Friday at the Flicks - Experimental Nestbox Live Video Stream

Since I changed my router I have found that I can now stream live video from the Great Tit Nestbox.

Click HERE to access the stream which should open in a new window. It may take a few seconds for the picture to appear. I'm not sure yet how long or how often I will use this facility. Experimental as yet.

One thing I have found - unfortunately the video will not show on iPads or iPhones as it uses Flash which is not available on these devices. Camstreams are developing apps for Android and iOS and hope to have them available in a few months time.

If you have problems viewing the video stream on a PC or Mac have a look at the Camstreams help page HERE,

Changes All Round

First, an apology. In a Senior Moment I mis-identified the plant shown in yesterday's Macro on Monday so I have changed the clue on that post.

No wonder the weather is one of the main talking points in this country. It can be so changeable. Sunday - raining all day. Monday - wall to wall warm Sunshine. Tuesday - awake to damp, dull conditions.

Today I change my broadband router. My present one is not wireless so to connect the iPad I have used a USB add on wireless connection which seems to have stopped working. Fortunately Zen Internet pre program the router with the information for it to connect to them straight away. All I have to do is work out the settings for the iPad and an internet radio.

Zen is far from being the cheapest internet provider but I have found their service and help to be second to none with UK based problem solvers who know their system inside out and go the extra mile to sort out any problems, not that there are many problems that need solving. When I compare their competence with Tiscali (taken over by Talk Talk) where any problems had to fit in with the script on the screen in front of them otherwise they just did not understand or have the ability to help I can only conclude that you get what you pay for.

After I had been with Zen for a while I found out that they regularly come out top ISP in the Which? report and I fully endorse that conclusion.  My main reason for choosing Zen in the first place was their monthly contract rather than the usual yearly ones. After my experiences with Tiscali I wanted to be able to change provider quickly if things went wrong but happily that thought has never crossed my mind with Zen.

Macro on Monday - Guess What + What a Difference

Hard to make my mind up what to award for last week's guesses. No one said exclusively that it was a digital watch though all hedged their bets (lol) - hence the clue 'handy to know when' so I guess it is silver stars all round for Keith, Wilma and Jan.

(slightly different displays as these were taken at different times)
   

I hope this week's puzzle photo, taken today, will be easier
Guess what:


I know, I know - there are lots of yellow coloured flowers so....
Clue:A very prickly customer. (clue was revised as I had completely mis-identified the plant!)

No prizes, just for fun.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday was the 13th consecutive wet day with 13 continuous hours of rain though only half an inch was recorded by my weather station.  Enough for my back garden to start disappearing under water...


Fortunately that had already started to recede by this morning.
What a difference today brought.
Wall to wall warm Sunshine and beautiful blue sky all day.


Panorama taken with the iPhone.

Foul Weather but Lovely Sunset

Only a few very short showers on Saturday (the eleventh consecutive wet day) but a cold breeze blowing in from the North Sea was gradually strengthening with dark clouds drifting across the sky. In spite of this, for a brief period there was a lovely Sunset which I just happened to notice when I went through to the kitchen to make a cuppa. Grabbing the TZ7 I fired off a few shots across my fence:

An LTT in the Garden - at last

It was starting to rain, nothing new there then, and the feeders needed topping up. Once that task was completed various finches and other birds started to arrive. The first visitor to the fat ball feeder was a lone Long Tailed Tit. It must be about two years since the last time I saw any at the Birdy Bistro. Stood well back in the kitchen and managed a few hurried shots before it left.

All these are taken with the 50D at 400mm zoom, cropped and then tweaked in Photoshop Elements 10 using the Guide, Saturated Slide Film Effect.








Great Tit Nest:
Mrs GT continues to incubate her seven eggs with occasional excursions out of the nest box and Mr GT makes occasional visits with food for her.

Friday at the Flicks - Collared Dove + Safe Cage

A while ago some Wood Pigeons found they could scrape through a gap through the wire mesh to feed on the Bird Table so I made the gap smaller. It didn't take the Collared Doves long to work out that the gap was still large enough for them to gain access.



About two years ago I looked at the commercial ground cages which allow smaller birds to feed but keep out the larger ones. I decided to throw together my own version but the birds didn't take to it when it was on the ground. A few days ago I decided to give it another try out. This time it is about a yard above ground and next to bushes.



It took a very short time for a Chaffinch to investigate and it has been constantly visited since.




Next job, if it ever stops raining, (10 continuous days with rain so far) is to rebuild it to fit the size and shape of the plastic tray which should raise the base where the camera can get a better view of the visitors. So far only finch size birds have entered, usually in the side and out through the top. Wood Pigeons have tried to get their heads in but the food is in the middle. At last the small ground feeders can get their share of the food in peace.

Wings on Wednesday (2) - Levitating Chaffinch

Couldn't resist this: