All's Well That Ends Well

First a very big thank you for all the messages of support over the past day or so. They have helped a lot on keeping me going.

When I checked my YouTube account at 7.30 this morning the old video thumbnails were still missing but another look a few minutes ago showed that they had been restored. It must have been the length of time their 'improvements' and recent upgrade has taken to catch up with everything. It would have helped things if their system hadn't sent messages that accounts had been permanently disabled which was a bit of a shock to my system to say the least. One saying it was temporarily unavailable would have been better wording.

Just a couple of piccies today. Normally I dead head all of my flowers. For some reason this year I missed the Flag Irises which went on to produce a profusion of seed pods. As the stems collapsed under the weight of seeds many were partly eaten by slugs like the first picture but the seeds were untouched and look as though they are ripening anyway. The uneaten ones are just beginning to split open normally. What a lovely brilliant orange the seeds are.



Many thanks to Chris Rose who pointed out - Your photo is of the seed pod of the Stinking or Beefsteak Iris (so called because its crushed leaves are meant to have that sort of smell ...) which is Iris foetidissima. It is nice when visitors take the time to let me know when I have misidentified something - which can happen frequently.

Curioser and Curioser

Just had an email purporting to come from YouTube saying an attempt had been made to change my password. Out of curiosity I tried to log in and it worked. Needless to say I did not use any links in the email - I am far too wary to do that. All the videos are there but none of the thumbnails exist. People looking at my blog pages with YouTube videos will just see the title of the video and a drawing of a camcorder but clicking on the play arrow seems to work. Maybe Adrian was right when he mentioned hacking as a possibility.

Let's hope they stay available which will save me weeks of work.

Thanks for all the encouragement from those who commented on my last post.

Another curiosity - Honey didn't arrive until after 2 a.m. She either overslept or found food elsewhere. She didn't eat as much here as she usually does. As a test I have successfully uploaded this to my YouTube account. Now we will see how long it stays in view!

YouTube pulled my account

All my nature videos have disappeared. I log in this morning to find my YouTube account has been permanently disabled. The only videos I had uploaded were the home made nature clips used on this blog. No music was used so there were no copyright issues. No sex, no violence apart from a few birds arguing. All filmed by me using my own equipment in my own back garden.

To say the least I am gutted and absolutely disgusted. No communication from YouTube just months of work vaporised.  Thanks a bunch YouTube for wrecking my blog for no good reason.


Just how does it look when each video now comes up with the caption 'removed for terms of use violation'? As far as I can see this casts a shadow on my reputation. What can one do though with large anonymous organisations which seems to have no route for questioning or appealing against their actions?


For the moment this has killed my enthusiasm in maintaining this blog. All that hard work down the drain. A blog which now looks a complete mess to any visitors. Quite honestly I could sit down and weep.


I have managed to get some of the latest on to Flickr but looking back there are another 85 to do to get my blog back as it was before YouTube behaved in such a high handed manner.  That will take quite a while!  Many will have to be reworked as Flickr has a 90 second limit on the length of video clips.





John.

Goldfinch Mayhem

It used to be so peaceful when I had just two Goldfinches visit. They sat calm and prim, one each side of the small feeder. It has become a different story as their numbers have increased. Not long ago I added a larger feeder for them and all was reasonably peaceful.

This morning when I took the cameras to the kitchen I counted at least twenty Goldfinches, most on the feeders, some on the lawn and a few at the bird bath. There are not enough perches for so many visitors and it is pure mayhem as they squabble to find a place to eat.





Even the other birds, like this male Chaffinch, are finding it difficult to get a look in as the Goldfinches spread over most of the feeders.



Unfortunately the sound of them squabbling wasn't captured on the video clips as the back door was shut and the one facility lacking from my camcorder is the ability to plug in an external microphone. The video is a normal speed .....



One Goldfinch had the answer to the lack of perch space - hang upside down ....



Several Goldfinches bided their time by taking a drink from the bird bath.



I think I will have to make a trip to the local garden centre and buy another thistle seed feeder. It is a good job I have a delivery of seed coming today as the feeders are being emptied at an alarming rate.

I have read that Goldfinches can congregate in flocks of up to one hundred over the Winter months but I think I will be more than satisfied with twenty or so!

The Spider and the Ladybird

While I was wandering round my pond with camera in hand hoping to spot a dragonfly I had seen earlier I spied a ladybird flying across the pond. I was pondering the possibility of taking a photo of it in flight when it suddenly came to a halt, caught up in one of the many spider webs.

I watched for a while to see if it would break free while the spider sat patiently in the middle of its web. There was no escape as the ladybird was stuck fast and the spider eventually approached its prey very cautiously. Once the spider was next to the ladybird it attached many silk threads and used its legs to spin it round at quite a fast rate, all the time encapsulating the ladybird in a silk cocoon. When the spider was satisfied that its next meal was going nowhere it ambled back to the centre of the web.

At one stage I contemplated fetching the camcorder to show how deftly the spider could spin its prey round but that would have meant missing most of the action so I made do with a series of still shots. I was surprised how many threads the spider was producing at once. One of the photos, unfortunately not in focus, showed about ten threads all being spun at the same time.



Not the nicest of things I have photographed but then nature isn't always nice and cuddly and all creatures have to eat.

Life by Day and by Night

Daylight brings the usual feathered visitors to the garden. It is hard to remember it is only a few months ago that I used be jealous of those who had regular visits from Goldfinches. Then I managed to entice a pair which visited for a while. Next came four adults with their youngsters. The other day there were sixteen squabbling for a place on the two feeders. It is great to see the juveniles are maturing as they moult their head feathers and show the first signs of the lovely red which will adorn their faces..



The fat waddling Wood Pigeons are very greedy but useful at clearing up seeds left by the smaller birds. I cracked up looking at the expression on the Sparrow's face. I could just imaging it saying,

"Move over fatty, give others a look in!"



 Although it is beautifully sunny outside the temperature is still fairly low so Bobby, my poor old 'delicate' Lurcher, prefers to sunbathe indoors.



By night Honey the Hedgehog continues her visits. She is definitely getting through more food each night and I am sure I can see her putting on weight. That is good as Hedgehogs need extra fat reserves for the Winter hibernation period when their natural food is in short supply.



 Hedgehogs are not the only night visitors. Cats, moths and the odd rat make an appearance.



I had to have a long think about Mr. Ratty as I wanted him to have his own special supper but I needer to work out how to put it out safely where there was no chance of Honey coming across it. I found the right place in the end and was pleased to see that Ratty had helped himself last night.

Friday at the Flicks

It is noticeable that some of the older juvenile Goldfinches are now starting to gain the adult red feathers on their heads.




The fruit is rapidly disappearing from next doors elder bushes. Not surprising when you see how fast a Starling or two can eat the berries.




While the Dunnock is looking for food for its young it is showing itself more in the open. I was very lucky this normally retiring bird stayed out in the open long enough to get some video.




Finally Honey the Hedgehog continues to visit every night. She is eating more from the dish as she builds up her fat reserves ready for the Winter hibernation period.