Wednesday 30 October 2019

Stormy Days

Wednesday October 30

October has been very wet and windy. Often with periods of sun in between. This has led to dramatic skies and, often, tempestuous seas. 

As is usual on a Tuesday, we met at Natural Surroundings to open the moth traps put out overnight. Three traps did not produce many moths and a mere eleven species. Not bad for the time of year and the weather. Moths do not like wind. They prefer warmth. Moonlit nights are not conducive for trapping either, as they lessen the impact of the light source. 

After trap opening, we gather in the cafe for a hot drink and a natter, some of us eating too. Limited room this morning as a BT engineer was working on the phone line at one end of the small sitting area. All ten of us crammed in around one corner containing a table for two and another for four. Always a pleasure - and very noisy. One woman gave us a look of disdain as she squeezed her way out.

I could see the bird feeders this morning, Coal and Marsh Tits arriving as well as Blue and Great plus a beautiful, fresh plumaged, Nuthatch. The activity soon finished when two Huskies and their owners occupied the outside table near the feeders. Fair enough.

We had some time to kill before chiropodist appointments in Sheringham so drove to the east car park, on the cliffs in Sheringham itself. The tide was receding, exposing stony islets offshore, soon occupied by various gulls, Turnstones and spread winged Cormorants. 


Not much movement but, we did see one Red-throated Diver in winter plumage, one Guillemot, several Gannets and Brent Geese and a Little Auk  flying west. Some of our moth-ing group had been sea watching at Cley before the meeting this morning and had seen several of the latter.

All against a changing backdrop of sun, black cloud and rainbows. 



All partial arcs, I believe that there is a name for each rainbow variation but I don't know this vocabulary. 
At one time there was a double partial arc - for a few minutes only.



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