at 07.15.

This morning its track took it through the constellation Boötes , 'the Herdsman', which contains the extremely bright star Arcturus - the fourth brightest in the sky, in fact.

RIP Capt. John Young...

Another legend of the American space program left Earth for the final time today...

Test pilot and veteran of six missions (Gemini 3 & 10, Apollo 10 & 16 and STS-1 and 9) John Young was the only man to enter space aboard Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle Orbiter spacecraft. He is recorded as the ninth man to walk on the Moon, was the Commander of the first Space Shuttle mission and, with Gus Grissom, was a member of the first US two man crew.

I never had the opportunity to meet this remarkable man: something I will always regret.

Another day of office birding...

I've just about lost patience with this current cold: I had a bout just before Christmas and this dose started around Boxing Day: a fortnight later and I'm still as weak as a kitten and too chesty to risk an hour or two in the field. However, this has been a golden opportunity to work on my latest book, so I've spent a good long period in front of the computer and am pretty pleased with the couple of chapters that have resulted.

Given the inclement weather and the amount of food Linda puts out every day, it's perhaps not surprising that the garden has been full of birds: three Jays, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, the usual Partridges and Pheasants, Coal, Blue, Long-tailed and Great Tits and best of all today - a Hawfinch at the top of the sycamore. Not many photos to post, mainly because I've been too busy typing, but also because I clicked away at the Hawfinch with the camera set up to photograph the Moon (backlight on 0, 100 ISO) Still: good to see...

Goosed! And a terrific Moon.

You might recall that I was in hospital this time last year: having recklessly spent several hours in the freezing drizzle of Choseley waiting for views of a couple of rare geese. I managed to parlay a bad cold into pneumonia!

Today, having yet another really chesty cold, not even a Waxwing at the Fen could tempt me out. However, while working on my latest book, I did enjoy a flock of Pinkfeet passing over the house, and tonight's watery Moon displayed some fabulous crater fields.

All tooled up for the Spring!

As you may have read earlier, the demand for clearwing pheromones is far greater than the supply: last year I tried to buy a set at Easter and they'd already sold out!

This year, therefore, I got in early and my lures are now safe in the freezer ready for June!

Broadland run-around

Linda and I had to visit Potter Heigham (more bird seed!) so we drove around the Sea Palling - Waxham - Horsey - Potter - Ludham circuit. Quite fruitful, despite the gloomy overcast (high ISO!) providing reasonable views of both wild swan species and a Med Gull near Ingham, several Common Buzzards, with bonus Barn Owl, Redwings and Fieldfares at St Benet's.

 

 

Jollity and War in the dawn skies...

In mythology / astrology, these two attributes are associated with Jupiter and Mars respectively: I imagine an astrologer (but not, of course, an astronomer) might see some significance in the fact that the two planets appeared close together in the constellation of Libra this morning.

The skies were so clear just before dawn that four of Jupiter's moons (in order - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) can just about be seen in a couple of the photo's I took with my 300mm lens

Supermoon....

Following a wonderful evening with our dear friends Peter and Sue (including dinner at Café Rouge in Norwich) it was a day for catching up with business and attempting to shake off yet another dreadful cold!

I couldn't resist taking a look at tonight's much-vaunted 'Supermoon': as always, the difference in diameter was imperceptible, but still, a splendid sight!