Storm Abigail didn't really hit the east coast but, we had low grey skies, a strong south westerly and rain !
Despite this, we drove to Buckenham Marshes. My first impression was 'no birds'. The marsh is usually alive with Teal and Wigeon. Lapwing, Starlings and geese.
Eventually, after assiduous scoping, I found one dyke had 50+ Teal and, at least a quarter of a mile away from the drive - in lane, a few Lapwing and Starling.
Cantley's Beet Factory chimney was billowing white smoke, parallel with the ground, never veering nor pausing in the constant semi gale.
Moving to a different viewpoint before a final scan, I found an enormous flock of Canada Geese, the largest I've ever seen. At least 80. Working my way through these, I reached one of the gate/fences which appear in the marsh. A perched Peregrine! The geese to the right, with bottoms raised, feeding, barely visible in the poor visibility, lifted their heads, White-fronted Geese, our first of the winter.
i found that the fresh battery I'd put in my DSLR was dead..... I tried my Canon SX60 bridge camera , extending the lens to 60x . The resulting photographs were brighter than I had seen through my scope, amazing. Not pin sharp but... at over a quarter of a mile in very poor visibility?
Cropped even more
One Marsh Harrier, two Kestrels, a lone Black-headed Gull and time to drive home.
Western Conifer Seed Bug update
As posted on my Facebook page, the bug is fairly widespread in Norfolk, found in most squares, confirmed by James, thank you. Andy probably found that too when he got home and checked his books. Both Chris K and Perry reported finding one in their traps. It caused quite a bit of interest though as it's spectacular looking. Easy to miss these critters when not in a moth trap.
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