Macro on Monday - Guess What

As always I will start with last week's puzzle.

   

Yes. It was a spotty banana.
Gold stars to Jan and Adrian.
Sorry Glo, your first instinct was correct. Have a consolation Silver star.

This week is probably much more difficult, but we will see.
Taken through the microscope at about 600x magnification.



Clue: a man made object you will need to think digitally about.
No prizes - just a bit of fun.
All will be revealed next Monday.

For those following the antics of the Great Tit, it is still visiting the nestbox several times a day.

Rove Beetle

After a wet morning and evening I was almost certain to meet something on the path when Bobby went out for his last wander round the garden before bedtime. Sure enough there it was - a black beetle scurrying along. It froze as soon as it felt my footsteps and luckily for me, and for you, it stayed in the same place long enough for me to fetch the Lumix and take a few photos.

Rove Beetle:




There are many different types of Rove Beetle. This one was about 20mm long. One thing which distinguishes them from other beetles is the short elytra - the hard covering over the wings. It is so short that they are able to curve their bodies up like a scorpion when threatened. They don't sting but can give a painful bite. Unlike many other beetles I have found in my garden they belong to the good guys as they feed on smaller insects, some of which are pests on crops.

More details of this successful (having been around for a good 200 million years) beetle can be found on the Just Green web site HERE.

Nestbox Investigations

The Great Tit, or maybe several, has show a lot of interest in the nestbox having visited it on and off most days. At one stage it spent over twenty minutes in the box. I could see another flitting about outside from time to time so the first may have been calling for its mate. On a couple of occasions it even performed the 'nestbox shuffle' which I have only seen the Blue Tits perform in the nesting season.

A short video compiled from several sessions.


I knew birds often looked at possible nesting sites during the Autumn but had not seen this level of interest with the last box which had a smaller hole for the blue Tits.

Friday at the Flicks - Nestbox, Bird Visitors, Tree Sparrow

A few days ago there was more interest in the nestbox with a Blue Tit examining the outside early in the morning and another internal visit later in the day from a Great Tit. Since this was filmed I have moved the outside camera a bit nearer to get a better close up.



A few of the regulars to the garden.
Dunnock, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Wren and Blue Tit


On the only visit to the garden so far  this Autumn here is the Tree Sparrow



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

A Visiting Tree Sparrow

Through last Winter several Tree Sparrows joined the local House Sparrows visiting the feeders in the garden. They all left in the Spring to move back to the field hedgerows so yesterday was the first time I had seen one for several months. There was just one looking well fluffed out as it sat in the sunshine on a very cold morning.





I didn't see it come down to feed. It just sat there for several minutes watching the other birds.

Stained Glass Windows Revisited

There hasn't been a lot of bird activity in the garden recently. I had expected that the numbers would increase with the drop in temperature. One interesting observation has been the activity in and around the nestbox. Not only did a Great Tit investigate the inside early in the morning but later on a Blue Tit was seen to show interest. It spent most of the time checking the outside of the box. With luck there will be some video of them on Friday.

On yesterday afternoon's walk I popped in the village church again to take some closer shots of the stained glass windows. I took the usual +1 0 -1 EV series of shots to use with Photomatrix Pro 3 but was disappointed with the results so I tried using the ReDynaMix plugin in Paintshop Pro using only the darkest photo from each batch. That worked very well most of the time as it picks out detail from the dark section and enhances them., at the same time it tones down the bright parts.

The first view is looking East along the nave. The end window is plain glass. .


Facing east to the side of the main aisle is this window which is dated  1908


Facing west is another window dated  1898


This visit the porch window had lost the box of plants. The window here is undated. It is the most difficult to photograph and bring out the surrounding stonework as it is so very dark in that part of the church. Maybe I will try added flash another time though I quite like the 'heavenly glow' effect.


There is one other stained glass window but unfortunately it is behind a what appears to be a chamber organ so impossible to get at.

Sounds in the Night

Bobby had finished exploring the front garden on his last look round before bedtime when I heard a faint crunching on the wet gravel. My first thought was of an unwelcome furry visitor with a long tail as I had come face to face with one about a week ago. It had been raining and I had my torch with me. As I searched for whatever had been moving there it was. A large common frog taking advantage of the damp for an evening hop about. I dashed in and grabbed the Lumix. Fortunately the frog hadn't moved and I managed a reasonable close up before it decided that it was camera shy.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

It is always as well to have a torch here. Although I do have some outside lighting there is nearly always  some creature or other lurking in the shadows on wet nights.

So far the Great Tit has made two more investigations of the nestbox. I won't get too excited yet as the Blue Tits did much the same last year but decided against it in the end.

A snapshot from this morning's video capture.