Friday at the Flicks

Who will be king of the ground feeder?
Collared Dove or Magpie?
(No sound on this one)



Earlier in the week I showed photos of the fat ball rain as a Rook attacked the feeder. Here you can see just why pieces were flying all over the place. The Rook was having problems balancing for two reasons. There was a blustery wind but also if you look closely at the large photo here you can see it has one deformed foot. I often saw this bird at the feeders last Spring so it seems to be coping well.



Finally one of my favourite visitors - a Goldfinch tucking in to Nyjer seeds.



I hope you get some decent weather this coming weekend so you can enjoy watching the antics of the wildlife around you.

Sunrise

Normally this time of year I am definitely on auto-pilot when Bobby takes me for my early morning walkies. I just want it over and done with. This morning was an exception. Every so often an exceptionally beautiful sunrise will manifest itself. This morning was one of those occasions. As usual the only camera I had was the mobile phone so I though, "Let's see how it copes with these lighting conditions." Here are a couple of the results:

Looking down the main street.


The view from my front gate.


The first I have cropped and rotated slightly otherwise not processed. The second exactly as taken by the phone. The EXIF data for the second shows   1/20 sec  f2.8  ISO 64  focal length 5.18mm

I managed to photograph the sunrise but have just missed a rare opportunity to grab a close up of a Sparrow Hawk. I had gone to the kitchen and was watching the Goldfinches enjoying their breakfast when they all suddenly flew to hide in the nearby bushes. That was unusual as it is rare that they all fly off at the same time. Almost immediately after that a Sparrow Hawk landed on the roof of the bird table. This time it was too slow for the observant Goldfinches. Of course the cameras were still in the other room and by the time I had grabbed one and returned there was no bird to be seen.

New Phone

For a while now I have been itching to replace my mobile phone. Mainly to get one with a better camera built in. My old phone is the Sony Ericsson k750i which has a 3M pixel camera. In the end I opted for a Sony Ericsson c902 which has a 5M pixel camera, bought boxed and unused on eBay.

There are many times I go out without a DSLR or video camera but the phone is always in my shirt pocket. One disadvantage from the nature photographers point of view is the very wide angle lenses mobile phones have as they are presumably designed for close work often in confined places but if you can get close to things then the auto focus on the S.E. phones does a good job.

Yesterday I took a few test shots to check it out as the phone had only arrived at midday.

A line of poplar trees on the boundary of the cricket field, cropped to reduce the height of the picture.


Autumn leaves in the hedge down the lane. Taken from about two feet away and slightly cropped for composition.


I am pleased with the colour reproduction and I think it has lived up well to all the good reviews I had read about this phone.

Shirl of Shirls Gardenwatch has just written about the various cameras she uses at home and out and about. It is an interesting illustrated read and can be found HERE. I don't know about you but I always like to find out what equipment other people are using.

It's Raining Fat Balls

Well, bits of fat balls anyway as this visiting Rook was showering more on the garden than it was managing to eat!





In the end I went outside so it would fly away before there was nothing left for any other visitor.

It was having quite a problem balancing in the blustery wind. All being well there will be a video clip of it on Friday's "Friday at the Flicks".

Night Prowler

Most nights the video camera captures a fleeting glimpse of one of the local cats hurrying through the garden. It would appear that the Cat Gard is doing a good job of keeping most at bay. The other night though there was one feline invader which seemed to be completely unaffected by the ultrasonic screeching. Not a lot of action to show but it was the first time I had noticed that cats, like dogs, move their ears like little radar dishes checking for the slightest sound which may be of interest. This cat spent nearly three minutes almost still at the edge of view of the camera before it obviously noticed a target. Unfortunately the final pounce was missed by the recorder. After 30 seconds of inactivity it stops recording and in the second it takes to start up the cat had disappeared from view. A week or so ago I saw a black cat, presumably the same one, go dashing past the camera with either a mouse or a frog in its jaws so it an accomplished hunter.



Plenty of heavy rain this morning but even while it was bucketing down the Sparrows kept up their chirping hidden somewhere in the bushes. Although I could hear them there was not one to be seen. The rain stopped for a while, the Sun broke through the clouds and the invasion began. I should think there were over 20 Starlings which descended on the feeders. One made me jump as it glanced off the kitchen window at full speed but it just turned round and flew away.

When I went down to the shed I noticed a very delicate looking spider investigating the doors. I often wonder how such thin legs can support even the small weight of their body.



It reminded me of the old nursery rhyme:

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Greenfinches Return

As regular readers will know I had to remove many of the feeders some time ago as there was an outbreak of the trichomonad parasite which was badly affecting many of the Greenfinches and some of the Goldfinches. Since I put the feeders back in place I had only seen the odd Greenfinch and thought many must have perished. This morning, despite the blustery wind, it was great to see at least four Greenfinches arguing over the few available perches.





Unfortunately from the photography point of view lighting is getting difficult, especially in this mornings bright sunlight as there are many dark shadows.

Friday at the Flicks

Most days there is at least one fat Wood Pigeon waddling round the lawn picking up any seed it can find.



You can't have missed the constant noise from another bird. A House Sparrow was in the bushes nearby and carried on for several minutes. That is the sound of just one with another replying from the hedge just over the lane from me. Sometimes there are dozens in that hedge all kicking up the same din.



The feeders I placed near the bottom of the garden are starting to attract a few visitors. Here a Great Tit is holding sunflower seed hearts between its feet while it pecks pieces off to eat.



Have a great weekend watching the wildlife around you.