Whilst emptying some bits in one of the wheelie bins I noticed what, at first glance, I thought was a tiny wasp. It wasn't moving so I assumed it had recently died and collected it to put under my LCD Microscope. Read about that here
The wasp like insect was quite small at about 10mm long.
Oh-ho ... what is that extra part jutting out near the lower eye?
Let's turn the insect over and take a closer look ....
That looks to me like the type of proboscis used to puncture skin and have a free drink of my blood. Pretty sure that what I have here is a mosquito though so far I haven't been able to identify which species it is. Any ideas??
What a difference a day makes. This morning's picture capture from NOAA 15:
Most of the UK with clear blue skies and 20C already at 9.45 a.m.. Long may it last. BTW. The little yellow cross on the map indicates the position of my aerial.
For once the forecast of heavy rain proved to be correct - an inch of rain in a few hours this morning.
I received a weather picture from The NOAA 19 weather satellite a couple of hours after the rain.
Plenty of cloud cover!
The actual signal shows on the right hand side of the screen grab. On the left are the two pictures as they are transmitted, visible light on the left and IR picture on the right. These are then combined in software and false colour added to give a final picture:
I am receiving clearer signals now the weather satellite aerial in mounted on top of my mast.
At one stage during the downpour I noticed the flooding in the garden was getting too close to the robot mower ...
... so it was on with the wellies and out for a quick paddle. Fortunately the water hadn't reached the batteries or circuits. As the ground is nowhere as saturated as it was a couple of months ago the flooding is already subsiding.
I placed some solar powered lamps near the feeding station hoping they would be bright enough to get some video clips in colour.
They don't last all night but did last long enough for this Hedgehog visit to the feeding station. One of about four visits it made overnight - assuming it was always the same animal.
A second cautious inspection of the Birbfy camera nestbox.
A slightly longer visit than the first one about a week ago. The video clip has been slowed down to half speed. It doesn't look very sure about venturing inside as yet.
