My Own Dining Table by Penny

For six months I have chased my food dish round the kitchen. Every time I tried to get at the tasty bits the dish would slide around. At last dad got round to solving the problem. He bought me my own dining table.

 

It is a nice height so I don't have to bend down so much. It has two stainless steel dishes and they don't try to run away from me. Now eating and drinking are so easy I can enjoy my food even more.

 




The only problem is, I enjoyed my food so much I even ate the bit I usually save for supper and I am too full to do anything except sleep it off:

 

I wonder how many of my cuddly toys you can spot.

Snowy Night - Nikon v Lumix

Experiment - Nikon S9050 on a tripod shooting through the kitchen window. Had to take a lot of shots as the scene was so dark. In fact the LCD screen was virtually blank even with the outside lighting switched on. Exposure was about one second. These were about the best of the bunch. Orange sky is the falling snow reflecting the sodium street lights. Also there is an interior reflection from the window.



All photos tweaked with the ReDynaMix plug-in in Photoshop Elements.


Yellow foreground is from a low energy lamp outside.

Finally I tried the Lumix TZ7. This time I was able to see a dim view of the scene on the LCD screen. The Lumix took 8 seconds to take the photo plus another 3 or 4 seconds processing before it was saved.



Interestingly both cameras claimed they were properly focussed by giving a green indication on their screens and by beeping. Both cameras were set to their fully automatic settings with flash forced off.

Cloudy Sky

Today was the first time since I bought the Nikon S9050 that there have been cloud formations worth looking at. Overhead there was a virtually clear blue sky but in most directions there were dark brooding clouds building - looks as though things are getting ready for the snow forecast in a day or twos time.

Most photos have been cropped and all were processed with the ReDynaMix plug-in to increase contrast:

Full colour:
 

With the green 'popped' effect done in the camera:
 

Oooo look, clouds:


High contrast monochrome done in the camera:


I also used the 'Wire Worm' plug-in on these to get rid of a very prominent telephone cable:




It really made a change from the occasional day with no cloud and the many with full dreary, grey cloud cover.

MobileMonet HD

When it was available for free I downloaded and had a play with the iPad app MobileMonet HD

The original photo as taken by the Nikon S9050:



As processed by the app to produce a picture in the style of Claude Monet:

Fieldfare? on the Bird Table

Unfortunately only a couple of really grotty shots .....






..... but I am pretty sure it was a Fieldfare which visited the bird table this morning.

That will teach me to keep the UV filter clean. Also the 50D always seems to have problems when the battery is low and the indicator was flashing at me this morning.

What is the Magpie Watching?

A Magpie sat in a tree just past the end of my garden intently watching something going on in my garden:



It had spotted a Sparrowhawk which had managed to catch its lunch:



That was followed by something I really wish I had been quick enough to capture on camera. The Magpie came down and slowly walked across in front of the Sparrowhawk. They were only a few inches away from each other. The Magpie went away having satisfied its curiosity and the Sparrowhawk carried on with its meal though with many glances upwards to check there were no more Magpies about.

Monday Matinee

Didn't have anything ready for "Friday at the Flicks" so here they are for a Monday Matinee instead. First a short clip of Mrs Great Tit who, as far as I can tell, has been roosting in the camera nest box every night.



A little bit of video I took with the Nikon during yesterday's walkabout. Once again it was a route we had only taken once before, about six months ago.



Finally I couldn't have a video session without Starlings. I bought a tub of filled coconut halves when they were on sale from Petplanet UK. I have used the company for quite a few items for Penny. They often have reduced price offers for cat and dog food, toys and bedding as well as some items for wildlife and fish. They are worth keeping an eye on.

I hung one of the coconuts on a branch, positioned so that several types of birds could reach it. As well as the Blue Tits I have seen Blackbirds and, of course, Starlings enjoying it. One disadvantage for the birds which cannot hang on is the way it twirls round when they peck at it. At least that slows down the speed with which a Starling could demolish it:



Have a great week observing the wildlife around you.