Happy New Year

Wishing you all a .....



and a speedy return to the old normal.

Not so Hot

A few days ago I showed this thermal photo:



There were some good guesses as to what the camera was looking at. It was this:



The mantle piece and chimney breast above my gas fire. I was interested to see what sort of temperature was reached by the brickwork. By way of comparison these are the temperatures in the fire itself:

Seeing is Believing?

Not always when it comes to published photographs!
Popping my head outside the front door this morning I was greeted by a lovely Sunrise tinted sky:



That is the view I would like to have seen. What the camera actually saw was:



Thank goodnes for Affinity Photo. With several strokes using the Inpainting brush the intrusive telephone pole and wires disappear.

A Short Greeting

Feeling the Heat

Not really much to photograph outdoors these days. When it isn't raining it's foggy or thick mist. Even when I can't see any mist I can still feel the spots of moisture on my face and hands when I go for an amble round the village. To warm things up I took this shot indoors with the Seek thermal camera plugged in the iPhone. Can you work out what I was aiming at?



I will give the answer later in the week.

Eat, Argue and Bathe

You don't have to see them to know a flock of Starlings has arrived at the bird feeders. Between eating and bathing they seem to spend the rest of time maintaining the pecking order - very loudly.



Never a dull moment when they are about.

Nestbox Cleanout Time

An email from Simon King Wildlife reminded me it was time to check the bird nestboxes and clean out any old nests ready for the next seasons of Winter roosting and Spring nest building. I have two nestboxes fixed to the back wall of a shed. The first of these is a modern type of concrete mixture:



Once the two clips were turned and the front removed I could see that this box hadn't been used at all, empty apart from a dead bumblebee I brushed out.



The other box is a traditional wooden design:



The only creatures I had seen visiting it last Summer were bees so I carefully unscrewed the two front panels expecting to find some sort of hive or bumblebee nest. I was not expecting to see:



Interesting as the bottom layer of the nest was composed of twig like pieces from nearby fir trees. Not something I have seen before. Here it is once I had removed it from the nestbox:



It seems to be a finished nest as the top layer is moss but as it was little compacted in the centre I doubt that any eggs were laid let alone any chicks hatched. It wouldn't be the first time bees seem to have driven out a nesting bird.

Light Relief

Very occasionally, along with all the griping on social media, something pops up which gives me a well needed laugh.

Spotted this one a few days ago:

My son once asked me " Where does poo come from?" I gave him an explanation of the digestive system, how the upper and lower bowel works and the muscles used to force it out of you body. He looked a bit stunned and then quietly said " And Tigger? Where does he come from?"

Laughter is definitely the best medicine.

A Talky Walk

Went for a stroll to the end of the lane and round the cricket field. I went there two days ago and there was nothing of note to photograph. This time the adjoining field was populated by a large flock of sheep. Until I got too close many were lazing in the sunlight:



Several were watching me as I grew nearer:



There were many patches of fungi appearing, starting about the size of my little finger nail:



Some appeared to be fully grown at about 15mm across:



Recently I found that the local amateur radio repeater transmitter was back in operation. (The repeater receives a transmission and the re-transmits it. The idea being that amateurs can use a low power transmitter and the repeater re-broadcasts it at a higher power) Anyway, I had dug out one of my hand held transmitters from where I had stored them several years ago, charged the battery and took it with me to see whether I could make any contacts.



As I walked back from watching the sheep I made a couple of calls through the repeater and an amateur in Boston, Lincolnshire answered and we had a 10 to 15 minute conversation by radio. An activty I've missed for many years. There was a time I used to have radio chats every day when I walked Tramp, the dog I had then, first thing in the morning.

On the return journey I spotted the sunlight shining through the leaves of a Japanese maple bush. A photograph doesn't do justice to the beautiful red glow:





All in all a satisfying walk in brilliant sunlight, even with the cold breeze across the open field.

Ladybirds in November

On a nice sunny afternoon a few days ago I ambled round to the churchyard and rested on a sunlit bench to take in some much needed fresh air. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a ladybird running around on one of the arms of the bench:



Then another appeared, but a different variety:



Then to my astonishment a third variety arrived:



In fact I saw four different types of ladybird all rushing about on the same arm. Unfortunately it was too fast for me to take a clear photo. Obviously I wasn't the only life force taking advantage of a sunny, relatively warm corner of the churchyard.

Magpie versus Rook at the Feeders

A longish video clip today. About 4 and a half minutes. The Magpie is used to visiting my bird feeders and having them all to itself. Yesterday a Rook decided to sample the free food on offer. I was fascinated watching the Magpie patiently work out how to safely shoo the Rook away.



As with the Wood Pigeon a few days ago the main method seems to be an attack from behind.

A Day to Forget.

