MIDMARSH JOTTINGS

Friday at the Flicks - Bird Visitors + Sun Dog

2012-03-02T07:03:00.001Z

Not a lot going on on the video front this past week. Here are three recent visiting birds that I don't see very often at the moment.

Late yesterday afternoon I was looking at some of the swirling cirrus cloud formations. I happened to glance generally in the direct of the Sun when I noticed a small section of cloud that was coloured - a Sun Dog. Only the second time I have seen this and it was the very devil to photograph but I did manage one reasonable shot:

This rainbow effect is caused by the Sun's rays refracting through ice crystals in the clouds.

Today I 'ave Mostly Been Paddling

2012-03-01T12:57:00.000Z

With apologies to Jesse in The Fast Show ....

Wings on Wednesday + Spring is Just Round the Corner

2012-02-29T06:59:00.000Z

Spotted this commercial airliner flying over the village a few days ago. It's the first time I have noticed one with the name of the airline painted underneath. (Small crop as it was a long way up)

To replace the Lavender bushes which had died in the front garden I ordered four Lavender Munstead which arrived Tuesday morning. These were soon planted out. If I am lucky they might flower a bit this year but should make a good show from next year and attract butterflies and bumble bees.. (top left photo below)

With the warmer weather recently there are several signs of the approaching Spring. The first of my miniature daffs are starting to flower (bottom left). My narrow raised bed has some colour from the Pansies plus bulbs are shooting from the eleven clumps I transferred some time ago (top right) Finally there are lots of seven spot ladybirds emerging to take advantage of the Sun's warmth.

While I was out in the garden on what turned out to be a pleasant sunny day I thought I would get round to clearing the dead leaves from under the Corkscrew Hazel bush.

As well as noticing that the catkins are now expanding there were dozens and dozens of Ladybirds emerging from the dead leaves under the bush. Seems like it was a good job I didn't get round to tidying up before the Winter. In fact I only cleared a small patch and left the rest of the leaves so the Ladybirds still have somewhere to hide during the colder nights. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Macro on Monday - Guess What + a Round Tuit Finished

2012-02-27T06:58:00.000Z

Brilliant. A full house last week with Jan, Wilma, Keith and Adrian gaining my congratulations and the for correctly identifying the ladybird / lady bug.

I wonder how people will get on with this week's mystery photo. This is the first time for many months that I have used stacked photos and had nearly forgotten how to do it. 14 stacked photos processed using CombineZP.
Guess What:

Got Round Tuit
Quite some time ago, while in Heath Robinson mode, I built a little gizmo for animating a 3D object. Yesterday I got round to finishing the project which consists of an Arduino programmable 'computer' driving a stepper motor. The object is turned 1/48th of a turn and a still photo taken, repeated 49 times. The resulting stills were reduced to 1/4 original size as a batch using IrfanView. Those were processed as a video file using PhotoLapse 3 and that video repeated 8 times in Corel Video Studio Pro X4 to make this final video file of a small pine cone:

The setup is shown below.
A Canon 350D with LED ring flash on the left, electronics gizmo on the right:

Crescent Moon + Coronal Mass Ejection

2012-02-25T19:10:00.004Z

As last night Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon were bright in the sky. When I looked tonight they were no longer in line. Venus appears much nearer to the Moon in the sky:

Venus and the crescent Moon:

A bit more of the Moon was visible and I could still make out its full circular shape, which was difficult to capture with the camera: You can just make it out on the first photo.

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)
I have just seen a report that a CME from the Sun will hit the Earth's magnetic field on Feb 26th at 13.30 UT +/- 7 hours. This could cause a G2 class magnetic storm with Auroras seen as far south as 55 degrees North.

The Sky at Night

2012-02-25T07:19:00.000Z

Last night was an opportunity to see Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon shining brightly in a line just after Sunset. The first photo was taken with the Canon 350D fitted with an EFS 18-55mm lens set to 24mm. It was a longish exposure of 20 seconds at f3.5 and the Moon was over exposed to say the least, losing its crescent shape. The three bright objects running top left to bottom right are Jupiter, Venus and the Moon. The red streak below Venus is the lights from a commercial aircraft. What initially caught my eye was the Moon, though most was in shadow the full circle could be faintly made out.

This cropped photo of the Moon was taken with the Canon 50D fitted with an EF 100-400mm lens set to 400mm: 1/32 second at f5.6

I don't know why but photos seem to end up darker when they have been uploaded to Flickr.

Friday at the Flicks - Blue Tit + Rooks

2012-02-24T07:02:00.000Z

It's not often I get a long clear view of a Blue Tit at the Birdy Bistro. More often than not they zoom in, grab a bite and zoom off again so I was really pleased to get this piece of video:

In the following sequence a Rook is helping itself to bread. It flies off to a nearby tree to eat. After a while a second Rook joins it and the first feeds some of the bread to the second and then changes places. This sharing of food is common with Rooks which are very social birds:

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Word Verification Update
It looks as though the powers that be at Blogger HQ have taken some note of the outcry against the new word verification system. Last night I hit three bloggs still using it but on each the letters were clearer and with no sight of the negative block in the middle of one word. I managed all three first time.

Feed Your House Spider With Beef

2012-02-23T06:59:00.000Z

If you want to keep your house spiders healthy in the Winter months when there are few flies about all you need is a bowl of boiled minced beef and a dog with a missing tooth who scatters bits of food around the floor. ;>)

This is what happened a couple of days ago. An hour or so after Bobby had eaten some of his tea time meal I went in the kitchen. Once I had switched the lights on I noticed a large spider on the floor. Surprisingly it did not run away even when I bent down to have a close look. Nor did it move when I shone a torch right next to it. Why? It had found a small piece of Bobby's minced beef he had thoughtfully left on the floor. The spider was not going to lose its prize.

These four shots make up one picture which can be enlarged:

I went back several times, took several photos, some illuminated with flash, others with an LED torch. Even though the Lumix TZ7 was just a couple of inches away from the spider it stayed put obviously treating the tasty morsel of beef the same way it would its natural prey.

For anyone who wants to know how to have several photos on one image with a transparent background - this was a slight modification of the process shown HERE on YouTube which explains how to add multiple photos using Photoshop Elements. Instead of overlapping the photos as shown in the video I first cropped each one, added a border and then resized each one on a transparent layer so they stayed separate.

Wings on Wednesday - Female Blackbird - First Year?

2012-02-22T08:43:00.000Z

Spotted this bird at the Birdy Bistro. I would imagine it is a first year female Blackbird, looking at its general colouring which is paler that all the others which visit the garden and the prominent pale bar over the eyes which none of the others show. It is the correct size, if slightly slimmer than other females.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2012-02-20T08:30:00.000Z

A range of suggestions were given for last week's mystery photo. Wilma was spot on saying it was frost on a window (it was -10C outside that morning) so receives my congratulations and the for a correct identification. Matron was close when she said she scraped it from her car windscreen each morning. I think the brown background may have fooled some. That was caused by direct sunlight shining on the glass.

Taken with the iPhone4 with miniature microscope:

This week's mystery photo was also taken with the iPhone set up. The creature was about 5mm long and the photo was modified using the 'glowing edges' filter in Photoshop Elements. Can you spot what it is?

Guess What:

No prizes, just for fun.

A Word Verification Too Far + Unwelcome Visitor

2012-02-19T07:06:00.003Z

I noticed Keith's mention of the new word verification being introduced by Blogger just after I had battled with it on a couple of sites. Talk about Over The Top! The old system could be difficult to read at times but the new one is awful, stupidly complex, a real bug bear when you read and want to comment on several blogs. What should be a pleasant pastime becomes a chore.

I found a link on Keith's blog to Theresa's blog post HERE where she puts a point of view I entirely agree with and an explanation of how to set up Blogger to remove word verification. I ditched it some time ago though I do use comment moderation to filter out the occasional comments which are really just advertising or irrelevant to my topics.

TIP
If you come across one of the modern word verification monstrosities and what you are presented with is unreadable, click on the circular arrow nearby which keeps changing what is offered. I had to do this several times before finding one which was easily readable on a blog where I wanted to ask for some information.

I think there will be a steady build up of protests in the Blogger Feature Suggestions and Feedback section of Blogger Forums which can be found HERE.

Unwelcome Visitor
Yes, I know Sparrowhawks have to eat but there are times I wish they would look somewhere else. I had just transferred some video clips to the PC and was mounting the camcorder back on its tripod when I spotted this Sparrowhawk sat on top of the Birdy Bistro. Most of the feeders hang below the wood it is standing on.

It looks as though it was unsuccessful this time, in my garden anyway, and took off when another bird made a sound and gave away its position.

A Song for Saturday - Mistle Thrush

2012-02-18T08:15:00.000Z

As we exited the front door yesterday afternoon I could hear a Mistle Thrush singing fairly close by. As we walked up the lane it got louder. It took a while to spot the bird sat on a thin branch at the top of a tall tree. Normally the thrushes disappear before I see them. This time I was in luck as I had remembered to take the Lumix with me so I tried to get some video of it singing. I didn't dare to get too close but managed to get a few seconds of its song before other dog walkers coming from the opposite direction scared it away. Not the best by a long way but only the second time I have managed a piece of video of the Mistle Thrush.

