All is Safely Gathered in

Not quite the same harvesting machinery as that used in the Dad's Army episode with the same title.



Considering the weather we have had recently the crop seems to be in reasonable condition.
One day last week, along with very gusty wind, we had 1.4 inches of rain in a three hour downpour.





Unlike the last time I filmed a combine at work this time the dust was blowing away from me.



As is usual this time of year I could hear them still at work at 10 p.m. last night.
Farming is definitely not a 9 - 4, 5 days a week occupation.
Whenever work needs doing they set to and get on with it.

...............................

It looks as though I am going to have to look out for a replacemet pocket size camera.
The Nikon seems to be reaching the end of its useful life.
Many times the shutter doesn't fire even though I get a beep to say it is in focus.
I had thought of buying another Nikon but I've seen several bad reviews / comments on the poor reliability of newer models. Any suggestions would be gratefully received. It needs to be a camera small enough to go in a shirt pocket with a lens which sinks back level with the front of the body, has a good zoom range and will take HD video. Fussy aren't I?

Harvest Time

Well, for Oilseed Rape anyway.
In spite of some recent high winds and occasional heavy showers it was still standing.



One of the fields at the end of our lane was harvested a few days ago.
Today when we went walkabout mid afternoon I could hear the combine was working very close by.
It was working on the field right next to the lane end:



This is the first time I have used the Nikon at full 1080p resolution.
Hand held as I do most times. A bit of stabilization done in iMovie.
As usual you may have to force YouTube to show it in HD.

As it was blustery and the video ended up with loud wind noise I replaced the soundtrack.
Music - God's Reminding.

Harvest Time

Not a lot been going on here as far as nature photography goes, especially with a fumbling operator. A few days ago I though I had managed some good video of an adult House Sparrow feeding three youngsters. They all stayed out in the open and sat beautifully in shot for ages. When I went to check the video - nothing, zero, zilch, I either didn't press the start button far enough, or twice. Either way there was nothing to show. #@*$& or words to that effect!

Better luck today on the video front. While we were enjoying some chicken thighs, etc. for tea I could hear at least one combine strutting its stuff in a nearby field so we went walkabout in that direction. I could see one field had been started recently. Of course the combine was at the furthest end of the field where I couldn't get near it . The crop, wheat I think, was standing well after the heavy rain. In past years that sort of rain has flattened much of a field.





We had a gentle stroll up and down the lane while I waited for the combine to come back in my direction. With luck it was going to pass very close to my chosen spot. Penny is learning fast and waits very patiently when I want to use the camera. The combine was kicking up an almighty dust cloud. Fortunately the worst of it seemed to be blowing away from us.




I stood on the opposite side of the lane to keep away from the worst of the dust and managed some stills and video as it reached my end of the field. As soon as it had turned the corner we beat a hasty retreat to escape the worst of the dust. At first I thought it would be dry, dusty earth being sent up by the combine but what was landing on us was just like the fine ash you get from a bonfire so it must have been from the wheat itself. Of course, when I think about it, what was blowing about was the chaff from the seed husks which were being ejected from the back end of the combine.

 

The video will be a bit noisy as there was a fair breeze blowing and trying to keep the view still was difficult as most of the time the Sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see much on the LCD screen:



I won't be surprised if they are still combining well past my bedtime. Once they start they tend to keep going until the job is finished.