Raspberry Pi

Penny has been though the wars again. Thursday she had yet more treatment for her teeth. This time she only lost one little one. Mike, the vet, is trying a new, to him, treatment which coats the teeth below the gum line to help slow down decay. This treatment has had very good reports but is a first for Mike. This time she seems to be recovering much faster and I need to wear sun glasses to look at her teeth they are such a dazzling pure white now.


I have toyed with the idea of buying a Raspberry Pi to play with. This is a bare bones programmable computer. Recently a new version has been released, the B+, so I decided to order one. One thing which interested me was the built in interface for a specially designed camera, obtainable extra so I got one of those along with a USB WiFi 'dongle':



In use I plug in a mini keyboard and mouse.
A good job they increased the number of USB ports from 2 to 4 on the B+.
There is an HDMI output which I plug in a 15 inch TV.

The Pi B+ does not come with an operating system but takes a micro SD card which can be loaded with one or more of several free programming languages.  One aspect of using the camera I liked was being able to monitor it over WiFi or even the internet. The camera has 5 Mpixels which is reasonable and the software can be programmed to take still or movie.

This is a 640x480 capture taken over wiFi with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4:



For android based phones or tablets there is a very easy to use free app (RaspCAM Remote).
There is a free iOS app (BerryCam) which takes much more setting up.

The Pi seems to me to be a bit more delicate than the Arduino in one respect. The input signals cannot exceed 3V and many extras were designed to work on 5V so, as far as I am concerned, an interface is a sensible idea. There are many interfaces which do one job but also available is this versatile Tandy jobby which comes as a kit:



It was designed for the earlier versions of the Pi (A & B) but should be OK with the B+ as far as I can see. There are about 70 items to solder on the board but as some have up to 20 pins I reckon about 200 solder joints will have to be made. Should keep me out of mischief for hours! As will coming to terms with learning to program the Pi as the languages used seem nothing like those I have used in the past.

Friday at the Flicks - Blackbird on a Hot Roof

A bit of video I took when the Blackbird was 'basking' on the roof of my shed:

A Hot Day

A couple of days ago when it was really hot a Blackbird decided to spend some time on what must have been one of the hottest situations around - on a hot felt roof:

Some times preening:



Sometimes just resting:



Can't really be to cool off, maybe to try to get rid of some of the fleas and such like.

Tuesday Twister - Guess What

Once again a full house. Congratulations and virtual gold stars go to Adrian, TexWisGirl, Wilma and Ragged Robin for identifying the twisted golf ball. They seem to come in all colours these days. Bobby often used to find them in the rough ground round the edge of the village cricket field.

     

I wonder how you will get on with the next object.
Guess What:



Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed next Tuesday along with the answer.
No prizes. Just for fun and a virtual gold star.

Who Will Be First?

When I was ordering my usual supply of bird seed from CJ Wildlife I looked round for some replacement feeders as mine are getting well weather worn and grotty even after cleaning. I spotted a different seed feeder. The Fiesta Diner is ceramic with a steel wire hanger. Depending on the colour they range from £4.95 to £7.95 each. Needless to say I chose a couple of the cheapest:

   

When they arrive the only thing which needs doing is to screw on the perches making sure not to lose the tiny nylon washers which protect the ceramic glaze. Being glazed they should be easy to wash and keep clean. There are three holes in the bottom to let rain water drain out. As well as the feeders they also make an identical product without the holes so it can be used as a water feeder.

Once the first was hung up it was a case of wait and see who would be the first brave soul to investigate it. I doubt that many would need three guesses! For about an hour the old feeders were visited but for this one many gave it a good dose of looking at from a safe distance:



Then at last the first user arrived:



Yes, a juvenile Starling - they get everywhere!

Once others saw that the Starling didn't go up in a puff of smoke or get transported to another dimension they soon began to make use of it.

Friday at the Flicks - Early Morning Visitors

A few live video grabs taken early this morning of some visitors to the bird table:

Female Blackbird, Female Chaffinch, Dunnock, Juvenile Robin, Robin, Juvenile Blue Tit, Male Chaffinch.



There are three juvenile Blue Tits which visit every day, mainly to the peanut feeders.
Regulars missing from this video - House Sparrows and, of course, Starlings. Both managed to get in on the act via the sound track. Also heard in the background is a Collared Dove.

iMovie on the MacBook produced a 230MB file which was squished down to 90MB using the excellent HandBrake app to cut down the uploading time.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Seeing Me, Seeing You

Quite a few male Blue-tailed Damselflies around the garden pond recently:



Unfortunately I couldn't see any females.
Just look at the size of those eyes.