Wednesday 17 April 2013

Green and Brown and Things

Why is it always dull when I see something interesting, to me anyway, I want to photograph? A couple of grainy photos of infrequent visitors to my garden feeders, a Greenfinch and a female Blackcap on the same feeder:

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The Blackcap is a fleeting visitor who will probably move on soon. Greenfinch numbers have suffered greatly in this area with many succumbing to finch disease over the past three years.


The laptop duly arrived on time. It is hard to believe it is second hand, not a mark on it. Soon had it logged in to my wireless network and tried out in the summerhouse. Much to my relief it worked perfectly:

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Some things I like the iPad for but for browsing / surfing I find a 10 inch screen is too small. Now I am grappling and coming to terms with Windozy 7 as my main PC is still using XP. One of the reasons, besides cost, for buying s/h was that most new ones I was interested in now seem to have Windozy 8 loaded and I have no interest in that. I might have been tempted to go for a Mac of some sort but even used ones seem to cost the earth.


A few signs of Spring - finally there is frog spawn in the pond:

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My primulas are flowering, when the ungrateful birds stop pulling them up and today I had the first wasp indoors. I killed a couple today. They were both very dopey and lethargic so I guess they had recently become active. The more early ones I can dispatch the fewer nests there will be later in the year.

11 comments:

  1. the birds are both beauties! glad the laptop is great!

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  2. Hi John, Well done with the garden visitors. Oddly, I think Greenfinches are probably the birds I get in the largest numbers at my feeders although I have had the odd one fall victim to the horrible disease from time to time.

    Good to see the frogspawn too.

    So glad the laptop turned up in good condition. I use my iPad more than my laptop nowadays. I prefer it for surfing and for commenting on blogs as I find the virtual keyboard so much quicker to use and I love the predictive typing although it can sometimes be annoying when it gets it completely wrong and I don't notice ;-) I do find it much easier to prepare blog posts on the laptop though. Blogger and iPad don't seem to like each other!

    That was an early wasp. They can be very annoying but don't forget they are very good at dispatching large amounts of greenfly etc.

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    1. Jan. Only the one Greenfinch visitor as far as I can see here. Like last year the frog spawn suddenly appeared with no sight or sound of frogs.

      I always turn of predictive text. In the past it used to drive me up the wall as it got things wrong so often. Maybe it has improved since then.

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  3. That was brave.....Windows 7 is wonderful. There were plenty of Greenfinches in the Lake District this winter up to twenty at a time on my feeders.

    I am looking at upgrading my laptop and have found a few companies who will custom build them and install Windows 7. I am trying to work out the ins and outs of cloning the drive on my current machine.

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    1. Adrian - have never tried cloning a drive - always end up starting again from scratch which can be a lengthy job.

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  4. I don't think I've ever seen a blackcap. Head and beak remind me of a robin. Must go and dig out my trusty old Oxford Book of Birds. xxx

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    1. Matron - the blackcaps have only been visiting here for two or three years.

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  5. oooooo! ahhhhh!
    GREEN Grass, Frog Spawn, Burdies, Fresh Air, a New Summer House with Laptop
    Absolutely Wonderful to see.


    snowing here

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    1. ImaBurdie - hope your snow is short lived this time of year.

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  6. Brilliant capture on the Blackcap & Greenfinch together, I love it when you see unexpected pairings like that – yep it’s always in low light, I get the same.

    Have fun with your summerhouse laptop. As you say later, sun reflection can be a problem. I’m sure you’ll find a way round that. In previous summers, I have enjoyed a bit of internet browsing on my daughter’s laptop at the table under our pergola. I know you are going to enjoy your new garden space :-)

    Frog spawn? Wow, perhaps I’ll see that next year. Interesting to hear you’ve seen no sign of frogs this time.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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