Friday at the Flicks - Blackbirds Love Apples

2012-02-17T11:18:00.000Z

During the snowy, cold weather a short while ago I put out some sliced apples for the birds hoping to encourage Fieldfare or Redwing but I think the number of Blackbirds milling round the garden put off any strangers visiting.

At one stage a female Blackbird even spent some time eating a rather wizened apple which was still attached to an apple tree in the garden next door.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Aurora
A couple of nights ago there was a spectacular, though unexpected, aurora display over the Arctic. A US Defense Meteorological Program satellite captured some views from space which can be seen HERE. A photo taken from the ground can be found HERE.

Wings on Wednesday - The One That Got Away?

2012-02-15T09:32:00.000Z

The Sparrowhawk visited regularly while there was snow on the ground. There were up to twenty Blackbirds milling around every morning and they must have been easy for a bird of prey to spot from quite a distance away.

I have noticed this male Blackbird visit each day and have wondered if it was one which managed to escape the clutches of the Sparrowhawk. It certainly has a bald spot where feathers are missing. Another possibility is that it escaped the clutches of a black cat which regularly visits the garden. Either way it seems healthy enough, eats well and is able to fly.

While the snow was around I did see the Sparrowhawk make one more successful kill. That time it caught a Starling. There is a still photo HERE and a bit of video HERE. The video has two parts. Interestingly in the second part you can see the Sparrowhawk (I am informed it is a mature female) looking apprehensively upwards and at the same time you can hear a Magpie which is out of view of the camera. As raptors are often mobbed by various corvids the Sparrowhawk decided to take it breakfast somewhere safer.

Petition to drop the NHS Reform Bill

For those UK residents who are interested and concerned about the governments real motives in the Health and Social Reform Bill going through Parliament there is an e-petition requesting the bill be dropped. At the time of writing 113,881 people have signed the petition. If you wish to add your name, you must be a UK resident, then the petition can be found HERE. A petition achieving more than 100,000 signatures has to be considered for debate in parliament. The more signatures there are the more forceful the impact.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2012-02-13T08:25:00.000Z

There were some good guesses for last week's "Guess What" but only one correct answer. My hearty congratulations and a go to Jan who worked out that it was a Hazel flower. In fact it was one from my Corkscrew Hazel bush. I was more than a bit surprised to see that tiny splash of red at this time of year. Especially as the catkins were still tightly closed.

I think it will be easier to work out what this week's puzzle picture is.
Guess What:

No prizes. Just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Tray of Tree Sparrows - Bathing Blackbirds

2012-02-10T07:21:00.000Z

Several of the bird species visiting the garden seem to have started trying to establish territory. I have noticed more squabbles and chases going on which is unusual during the very cold weather we are having at the moment. Fortunately the Tree Sparrows are still able to share the available food which can be seen in this clip as several feed together in the covered seed tray:

As well as finding it hard to find their natural food birds also have a hard time finding water in our below zero temperatures. They need it not only to drink but also to bathe. Usually it is the Starlings which like to splash it all over but a couple of days ago I saw several of the Blackbirds take advantage of the little waterfall on my garden pond. Fortunately the running water has not frozen unlike the bird bath which is just solid ice.

The outside temperature was +1.5C and falling fast - that is snow which can be seen in the background. The final clip is a bit grainy as the light was fading fast:

To end with - a photo taken 9.30pm last night
Second dose of the white stuff:

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you whatever the weather, wherever you are.

Wings on Wednesday - Robin.

2012-02-08T10:46:00.000Z

Glancing out of the kitchen window this morning I am pretty sure I saw one Robin feeding another. They were right down the bottom of the garden and it was a brief episode. One Robin had taken a seed from the bird table and flew across to the other and appeared to pass it to the other. I have seen this activity once a few years ago, though later in the year. It is part of the bonding routine for Robins where the male will feed the female.

This grainy photo was taken a few days ago. It is always difficult to photograph Robins here as, unlike most, they are very shy or wary and don't stay in view for very long.

Snow can be a hazard to ones health. I had booked Bobby to see the vet yesterday, just for a general check up. Last Saturday night's snow had deposited a drift over 15 inches deep across the middle of my drive so I spent a couple of days digging it out. The result was a clear drive but a ricked back so I couldn't drive and had to cancel his appointment. I see there is the possibility of another 10cm of snow over the coming days. This time it can stay until it melts!

Macro on Monday - Guess What + Fieldfare

2012-02-06T09:59:00.001Z

No fooling some people - so congratulations and to Keith, Wilma, Glo, John and Jan who all correctly identified the Comma Butterfly last Monday.

On to this week's macro photograph (taken last week)
Guess What:

Fieldfare
I thought it was a year since I last spotted a Fieldfare but searching through my blog it was in fact two years ago when a flock visited the village. (see HERE). This morning there was a fleeting visit to a tree just past the end of my garden. I tried to will them to come down in my garden but after a short stay they flew off together.

Just a rather grainy record shot of a few of them:

Later on I will have a walk down the lane to where I know there are lots of windfall apples which is what attracted them last time.

Senior Moment
Just to let Adrian know that he is not alone. This morning I searched high and low for my favourite mug I always use for a decent size cuppa. It was only when I looked in the microwave that I found it, full of cold tea left over from last night when I had put it there to reheat.

Snow For Sunday + Sparrowhawk

2012-02-05T09:16:00.000Z

For once the weather forecasters weren't telling porkies. So often they get it wrong for the coastal part of Lincolnshire. The forecast was for up to four inches of snow arriving after dusk. It started at 6pm and was still going strong when I retired for the night. Along with the snow was a brisk breeze so it was no surprise this morning to wake up to a good layer of snow, mainly around 3 to 4 inches deep. Some areas with just a dusting and others well over a foot deep where it had drifted.

This is Bobby photographed yesterday sporting his padded Winter coat:

The view from my front door this morning:

Just a few of the many birds in the back garden digging in the snow to find the buried seed and suet pellets.

We went for our usual walk round the block this morning. The going was very slow as there were drifts at every entrance to a property where the wind had piled the snow.

It was inevitable that with so many Blackbirds visiting the garden and kicking up such a row as they squabble that it would catch the attention of a Sparrowhawk. I had already seen it make a couple of unsuccessful attempts but on a return visit it managed to catch one:

The Moon and a Confrontation.

2012-02-04T10:00:00.000Z

Last night with a clear sky and the temperature down to -4C I decided it was an ideal time to have another session photographing the Moon. This was the best of the batch:

Canon 50D 400mm 1/500sec f7.1 ISO500 cropped

Earlier, just as the light was beginning to fade, I had topped up the bird feeders and scattered some seed and suet pellets on the ground ready for the early birds the next morning. As has happened in the past a few birds were obviously watching from a nearby vantage point as it wasn't long before some Blackbirds and one lone Starling descended for a late snack. What caught my attention was a confrontation between a Blackbird and the Starling. The Blackbird was scolding the Starling and occasionally running straight towards it trying to scare it away.. The Starling stood bolt upright, still as a statue, not moving until it found an opportunity to grab a suet stick and fly off with it.

It was so funny to watch as the Starling stayed absolutely still even when the Blackbird flew straight at it. Almost good enough for a caption competition.

Friday at the Flicks - Rook - Pheasant - Tree Sparrows - Bug

2012-02-03T07:04:00.000Z

Although they have been mainly regulars, for once it has been a good week for shooting video of some of my garden visitors. First the lone Rook which perched for a while on top of the bird table. From its general looks I got the impression it was one of last year's brood though I could be wrong. (No sound on this clip)

The Cock Pheasant continues to visit. This was the first time I had seen it drink. It is using my 'nursery' pool which I use to put the frog spawn in until it has developed enough to stand a chance of surviving the fish in the main pond. After drinking it had a quick preen and then wandered across to see what seed had been spilt from one of the feeders.

The Tree Sparrows continue to visit the garden.

We have finally reached some cold weather - nowhere as bad here as the media would have people believe. To see some of the headlines you would think the whole country was covered by Arctic conditions. In face here it dipped below 0C, to -4.5C, last night. First time for ages. Anyway, like last Winter, there has been an explosion in the number of Blackbirds visiting the garden. Thursday morning I counted fifteen milling about looking for scattered seed.

Finally a bit of experimental video. A few days ago there was a small bug / beetle / weevil / whatever on my kitchen windowsill. It had been there, upside down, for a couple of days and I assumed it was dead. I decided to photograph it before disposing of it but to my surprise, once under the iPhone4 fitted with the cheap microscope (see HERE) I could see its legs were moving. This was a chance for a bit of macro video, first while it was upside down and then to try and follow it when I put it the right way up. The app used was Camera+ which I zoomed in a bit. The resulting files were zoomed in Corel Video Studio Pro 4. The bug was on my Union Flag tea towel and each weave is about 1mm wide so the bug was a little over 4mm long. Needless to say I was delighted with the result which is pretty clear even on full screen.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you, no matter where you are or what the weather.

