Swooping Swallows

Normally I see a few Swallows swooping down and across the village cricket field towards the end of Summer when they are stocking up on food ready for the long flight back to Africa. Unusually yesterday there were three doing just that - flying up, swooping down and then skimming just a few inches above the surface of the field. Each would make two or three circuits and then disappear for a short while so I presume there is a nest somewhere no too far away.

Trying to get a photograph of constantly moving, small, high speed fliers is bad enough when they are up in the air. Even more difficult when they are at ground level and rapidly covering the whole field, even coming within a few feet of us as we sat and watched. I tried a few speculative shots with the Nikon and hoped for the best and this was the only one which managed to catch sight of a Swallow:



It is near the bottom left of the photo. All I did was point in the general direction and shoot when they got reasonably close. Far from a brilliant shot but the first I have managed.

It has been estimated that Swallows can achieve a speed in excess of 11 metres per second, 24 mph.

Mrs Great Spotted Woodpecker

8.15 p.m. went through to the kitchen to brew a cuppa when I saw a flash of feathers as a female Great Spotted Woodpecker landed on one of the peanut feeders. All previous sightings of GSWs have been of a male so it made a change to see Mrs. I had already put the cameras to bed as light levels were poor but quickly grabbed the 70D and whooped the ISO up to 12800 in the hopes of getting a few hand held record shots:







Obviously at that high an ISO the background is very grainy. Especially when I processed them to increase the colour and contrast. At least I was able to confirm it was a female - no red patch on the back of the head. Maybe now male and female are visiting I may get to see one or more juveniles in the near future.

Right of Way Dispute

There's me quietly minding my own business giving the lawn a short back and sides when this little frog with a death wish leaps out in front of me:



As I had the Nikon in my shirt pocket I took a quick snap and waited for Froggy to move out of the way. That was going to be some wait as it had no intention of moving. Froggy even stayed put while I got the camera closer and closer. It was determined it had the right of way in its garden.





In the end I had to walk round to the back of it and give it a gentle push. That got it leaping though to start with it aimed for the mower. In the end I persuaded Froggy to find somewhere safer and got on with the job in hand.

Sun Day

With clear skies last Thursday it was a good opportunity to take a new photo of the Sun:

Canon 70D  400mm with Orion Safety Film Solar Filter   f5.6  1/160 sec cropped

About ten Sun Spots were observable. We are now near or just past the peak of the Sun's eleven year cycle of activity.

Do remember never to look directly, or point a camera, at the Sun without the correctly designed apparatus. The special solar filter I use on the 70D can be seen in my post 'There is a Sun Up There'.

Little Green Pests

I noticed that the leaves on my plum tree were suffering some sort of attack as many were curling round. A quick examination of some leaves soon showed the cause. Aphids, greenfly by the score:





You wouldn't think such tiny creatures could cause so much damage but when there are hundreds of them sucking the sap out of a plant it soon becomes weakened. Where are the ladybirds now they are needed?

Friday at the Flicks - After the Rain + Woody Returns

Some birds were unsure how to proceed after last Monday's heavy rain shower. Some, like the Stock Dove went in for tentative paddling. Starlings, of course, took advantage of a giant bird bath and the Blackbirds collected the worms driven to the surface:



Fortunately with temperatures reaching the mid 20s C it didn't take long for the surface water to evaporate though the ground is still very soggy under foot.


Woody keeps making regular visits. I notice he doesn't seem to eat the peanuts but flies off with them so I guess he has a hungry brood not too far away.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

ISO 12800 Experiment

One dull afternoon when the Birdy Bistro was in total shade I decided to take a couple of photos at ISO 12800 with the Canon 70D to see what the results would be like. That gave me a chance to get a reasonable hand held speed:

ISO 12800  400mm  f8  1/500 sec

ISO 12800  400mm  f7.1  1/500 sec

Much better than I expected. There is grain in the background but not nearly as much as I thought there would be. There is a drop in contrast ratio which is to be expected in such dull conditions but I gave the photos a small amount of cropping, a sharpness boost and a boost in definition with iPhoto. No attempt was made to reduce the grain.