Red Sky at Night ....

... hopefully means good weather tomorrow.

A few shots of the Sunset this evening:







No tinkering - all exactly as taken by my trusty old Nikon Coolpix S9050

Christmas

A quick Christmas greeting:



Not a lot going on here at the moment. Mainly dodging rain showers and listening to audio books. Hard to believe this is normally a fairly dry part of the country. Anyway a new coal / flame effect gas fire is keeping this room cosy and a fibre optic canvas picture, used in the video, hanging on the chimney breast cheers up the room.

One For Ron

Many years ago when cigarette smoking was a common activity I held out my pack to a friend so he could take one. He took two. One he lit and the other he put behind his ear.
"One for Ron." he says.
"Ron?" I queried.
"Yes," says he. "For later on.".

I was reminded of that as I watched a Grey Squirrel helping itself to some peanuts I had place in a dish on top of the Hedgehog House.



Very much an example of 'One for Ron" as it ate some and buried many in the grass to, hopefully, find again 'later on'. (No sound from this camera)

Pond Lily

Just a brief post today. I noticed a flower on a lily in my raised pond. Took a photo and then ...



... decided to 'colour pop' the photo to make it stand out against a greyed out background.

Suns All Round

For once, here anyway, we have had Sunshine on and off all day and the temperature actually reached the dizzying height of 20C. Probably nearly warm enough for the BBC to show in a scary red on their new, let's scare the masses, temperature colour scheme. Another Sun which appeared was in the shape of ...





... this Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) also known as a Sun Fly. There were other flying creatures around but the most abundant, and irritating, were scores of what my mother used to call thunder flies (thrips). They may be only 2mm long and 1mm thick but when they land and crawl about on the skin in their dozens it feels very itchy to say the least. Fortunately they are harmless to humans, just very irritating.

Thieving Magpie

I happened to spot this video capture this morning. I was curious as to what it was doing.



In the past I have seen them bury the occasional peanut in the lawn. This is first time I have been able to work out how and why some food suddenly goes missing from the bird table.

Fox Visitor

Wow - best part of a month since I last wrote anything. Not that there has been much of real interest to inspire me until now. I was idly checking through last night's video captures when I spotted this fleeting visit:



Not sure whether its coat shows signs of mange or whether it is wet for some reason. On checking my other cameras I see it explored most of the garden. The Hedgehog had been in the Hedgehog House but had left about five minutes before the Fox arrived.

Three is a Crowd ...

... when it comes to Hedgehogs. Checking this morning's video recordings I was surprised to see three Hedgehogs visited the feeding station. First there were two which were wary of each other. The third visitor was very forceful in making sure it would be the next to enter for a free breakfast.



Unfortunately this video camera stopped recording sound some months ago. It looks as though all were safe and healthy in spite of the battle. It is a good job they have a thick coat of spines.

I have been keeping a watch on the camera nest box but the Blue Tits seem to have chosen somewhere else to nest this year.

Rook Raids Seed Feeder

Several times I found the lid on the seed feeder had been opened. It shouldn't have been gusty winds as it has a magnetic catch. I thought it may have been a squirrel though I haven't seen one in the garden for over a year. This morning I decided to check the camera recordings .....



I should have known that a corvid would have the intelligence to work out how to open the lid - as you can see with this Rook.

More Pocket Love

Six weks ago I showed the few flowers which had been produced on last years growth. Now this years mature growth is showing what a Dendrobium hybrid Pocket Love orchid can really look like when in flower.





Only just viewable in the first photo - on the left hand side of the plant - there are two new growths which, with good luck, should both produce flowers.

Oncidium croesus Orchid

I knew I obtained this miniature orchid some time ago but was surprised to find it was bought five years ago. It has taken until this year for it to finally produce some flowers. As I appear to have found the right conditions for growth it should now flower every year.





This orchid is a native species to Brazil, growing at elevations of 400 to 600 metres above sea level.