Crafty Corvid

2012-02-01T15:52:00.000Z

Last year there was one particular Rook which could unhook the fat ball feeder so it was easier to get at the contents on the ground. Today I spotted this one trying the same thing though it couldn't quite work out how to get past the metal loop which doubles back on itself.

Wings on Wednesday - Rook

2012-02-01T08:01:00.000Z

Up to a few months ago I used to have regular visits from Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) so I was quite surprised when I spotted this lone one sat on top of the bird table. At first I though it may have been injured as it wasn't moving much but I guess it was just keeping warm in the cold breeze. They don't usually stay for long and normally beat a hasty retreat if they see me through the kitchen window. It was unusual to see a lone one as Rooks are gregarious birds and normally arrive two or more at a time. Anyway this one stayed put long enough for me to take some portraits and even long enough to set up the video camera to grab a bit of video for Friday.

They are easy to recognise with their black plumage and large pale beaks which often look gnarled or warty. I think this one would have stayed a lot longer but someone nearby started a chain saw and that was its signal to find somewhere else for a peaceful rest. It won't have had far to fly to its roost as there are at least three Rookeries within a half mile radius of my garden.

On the subject of corvids I just spotted a Magpie approaching the garden which was promptly chased away by a Collared Dove. I can't say I have ever seen a Collared Dove behave aggressively like that before now.

The pictures above were put together after I has watched this YouTube video explaining how to use layers in Photoshop Elements to make a multiple picture.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2012-01-30T17:44:00.000Z

Another set of good answers to last week's puzzle picture with Adrian, Keith, Wilma and anon gaining a for correctly identifying part of an electric fence with Jan as runner up deducing the electric part.

This was a temporary set up while some sheep were allowed to graze in what is normally an arable field.

This week we are back to a pixellated photo, in fact a crystallised photo processed in Photoshop Elements 10. Can you work out what this flying punctuation mark is?
Guess what:

No prizes, just for fun.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

2012-01-28T14:35:00.000Z

These are my observations for this year's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. The record sheet for common garden visitors can be downloaded from the RSPB site HERE. It is just to help with recognition and recording. It does not have to be sent in. You do not have to use their record sheet, any piece of paper will do to note down your observations.

Some of the colours may look a bit peculiar as my printer is having a bad ink colour day.

The full results for birds landing in my garden during a one hour period today were:

Starling        9

House Sparrow   6

Blackbird       5

Chaffinch       3

Wood Pigeon     3

Tree Sparrow    2

Dunnock         2

Crow            2

Jackdaw         2

Pheasant        1

Blue Tit        1

Great Tit       1

Magpie          1

Robin           1

Greenfinch      1

Collared Dove   1 

As ever, some of the birds which normally arrive in larger numbers stayed out of view and some I rarely see made an appearance.

Friday at the Flicks - Blackbird

2012-01-27T16:22:00.000Z

Not a lot found to video during the week. I did try for some of the Tree Sparrows but that didn't come out very well so all I have is this of a male Blackbird at the Birdy Bistro with lots of Sparrows twittering in the background:

The weather conditions have taken a nosedive today so that may encourage more birds to visit the garden over the weekend for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

Wings on Wednesday - Pheasant + Tree Sparrows + BGB

2012-01-25T10:01:00.000Z

The cock Pheasant continues to be a regular visitor to the garden.

Another regular Winter visitor is the Tree Sparrow. They spend most of the year in the hedgerows of the local fields but in Winter will often join with the House Sparrows to visit garden feeders. They seem to have bred well last season as I now get up to a dozen visiting at the same time.

BGB (RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch)
For those in the UK the weekend 28th / 29th January is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch weekend. The idea being to watch for any one hour period on one of those days to record the maximum number of each species of bird which visits a garden. Full details can be found on the RSPB site HERE.

AURORA:
Apparently the last aurora was one of the most spectacular seen in the Artic regions. Unfortunately none has been seen this far South but I did see a report that the previous display was seen at Tan Hill in Yorkshire.
A picture can be seen in The Telegraph HERE.
Also some photos on the BBC News site HERE.
Plenty of orange sky here but that was just the street lights reflecting from mist and low cloud!

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2012-01-23T08:51:00.000Z

Once again last week's puzzle photo was a resounding success with congratulations and going to John, Anon, Wilma, Adrian and Glo for identifying the ice crystals formed during an early morning frost on my garden.

On to this week's puzzle picture of a shocking find at the edge of a local field.
Guess What:

Just for fun. No prizes.

AURORA:
The effects of the CME mentioned on Saturday were later than forecast and not as extensive as had been hoped for. I understand the Aurora could be seen over the north of the American continent last night and the effect was strong enough to compress the Earth's magnetic field for a while.

This morning Sunspot 1402 erupted producing a long duration M9-class Solar flare (the most powerful kind). It is expected to give a strong glancing blow to the Earth's magnetic field on Jan 24/25.

Further information HERE on the SpaceWeather site.

I have never seen an Aurora but live in hopes, especially as we approach the peak of the 11yr cycle of Sunspot activity. One thing I have managed in the past when I was an active amateur radio enthusiast was to bounce radio signals off the charged particles during an aurora. It does strange things to radio signals and the person you are talking to sounds like they have a severe case of laryngitis as only the breathy part of the sound is left and all tone is missing. To contact someone to my East, say Holland or Germany, we both have to point our aerials towards the North to use the Aurora but if we try to communicate directly the chances are the signals that way are too weak to be detected.

My aerial setup as it was then:

Main mast bottom to top; 6m beam, 2m beam, 70cm beam and 2 times 23cm beams.
Small mast: 4m beam.
Occasionally I used to put up a set of aerials for working through amateur satellites. Great fun trying to keep a beam pointing at a satellite as it dashes across the sky above and working a transmitter at the same time.

BOBBY:
Boby is active and eating well now we seem to have his medication sorted out. The main battle is getting all the pills down him though his usual liking for jam tarts helps as the tablets hide nicely in the jam! Another is keeping up with him when we set out for a walk.

Possible Aurora 21/22 Jan 2012

2012-01-21T10:59:00.000Z

There is a possibility of Aurora activity to be good tonight for those lucky enough to be in the right place to see it.

A report on SpaceWeather.com states that active Sunspot 1401 erupted on the 19th producing an M3 class solar flare and a full halo coronal mass ejection which is expanding almost directly in the direction of the Earth. Strong magnetic storms are possible and the predicted impact is 22.30 UT (+-7 hrs) today.

A tweet from the British Geological Survey says:
Next 24hrs - QUIET. Expect STORM conditions late on Sat to Sun due to full halo CME seen on 19th. Good chance of seeing aurora in the north.

The BGS site also has the following storm warning:

On 19 January there was an M3.2 X-ray solar flare and
an associated full-halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). We expect
this CME to strike Earth's magnetosphere in the next 24 to 36 hours.

Following this event there is an increased risk of a geomagnetic
STORM from late on 21-JAN to 22-JAN (UK time). There is also an
increased chance of viewing the aurora borealis (or australis)
during local night-time hours, assuming dark and clear skies,
though this is dependent on the configuration of the interplanetary
magnetic field (IMF) embedded in the solar wind.

For a simple explanation of what causes an aurora take a look the the web site of The Center for Computational Heliophysics in Hawaii HERE.

Friday at the Flicks - A Pheasant Morning

2012-01-20T12:24:00.000Z

Once again the cock Pheasant made a brief visit to the Birdy Bistro but this time there was no room for it to get at the feeders.

When it went for a walk across the garden I threw some peanuts on the grass. It didn't take long before he was gobbling them down and didn't even mind when I sneaked out the back door with the Lumix TZ7 to shoot some video.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Wings on Wednesday - Hunting Wren

2012-01-18T07:04:00.000Z

Yesterday morning I spotted a Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) searching round the front of the Greenhouse. My apologies for the grainy shots but lighting was difficult at the time:

I spy with my little eye - something beginning with S:

As I thought - a nice juicy spider:

Let go of that web:

Got you:

Burp - pardon, manners:

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2012-01-16T06:55:00.000Z

Congratulations and a to Adrian, Keith, John, Wilma, Glo and Twosie for identifying the pixillated Hedgehog: This one was seen in the garden back in 2009.

Back to macro shots this week, taken with the microscope on the iPhone.
Guess What:

No prizes - just for fun.

Snowboarding Crow

2012-01-14T20:25:00.000Z

Found this on Huffington Post Comedy page:
Thought you might enjoy watching it

3 - 134 - 818 - 36000

2012-01-13T08:09:00.000Z

Wow. Have I really been prattling on about the wildlife visitors to my garden for 3 years? Yes according to the statistics. When I first started I wondered just how would people find this blog. Would they be interested? Would I find much to write about? It really started as an outlet for my photographs and I am more than a little surprised that the total has reached 818 blog entries. The whole experience has far exceeded my expectations. Visitors from 134 different countries have made over 36000 visits. My grateful thanks to one and all for visiting and for leaving lovely comments. If you can stand the pace then I intend to keep going for at least another 3 years.