Tuesday routine blood test. Wednesday morning frantic calls from doctor. Potassium level dangerously high, must go to Grimsby A&E. When I said I had no access to transport an ambulance was ordered. Five hours later it arrived. Bumpy scenic route on the back roads and lanes to the hospital. Apparently it was the SatNav's idea of the quickest way. An hour after arriving I give blood samples. Initial result was borderline normal levels of Potassium. Back to waiting area. Hours later another blood sample is needed then a long wait for the results. Finally I am told the results. Potassium level was normal. Discharged and allowed home. But it is now 11.30 p.m. Too late to phone neighbour and taxi drivers apparently don't like plastic for payment. In the end the hospital orders a taxi which they pay for. The driver was brilliant. While chatting I found he belongs to a club that I used to be a member of years ago. Once home he didn't leave until he saw that I was safely indoors

The two paramedics in the ambulance were marvellous. Cheerful, efficient and reassuring. They had to perform several routine checks before I left home. BP, steady heart rate, temperature, checking I had no chest pains or feelings of dizziness, etc..

Local reports of how busy the A&E department is were observed to be true. As I felt fine, apart from being anxious that bad results might mean having to stay there a few days, I felt a bit of a fraud.

I don't think we will ever work out why the Tuesday test provided such an alarming result. I had been carefully sticking with my low Potassium diet. I have read that the way the sample is taken and handled can affect the readings as some chemicals are difficult to trace. One difference is in the timing. Locally the samples are transported later in the day to be sent to Grimsby. In the hospital the samples go to pathology immediately.

Bird Table Cam - First Results

When checking to see what has been recorded the phone app looks like this:



The orange bars show when movement was detected and recordings made. Not all clips show birds actually on the bird table but here are the best so far:



Dunnock, Robin, Starlings and Blue Tit. As I thought, the seed is well in focus but the birds are just a bit too close so end up in soft focus but still recognisable.

Bird Table Cam

I had been puzzling how to add a camera to the bird table without having to run a cable back to this room. In the end I decided to use a spare Tapo TC60 indoor wifi camera. This is the same camera I used to take the video clips inside the Hedgehog House. It only needs a 12V feed to power it. Fortunately I already had a 12V power cable nearby which used to power a camera in the Hedgehog House years ago.



Here it is once I had mounted it inside the bird table. It should keep dry under the roof.



A quick still capture after I had it all up and running.



The camera has a memory card which records any movement within its view. I can monitor the video feed using an app on my iPhone or ask Alexa to show it. The video clips can be downloaded to the phone and then transferred to the laptop. Time will tell whether the video will be in focus enough as the camera isn't designed for taking such close views of objects.

The Reds Have Made It

A reminder that in 2018 I had a bare stump after a very learge Leylandi had been felled and I planted a couple of Virginia Creeper plants hoping for a colourful display in the future.



Last October it looked like this:



Last week I took this photo:



Lovely Autumn colours. Not only covering the whole stump but trying to take over the surrounding fence panels as well.

Then There Were Two

About a week ago the camera covering the bird feeders recorded some night visits from a very unwelcome visitor. The sort with brown fur and a very long tail. Fascinating watching the ease with which a rat can climb up a vertical post. Needless to say I then started to put the feeders away each night and provide Mr Ratty with his own special food safely positioned under a shed. After a few days I could see it had taken the bait and I disposed of one ex rat. Hopefully things are back to normal now.

On the more welcome front I see there are now two Magpies visiting the feeders. They are not very tolerant of other birds trying to feed at the same time. At about 3min 15sec in you can see how one deals with a Wood Pigeon.



Most of the bird sounds seem to be coming from Starlings who are not happy at having to wait their turn.

Callistemon Seed Pods

Haven't been on here much recently. Firstly the Hospital has been catching up on Consultant outpatient appointments so I had three visits in ten days. They seem satisfied with my progress and the next appointment should be in about four months time. Secondly I've been making amateur radio contacts around the world on the HF bands as conditions seem to be excellent. So good my low power, simple set up managed to make contact with four Japanese radio hams this morning. Not something I can usually manage.

My Callistemon (bottle brush plant) produced another good display of its unusual red flowers. In the Summer they looked like this:



Once the flowers have faded the seed pods can be seen:



I thought this would make an interesting subject for a focus stacked closer view:



That was a stack of 20 photos taken using my home built automated unit. The following photo was taken some time ago:



Once the photos had been transferred to the laptop they were processed with Helicon Focus which used the sharp, in focus, parts of each photo and combined those bits to buid the final macro photo.

Magpie Visitor

This Magpie visits the bird feeders from time to time.



It always has the food to itself as all the smaller birds stay away until it has flown away.

South Thoresby Warren Revisited

In 2009 I explored the newly opened nature reserve known as South Thoresby Warren. The reserve was originally a field which over the years became a sand pit, then a landfill site and finally an established nature reserve. I had been meaning for a long time to revisit to see what it is like now. Yesterday I got round to making the sort 11 mile trip to have a look.



This photo was taken in 2009



Yesterday this is now the view



Lots of brambles and teasels. Last time the only visitors were myself and Bobby, the lurcher companion I had then. This time I met a couple walking with their two dogs. We had a short chat while I made a fuss of their dogs and they, the dogs, did their best to encircle me with their long leads. They seemed to be regular users of the reserve and explained it was not looking at it best this year. Most of the land in on a rise and is suffering from lack of rain. Normally there is an abundance of fruit on the brambles but not a single one now.

