A message from friend Simon had me searching the trees around the local retting pond the other week. He’d seen an emerged Willow Emerald Damselfly. Equipped with camera I picked a likely spot and waited. It wasn’t long before one made a stunted reed stem its perch. Odd to think this beautiful species has colonised the south east of the UK in only the last 10 years.
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I have watched many sunsets in my time; seen more than I have yet to see that’s for sure. I’ve watched the day slip away over the horizon so many times, always beautiful, always different, always worth the pause to watch.
Each time I’ve looked for something I read about as a child. The Green Flash. It only occurs with an uninterrupted view of the horizon, usually when the sun sets over water. It’s a rare optical feature that can be caused by a number of circumstances. It lasts for just a second. A fleeting moment. All those sunsets and I’d never seen it.
Last month Sharon and I were unsuccessfully looking for Snowy Plovers at Bodega Bay. We failed miserably. I guess we just ran out of day. As we made our way back to the car from the beach we sensed the temperature drop and turned west to see the sun extinguish in the sea. I raised my camera and fired off a few frames to catch the last of the light. There it was. The Green Flash.
Click once and then click again to enlarge.
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Walking along the shoreline the other week we encountered a fish washed up on the shingle. Long spined Scorpion Fish are not scarce but they often camouflage themselves chameleon like within their surroundings and so go unnoticed. Having several sets of spines to catch out the unwary the diagnostic one at the edge of the gill cover helps to distinguish the Long spined from the Short Spined Scorpion Fish. Not that it would matter if you trod on one without shoes. But there again if you were walking barefoot down the beach in January perhaps you’d deserve what you get!
Letter From Norfolk 