Last Winter was very hard for our feathered friends and it was interesting that this photo from my first blog entry 3 years ago shows similar conditions:

Fortunately, so far this Winter, the birds have had an easier time as temperatures have been above average, here in Lincolnshire anyway.

I have been a bit lax visiting other blogs recently. Bobby's health has been up and down for a couple of weeks necessitating several visits to the vets to get his medication sorted out. The water tablets he was prescribed gave him a raging thirst. He was drinking so much his appetite dropped right off, even turning up his nose to all his favourite food. Things are getting better and a reduction in his medication is slowly restoring his interest in food.

To end with, here is the first video I put on my blog. A Blue Tit with puffed out feathers sheltering in a nest box on a very cold Winter's night.

As far as I can tell the nest box hasn't been used as a roost so far this Winter.

Have a great time observing the wildlife around you.

BBC Earthflight HD

2012-01-10T20:52:00.000Z

This series seems to be a repeat of one I missed.
By accident tonight I caught the first of six parts in the Earthflight series of programmes on the BBC HD channel. The series seems to be concentrating on bird migration in various parts of the world. The photography is amazing with tight close shots of birds in flight mixed with video shot from cameras on some of the birds. Added are birds eye views of the routes and various places birds stop off to find food and the way they find it. Programme One covers North America and follows Snow Geese and Bald Eagles among several species covered. The next one covers Africa.

The first programme is available on the BBC iPlayer HERE though I imagine it is only available in the UK.

If like me you live in the UK and missed the series then part one is repeated at 6 p.m. on Sunday on the BBC HD channel. I have made sure my recorder is set to record the whole series.

One to watch out for if the series migrates to the Discovery or National Geographic satellite channels in the future.

Mystery Photo on Monday - Guess What

2012-01-09T17:51:00.000Z

Last week's Guess What is difficult (as far as I am concerned) to name accurately. It is a type of polypore or bracket fungus which I found growing on an old tree stump in the garden......

..... so I think a is deserved by Andrew, Adrian, Glo, Keith and Wilma for their suggestions.

This week's mystery photo should be much easier to identify.
Guess What:

No prizes, just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Pheasant at the Birdy Bistro + Mobile Food

2012-01-06T10:17:00.000Z

One of the fat feeders was on a string which meant it revolved every time a bird pecked at it but that was no problem for a Starling which learned to peck in the direction the food was rotating.

The other day when I photographed the Pheasant visiting the Birdy Bistro I managed to take some video at the same time.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Bobby was a bit perkier yesterday and had a shot session of barking at passers by for the first time for several days. He even managed to race up and down the garden a couple of times.

A First Sign of the Spring to Come

2012-01-05T09:10:00.000Z

Towards the end of last Summer I was looking for something to replace the Lavendar bushes which had died in the front garden. I didn't want to replace them in the same position as they sprawled over the path. Any replacements need to be further back near the fence. While I was putting up the plank on the Birdy Bistro I had an idea for a long, low raised bed, mainly for Spring bulbs. All of my front garden was gravelled nearly ten years ago. Partly to cut down on the amount of grass cutting and mainly as I knew I was heading for a major operation which would curtail heavy activity for quite a while. In the gravel I planted dwarf trees and low growing bushes so it is not as bare as it sounds.

Anyway the loss of the Lavendar bushes had left a long empty space so I used some of the other planks I had to build a long, narrow flower bed. Along the back of it I planted scores of dwarf Narcissus and as a temporary measure filled the rest with Pansies. The idea is to have the bulk of the bed planted with succulents which will spread over and down the sides to hide the wood. Also I keep meaning to get some of the six inch high bamboo edging to make the front of the bed a bit more attractive.

Since then I have been patiently waiting to see when the bulbs would start to show themselves and yesterday I noticed the first to show. It could well be quite a mixture as the bulbs were rescued from a couple of old wooden planters which were falling apart so they may have got a bit mixed up. The blue labels are to remind me where the clumps of bulbs are.

Now I can start looking forward to a nice splash of Spring colour.

Last night it got really blowy. My weather station recorded one gust of 57 mph. That may not have been the strongest as it only takes a snapshot about once every fifteen seconds. Fortunately only one bit of repair needed in the back garden. A pole which holds up a pipe carrying rainwater to some barrels broke so a Heath Robinson session is needed later to make it safe.

Bobby is slowly improving. The sedative used really knocked him back. They couldn't use a general anaesthetic because of his age and heart / breathing problems. We both had a good night's sleep and he was ready for some breakfast when we came back from our early morning perambulation.

Bobby Back Home

2012-01-03T20:15:00.000Z

The old boy is feeling a bit fragile at the moment otherwise reasonable. Mainly as he hasn't been able to have his medication during the day. Magda, the vet, was surprised to see that his heart is not enlarged but an ECG confirmed a leaky valve. She was very good, showing me the three X-rays and explaining what could be seen. The main problem is some congestion in the lungs which his water tablets should help with. I've managed to entice him to eat a little and hide his medication in that. Now he is sprawled out on his chair once again, sleeping off the remains of the sedative used and catching up on his beauty sleep.

Taken a few minutes ago:

The total cost was £257 which included the 3 a.m. consultation a few nights ago (that being the most expensive item on the list), injections, X-rays, ECG and all the prescribed medication for the next month. I have seen reports of vets who charge up to that (or even much more) just for an X-ray!

Where Have all the Fat Balls Gone?

2012-01-03T14:45:00.000Z

I thought the fat balls had suddenly become very popular. Normally I need to add one to the feeder each day. Today I saw the culprit.

The idea of the 4inch (10cm) wide plank was for the smaller ground feeders to get at the seeds. As I had taken down one of the feeders a couple of days ago that obviously left just enough space for a determined Pheasant to have a seat at the Birdy Bistro.

...........

Bobby went for his X-ray at 9 a.m. this morning but I don't collect him another three hours yet so nothing to report. We were both woken at 4 a.m. this morning as the strong wind was blowing a tropical downpour straight at the front windows. I couldn't get back to sleep so we went walkabout at 5 a.m. - the rain had died down quite a bit by then. A very peaceful walking time is that with no selfish speeding motorists throwing excess spray over the footpath.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2012-01-02T16:55:00.000Z

I'm going to try out a different way of showing items for the Guess What puzzle pictures. As usual this came at the very last moment after being completely stumped for any ideas. As usual the iPad came to the rescue in the form of a free app I found today called Crazy Mosaic which pixellates photos with choice of the size for the pixel blocks. So, here is the first one along with a close view of part of the object.

Have fun. No prizes, just for fun.
In case you need a clue: It will never hold a shelf up.

.................................
Bobby has been a bit restless today, otherwise he is OK.
This is listed as a side affect of one of the tablets he has to take.

A Good Start to 2012 + Fireworks

2012-01-01T09:30:00.000Z

Bobby's new medication seems to be doing its job. He slept like a peaceful baby for much of the day, enjoyed a car ride to fill it up with petrol and had three short walks. Though I felt shattered for most of the day I decided to stay up to see if there would be any fireworks in the village at midnight. This time I had adjusted the camcorder before the event instead of leaving it to the last moment like previous years. I was surprised just how many people seem to have had a firework display to welcome in the New Year and I took about six minutes of video. This is a short selection made by overlaying two different sections of the video to make it a bit more colourful. Fortunately the camcorder doesn't show just how deafening some of them were. It is a good job that Bobby takes little notice of such noises.

Once all the excitement died down we both retired to get a good night's rest.
My very best wishes to all for a happy, peaceful 2012 and many thanks for the good wishes which have been left for Bobby.

Vet Visit Again + Happy New Year to All

2011-12-31T04:24:00.000Z

Four a.m.. Back from the vets about 10 minutes ago. Bobby was having problems every time he fell asleep. He would wake with a mighty 'cough' for want of a better description. He was struggling to get his breath. This has happened occasionally in the past but tonight it was getting rapidly worse so I phoned the vet emergency line. Luckily the vet spends her evening call out times at the surgery so I was able to drive Bobby straight there. After another check up on his heart murmur, an injection and a tablet which looked big enough to give to a horse we came home with a bag full of tablets. He goes back on Tuesday for his heart X-ray. That will probably confirm that he has an enlarged heart which is making up for the faulty valve which causes the murmur. At the moment Bobby is sprawled out in front of the fire catching up on his beauty sleep.

I was going to put this short video up later in the day but I might as well do it now.

It is our very best wishes to all for 2012.

As with the Christmas one some of the graphics were free animated GIFs from the internet.
Soundtrack was produced using iSequence on the iPad.
This shows the app with the first quarter of the tune:

Now for that cup of tea brewing in the kitchen. 4.20 a.m..Not really worth going to bed now as I am normally up by 6.30 a.m.. Thank goodness for PumpkinFM UK Comedy internet radio channel to pass the time.