Hedgehog in a Hurry

A quick movement on the monitor caught my intention. The animal was moving so fast I thought it may have been a rat. On checking the video recordings I could see it was my Hedgehog visitor rushing to check whether there was any bird food worth eating and then rushing off to the back of the garden.



The times shown by the clocks are set differently. The first in on GMT and the second on BST.

Thirsty Hedgehog

Last night my regular visitor arrived just before it got dark (no sound on this video):



That was the first of several visits to the hedgehog house to feed during the night.

Pitcher Pollen

The second flower on the pitcher plant has now fully opened.



In the process a couple of the strands bearing pollen fell off. I placed them under my LCD microscope to try taking some closer shots.

The ruler (cm / mm markings) shows how small they are:


The resolution is reasonable, though as expected, the depth of field in shallow:



Those tiny grains of pollen are really minute.



In case you don't remember the LCD microscope I use .......





It works from 5V, has a memory card which can store photographs and video and connects to a PC / laptop so the card content can be copied across.

Dog Walker

I took the 1200D full spectrum and R72 IR filter for another walkabout. This time through the back of the churchyard and then across the street to Old Mill Lane. I took lots of photographs but for now here is the one I personally like best.



I have always liked this view with the trees standing out against their surroundings. I happened to take this shot just as a dog walker and his three dogs were approaching them. That, for me, put the finishing touch to the composition. I cropped out some of the insipid looking sky.

I case you were wondering - no it hasn't been snowing. The usual practice when taking photographs with an IR filter is to photo an area of grass and set the camera to use that as a reference for white balance. Hence grass and similar shows up as white.

IR and Clouds

How time flies. It is seven years since I purchased a Canon 1200D which had been modified for full spectrum photography. That means the IR cut filter which is normally installed on the sensor was removed and replace with clear optical glass. The camera now responds to light from near UV through the rainbow colours and into some of the IR spectrum. Previously I had used the camera as supplied, without any added filters. For IR photography it helps a great deal to add an IR pass filter to the lens. To that end I now have a R72 filter which passes light from about 720nm. The results? Great for producing B/W (grey scale) photos.

The photos are taken in RAW format and processed using Affinity Photo. First a photo which has had the colour saturation upped to maximum and clarity boosted:



The rest have had the colour saturation reduced to -100 and clarity boosted:











All taken along my lane today. Lots of Sunshine (needed with an R72 filter) and some decent cloud formations. The main problem when trying to frame the photos is the R72 doesn't let light through that the viewfinder can see so I cannot use the camera viewfinder. More a point and hope exercise. Once taken the photo can be seen on the LCD screen so a quick check can be made on the final result.

An Open Pitcher

It has taken nine days but the flower on the Pitcher plant has gone from this



to this



Three of the petals fell off to expose the inside of the flower and its bright yellow pollen. What was fascinating to me was the part which looks like an upside down umbrella. The petals which fell off appear to have been 'guarding' the gap until it was fully ripe.



From the angle of the second new photo you can see this 'umbrella' is growing from the centre of the flower. I guess it leaves a gap just large enough for whatever insect pollinates it in the wild.

A Pretty Pitcher

No - my spelling hasn't gone haywire. A pleasant surprise this morning when I was about to water my Pitcher plants.



I almost missed it as it was facing away from me ...



... a large red flower. I don't think it is fully open as yet but I just had to photograph it. In fact there are two flowers, the other hasn't started opening yet.

Pocket Love

It is all much of a muchness hereabouts at the moment but one new flower is catching my eye. One of my small orchid plants is showing flowers, on last years growth! The plant is a Dendrobium hybrid - Pocket Love:





It is also forming lots of flower buds on the new growth which should give a lovely display in a month or so.

Blackcap Visitor

The weekend was a bit over hectic for my liking. Teatime Saturday I discovered my hot water cylinder had sprung a leak. Fortunately a call to my local plumber was responded to very promptly and the water soon drained off and things made safe. Ben, from ADrip Plumbing, managed to persuade a contact of his to open their shop and supply a new cylinder which Ben spent Sunday morning fitting for me. We are fortunate to have such a friendly and efficient business based in the village. All I have to do now is wait for the bill to arrive!

