Taking a walk down a lane I rarely use I was pleasantly surprised how close I could get to one of the village rookeries. It looks as though the Rooks are putting the finishing touches to their nests.
Now I know just how close I can get I will take the DSLR with me the next time I go.
In a small paddock at the bottom of those trees was a single mother and her twins enjoying a beautiful sunny afternoon.
Back home the first spike on one of my Cymbidium orchids has just started to open. This was tonemapped using Photomatrix to give it a bit more contrast.
Where ever I go there seem to be dozens of seven spot ladybirds, far more than I remember seeing at their peak last year.In the garden there are more than a few on my blackcurrant bushes.
If you are wondering what ladybirds are finding in the way of food this time of year then have a look at Phil's blog entry Vegetarian Ladybirds.
There are a few short lanes / tracks left in the village where one can pretend there are no buildings. This one leads to the field where we saw the lambs.
Signs of things to come:
The first strawberry flower (growing in the greenhouse)
The flowers on my dwarf plum tree. It only had two flowers last year but this year things look more promising.
Having at last found how to set the bracketing on the Lumix I have experimented taking shots at +/- 2/3 EV and decided to see what the result would be if I processed a couple as HDR using Photomatrix Pro. Considering the photos were taken hand held the program did a great job of matching the three shots which make up each picture.
A Daffodil (not a lot of difference with this subject)
A succulent with the low sunlight shining through the plant. (A much better subject)
Somebody was not amused when I burst out laughing. Bobby had decided to push through a miniature weeping tree which is covered in catkins. Maybe he was doing his impression of a Lincolnshire Yellow Belly.
What a difference ten days makes. The tadpoles are growing well with plenty of algae to feed on. I wonder when the back legs will start appearing. (Taken with the Lumix)
Yesterday we took a different route behind the cricket field to get nearer the lambs. That meant crossing one style which Bobby, after a bit of trembling and sizing up, managed to leap. On the way back though he scrambled over it rather than jumping. (Taken with the Lumix, hand held)
Finally the nearest I've got to identifying the bird whose song has been echoing over the village nearly every morning for a month or more. It was a long way away on a high roof top, recorded about 7 in the morning and needed every bit of the 70x zoom on the Panasonic camcorder. I am pretty sure this is a Mistle Thrush.
Here's hoping for a sunny warm weekend so we can all enjoy the sights and sounds of the wildlife around us.
Yesterday I had to drive over to the vets to renew Bobby's medication. As I had to pass Covenham Reservoir I took Bobby with me so we could have a walk there and see what birds were about. I had both the Lumix and the Canon with me but quite honestly I need hardly have bothered.
The morning had been cold, bright and sunny but things changed the nearer we got to our destination, clouding over and turning quite dull. Having picked up the hairy monster's medication I made a couple of quick stops to photograph some things which had caught my attention. There was a scarecrow doing a fine job of keeping the crows from a recently sown field.They are a bit of a rarity these days as many farmers prefer to use gas fired 'explosions'. It was a fine example and one of the most elaborate I have seen for years.
Quite a few years ago the owners of one house had a lovely carving made from a tree stump which I have always admired. It was interesting to get another photo of it now that it has weathered. I should think the sculpture stands 5 to 6 feet tall.
On to the reservoir which is mainly above ground lever. Basically it is consists of an earthwork bank lined with concrete. There is a slip road up to the sailing club but the gates were closed and locked so we had to climb the steps which lead to a style. Bobby will not go through the gaps in a style and tries to jump over which is not good for his failing joints but fortunately there was a gap in the wire fence we could both squeeze through. As soon as we got on the footpath we were covered in flies. I have never seen so many. not just hundreds but probably thousands of mosquitoes.
They seemed to cover everything including the pair of us. We continued on as the swarms looked to be thinner further along the path. Not much to see. Choppy water, the occasional Mallard and a couple of Pied Wagtails. I think we made maybe a quarter of a mile but eventually the swarms of flies followed us everywhere and after taking a few photos of the views I decided to beat a hasty retreat.
The above photos were taken with the Lumix and those in this slide show were taken with the Canon. I know we have been without rain for a while but I was surprised how low the water level was.
On the way back I took a slight detour to get a closer look at the wind farm which can be seen from the reservoir and indeed from the village here. Again - taken with the Lumix.
What did surprise me was the amount of heat haze in spite of the fact that it was not a particularly warm day. Needless to say, soon after we arrived home the clouds cleared and the day ended as sunny as it started.
A couple of my regular readers have pointed out to me how slow the blog was to load since I changed to one of the new layouts. Although I had no problem with loading speeds a Google search showed this is not an isolated problem so I have gone back to one of the old style layouts. I know what it is like watching paint dry when pushed for time so I hope this has cured things. Please let me know if there are still any problems.
First I should point out that the photo of the Collared Dove I showed yesterday was taken with the Canon 50D a while ago. I was lucky. It sat about 15 feet away from me and stayed where it was even as I moved around to get a view with a plain background.
Yesterday morning when I was looking through the early morning video captures I saw this Magpie which didn't seem to approve of the food choices on top of the dish. It spent some time scattering seed about to get at what it wanted at the bottom of the pile.
Early every morning there are visits from Magpies and Rooks filling their crops with food so I guess there are some broods nearby hungry for breakfast. The Magpies return about once a minute so I think their nest can't be too far away.