Update on Bobby

2011-12-29T19:50:00.000Z

The vet took some blood from Bobby this morning and has just phoned with the results. Slight anaemia which is probably age related. Otherwise liver and kidney functions were OK. She wants to give him a chest X-ray and ECG in the new year as his heart murmur is worse than the last time it was checked - level 5 on a scale of 1 to 6 (6 being the worst). This is to check for any fluid around the heart and work out the best treatment.

This morning's incident was neurological in that his back legs gave way, not for the first time. Back leg and heart problems are 'normal' for older sighthounds (greyhounds, lurchers, etc.) and at 14 Bobby has reached a grand age for his breed.

Although stiff from being prodded about and somewhat tired B has eaten well and had a short, slow walk. I think his neck must have a cold spot where it was shaved to get at a vein. For the moment we continue with his half tablet of Previcox (anti-inflammatory) daily plus occasional Tramadol for painful days.

I doubt there will be a Friday at the Flicks tomorrow but all being well there should be a Saturday at the Cinema.

Off to the Vets

2011-12-29T08:51:00.000Z

Had to make a quick appointment to take Bobby to see the vet later on this morning. First thing today the poor old fellow had a fit of some sort - possibly a mild heart attack as he has had a heart murmur for a while. At 14 he is getting on a bit for a Lurcher so some old age health problems are to be expected.

Yesterday I had my own annual check up and was pleased, and relieved, to find that the results were all on the good side.

Wings on Wednesday

2011-12-28T07:02:00.000Z

I had taken to scattering a few peanuts around the bottom of the garden for the Pheasant, which I haven't seen for a couple of days. I did think a Grey Squirrel might come in and bury some of them but I had forgotten something. It's not only squirrels which stash food away for harder times, so do Magpies.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-12-26T09:07:00.000Z

There was just one correct identification to last week's Guess What so congratulations and the go to John for correctly identifying `Stinking` Iris seed head (Iris foetidissima).

In spite of its name I can't say I have ever noticed any particular odour though it is said that the crushed or bruised leaves can have a beefy smell.

No new Guess What this week. All things being equal they will start again in the new year.

Makes a Change from a Christmas Robin

2011-12-24T09:58:00.000Z

No apologies for yet another photo of the Pheasant who has become a daily visitor. He is gradually getting used to me being around though he still looks at me cautiously. Yesterday I was able to get within 12 feet (4m) of him for a closer shot as I had been aiming to get a reasonable portrait.

Bobby and I wish all our readers a happy, peaceful end to 2011.

Friday at the Flicks - Merry Christmas + A Pheasant Visits

2011-12-23T07:13:00.000Z

Best wishes to all:

Background images found as public domain animated GIFs on the web;
Sound Track: Carol of the Bells by Mykola Leontovych arranged by William Wallace and produced using the app iSequence on the iPad. That was only my second attempt at creating music with iSequence.
Animated GIFs needed to be converted to AVI files. For this I found a very useful free open source utility VirtualDub which can be found HERE. Animated GIFs make very short AVI files so they need to be added many times to the time line in video editing software to build up a reasonable sequence length.

The site mp3skull has access to many different performances of Carol of the Bells.
This is one of my favourites (to listen click the play button)
01 - Carol Of The Bells

Powered by mp3skull.com

Earlier in the week a Cock Pheasant made one of its occasional early morning visits to my garden. In the second clip you can see how large a Pheasant is when a male Chaffinch can be seen feeding in the same area.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Wings on Wednesday - Return of the Pheasant

2011-12-21T08:21:00.000Z

Early yesterday morning I spotted a Cock Pheasant on the roof of my shed. He was cautiously looking round and moving slowly towards the edge ready to fly down to see if there was any food to be had. After a short while he took the plunge and spent quite a while finding scattered seed in the grass. I took a lot of photographs but it was so overcast that even with the ISO dialled right up to 3000 shutter speeds rarely got past 1/150th sec.

These are the best of the bunch as the main problem was firing the camera when his head was still.

As he stayed in the garden for a reasonable length of time I also managed to take some video, which, all things being equal, should be available for Friday at the Flicks.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-12-19T18:44:00.000Z

Another good week last week with a being gained by Adrian, Wilma, Matron and Glo identifying the 5p coin and Keith recognising it as a coin.

I think it is only this particular issue which has all the pitting over its surface. So far I haven't found another which looks like that.

For the last chance to gain a Gold Star this year here is a complete object for once.
Guess What:

Result next Monday but the next Guess What will be in January.

No prizes - just for fun.

Basketweave Bobby

2011-12-18T10:11:00.000Z

OK, so I got bored as it is freezing outside. I though I would have a play with the free PS filter plug-in "AAA Blender"

which can be found .HERE. Included with the plug-in are a few border / frame masks and backgrounds but more frame masks can be downloaded from HERE and more texture backgrounds from Textureking HERE.

This is the result of using a basketweave texture and then adding a frame mask in the AAA Blender filter.

Yesterday I was really pleased to see a small group of Long-tailed Tits arrive in the garden. The first sighting for well over a year. Now the early morning temperature is around 0C I have the usual gathering of Blackbirds. Just as it started to get light I counted at least eleven around the back garden. It's about the only time I see so many males together without furious squabbles.Talking of birds squabbling - if you haven't seen Keith's video of Green Woodpeckers disputing a feeding area then it is well worth nipping over to "Caldecotte Lake - Dancing Woodpeckers" where Keith was fortunate enough to take some video of this unusual and rarely seen activity.

Cold but Nice Sunrise

2011-12-17T09:42:00.000Z

Plenty of frost and ice about this morning but with few clouds in the sky there was a colourful sunrise for a short while. The view from my front door - minus telephone wires and pole.

An atry farty picture of a corvid on the telephone wire:

Friday at the Flicks - More Regular Bird Visitors

2011-12-16T11:58:00.000Z

It has been one of those mornings. The latest version of Corel Video Studio Pro X4 is just as bad as the previous version for playing silly beggars when trying to load video clips from DV tape. This morning it got within three clips of the end of 26 minutes of filming when it decided to play it all backwards right back to the beginning and then stopped. Fortunately it had stored most of the clips on the hard drive.

Anyway I did eventually manage to produce the following video of some of the birds which have visited in the past week:

Soundtrack: "Littbe River" from the free iPad app ":)Natural Music - Spiritual Pleasures" which is availabe for download through iTunes.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Wings on Wednesday - Collared Doves

2011-12-14T15:00:00.000Z

As usual these past few weeks the lighting has been abysmal for decent photography, especially of birds at the feeders as the Birdy Bistro only catches the Sun for about an hour each day at this time of year.

The Collared Doves were quick to work out that the plank I put under the feeders was just right for them to reach feeders they never normally manage to get near.

Macro on Monday - Guess What + iPhone Microscope Revisited

2011-12-12T09:58:00.000Z

Yes folks, last weeks 'Guess What' was a fungus, whether it would be classified as a toadstool or as a mushroom I have no idea. Either way congratulations and go to Adrian, Keith, John, Wilma and Glo.

The best identification I could come up with is the Sphagnum Brownie (Hypholoma elongatum) which, along with dozens of others, was growing in the moss in my back garden.

I was at a loss until the last minute this morning as to what to use for this week's puzzle picture. A while ago I showed how a cheap tiny hand held microscope could be used with an iPhone to get quite reasonable micro / macro photos. At that time I had to hold the microscope next to the phone's camera lens. Since then I bought a package which included another microscope and a purpose made holder which clips on the phone.

The plate which holds the microscope just clips on the phone and the eyepiece of the microscope plugs in the hole. The fit is quite stiff and needs some pressure but as the plastic of the holder is flexible and not brittle pressure can be applied without fear of cracking it.

The new microscope was advertised as 60x magnification. The first one I bought was 45x. Now these are area magnifications. i.e. 45x bigger area which is about 6.7x linear. A 1mm long object should appear about 6.7mm long when viewed through the magnifier. Others who have reviewed these things have stated that the figures seem optimistic and in reality probably somewhat smaller in real life.

After a few test shots I found the 45x gave superior results. I found it difficult to get the 60x in focus and the results were not as sharp. These things do not have a manufacturers name and may have come from different sources or there may be little in the way of quality control. It is possible to buy the holding plate by itself and I think some are advertised with the 45x microscope.

The bottom of the microscope consists of a clear plastic cylinder with part cut away to let the LEDs shine through. The unit is in focus when this is resting on the object to be photographed which makes it easy to use. So far I haven't needed to use the LEDs as the phone camera is quite sensitive and there has been enough external daylight.

At last I get round to this week's mystery photo (sighs of relief all round) taken with the above set up using the 45x magnifier and the Camera+ app.
Guess What:

Clue: The Beatles said it can't buy me love.

No prizes. Just for fun.

A Doggy Christmas

2011-12-11T10:03:00.000Z

Though it has been around for quite a while I have only just found this brilliant video on YouTube:

Dogs decorate a Christmas Tree.

Of course Bobby, being a typical laid back sighthound, leaves such mundain tasks to 'He Who Must Be Obeyed, When It Suits'.

My thanks to Adrian - Adrian's Images - for pointing out in one of his comments how to make animated GIFs in Elements.