At least a new arrival at the bird feeders cheered me up. It is a few years since I last saw a Blackcap visit the bird feeders. Here are a couple of video clips I managed to take:



Blackcaps are medium sized warblers usually seen in wooded areas but they will visit gardens, especially when their usual food supply is in short supply. So far this male Blackcap has visited for two days running. The male has the distinctive black cap but the female has a brown top.
All the regulars continue to visit - Wood Pigeons, Blackbirds, Robin, Starlings and Collared Doves, with occasional visits by the Pied Wagtail. Hedgie is still visiting every night for his / her free meal and seems to be getting used to eating the soft food alongside its usual dried mealworms and 'Hedgehog Feast' dried food.

Hedgehog Feast

As well as leaving a bowl of water next to the Hedgehog House these are the items I use to feed any visiting hedgehogs:

Some dried food:


Some dried mealworms:


and new this year ...


Description from the CJ Wildlife website:
Supplementary food can be a great benefit when natural food sources are scarce and hedgehogs are preparing to hibernate (from October - December), or when they are emerging from hibernation (February - April). Paté for hedgehogs is a moisture-rich food containing organic meat. This easily digestible food is akin to their natural meaty diet so our prickly friends are sure to enjoy this tasty feast. Simply remove the foil lid and serve! Composition: Meat and animal derivatives from organic chicken and turkey, Minerals and derivatives of vegetable origin.



It is taking a while for Hedgie to get used to the new food. The first night a small amount was eaten and last night half was gone by this morning.

Hedgehog Visitor

Well, it's been nearly a month since I had anything new to report on the garden wildlife front. The Bluetits have been visiting the camera nestbox several times every day. Always the same routine. One enters and waits. The second one arrives and the first immediately leaves.

During the spell of milder weather there were no visits by the Pied Wagtail but it has returned now the frosts have returned.

The hedgehog I mentioned some time ago has been visiting the garden every night. Yesterday I got round to fixing up the camera in the Hedgehog House.



It seems to be thriving well and appears non the worse for being out of hibernation so early.

Ground Guard

A couple of days ago I installed a large mesh Ground Guard from CJ Wildlife. It comes as a flat pack which is easily assembled in a few minutes to make a safe area for smaller birds which like to feed at ground level but prevents the larger birds, especially Wood Pigeons, from hogging all the food. There is a lid on the top which made it easy to put a tray of seed and a suet slab inside.



First to try it out was a Robin but so far it has been mostly used by the Blackbirds. It is amusing to watch the Wood Pigeons circling round the guard trying to find a way in and failing. I had hoped the Pied Wagtails would use it but I haven't seen them for a couple of days.

Then There Were Two

The Pied Wagtail seems to be a resident these days. I have seen it in the garden every day until ...





... now two have visited the past couple of days. The lighting was poor and the photos are screen shots from a short piece of video I managed to take of them.

Waiting for Spring

Corkscrew Hazel catkins waiting for Spring to arrive so they can open up.



The Blue Tits have been visiting the nestbox several times every day. They never stay for long but at least they seem to be showing serious interest. On a somewhat worrying front the cameras have spotted a young Hedgehog wandering about on several nights recently.



It is not unknown for one to wake for a short while when the weather is mild. I have put some food in the Hedgehog House so that it can keep up its weight and energy. I hope it goes back into hybernation when the temperatures cool down.

Nestbox Activity

At last I have been able to check on any activity in the camera nestbox. For some reason I lost wifi contact with the camera for several weeks but a re-boot of everything seems to have restored communications. There have been visits made by a Blue Tit on several different days. This capture shows a pair visiting:



Notice how the first one calls to its mate and moves to a corner so as not to act as a soft landing for the second one.