Wings on Wednesday - Great Tit Nest + Busy Bees

Mrs Great Tit continues to incubate her seven eggs with brief visits to the outside world. Every so often Mr Great Tit arrives with food for her.



The nest box is in a secluded space in the garden, fixed to the back wall of my shed. It is facing virtually due North and there are high thick bushes nearby.



For the past few days one of my weeping bushes which is full of catkins has been attracting scores of bees. When I walk past it the buzzing is so loud it sounds as though I am walking past a bee hive. They are so busy they take no notice when I put the lens of the Lumix a couple of inches away from them. They all depart with their pollen sacs fully laden.

iPhone4 Panorama 2nd Trial + Now We Are Seven

While we were out for our afternoon walk, dodging the showers, I took a 180 degree panorama shot with the iPhone4 using the free app Photosynth. The resultant panorama was tweaked in Photoshop Elements 10 as the ground was very dark on the original. It gives a good view of the cloudy conditions over the Lincolnshire Wolds which are about four miles away. My biggest disappointment is the overall lack of sharpness though that said the iPhone4 cameras are not the best in the world, especially when compared with those used in Sony Ericsson phones. In this day and age 5 Mpixels is a bit on the stingy side and is the thing which put me off buying an iPhone for a long while. (the iPhone4S camera has 8Mpixels which should give better sharpness)

Another 'problem' which shows is the change in brightness which can occur in the individual shots which make up the panorama as the camera is using auto exposure. Interesting to note that the stitching is done at an angle to the vertical. These are particularly noticeable on the left hand side of this panorama.



Clicking on the photo will take you to Flickr where larger views can be seen.


Great Tit Nest

It looks as though the final count is seven eggs this year (six last year, of which only four hatched). Mrs GT has been spending long periods out of the nest leaving the eggs uncovered but incubation seemed to start late yesterday and is continuing today with Mr GT bringing Mrs GT food.

Now we are seven as can be seen in this snapshot from the video feed:

 

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Just two guesses for last week's puzzle photo and both correct so my congratulations and the         go to Jan and Keith who identified the close view of Blackthorn blossom, which appears in Spring before the leaves. (Taken with the iPhone4)

   

An inanimate object for this week's puzzle picture.
(taken with the iPhone4 and the miniature microscope attachment)
Guess What:


Clue: Handy to know when

No prizes, just for fun.

iPhone Panorama

Free from Microsoft, would you believe, is an app for the iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S with iOS 4.2 or later) called Photosynth. This automatically takes panoramic photos. Well the process is auto though the operator has to turn round. You set up the first view and start the app. As you slowly turn round a real time view is shown on the screen. As this view passes the appropriate point, shown by a moving dotted line on the screen, it automatically takes the next photo. Once a full circle of photos have been saved you click 'finish' and the app stitches the photos together to make the panorama. It is a lot faster doing this than I expected and the result can be saved to the camera roll and / or uploaded to Bing Maps, Facebook or Twitter.

This is a test shot of my unruly back garden:
You can have the raw panorama as stitched in the app:
It looks a bit wavy as I found it difficult to keep the phone level whilst doing a twirl with bright sunlight on the screen.
 

or automatically cropped in the app:


Clicking on the above photos will take you to Flickr where larger views can be seen.

You don't have to take a full circular view. If it only takes a few photos to get something on 'film' then the stitching process can be started at any time by clicking 'finish'. The app will work in any direction, left to right, up and down and it is possible to build up a photo from a block of 2x2 or 3x3 etc. shots.

 Photosynth can be found as a free download on the iTunes app store. It is also compatible with the iPad 2 and 3.

Now We Are Four

A quick video clip, slowed down to half speed. Mrs GT now has four eggs in her nest:





Now We Are Five:

Mrs GT left the nest for a while and now we can see there are five eggs:

Friday at the Flicks - Hedgehog Visits

This is one night's recording of Hedgehogs visiting the garden, speeded up. I have taken to scattering their dried mealworms and crushed unsalted peanuts instead of putting them in a dish so there is room for more than one to eat at the same time. On that evening there were a pair - but not for sharing food.



This is the normal speed recording of the meeting. I see the male hasn't improved his chat up line. It is still a question of barging in to make the female aware of his presence. I think he quickly got fed up with getting a face full of spines:



Great Tits:
I could see at least three eggs in the nest box today. Mrs GT is still bringing in soft nesting material to line the nest. During the day she spends long periods out of the nest, usually covering the eggs before she leaves. That makes sure the eggs don't get too warm and start incubating too soon. Full time roosting will start when they are all laid. Last year there were six eggs. She does spend the night in the box.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Wings on Wednesday - Magpie

For a couple of days a Magpie has been raiding the bird table. Each time it grabs as much as it can cram in its beak. I guess there is a brood nearby as there is very little time between visits.



Most times it keeps one foot firmly on the entrance so it can make a quick get away.