Friday at the Flicks - Hoverfly - Garden Pond

2011-12-09T11:07:00.000Z

There has been little opportunity to video anything new this past week so I had a look through some old videos that I haven't used yet. The first was shot in October 2009 when Hoverflies were showing great interest in the Ivy flowers.

The second is a view of my pond. This was never meant to be a public video. In March last year I got it into my head to attempt to build a 'steady cam' as the commercial ones seem so expensive. The idea is that the camera is mounted under a universal joint which, with counterbalance weights, is supposed to keep the camera view steady as the operator moves. I think I can claim it was partially successful. I tested it out as I walked up and down beside my garden pond.

The idea was to improve the design this past Summer but, as usual, that got buried on the Round Tuit pile.
The pond is just a large rectangular shape and very shallow as it was originally designed for testing radio controlled boats. That didn't last very long and I have been lucky that, with addition of pond plants, it has matured and attracts a variety of wildlife which includes, frogs, newts, damselflies and dragonflies.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Wings on Wednesday

2011-12-07T09:51:00.000Z

My one and only nature photograph this week was so grotty I ended up having a play with a set of freeware plug-in filters to see what I could come up with that might be worth looking at. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and very subjective.

First the original was cropped:

A couple of examples made using the freeware 'Harry's Filters' which can be found for downloading HERE on The Plugin Site. Borders were added using the free 'Border Mania' plug-in which can be downloaded from HERE.

I wonder if you see the same optical illusion I noticed. To me the bird in the first arty farty picture appears to be flying towards me but away in the second.

Macro on Monday - Guess What + Robin Nest Box

2011-12-05T13:12:00.000Z

A better response for last week's Guess What with Adrian, John and Glo gaining a   for identifying the pond snail along with Wilma who identified it as some sort of snail.



On to a new puzzle picture.
A couple of microscope shots and the rest small crops from the TZ7.
Guess What:

I'm not expecting a specific identification, just a general name will do.

No prizes. Just for fun.

Robin Nest Box
While doing some pruning and general tidying up at the bottom of the garden I had a look in the Robin nest box. I was pleased to see that it contained a nest so something had made use of it for the first time in the three years it has been available.



I think some leaves have been blown in recently but the nesting moss can be seen under them. The box was empty last time I checked which was after the Great Tits had fledged their box in June.

Friday at the Flicks - Birdy Bistro Regulars

2011-12-02T07:28:00.000Z

This week I concentrated on filming the regulars at the feeders. A few would not stay in one place long enough to be included like the Robin and Wren.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you wherever you are.

Pheasant for Breakfast

2011-11-30T09:50:00.002Z

Maybe the title should have read Pheasant at Breakfast as that was just what happened at the Birdy Bistro this morning. Simply awful conditions for photography so here are a couple of snapshots which had to taken at ISO 3000. At 1200 the shutter speed was about 1/5 second with the lens wide open!

Not my morning for good photography. I also managed to record some video as it passed near the 'Hedgehog' camera but the recorder was playing up and showing a lot of coloured blocks. I did take a lot out by dropping out those frames in Corel Video Studio Pro X4 (yes I did manage to get a cheap copy in the Amazon Black Friday Event last week).

While on the subject of Hedgehogs it looks as though my regular visitor has decided to hibernate at last. Four days running the dried mealworms have still been there the following morning, much to the delight of the invading Starlings which polish them off in about 10 seconds.

Macro on Monday - Guess What + Internet Radio

2011-11-28T10:03:00.000Z

Well, well. Yet again I get to keep all the virtual gold stars to myself. Last week's Guess What was a close view of some sheep's wool I found blowing down the lane some time ago.

Maybe this week things will be a bit easier.
Guess What:

No prizes, just for fun.

Internet Radio
It is only fairly recently that I have found the pleasure of listening to radio through the internet. Being a founder member of the Grumpy Old Man community I find a lot of modern so called comedy far from funny and do not see the need for foul language to make a joke funny, just the opposite. It was a real pleasure when I tried a couple of apps on the iPad to access internet radio sites. My first search was for comedy channels, UK comedy as a lot of modern US humour goes straight over my head.

I was overjoyed to find Abacus.fm which has a large variety of stations for all tastes. My favourites being 'The Goon Show' and 'British Comedy' channels. Also found was PumpkinFM, for their 'British Comedy' channel. On a different theme another favourite of mine is The UK 1940s Radio Station which broadcasts swing / big band music from that era. On the music side I like a wide variety of styles from classical through to some of the 'head banging' modern styles and there are stations to cater for all of this.

I soon got dissatisfied with the sound from the small speaker in the iPad and bought a Roberts internet radio. It refused to connect to my wireless internet connection, even after more than an hour of help from the Roberts help line. Fortunately it works well through a firewire connection to the router but I would have liked it portable rather than tethered.

Sunset in Black and White and Colour

2011-11-26T19:27:00.001Z

Lovely Sunset this evening so took a few snaps with the Lumix. What I wanted to end up with was a photo with the sky in colour and the foreground in greyscale. I did manage it after fiddling around in Elements for about an hour and a half. Although I have just finished it I doubt I could remember what I did to repeat the effect.

I'm not sure the end result was worth the trials and tribulations but was a way of trying to come to terms with Elements 10. It's a powerful program, a tad more powerful than me I fear.

Friday at the Flicks - Female Blackcap

2011-11-25T09:22:00.000Z

It was a good job I managed to take some photos and a few bits of video of the female Blackcap when she visited as she only stayed a couple of days. You can see how small she is (a little smaller than a House Sparrow) when a Great Tit lands next to her. Notice also that birds, with their eyes set at the side of their heads, have to tilt their heads to one side to find the next seed they are going to eat.

Sound Track: "Your Smile" from the iPhone / iPad app "[SPA] Spirits Massage - The Sound of Moving " available as a free download on the iTunes App Store,

iPhone as a Microscope - Experiment

2011-11-24T15:37:00.004Z

I had read about using the iPhone camera as a simple microscope so decided to try for myself. First I needed an extra bit if kit. In this case a "Mini 45x Microscope with Illuminator" which is a mere £4.99 from Amazon UK, plus postage. This is a tiny hand held microscope and can be seen as the double barrelled object in the following photo. The barrel with the black cap is the microscope and the other holds three tiny batteries for the two built in LEDs for illumination when needed. As an easily portable simple hand held microscope it works well, especially when you consider the price. How would it work on the iPhone?

It is quite tricky holding the microscope in just the right place - in line with the camera lens of the iPhone.
When I first tried it with the standard phone app all I got was a small circle in the centre of the screen but using the app Camera+ which allows better magnification the view could be made larger.
Not the most brilliant of pictures but the following two shots are of what I assume to be a weevil of some sort (possibly a biscuit beetle) which arrived in a bag of broken dog biscuits. As can be seen from the photo above they are small, about 4mm long so as a cheap microscope the setup does a reasonable job.

The photos are unedited - exactly as taken by the phone.
The idea came from something I saw on the net. In that description the author had cemented the microscope to a clear plastic clip on shell for the iPhone. I was sure the article was on the Instructables site but I can't find it at the moment. There are lots of other ideas on there to achieve similar results.

I was wrong. You can see the original idea on the Crabfu blog HERE where there is a YouTube video.

Female Blackcap

2011-11-23T21:42:00.000Z

Just another practice session with Elements. The original is somewhat grainy as it was taken in dull weather. Basically it was cropped, contrast enhanced, sharpened and then everything except the bird was blurred to make her stand out.

That could have been my last chance to photograph her as she only stayed for a couple of days.

A First Quick Fumble With Photoshop Elements 10

2011-11-23T14:04:00.001Z

I dropped lucky yesterday. Amazon are having a Black Friday Sale this week. In the sale certain products from across their full range are available at reduced prices though in limited numbers and for limited times. When I looked PS Elements 10 was available for half price so I grabbed a copy. It arrived this morning and this is my first attempt to fumble my way round a different photo program.

Lovely Sunrise this morning so I took a few snaps with the Lumix TZ10 by taking a light reading from the brightest part of the sky and then lowering the view. This is the one I tried in Elements:

Before:

After:

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-11-21T10:25:00.000Z

At last I can award some virtual which go to Keith, Adrian and Wilma for identifying the various views of a padlock which was indeed made by Yale.

Just the one view today
Guess What:

Clue: Not enough to keep much of you warm.

Just for fun.
No prizes for a correct identification.

Female Blackcap

2011-11-19T10:02:00.003Z

The extra plank I put on the Birdy Bistro seems to be doing the job of attracting birds which prefer not to sit on feeder perches. Today I got a very brief glimpse of a bird I haven't seen in the garden before now. Hopefully it was a female Blackcap.

My thanks to Keith (Caldecotte Lake) for a confirmation of its ID. In fact it was seeing the small birds feeding on the bridge rails in his videos which gave me the idea of putting up a flat surface for the birds to feed on.

