Tonight's full Moon was just rising in the east as Venus and Jupiter were setting in the west (The brightish stars around them form part of the constellation Pisces) They were so bright that I could photograph them from inside the garage!
In the south, Orion, Sirius, Taurus and the Pleiades were superb: soon to be replaced by the spring stars.
I was just about to post a couple of parcels when the pager informed me that a Dotterel had been found on flooded grazing marsh at Buckenham. I hastily threw on some birding gear and rushed off, arriving at the same time as Dot M and Steve S.
A smallish crowd had assembled, who generously called out directions: the bird was in amongst a distant flock of Golden Plovers. Luckily the light was quite good, so I managed a couple of 'record shots' (Yes: genuine record shots!) After a chat with Dot, Steve, Dave Holman and his wife, I left to post my parcels!
The occupant of the house bordering our garden to the east decided several years ago to make a few quid by selling off a chunk of her land to a property developer. The planning application was rejected numerous times by Parish and District Councils until finally some 'suit' from Westminster arbitrarily overrode all local objections.
The developer's first move was to root up a thirty foot conifer hedge in which Turtle Doves (two pairs) Goldcrests and occasional Yellowhammers once nested.
The small (and to our mind highly overpriced) bungalow was completed last Autumn and a few people have come to view. The aerial shots below show to what extent Linda (with a small contribution from yours truly!) has created an oasis for wildlife in our little triangular garden: glancing around you can see that almost everyone else (with the exception of friends and neighbours S & P) have gravelled, paved and lawned their plots and cut down most of the big trees that once existed.
Until homeowners (as well as farmers, property deveopers and councils) start considering the needs of wildlife I think we can only anticipate a steady decline...
There are some terrific passes by the ISS this month: in the first couple of weeks they are all at 'stupid o'clock' in the morning, but from the middle of the month they take place conveniently early in the evening.
There's been a sudden change in the weather today here on the Heath: the temperature dropped mid-morning and it began to snow! Large flakes which, mercifully, didn't settle. However, as if by (cliched) magic, birds began to tumble out of the sky: Pied Wagtails, House Sparrows, all the regular Pigeons and Doves, Blackbirds and - most unexpectedly - a large flock (15+) of Greenfinches. These fed on the lawn, on the Sycamore buds and on the feeders for a good half an hour, often with Goldfinches. It seemed as if they were feeding up before the threatened period of wintry weather...
I was looking through my ancient bird diaries today and realised that I've managed to see almost all the gulls you could expect in the UK: most of these in Norfolk in the fifty-something years I've been birding here. Since I only started carrying a camera a few years ago, there are one or two species that are represented by images from the above-mentioned log books!
The most obvious omission is Auduoin's Gull: I've seen one in France (in Boulogne Harbour!) but never in the UK. I've only managed four Ring-billed Gulls in the UK: one of them I actually found at Cley! I ran to the old Coastguards to inform Mark Golley, who not only confirmed it, but also submitted it to the Bird Report (as did I!) When the report was published it said:
Ring-billed Gull The 1991 second-winter bird at UEA Norwich remained until April 7th. A first-winter at King’s Lynn docks Feb 16th (AB CD), a second-summer at Cley May 1st (DB MAG et al), a first-summer later moulting into second-winter at Breydon/Yarmouth July 3rd into 1993 (DJH et al) and a first-winter at Walcott Dec 21st (MF).
The odd one out among the images is the 'dark Herring Gull': a lot of very good birders considered this as a strong candidate for American Herring Gull...
 |
| Iceland Gull, Cley |
 |
| Glaucous Gull, Cley |
 |
| Lesser Black-back, Blofield Heath |
 |
| Greater Black-back, Cley |
 |
| Ross's Gull, Topsham |
 |
| Ivory Gull, Aldeburgh |
 |
| Herring Gull, Bempton |
 |
| Possible American HG, Ludham |
 |
| Yellow-legged Herring Gull, Lingwood |
 |
| Caspian Gull, Minsmere |
 |
| Common Gull, Buckenham |
 |
| Ring-billed Gull, Hayle Estuary |
 |
| Franklin's Gull, Titchwell |
 |
| Laughing Gull, Walcott |
 |
| Bonaparte's Gull, Morpeth |
 |
| Little Gull, Kelling Water Meadows |
 |
| Sabine's Gull, Scillonian Pelagic |
 |
| Kittiwake, Sheringham |
 |
| Black-headed Gull, Hemblington |
 |
| Mediterranean Gull, Gt Yarmouth |
 |
| Slender-billed Gulls, Cley |
If you're interested in keeping an eye on where we're playing and what we're up to, HERE'S a link to the SYNERGY blogspot!
.jpg)
It's the second day of Spring: frustratingly, I'm still locked out of Facebook, but some mood-lightening has been brought about by increasing numbers of large raptors starting their pre-nuptial displays!
For the third day in a week a beautiful Red Kite has visited the air above the garden: I thought it would land in Peter & Sue's oak tree at one point! Then, while we were parking at a certain supermarket at Harford Bridge, a pair of Buzzards were mewing and wheeling together overhead.
Over a week ago Facebook decided to lock my account for no obvious (or stated) reason. I went through the unlocking proceedure - checking e-mail, entering secret code, submitting photo of my driver's licence etc - in response FB increased the length of my 'locked out' period - eventually to seven days! I finally managed to contact someone (a 'virtual responder' I reckon) who reset my account, allowing me to go through the unlocking proceedure without waiting a week. Can you guess the result? I got a message stating I had tried 'too many times' to unlock my account: I was locked out again!
Anyone found a way around this stupidity?
