Macro on Monday - Guess What

As always we first have a look at last week's puzzle alongside the complete object:

  

It was one of the antennae of an Ichneumon parasitic wasp. The colour may have fooled some as the light source was below the wasp and shining through the antenna.

Adrian and Simon definitely went for an antenna so deserve a silver star while Wilma and Glo hedged their bets between a leg or an antenna - so deserve a bronze star.

This week the photo is a macro taken with the 350D with bellows.



Clue: I need my daily boost of Potassium.
No prizes, just a bit of fun.

Walkabout

When we go for our afternoon perambulation Bobby and I usually cut through the back of the churchyard. More often than not there are some chickens from the nearby smallholdings diving for cover. The other day there were two which had made themselves a comfortable hollow under one of the small trees. They were not going to move unless they really had to.



One day I tied Bobby outside the church while I went in to see if it was possible to photograph the stained glass windows. For these I took three photos at +1 0 -1 EV and process them as HDR. This window facing East was difficult as there was a green tint to the light which was reflected from trees nearby.



This small one is in the porch and again is so close to vegetation that it receives very little direct light.



It is not very often these days that farm machinery is left out in the open as quite a few tractors have been stolen in the county.



There is very little Autumn colour at the moment as the plants are changing colour at different times but I did spot this on the way home.



On damp nights it is as well to take a torch when I let Bobby out for his last look round as I never know what may end up underfoot.



 I wonder how many different types of slug there are.

Friday at the Flicks - Extra - Great Tit Investigates Nestbox

When my last nestbox was taken over by a wasp I took it down and moved another in its place. Then I switched off the camera as it was too late for a new feathered occupant. A couple of weeks ago I switched the camera back on and set the recorder for auto recording on detecting movement. I checked the recorder tonight and found that a Great Tit had investigated the box yesterday morning. The camera is black and white only with IR lighting for seeing in the dark. There is no sound on this recording.



Some birds start early in the Autumn searching out possible nesting sites so it is always worth keeping an eye on a nestbox from time to time. Also a nestbox may be used as a roost during very cold winter nights.

Friday at the Flicks - Brambling, Village Drive

A bit short on videos today as the weather has been so overcast recently. The Brambling only stayed a couple of days but I managed to take a bit more video.



This little drive from home to the edge of the village was filmed a while ago. I know it was on a Monday by all the wheelie bins in view. Like many Lincolnshire villages it is mainly a ribbon development with most houses being along the main street with just a few lanes leading from it.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Brambling in the Garden

I was very fortunate to have a few Brambling visit the garden for a couple of days. The first time I have ever seen them. I guess they have recently flown across the North Sea for their winter visit to the U.K. and needed to feed up before moving further inland. Needless to say during the times they visited lighting condition were against really clear photographs but I did manage a few stills and some more video for Friday.

A Male Brambling peeping over the border to my rockery:


A pair finding dropped seed on the rockery.


The male on the right has brighter markings than the female.


The Brambling is a member of the finch family and can often be seen with their cousins, Chaffinches. They arrive in October and will depart again for Scandinavia in March.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Here is last week's mystery object along side a full view.

  

Adrian was fast off the mark saying it was a lipped snail. I think it was brown lipped and anyway all I wanted was 'snail' So a gold star to Adrian and an honourable mention to Glo and Keith.

This won't be quite so easy. It was taken through the microscope at about 100x magnification.



No prizes - just for fun.

Clue. You would be wrong to expect the other end to be painfully sharp.

Renaming Picture Files

I wonder how many of you, like me, have taken lots of photos of the same subject and then tried to find them months or years later among the thousands of numbered files on your hard drive. One solution is to rename them at the time they are transferred to the computer but that isn't always the most convenient time. You can go through them at a later time and alter them one by one - I'd rather watch paint dry.

A couple of days ago there was a Giveaway of the Day which could do this as a batch process but I found it too complicated for what I wanted so I had a search and found a freeware program for Windows which did the job I wanted very easily. It is called A.F.5 Rename Your Files. It has an uncluttered interface with a good choice of ways of renaming files. You can change part or all of the filename, add the date, sequentially number them, etc.
 
Click on my illustrations to get a larger view


It has a drag and drop facility so all I did was to drag a series of micro photos which just had a numbered filename added by the camera and set the program up to name, number and date the new filename. As the choices are made from the drop down lists near the top of the program window the result is instantly shown so you can see what you are doing. No other changes are made to the file, EXIF information and size are untouched and the files stay in the same folder but with their new file names. If you change your mind just click 'rename' again and the original filename is restored.



I must admit I am really taken with the simplicity of use with this program so I thought I would pass the information on to anyone else who may have been looking for such a program.

A.F.5 Rename Your Files by Alex Fauland may be found HERE.



Once again this morning the hundreds of gulls were seen flying over the village. Brambling are continuing to visit the garden. I guess these winter visitors are re-building their energy levels having flown across the North Sea recently.