Poor, rushed photos taken just before it disappeared:

It returned later giving a few more opportunities for a better shot:

An Unwelcome Visitor

2011-11-18T08:36:00.000Z

Another Friday without any new flicks. The video camera was just in the wrong position this morning. Earlier in the week I had added a platform to the Birdy Bistro for those birds which prefer to stand on a flat surface to eat. That meant I could spread out the seed to give better chances for photography. It got better than I anticipated this morning. Soon after a hoard of Starlings had flown in for an early breakfast they all disappeared and a larger shape landed on the platform. It was the local Sparrowhawk. A magnificent bird to look at but a most unwelcome visitor for those who had been enjoying their seeds. It was unfortunate that it took up a position behind the wires which lead to the lights which illuminate the Hedgehog feeding area but for the final photo below I did clone them out with judicious use of the Wireworm plugin.

Even after the Sparrowhawk had departed it was at least 20 minutes before any of the small birds returned.

Wings on Wednesday G-BVDC and a Dunnock

2011-11-16T08:02:00.000Z

Heard a light aircraft nearby yesterday so rushed out with the Canon. It was a Van's RV-3 kit aircraft dating from 1994. This monoplane is a single seater and capable of speeds in excess of 200mph with a 150hp engine. It can carry about 30 gallons of fuel giving a range of 600 miles.

Several birds seen in the garden yesterday including a Crow, a couple of Magpies, a couple of Great Tits and a Blue Tit but only one of the regular Dunnocks hung around long enough for a photo session.

The array of blunt plastic spikes are to discourage the local cats from getting too close to the camera nestbox which is below them.

Christmas Tree

2011-11-15T11:16:00.000Z

Many years ago my then next door neighbour planted her Christmas Tree in her garden. As she said - it had two choices, grow or die. It decided to grow. Even though it was cut down by half a year ago it is still a good twenty feet tall and produces a magnificent array of cones:

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-11-14T10:22:00.000Z

Oh dear, and there was me thinking last week's puzzle picture was too easy. How wrong can I be? Once again I get to keep all the gold stars for myself. To put you out of your misery it was various parts of a measuring tape - easy when you know the answer.

I wonder how you will get on with the new puzzle picture
Guess What:

For this one I got round to using the 350D with bellows and Asahi Super Takumar 55mm lens. First time for quite a while. For some time I have puzzled over what to use to light macro subjects. In the past I have used a couple of home brew LED lamps but they were really too dim. A while ago I bought a 12V LED ring lamp (designed for car headlamp / side light use).

Yesterday I finally took it off the Round Tuit pile and tried it out, just holding it in place in front of the lens. The results were surprisingly good. I could see to focus easily, stop down the lens for the first time, and shutter speed was reasonable. That made my mind up to invest in an LED ring flash which I have just ordered. Not as powerful as a traditional ring flash, but one tenth of the price! Coupled with what I already have it should work reasonably well.

Back to today's Guess What. No prizes. Just for fun.

No Peanuts? Try Some Bread!

2011-11-11T10:35:00.001Z

First Friday without any new flicks for a long time. Too dull and very little activity in the garden. This Grey Squirrel was too fast to capture on video but I did manage a few stills as it kept changing its mind as to the best place to eat the piece of bread it had found.

Little Miss Muffet's Companion?

2011-11-09T08:48:00.001Z

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

When I was late putting out some food for the Hedgehog a few nights ago I spotted a garden orb spider in its web. Even though the night was dark I decided to attempt to take a few photographs. Amazingly the Lumix TZ7 did a splendid job using its red LED to give just enough light to auto focus before firing the flash. (The Lumix does not have manual focus)

As the web was strung up in the open I was able to photograph from both sides.

I was more than a bit pleased that the web, which can be very difficult to capture in daylight, showed up well under flash photography, especially with the dark background. To give an idea of scale; the spider is, at the most, about 20mm long with legs outstretched.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-11-07T11:30:00.000Z

Oh dear. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the suggestions that last week's Guess What was a morphed version of me. Either way it has saved me a few gold stars as nobody sussed out the real identity.

In fact it was one of the carvings on the village church, not a gargoyle as it is not a water spout and not really fanciful enough to be a grotesque.

Back down to earth with the new puzzle picture.
Guess What

Just for fun. No prizes for a correct identification.

Where Have all the Birds Gone? + Hedgehog Visitor

2011-11-06T08:19:00.000Z

It has become a rare event to see a bird in the garden recently. The only regulars are a couple of Dunnocks. Even the Wood Pigeons and House Sparrows have deserted the garden. Part of the reason will be an outbreak of the dreaded Finch Disease (Trichomonosis). About ten days ago I saw two Greenfinches and one Goldfinch showing typical symptoms of the disease. That meant I had to take down the feeders from the Birdy Bistro to discourage the birds from gathering in large numbers. I did put one small seed feeder in a different part of the garden and a couple of peanut feeders with a mix of peanuts and fat pellets but there have been hardly any takers.

The only other regular is a Hedgehog. I rarely see it as it is normally a late visitor but last night it was feeding on dried mealworms about 7.30 p.m. so I managed a bit of video:

I wouldn't normally expect to see one visiting regularly at this time of year but until very recently night temperatures have been in double figures so it has probably been too warm to think about hibernating.

Occupying Time When Retired

2011-11-02T09:52:00.000Z

Another brilliant e-mail received this morning:

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting. Well, for example, the other day, Bev, my wife, and I went into town and visited a shop.

When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

We went up to him and I said, 'Come on, man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?' He ignored us and continued writing the ticket.

I called him an “a--hole” . He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tyres.

So Bev called him a “s--t head”. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.

We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age.

Macro on Monday - Halloween

2011-10-31T06:27:00.001Z

No - that isn't the Guess What?
Just me playing around with the app Hallows Eve HD on the iPad.
The village churchyard with a few added extras.

First congratulations and go to Richard and Adrian who correctly identified the Yew in last week's Guess What.

This week's Guess What has a Halloween theme.

(Not exactly a macro!)
Can you identify what was used as the character in this video clip?

Video made using the iPad app Morfo Booth, fortunately before I loaded iOS5 as the app no longer works properly and the company hasn't even bothered to acknowledge the report I sent them.

As always, no prizes, just for fun.

Finally a Halloween greeting from Bobby

Animated GIFs found on Curlys Halloween site.

Do you Know an Eric?

2011-10-29T13:28:00.000+01:00

Another one of the great emails I receive from time to time:

As we Silver Surfers know, sometimes we have trouble with our computers.

I had a problem yesterday, so I called Eric, the 11 year old next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over.
Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.
As he was walking away, I called after him, 'So, what was wrong ?
He replied, 'It was an ID ten T error.'

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless enquired,

'An, ID ten T error ? What's that? In case I need to fix it again.'

Eric grinned .... 'Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before ?

'No,' I replied.

'Write it down,' he said, 'and I think you'll figure it out.'
So I wrote down:

ID10T

I used to like Eric, the little s**t head.

Friday at the Flicks - Squirrel Raider - Hedgehog

2011-10-28T07:15:00.001+01:00

The same morning I took the photos of a Grey Squirrel helping itself to some peanuts I managed to grab some video clips. It hasn't been back since Sunday so I guess it's raiding someone else's bird feeders.

Soundtrack produced using the iPad app Loopseque (free version).
(Patiently waiting for an update so it will work with iOS5)

Every now and then I check the camera view in the nestbox. There are a number of fluffy feathers which were not there the previous week so someone has shown an interest. In fact the last time there were so many small feathers was when two birds had a battle over who was going to use the nest. So far it hasn't been used as a night roost.

Still from the nest box camera:

I still see a Hedgehog from time to time and most of the food disappears every night so at least one is still awake.

A few nights ago I nearly had to rescue the Hedgehog. It was at the water dish drinking when Bobby went out. As Bobby neared the hog it started to curl up. Unfortunately it was curling with its nose under water and I could see bubbles rising so I quickly called Bobby away and it soon scuttled off..

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-10-24T19:25:00.000+01:00

Congratulations and go to Keith, John and Wilma for correctly identifying the ladybird in last Monday's Guess What. It was one of many 7 spot Ladybirds I have seen this year.

There have been more about than I have seen for quite a few years. Recently I also spotted the first Harlequin Ladybird I have seen in the village.

This week's mystery object is a bit large to be called a macro ;)

Guess What:

No prizes. Just for fun.

I Spy With My Little Eye ....

2011-10-23T10:06:00.000+01:00

... A PEANUT THIEF

I watched this morning as a Grey Squirrel helped itself to peanuts from one of the feeders and proceeded to bury them in various places around the garden.

You may need to click on this to enlarge it:

I think every planter had at least one peanut buried in it.

Friday at the Flicks - Goldfinch Invasion, Restored 1943 Ford GPW

2011-10-21T09:37:00.000+01:00

Up to last week the number of Goldfinches visiting the Birdy Bistro had been slowly increasing. There were far too many for them all to find perches so many had to make do hunting round the lawn and weeds to find food. The numbers decreased as the daytime temperatures dropped. Maybe other people have started to put out feeders for the Winter.

Now for something completely different. Roy, who lives in the village, has a great interest in old military vehicles. His latest project was restoring a 1943 Ford GPW which is now in full working order. I managed to grab a short piece of video one day as he drove down the lane. It is deliberately slow to give me time to take the video. This is a combination of some photos I took for his insurers who wanted records of everything and the piece of video.

