Dusty Sparrows and Sheets of Silk

As we were returning from a gentle walk round the cricket field I saw the usual group of House Sparrows having a good old bathe in the dust.



With the Lumix TZ7 I was able to get the above still shot and the following hand held video.



It had been a misty night and there was plenty of dew on the hedges this morning. On one particular hedge was a line of sheet webs. A type I had never really noticed before.





I wonder how long it takes a spider to construct these webs as they seem to have a lot more silk in their construction than in an orb web. A criss cross of single threads can be seen above the web. The idea being that a flying insect will bump into a thread and be knocked down to land in the sheet web. Fascinating how many different ways various species of spider have developed to catch their prey.

Friday at the Flicks (Robin, Blackbird, Newts)

During the really cold weather the Robin was usually the first bird to appear in the garden but until recently it seemed to have been missing. Maybe it couldn't get a look in with all the corvids and Starlings milling around. The other morning it managed to find a clear slot.



Quite a few birds use my nursery pond as a drinking place and I have seen a Blackbird pick out pond snails to eat. Now it had decided that the floating Koi sticks I use to feed the tadpoles also make a tasty snack.



The sudden increase in temperature recently has warmed up the garden pond and several of the resident Smooth Newts are now evident.



Have a great weekend enjoying the sights and sounds of the wildlife around you.

Newts

Now the Sun has been shining and the water in my garden pond is warming up the Smooth Newts are to be seen cruising through the water.





I have seen up to four in view at the same time so I know a decent number of them survived last winter's harsh conditions. I also managed to take some video which will be available tomorrow.

Horses for Courses.

I was intrigued by something floating in my garden pond yesterday. It appeared to be some sort of larva though its body didn't move all the time I was watching and photographing it but just seemed to drift with the breeze. Out of interest I tried all three cameras to capture a clear shot. The object was about one inch long. All the photos were taken using auto focus.



The 350D and 50D were used at maximum zoom and minimum focussing distance. The Lumix was held about two inches above the larva. I have always found it difficult with the Canon zoom lenses to get clear shots at near distances. Possibly too much movement when hand held and very limited depth of field is the main reason for such soft focus (more noticeable if you click on the photo and look at a larger version) as they both work very well on more distant objects. The Lumix on wide angle and the ability to get really close always gives me superior results for this sort of subject. Definitely a question of horses for courses.

The final problem to solve - what had I photographed? From the searching I did last night my best guess is a mosquito larva.

Nestbox Squatter Confirmed

I was pretty sure that a wasp had started building a nest in the Blue Tit nestbox when I sealed it up a few weeks ago. Yesterday I finally got round to taking that box down so I could have a look.



It is intriguing to ponder just how insects know exactly what to do to make such a perfectly formed nest. No practice makes perfect for them. A perfectly circular structure first time complete with regular hexagons for the cells inside. I wonder which of my fences now has a bright section where the wasp had been rasping at the wood. The nest is such a delicate structure that it hardly weighs anything but robust enough to maintain its shape. It even seems to have an 'umbrella' which, if built in a hedge, would keep rain from soaking the main part of the nest.

As I want to put a more sensitive colour camera in the box for next year I have replaced it with the box which has been in a tree nearby but totally ignored in that position.



The replacement nextbox has a black and white camera with IR lighting and the external camera which monitors outside activity can be seen on the left of the photo.

On our afternoon perambulation there was one spot were there were a number of greenbottle flies one of which was obliging enough to wait while I photographed it.



Seeing the metallic colouring always brings to mind the chapter in Gerald Durrell's book My Family and Other Animals where he meets the Rose Beetle Man. I really must get a new copy of the book as someone seems to have walked off with mine.

The Sycamore trees are in full leaf now and this young one was small enough for me to see and photograph the flowers.



The Hedgehog seems to have taken to its house as there is an occupant for the fourth day running. There has been no sign of the adult hogs recently so maybe this one has finally convinced them that my garden is its territory ;)

Recovering from the Winter

One of my small Acer trees took a real hit this past Winter. I was beginning to think I had lost it altogether. This is what it looked like in May 2009:



At first glance this year it looked as though there was only one tiny bit which was still living but it hasn't quite given up the struggle for life just yet:



Though the end of the branches had been frozen enough to kill them off and only one new leaf has grown there are lots of new shoots sprouting as can be seen on the inset photo. Hopefully with a bit of TLC it will eventually make a good recovery.

Plants in the Garden, etc.

When I look around my garden I seem to see as much colour from self sown wild flowers as there is from the plants I have bought.



There is a small tree fern growing in a tub which I move to the unheated greenhouse over winter. In spite of the cold weather there are new fronds appearing and I am looking forward to a decent display this year. Last year it started late and made very little growth.



I have a couple of tomato plants, one in the greenhouse and one in a smaller grow house (a Shirley and a Money Maker). Both are showing their first flowers.



Also in the greenhouse the strawberry plants are flowering and showing signs of the fruit to come. At first I thought they were being attacked by whitefly but closer observation showed the white objects seem to be discarded skins and the flies are more red than white. They are the same size as the odd greenfly which is also present. I wonder what they are.



This morning while out walkies we saw a grey squirrel. Quite a cheeky one as it sat up checking for any traffic before crossing the road.



They usually disappear rapidly when they spot us but this one paid us no heed at all.

For the second day running there is a Hedgehog curled up in its house. It made several visits for food and water during the night. These are a couple of snapshots from last night's video captures.