Christmas Full Moon

There won't be another Christmas Day full Moon until 2034! Today the ISS slid past the bright star Arcturus: a lovely sight in the dawn sky!

Cattle Egrets and Fieldfares in the Yare Valley

Linda and I took a pre-lunch drive / walk around a few birdy spots, starting at Ranworth (flooded and closed ) Filby (completely barren apart from three Goldeneye) returning home via Branch Road Halvergate. To our delight four Cattle Egrets were feeding among the usual herd where the road turns right into Halvergate. A little distant, but great to find. On the way through to Acle we came across a vast flock - at least a couple of thousand - Fieldfares right by the road...

Santa's sleigh.... Or was it the International Space Station?

At 5.52 this morning the ISS passed overhead: amazingly there was a small break in the clouds that allowed me to grab a few photos as it sailed over Leo before disappearing behind our bungalow.

Incredible sunset!

Another astonishingly colourful sunset here in East Norfolk, presumably caused by ice crystals / high altitude clouds.

It begins!

Christmas has officially started in the Bryant household: good friends Sue, Peter, Margaret and Ros joined us for an evening of chat, music, fine wine and far too much food! Clearing up afterwards was a somewhat lengthy process!

Jupiter and the Moon: part 2!

Overnight the Moon slid past Jupiter and is now to its left (north!) Quite hard to photograph both with the same camera settings...
To make things even more interesting, a halo developed around the Moon a little later.

Garden Kite!

I just had time to grab a single photo of this immaculate Red Kite as it drifted right through our small garden this morning! It's getting like Gigrin Farm around here!

The Moon and Jupiter

The sky cleared after sunset last night, revealing the Moon and Jupiter moving together again: tonight they'll be even closer. Jupiter's four Galilean satellites were spread out in a line, making them really easy to view.

Mini survey at Hemblington Church

Since Linda and I had to brave the gales and rain to unlock the Church this morning, we thought we might as well carry out an abbreviated bird survey. There were a few little tweets taking advantage of the copious free food, best of which was a female Great Spotted Woodpecker that came back to the suet again and again...

Spectacular Kite roost at Blofield Heath

Literally minutes before it grew too gloomy for photography, Peter 'phoned to say a large group of Red Kites (and a few Buzzards!) were congregating distantly over woodland to the north of Bond's Lane. From his back garden I managed just a few grainy (high ISO) shots that show up to 17 birds: in fact I counted forty or so, strung out along the belt of trees.

Glossy Ibis at Stiffkey

 Just a short video of the long-staying juvenile Ibis feeding with Wigeon

Amazing sky with Pinkfeet!

A terrific dawn sky this morning that changed colour as I watched: as ever, photographs don't do it justice. The calls of this small group of Pink-footed Geese just added to the atmosphere!

Glossy Ibis at Stiffkey

Since LInda had to deliver some of her wax wraps to the Cley Visitor Centre, I thought we might as well carry on to Stiffkey for yet another 'bash' at the long-staying juveniler Glossy Ibis. A couple of days ago it relocated to the wet meadows opposite the Red Lion: amazingly, as soon as we pulled up Linda found the obliging fellow among Wigeon. Earlier, we were surprised when a Water Rail ran across the road as we headed west from Blofield Heath!