Sunday 29th October

So after a light breakfast!! Off ot Cley. 8 of us met up and went to find the White Rumped Sandpiper which seemed to have flew for a while. Still loads of Ringed Plovers and it was nice to find two Little Stint so Tricia had a size comparison with Dunlin. One Pipit that Diane, Keith and I failed to id before it flew.

Perhaps the stars for me though were some very showy Little Grebe and Stonechat.





So down the famous East Bank.



Off coast John put us on to Little Auk and there was also Gannets, Puffin, Guillemot, Razorbill and Red Throated Divers.

We broke up at lunchtime. I was feeling tired so thought I'd go to Felbrigg for lunch and a stroll but I really struggled to eat my sarnie and couldn't face a walk. So dear readers I went to Binham Priory to take some photos for you! Binham is a lovely church it was a priory but was dissolved at the reformation. 7 of the 9 bays of thee old nave are still in use as the Parish Church.








You can see how much of the church and priory was demolished!!



The rest of the priory is in ruins and is in the care of English Heritage.







Whilst taking the above photos I had a Barn Owl fly through!!

Had a very nice evening with EB and Malcolm.

Saturday 28th October

So off to Norfolk to meet up with a few folk and then a few days on my own.

I had a cold (no not Man flu Nic!!) which had turned into a hacking cough but hey.

Anyway at 9:30 a group of us met up. I didn't take photos of everyone but.....


So we have Cherrypie


Corinna writing up her list.


John preparing for the off.


Diane showing how alert the birder needs to be.


CP again - I need to get hold of Corinna's photo eh CP ;)


Tricia


John smiling away.


So down to the beach to join the throng searching for the Surf Scoter, well I never actually found it but Scott had and so I saw it in his scope.

Quite a few Velvet's which were nice to see amongst the hundreds of Common Scoter. Also a close in Red Throated Diver. On the beach were Turnstone, Bartail Godwit and Sanderling.

We headed back for brunch. I ordered a bacon bap and a sausage bap BUT I couldn't face the sausage !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily CP helped me out. Whoosh! it was gone!

So back down the hides for: Dunlin, Redshank, Spotshank, Avocet, Brent Geese, Black Tail Godwit, loads of different ducks, Grey Plover, Knot, Ruff, Ringed Plover and Marsh Harrier.

It was feed the birds day and the RSPB had the world's biggest birdfeeder.

I've probably missed stuff but that gives a flavour.

Some of us met for dinner that night and enjoyable though it was I wasn't 100% I struggled to eat AND I had to go to my room at 8:40 and the next thing I knew it was 10:30!

Rats

For those eating avoid!!

Well I left the office at 12:30. Anyway I've got a cold and I am driving along. Well you know how it is when you keep wanting to cough up something well I coughed and was sick!! So instead of going straight to pick my scope up straight away I went to clean up. I am actually ok but it was darned embarassing.

I eventually got to pick the scope up and popped into Rye Meads. The ducks are now in breeding plumage, and a nice find was a Great Crested Grebe (not common at Rye Meads) also saw a Little Grebe, Green Sandpiper and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

The New Telly

Well my parents new telly arrived yesterday and popped into help set it up.

Ok Aerial there, power lead there. Well this is the easy bit turn on and uh nothing. Press buttton, waggle plug. Uhm oh. Pick up instructions, what is this power switch at the back and under a flap? Press? Power!!

Tuning it was a breeze since it did it all itself. Annoyingly as they get Anglia and London it put Channel 4 on Programme 5 and Channel 5 on Programme 6.

Flipping thing is pick though 37". Me to Dad (after turning to teletext) you can read that I take it! Nice picture though.

The most onerous task was to get the old telly upstairs "out of the way". Was the old one HEAVY!!

I'm off for a few days up to Norfolk. Hopefully I can shoot off early and pick my little travel scope up. If I leave for early I'll still be 9.5 hours up and I have 9 days holiday left (I'll carry 5 over).

