A smart female Sparrowhawk spent half an hour on the lawn dissecting a Collared Dove this morning. Quite grisly to watch, but fascinating at the same time. Once the Sprawk had plucked and trimmed its prey down to a manageable size, it carried it off into a bush to enjoy in peace!
Just some of the several hundred Common Scoters just offshore at Titchwell
Given that no news seems to be coming out of Suffolk at the moment, Norman, Brian and I changed our plans, heading north west to Titchwell rather than down to the Brecks.
As we crossed Choseley we enjoyed views of Fieldfares, Grey Partridges and a large flock of Linnets, before arriving at an almost empty Titchwell carpark. Not unexpectedly the path-side ditch held a Water Rail, while the Tidal Marsh produced a delightful Spotted Redshank in its frosty winter plumage.
A walk across the beach brought us closish views of a vast flock of Scoter, which included at least two Velvets and a drake Eider. The walk back past the Tidal Marsh revealed a pair of sawbills: these were variously identified by watchers with 'scopes as Red-breasted Mergansers and Goosanders: we plumped for the former...
Last 'eye candy' came in the form of a pair of very confiding Bearded Tits by the path, before we returned to the car and headed back east. A brief stop at the Holkham layby failed to reveal any Whitefronts, but a couple of Great Egrets flew back and forth.
Coffee and scones at Cley was followed by a walk out to the sea along the East Bank which turned up absolutely nothing of interest (apart from old Yare Valley chum Chris!)
This, of course, sounds like a line from 'Carry On Stargazing', except that real astronomers pronounce the name of the seventh planet as YORER-NUS. At magnitude 5.7, this huge gas giant planet is only just visible to the naked eye, but is easy to find at the moment since it is halfway between the super-bright Jupiter and the Pleiades star cluster. With binoculars it has a visibly blue-green tinge.
While I was outside, I thought I might as well photograph the Orion Nebula, since the 'Mighty Hunter' was conveniently placed just above the eastern horizon.
Since Linda and I had to visit Strumpshaw Recycling Centre (remember when that was a tip that attracted white-winged gulls most winters?) we carried on to Buckenham Marsh.
No sign of any Whitefronts, but there were predictably large numbers of Pinkfeet and Wigeon, as well as a couple each of Red Kite and Marsh Harrier. Star bird, though, was a confiding little Grey Wagtail - always nice to see on a murky December day.
This beautiful Sparrowhawk made several attempts at catching lunch in our sycamore tree, but was apparently confused when the flock of fifty Goldfinches scattered in all directions.
Here are the highlights of the chat I'll be having with Jules Button on 'Suffolk Sounds' Radio on Thursday, December 14th. Some of these events will take place before then, so this is a 'heads up'!
There were two auroral displays last night: one at 6pm and one at 10pm. From East Norfolk the first was quite faint - not as bright as last month's - while the sky had clouded over before the second occurred. Still: good to 'see', and thanks to friend Peter for the use of his north-facing back garden!
For the first time since he put in an appearance three years ago, the little Snowman has actually been able to go out in the snow. Unfortunately there's not enough to give him a facelift, but fingers crossed!
