Macro on Monday - Guess What + A Breezy Day

How fast Macro Mondays seem to come round these days. A reasonably successful one last week with congratulations and virtual gold stars going to Adrian, Keith and Glo for identifying the Water Lily.

   

On to the new puzzle picture for this week.
Guess What:


No prizes, just for fun.

Well, so far today, the winds haven't reached the speeds suggested by the Met Office, not here anyway. I have no doubt the gusts will have been much stronger in exposed areas and further North in the country. It was still quite a battle walking into the wind on our afternoon perambulation though.



For some reason the graph doesn't show one particular gust which I saw reached just over 45mph..

Mother and Juvenile Hedgehogs

About 9pm last night I was just about to let Bobby out in the back garden when I noticed two Hedgehogs feeding. For once they were eating peacefully together and it was only while photographing them through the glass in the back door that I noticed their difference in size. The smaller one was obviously this year's juvenile and the larger was most probably its mother as the male takes no part in raising youngsters.

Yummy, yummy. Dried mealworms and crushed unsalted peanuts.






I also managed a bit of video before they both left the area, hopefully usable on Friday at the Flicks.

Three Quarters of a Sunset

To be exact - a brief though lovely Sunset over three quarters of the sky.

Looking North:


Looking East:


Looking South:


I didn't bother with 'looking West'. In that direction were thick, dark, fast moving rain clouds. All racing North. Probably trying to find out where Adrian is ;-)

The breeze has been picking up as the day progressed.

Presumably the edge of the depression which was Hurricane Katia now heading across the Atlantic in our direction. So far the Met Office maps show the worst of the storm is expected to pass north of Lincolnshire on Monday though things can change.

The three Sunset photos were tweaked somewhat using the Redynamix plugin.

Friday at the Flicks - Hedgehog

Just the one silent video today. A few nights ago a Hedgehog visited just as the daylight was fading. It would appear to be a good job I hadn't cleared up all the seed the Starlings had scattered from the feeders as Spiky seemed to be enjoying the sunflower hearts. He/she had arrived just as I was about to put the dish of dried mealworms and crushed unsalted peanuts out so I waited for a while and took a few video clips.



When I went out with the dish I hoped for a few still photos but the hog made a dash for cover until it considered the coast clear before coming back to tuck in to the usual feast.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife wherever you are.

Wings for Wednesday

A couple of red eyed flies this week.

The first is a Flesh Fly:  (Sarcophaga bercaea)
Easily recognised by the large red eyes, the stripes on the thorax and the checked abdomen. They do not lay eggs but carry them until they hatch. The larvae then burrow into food material.



The second appears to be a  Root-Maggot Fly . (Anthomyiidae)



Both photos are somewhat reduced in sharpness as they were processed twice. First using the Redynamix plugin in PaintShop Pro. Then they were transferred to the iPad  to convert to greyscale and colour pop the flies using the ColorSplash app.

Why colour pop? This is a small crop from the photo as taken. I feel that the bright colour of the plastic barrel detracts from the subject.



Goldfinches:
Now the breeding season is over the Goldfinches are back to moving around in flocks. Yesterday teatime the Birdy Bistro was invaded by upwards of forty all trying to feed at the same time. One noticeable fact is the number of youngsters. I would estimate that at least half were this years juveniles which is great and should help to improve their numbers in the area.

Macro on Monday - Guess What + Birthday Bash

It would seem last week's mystery plant was more difficult than I thought it would be. Maybe the top negative picture put people off. Only Glo managed to suss it out and gained the virtual gold star    for identifying the piece of Groundsel. It was an anagram of 'under logs' in the clue.

 

Better luck with the new mystery plant.
Guess What:


 No prizes. Just for fun. Don't be shy - have a go.

Grand Birthday Bash

I think I am still recovering from last Saturday night. Clinton, a close neighbour and friend, had a garden party and BBQ to celebrate being 80 years young.


Yvonne, his wife, had asked me if I would video some of the event as Clinton's daughter was to make a surprise visit from Australia where she has been living for the past five years.



The photographer was from the local paper.

The whole evening went very smoothly and so, fortunately, did my little videoing episode. Beside the constant supply of food from the BBQ and never ending supply of the wobbly leg liquid there was entertainment from a couple of belly dancers



and a pole dancer, who I missed as it was too dark for my camcorder and I had to get back to Bobby who was already panicking. It is very rare for me to leave him at night, especially for several hours. Of course my early exit might also have had something to do with the fact that video clips were in danger of looking as though I was filming on a trawler in a North Sea storm. Today I was able to put together a quarter hour video which was burned on to DVDs for the family.

Friday at the Flicks - Goldfinches, Blue Tit

There are so many Goldfinches visiting at the moment there is usually plenty of squabbling, especially amongst the impatient youngsters. Like us they have three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and teatime.



There is a microphone behind a small solar panel on the shed. One day I could hear constant tapping which turned out to be a Blue Tit  pecking at the woodwork where a cable enters the shed. The hole is plugged with Blu-Tack. The bird then goes on to investigate the tapes which hold various cables together. Insects use those as safe havens and the Blue Tits often go looking to see what they can find..



 Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.