My mission tomorrow is to get a nice picture of Cherrypie. Although I'll be satisfied with just finding the Surf Scoter!

Packaging Error? Or is it!

A bit of a funk

I've been in a bit of a funk the last few days. I know why and I am annoyed with myself!!

I won't go into details.

Anyway I thought I was better but nope still in a funk. At lunchtime I decided I was not getting into Book 5 of the Dark Tower so decided to buy some "trashy" sub Da Vinci code thrillers on the way home.

I was surfing the net when I came across this story about the Government asking Local Authorities to volunteer to bury nuclear waste within the authority. I had visions of us burying waste in the foundations of the Civic extension and I just started giggling and giggling.

Ever since I've been fine. Weird.

Pelican swallows Pigeon

An Eastern White Pelican was seen swallowing a whole Feral Pigeon in St James Park yesterday. Apparently it took the Pelican 20 minutes to swallow the pigeon.

Questioned by Kate

I am at a loss what to blog today. I am most definitely not posting my daft email so there Nic.

Luckily Kate has asked some questions!!

1) What were you doing when you heard that Margaret Thatcher had resigned and did you do a happy dance?
Uhm curiously I was more happy when Archer resigned. I was at Antony House in Cornwall. I walked to my car turned the radio on and went YES!! I never voted for Thatcher but I guess she was a necessary evil.

2) Do you pay for things using the exact money or plastic, or do you end up with a ton of small change?
Mostly plastic but rarely exact money. Lose change usually goes in a Church box or the like.

3) Were you a part of an 80s teen sub-culture, or were you far too individual for such nonsense?
I was far too old.

4) If Captain Scarlett was indescructable can you explain why he finished every episode in a hospital bed?
Needed to regenerate I guess.

5) Had you ever heard of Barry Scott before he began to advertise that 'bang and the dirt is gone' stuff?
who is Barry Scott.

what makes me happy.

I have been told I don't give of myself enough on this blog and that I "hold back". Someone who knows more about me than most (and knows what commandments I've broke ;) ) reckons they've learned things.

Anyway what makes me happy?

I'll skip the obvious, Mum being given a clean bill of health....

1. I was out of work for 7 months 4 years ago. One day I was walking out of the Kingfisher hide and was feeling rather down, then this Robin flew down in front of me and just sang his little heart out.

2. I like Sunny Spring days. Some years a ago I was having a short break in Derbyshire. I had driven in torrential rain, the M1 was a river but by the time I arrived it started to clear. I spent a lovely afternoon at Sudbury Hall looking around a nice building and sitting by the lakes.

3. I like sitting in peace and quiet with a book. Good instances of this were at Barrington Court, Somerset. Trerice , Cornwall.

4. Birding. Not the hurly burly twitching type but stroll around on my own or with a mate seeing whats about.

5. I like solitude. I like tranquility. Keep me away from crowds.

6. I like my space. I like being with people but I want to be able to be on my own. I begin to fill trapped if I'm constantly with people. I suppose this leads on to...

7. Doing what I want when I want. If I want to do something I don't have to ask. Terribly selfish I know but I do like it.

8. Eating a good meal. I'm not talking really expensive stuff but just a nice meal.

9. Snuggling under a warm duvet on a freezing cold morning

10. A Hug.

Sunday

I spent the morning shopping - sigh. At least I have bought my parents their Christmas present! They saw something they wanted so......

I was going birding locally but it was chucking down so on my way back from Sunday lunch (Smoked Bacon, cauliflower cheese and Roast Pots, Apple Pie and cream - lovely) I stopped into Tesco and bought the Da Vinci code.

Having read the book must help but I found it enjoyable enough. Ok it won't be on anyones list of the great movies but it was watchable. Its fiction, just accept it for what it is.

The fantasy football is heating up. I have a narrow lead over Dave and Corinna.