Nearly Springtime - Ladybirds

As soon as the Sun warms things up out come the Ladybirds. I don't think I have ever seen so many emerging at this time of year. Everywhere I look there seem to be dozens of 7 spot Ladybirds.



Some of those in this batch were rushing around at full speed, every now and then stopping to investigate another Ladybird. I guess the little boy Ladybirds were trying to find a little girl Ladybird which didn't have a headache. No sound on this video clip as there was so much wind noise.

Friday at the Flicks - Chaffinch Song, No Hands Bread Eating, Pheasant

A bit more birdy activity captured this week. To begin with, after days of trying to find a Chaffinch which had spent many hours singing I managed to capture this bit of video:



Yesterday I was laughing out loud as I watched a Wood Pigeon with a piece of bread which had fallen from the feeder where I put it for the corvids. In its energetic tries to pull small pieces to eat the bread was flying all over the place: A corvid would have stood on the bread to hold it still.



I think I have a friend for life. When I see the Pheasant in the garden I go out and throw a few peanuts on the grass for it. Yesterday I did that twice and each time it moved a short distance away from me. On a third occasion I took some stuff out to put in the recycle bin. This time the Pheasant came rushing over to me expecting more food.  In this clip it is swallowing one of the peanuts. I have seen it do this in the past when a peanut is only just big enough for it to eat. (no sound on this clip)



All this week's video were shot using an Hitachi DVC Cam.

The Difficulty of Predicting Auroras.
Yesterday the strong CME (Coronal Mass Ejection / Solar flare) from the Sun did hit the Earth's magnetic field. It did not spark off the possible widespread auroras we had hoped for. Why? There is a good explanation on the NASA site.
Imagine the Earth's magnetic field as a bar magnet. The cloud of charged particles from the Sun also acts like a bar magnet. If both of these imaginary bar magnets are the same way round there is a small disturbance to the Earth's magnetic field resulting in some aurora activity near the Earth's poles. If they are the opposite way round to each other then there can be a large effect resulting in magnetic storms and auroras over a much greater area of the Earth. Although the strength of a solar flare can be measured as it leaves the Sun, the direction of the magnetic field (which way round the bar magnet will be) is not known until it arrives here so it is difficult to predict how widespread auroras will be.

There may be a chance tonight - strong magnetic variations have been detected by the Lancaster University magnetometer in Crooktree, Scotland since about 06.30 GMT Let's hope they continue until tonight.

The Night sky + Possible Aurora Conditions, again

It is possible to see three of the Solar System's planets shining brightly in the early night sky. Looking generally to the West after Sunset, Jupiter and Venus are easily spotted as the brightest objects in that direction. I photographed those last month as can be seen HERE though the Moon is nowhere near them in the sky now.

At the moment Mars is almost as close as it will get this year. Its nearest was a few nights ago but cloud here spoilt that photo opportunity. It is virtually opposite the Sun and will be directly South about midnight here. I went out 8pm. ish when the sky was relatively clear and Mars could be seen shining much brighter than any of the stars even though there was a full Moon.

There are a couple of stars at the top left and also near the bottom right (though you may need to enlarge it to spot them) with Mars shining brightly at the centre of this photo.

 

I tried to get the Moon and Mars on one frame but the difference in brightness made that impossible, for my abilities anyway. I did take the opportunity to shoot the full Moon. Not the best time to show detail as the face on light from the Sun gives no shadows to emphasise the craters. After a bit of manipulating in Photoshop Elements adjusting levels to increase contrast this was about the best I achieved.



Photos taken with a Canon 50D fitted with the Canon IS 100-400mm lens, ISO 1250, hefty tripod and cable release.
Mars shot:  400mm 2.5 seconds f5.6 manual focus
Moon shot: 400mm  1/800sec  f10 auto focus
Both photos are cropped.


Aurora Possibility.

A  lively Sunspot sent a very active coronal mass ejection out recently. Fortunately it is not heading directly towards the Earth but should hit a glancing blow today. I say fortunately as a direct hit from this one could cause all sorts of problems to power supplies and electronic communications. There is still a possibility of some disruption to satellite communications (sat nav and such like) and power companies are monitoring the situation. If this event causes auroras there is a possibility of them being seen much further from the poles than usual.

Wings on Wednesday - Stock Dove

Last year I used to have a few Stock Doves visiting the garden.  So far this year only one has been visiting, or at least only one at a time. I am always fascinated by the neck feathers which glint like coloured tin foil, especially in direct Sunlight.



That is what makes it so easy to distinguish them from other doves which visit the garden.



Most of the time Stock Doves don't build nests but may use hollows in trees and rock faces or even nest in rabbit burrows. There are no rock faces nearby. There may be a few trees with hollows but there are certainly plenty of rabbit burrows in the area.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

A good set of responses for last week's Guess What. I thought it might have been too difficult but congratulations and a     go to Jan, Keith, Wilma, Matron and Glo who all thought it was part of a Crocus, which it was.

  


As often happens I was struggling to find something to get close up to this week so in the end I dug out an old photo of one of the ornaments I have near the pond and gave it the Photoshop Elements treatment Can you work out what it is?

Guess What:
 

No prizes, just for fun.

Friday at the Flicks - Bird Visitors + Sun Dog

Not a lot going on on the video front this past week. Here are three recent visiting birds that I don't see very often at the moment.



Late yesterday afternoon I was looking at some of the swirling cirrus cloud formations. I happened to glance generally in the direct of the Sun when I noticed a small section of cloud that was coloured - a Sun Dog. Only the second time I have seen this and it was the very devil to photograph but I did manage one reasonable shot:



This rainbow effect is caused by the Sun's rays refracting through ice crystals in the clouds.

Today I 'ave Mostly Been Paddling

With apologies to Jesse in  The Fast Show ....