Amazing Pallasites

If I had to pick a favourite class of meteorite, it would probably be the Pallasites. 

Generally believed to have originated at the core / mantle boundary of small, disrupted planets, they consist of a nickel-iron matrix in which are suspended fragments of crystalline minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Very rare (making up less than 2% of meteorite falls) the whole class is named after German naturalist Peter Paul Pallas (of warbler, eagle and rosefinch fame!) He was the first person to describe the group, following his examination of a meteorite he found near Kransnojarrsk, Siberia in 1772.

The best-known members of the group are those from Seymchan and Pallasovka (a city named after our hero PPP!) Imilac and Admire. This month I managed to import a decent amount of a new find from Kenya which is generally called Sericho or Habaswein after its place of discovery.

Until you cut and polish a pallasite it looks a bit like a potato: inside, though, the beautiful structure is revealed!

You couldn't make it up....

A couple of boffins from the BTO have just been on 'Look East' blaming the decline in the numbers of Greenfinches and other songbirds on garden bird feeders.

I can see the validity behind the science: dirty feeders and rotting peanuts are certainly likely to be vectors of pathogens (particularly fungi) but with so many species in crisis, it's not, IMHO, the best time to be putting people off feeding wild birds.

Carefully selected foods presented appropriately in clean feeders is vital to make up for the dramatic losses brought about by modern agriculture and the burgeoning cat population of the UK: Linda and I get dozens of House Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds and Tits in the garden: species you'd struggle to see at many nature reserves!

Always a silver lining....

The removal of an old Leylandii hedge by our neighbours has opened up our northern and eastern vistas: this means we can now watch both Buzzards and Little Owls in the trees across the fields towards Pedham.

In the past there have been Ring Ouzels in this field, so fingers crossed!

Goshawks (and other raptors!) in the Brecks...

A fabulous - if somewhat damp - morning in the Brecks with Brian. As soon as we arrived at the regular watchpoint we began to pick up raptors: groups of Buzzards, pairs of Red Kites, a possible Hen Harrier. Then Brian picked out a fast-travelling Goshawk: the first of three or four we saw in an hour or so.

After lunch at Brown's, we took a walk around Lynford, adding the usual woodland species as well as large flocks of Siskins and Lesser Redpolls, finishing off at Santon Downham, where the best we managed was a flighty Grey Wagtail.

Norwich Cathedral Peregrines

This afternoon I attended the 'induction session' for volunteers for the  Peregrine Watch at the Cathedral: I'll reserve comment until I hear from the Hawk & Owl Trust, but it felt like a fairly pointless exercise for the few of us who were 'new' volunteers....

However: it was a great opportunity (while I was waiting around for things to start!) to photograph both birds perched on the spire and in flight. A pie-bald Blackbird in the Cloisters was interesting...

I stopped at Thorpe Green on the way home: no sign of the recent Mandarin, but a really colourful Cormorant was feeding on the large shoal of Bream that could be seen 'priming'.

Unexpected (and well-overdue) year tick at Strumpshaw!

As usual, I met Brian, Brian & Mike at the Fen this morning and sat in front of a birdless Fen Pool for two hours before a Bittern took pity on us and flopped over the reeds (briefly!) Lots of Water Deers, of course, and the Marsh Harriers seem  to be pairing up: they also seem to be getting more than the usual hassle from the corvids! The regular pale-rumped Buzzard put in an appearance: a really attractive bird.

A walk around the reserve finally added Treecreeper to the year list: it was in the woods with several Marsh and Long-tailed Tits. Back at Reception, the Black Swan seemed determined to punch above his weight!

Go on: take a chance!

You never know: you might find a few points of interest if you can read my latest book with an open mind!

It's available on Amazon: HERE

...but if you contact me directly I'll sign a copy and send it post free!

Don't you just love anonymous commentators?

Just received the following message from somebody pretending to be an Irish rugby player:

Hi David, I ran your Woodcock photo through my software and as I suspected it has been Photoshoped. (Learn to spell, Shaun!) Please remove, or I will post my evidence on Norfolk's Birdforum thread with screenshots of my software's findings...

  

Posted by Shaun Nickles-O'Brien to Birds of the Heath <http://birdsoftheheath.blogspot.com/>  at 5 March 2018 at 13:45

Couple of points:

You notice there's no mention of the many decent shots of the Great White on this post, nor the previous ones of various Coues's, Brants, Iceland Gulls, Twite, Ibis, Cranes, Purple Heron and a Woodcock on the deck among the many hundreds of other bird images on the blog. There never is: people like Shaun Nickles-O'Brien seem to spend their sad, no-account lives combing through other people's blogs trying to 'catch them out', rather than acknowledging the effort that goes into keeping a daily blog with generally high-quality content.

OK: I used the freehand selection tool in PSP  (I don't possess Photoshop) to select, copy and paste my Woodcock image onto my original background and then enlarge it so you could see what it was.   I do this from time to time: why shouldn't I? It's my blog! Unlike many other people, I'm not sponsored for the hours it takes to compile Birds of the Heath: if you don't like the content, no-one's forcing you to read it!

And why the flying heck would I bother to fake a Woodcock? I've seen hundreds: even had them in the garden. And, of course, Linda was two feet away from me when the Woodcock flew over our heads. We also had a Snipe and a Redshank fly over: glad I didn't post the 'doctored images' I did of them!

Birdforum? I don't post on there: haven't for years apart from to send condolences when someone I knew passed away. Know why? Same reason as a lot of other people: it's full of whinging, carping no-marks like 'Shaun' (A real Irishman would know that the name is spelled 'Sean')

Here are a couple of other Woodcock pictures for 'Shaun' to scrutinize. (They've been improved with PSP too!)

Like turning off a switch!

Amazing! As soon as the snow melted all the Fieldfares disappeared: just a solitary individual on the apples for a couple of minutes this morning...

The resident Partridges, Pheasants and pigeons are back in their usual numbers: hopefully we can start to anticipate some Spring migrants soon!