Batman



Great night.... at home

Found out that a team from Bristol Uni were going to be tagging and catching Natterer's bats in the church opposite home and then tracking them around the local area (and over my garden)

I went along and watched / helped on two consecutive nights. I even had the chance to hold and release a few Pipps and Natterer's!

The real surprise was when one of the students said he was bitten by something big in the trap they were using. To our surprise we pulled out a giant Noctule bat! He was not pleased about being bagged and took some thick gloves to handle. Check out his teeth below ( sorry blurry shot, but you get the idea)

And I thought that there were just Soprano Pippistrelle bats over my garden. Now I have 4 species on the garden list!

Moths stand no chance with him about

 They managed to satellite tag over 10 Natterer's and I got to handle Pipps and Natter's, which incidentaly are much cuter than the big male Noctule.. but here is another photo of him as he was fun:

So .. even though there are few birds around, the Moths and bats have been keeping me busy... more to follow on the recent Moth catches

Will have to wait a few more weeks for rare bird hunting on the coast to hot up.

Birds and Art

Always a good mixture. Today I visited Cley and was surprised to see some pieces of sculpture / installation art dotted along the beach at Cley.

Here is my review.
1 - A metal frame which you walk through and then view the sea through a metal, reflective slot. Pretentious and basic

2 - A wood and straw shelter. Called something like 'wood and straw hide' - Doesn't even face the sea and although quite a nice shape from one angle is not the most exciting sculpture

3. Prayer hide - Now this one I did like. A small beach hut that looked a bit like an old Victorian seafront amusement. It invites you in and there is great camera obscura that projects an upside down image of Cley beach onto a canvas. Nice and peaceful inside. A fun piece

4. 'Canute couldn't do it' .... should have been followed by '..but a 10 year old could' - A wire mesh wall covered in sheep fleece. forming different patterns. Not great

Now back to the birds:
Fulmar, Arctic Skua chasing Terns, Arctic Tern fishing in amongst Common Terns close to the shore
From the hides: Spoonbills, LRP, Green Sand, Common Sand, Knot lots of BT Godwits. Nice to see so many returning Waders

and this baby Swallow being fed by parents in the beach car park