I did spot a couple of small tortoiseshell butterflies



The plentiful supply of teasels should attract various finches



The rough hard ground made for slow walking and as my hip joint was complaining I left the wooded area for exploration on a future visit.



I had taken the main A road to get there but decided to use the country lanes on the way home. A much more relaxing driving experience.

Spotting the Spots

As the sky was pretty well clear of clouds yesterday I thought it a good opportunity to photograph the Sun. I tried at midday as that meant I would be looking through the least amount of the Earth's atmosphere to give the clearest possible photo. Unfortunately that meant the Sun was very high in the sky and I couldn't get a proper view through the camera viewfinder with the camera pointing up at such a steep angle. I tried again at 3 p.m. and this time managed to line the camera up without too much difficulty. When visiting the excellent SpaceWeather web site I noticed there were several Sunspots showing. How many would my simple equipment capture?



All of them, well, all the major parts of each visible Sunspot. Sunspots are numbered consecutively as they are observed. They are give an AR number. (AR = Active Region)



Some regions start small and then peter out so it is possible that there can be gaps in AR numbers of those in view at any one time. Even with a 400mm telephoto lens the Sun takes up a small section of a photograph so the above are cropped sections. The most important safety feature used when directly observing the Sun is the use of a Solar filter which is designed to cut the brilliance down to a safe level.

Hot and Hotter

Yesterday turned out to be as hot, if not more so, than forecast. My weather station temperature records peaking at 27.8C:



By taking short working sessions with cooling off periods in between I manage to treat most of the front of the workshop. As that area was facing South I can vouch that it was ****** hot working there but the job needed doing.



That is also a view of my new bird feeding area. The birds were taking good advantage of the water avilable.

Today the air temperature peaked at 29.1C so I didn't spend much time outdoors. What I did do was to take some photos using the Seek Thermal camera which plugs in the iPhone. Here are some composite photos (screen shots to be exact) showing how various areas and items look to the human eye and what temperatures they have reached in full Sun.







I found it interesting to see which things / materials were hotter than others. Thermal colours range from black for the coolest areas of any photo, through blue, green, orange and red. White is for the hottest areas of each thermal photo.

Going Batty and Waspy

For many years I had a bat detector but the last time I tried it it refused to work. I binned that and thought about a replacement. As I don't always have bats visiting the garden was it worth the expense of buying an all singing, all dancing replacement? One look at the prices made it easy to say a definite No! What I did find was a kit for a basic detector at a much more attractive price. The thought of a kit sounds like there could be lots of fiddly construction. Not with the Haynes Bat Detector Kit. The main circuit board is already fully built which is as well as I have never got on with soldering the modern tiny surface mounted electronics bits. In effect all one has to do is plug in some wires and mount the parts in the correct place. The only extra item needed is a 9V battery.



As you can probably work out the cost is kept down by using a cardboard box rather than plastic. Initially I though this would be a bit flimsy but no, it is quite sturdy to hold. The front is printed and looks very professional:



ON/OFF and volume control on the left. On the right a control to adjust to the ultrasonic frequency you want to detect. Expensive detectors often have the frequency range printed for different types of bats but the type of signal and pattern detected can usually indicate which is which. The instruction manual which accompanies the kit has lots of information about how to test the built kit is working by pointing it at many everyday objects which emit ultra high sounds. LED TV and monitor screens are a good starting point. Near a closed but running microwave oven is another source of emissions. I checked them all and the Bat Detector worked exactly as expected. All I need now are some local bat visits - preferably just outdoor ones. I say that as some years ago I had one fly indoors.

Waspy? Well. The apple feeder didn't seem to be attracting any birds, though it is early days yet. I did peel a strip on the apple hoping that might help. What are the only takers I have seen so far?



Should have guessed that would happen. I will keep the experiment going. When natural food for birds is scarcer and Wasps have died off or hibernated maybe some Winter Thrushes and Blackbirds will show an interest.

Will They Use It?

From time to time I have seen some feeders designed to hold an apple for those birds which like them. Here it is the Blackbirds which really go for them when I put some on top of the fruit cage. The, though albeit not too expensive, cost of buying such a feeder has put me off as there is no guarantee the local birds will use one. One day as I was browsing for ideas for 3d printing on Thingiverse I happened on a design for one. It can be seen HERE. All I had to do was download the .stl files and use Ultimate Cura to produce the gcode file for my 3D printer.



It is in three parts. The main body plus two sections of perch. I didn't have any glue suitable for PLA plastics so I used hot melt glue to hold everything in place. I fixed the apple in place by inserting an oval brad nail from each side.

Only time will tell whether the birds will be attracted to it and enjoy a bit of apple. The only reservation I have about the design is the short length of the perches. They seem to be too short for a Blackbird to balance on. I will print some longer perches if need be.