Have fun observing the wildlife wherever you live.

First Visit This Year

2011-10-20T12:53:00.000+01:00

Up to something like eighteen months ago I used to have regular, often daily, visits by a Grey Squirrel. For some reason the visits stopped, until this morning when this character was seen eyeing up the Birdy Bistro. After a quick look it decided that it had better come back later when Bobby wasn't watching.

Wings on Wednesday - It's My Garden

2011-10-19T07:32:00.000+01:00

A few days ago I spotted a couple of Wood Pigeons having a bit of a contretemps. It looked as though one had decided the other wasn't welcome in his garden.

There was a lot of fluttering and leaping about but neither came to any harm.

The slideshow was put together using the app Splice (free version) on the iPad.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-10-17T13:30:00.000+01:00

Only two winners of a for correctly identifying the acorn in last Monday's Guess What. Congratulations to Wilma and Keith.

This week the macros are a bit on the fuzzy side as they are very small crops but I think it should be fairly easy to identify.

Guess What:

No prizes - just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Greenfinch

2011-10-14T10:35:00.000+01:00

I didn't have anything new last Wednesday for the Wings and today is no better as the weather has been awful most of the week with lighting levels less than an average mid winter. Here is a short video of a Greenfinch which visited the feeders last March - good job I have a few clips which I haven't uploaded yet.

Easy to tell yesterday was a 13th. Decided to update my iPad1 to the latest iOS5 and wished I hadn't bothered. All told it took 12 hours to get the iPad back to a reasonable, though not fully, working order. Looking round some of the blogs I see I was far from being alone in having problems. The installation of the new operating system seemed to go smoothly but when it came to restoring all the apps there were many problems, crashes, loud ungentlemanly mutterings and lots of cold cups of tea.

One 'bright light in a wicked world' A favourite free app of mine is 'eBook Search' which is great for finding and downloading free ebooks on the iPad. This stopped downloading with iOS5 so I emailed Patrick Thompson, the founder of Inkstone Software, who maintains the app and within a few hours he had an updated version available for download. I tested that. Brilliant, it is now back to a fully working piece of software.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-10-10T14:55:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you, but to me the weeks seem to be rushing past these days. Here we are again, another Monday galloped up on me.
Anyway - five virtual to award to Adrian, John, Wilma, Matron and Glo as they all correctly identified the spider in last Monday's Guess What.

The Nursery Rhyme goes:

The itsy, bitsy spider, climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
So the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again.

but this one was a bit on the larger size.

I wonder if I will get as many correct answers for this one...

Guess What:

Don't be shy. Have a guess. No prizes, just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Bobby

2011-10-07T08:23:00.000+01:00

And now, as they say, for something completely different. A few weeks ago there was a news item about some slow motion film made which showed how dogs drink. It showed how a dog curves the tongue backwards to scoop up the liquid. The speed at which this happens draws up a column of liquid and by quickly closing the mouth a quantity is trapped in the mouth.

I wondered if I could film this myself with Bobby just using the TZ7 and slowing the playback down enough to see what was going on. The result is shown below. The first part of the video runs at 1/10 speed and it does a reasonable job of showing the drinking action.

Some of the original film, shown on the Discovery channel, can be found here on YouTube.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife, and domestic life, around you.

Wings on Wednesday

2011-10-05T10:16:00.000+01:00

There are often light aircraft flying near or over the village, especially at weekends. A very distinctive one I have seen several times over the past few years is this Pitts S1-C amateur build biplane.

A very smart looking aeroplane designed for aerobatics. I see, from looking round the net, that at one stage it had been rebuilt as a seven year project and was on sale for £26,000

Back nearer earth sees the return of Jackdaws. They had been missing for a couple of months but are now back attacking the bread I put out for the corvids.

They don't stay for long when they notice anyone watching.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-10-03T09:02:00.000+01:00

I would reckon on two and a half last week. It was weathered stone but Adrian and Glo completed the identification of a stone cross which is one of the gravestones in the village churchyard. Glo even went and found the meaning of the carved inscription. (See her comment last Monday)

Back to macro this week with a few small crops from a photo.

Guess what:

All are welcome to try. Just for fun. No prizes apart from the virtual gold stars for correct identifications.

Friday at the Flicks - Hedgehogs

2011-09-30T10:05:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I set up the Panasonic hard drive camcorder up to film any birds bathing in the garden pond waterfall. It has the advantage of being able to film unattended for long periods as there is space for over 25 hours of video on the hard drive and a decent battery will last for about 2.5 hrs. I tried three sessions totalling about 1.5 hrs - result - nothing! Not a single bird though I chose times which are normally popular with the birds. Typical.

I did manage to get a few views of the hedgehogs which visit after dark. There are at least two which visit every night.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife wherever you are.

Wings on Wednesday

2011-09-28T09:32:00.001+01:00

Glorious day yesterday. Set up the 350D to take some automatic photos of any birds visiting the garden pond waterfall. Lighting not so good as the Sun is lower in the sky so the depth of focus wasn't great.

Mainly House Sparrows. Not a good photo but gives an idea of how well they have been breeding this year.

Of course Starlings cannot resist a good bath either.....

... making sure everyone else gets a good shower at the same time.

Back with the Sparrows I have been pleased to see a few Tree Sparrows returning to the feeders after spending the Summer in the local hedgerows. Young House Sparrow at the top, Tree Sparrow underneath.

Another missed photo: (Bee or Moth?)

While I was seeing what to prune out of the remaining Lavender bush I spotted a new visitor. Was it a bee or a moth? It looked much like the Hummingbird Hawk Moth photos I have looked at but the descriptions say the size is 35 to 45 mm wingspan and my visitor seemed smaller than that. The body looked just like a smallish bumblebee, it had the straight snout sticking out in front and hovered like a hummingbird. Of course I dashed in for the TZ7 but it had gone by the time I got back and I haven't seen it again.

My Sketch iPhone / iPad app - Free for a short while

2011-09-26T10:37:00.003+01:00

My Sketch iPad / iPhone App

Just found this app which is free for a very short while. It takes a colour photo and turns it into a sketch with a choice of 20 slightly different effects. Needless to say I couldn't resist trying it out while it is free (normally £1.49) and was absolutely delighted with the results. One example:

I tend to transfer photos from the PC to the iPad for some processing as there are some great easy to use apps. This one has one disadvantage at the moment. The photo can be cropped but seems to have a fixed aspect ratio. If the original is not that shape some will be missing on the finished result. Not a problem unless the original is closely cropped to start with.

If it interests you then search for My Sketch on the iTunes app store.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-09-26T08:20:00.000+01:00

Brilliant! Once again all five guesses were correct in identifying the frog last week. Congratulations and virtual go to Keith, Adrian, Wilma, Matron and Glo.

What a lovely patient subject it was as I poked the lens within a few inches and once again the Panasonic TZ7 performed beautifully on still and movie settings. There are many times I feel I get better results from this little camera than I do from my Canon equipment costing ten times as much.

And now, as they say, for something completely different. There is nothing macro or micro about this inanimate object.

Guess what:

Just for fun, no prizes for a correct guess. Just that glow of satisfaction and a virtual gold star.

Friday at the Flicks - Red Admiral Feeding on Ivy

2011-09-23T08:37:00.000+01:00

Some weeks, like last week, there is plenty to video. Others there is nothing until the last minute, like this week. Until midday yesterday I had no new video clips when I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly on some Ivy near the bottom of the garden. I needed a camcorder with a powerful zoom so I dug out the Panasonic with its 70x optical zoom and, even though it hadn't been used for nearly a year, found the battery was still fully charged. I started filming trough the kitchen window and then gradually moved closer. Fortunately the flutter stayed for quite a long while. The only problem with the 70x zoom is some purple colour fringing round high contrast areas otherwise it does a decent job. The camera was tripod mounted so movement is the result of a breezy day.

I missed another opportunity to snap the Grey Heron this morning. Spotted it cautiously making its way to the garden pond but it noticed me and when I got it nicely framed as it took off - the camera refused to take the shot! Such are the frustrations of nature photography.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you wherever you are.

Wings for Wednesday - Those Goldfinches and a Comma

2011-09-21T11:36:00.001+01:00

Really bustling activity at the Birdy Bistro this morning.

To finish with, a Comma Butterfly which actually waited while I got the mobile phone near enough for a decent shot.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

2011-09-19T08:29:00.000+01:00

Great, all five guesses last week were correct so Adrian, John, Keith, Wilma and Glo are all awarded my congratulations and a for correctly identifying the garden snail.

Yes Wilma. That was the eye stalk. Once again the photo was taken with the TZ7 and small crops used. Thank you Glo for the witty explanation as to why you were later than usual. (Follow the link in last Monday's comments)

On to this week's puzzle picture. I am sure you will not need any clues from Miss Piggy to help with the identification of this creature.

Guess What:

Just for fun. No prizes except a virtual gold star for a correct identification.