Tuesday Twister - Guess What

We had to trundle off to the vets this morning as it was time for Penny to checked to see how things were progressing with her gums. Not too bad. At least more extractions aren't needed yet. While there she had her yearly booster and collected more antibiotic tablets to continue her treatment.

On to the Twisters:





Congratulations and virtual Midmarsh Gold Stars go to Wilma, Adrian and Ragged Robin who all spotted the peanut feeder. I thought some of it might have had you guessing in the wrong direction. The grey part is, in fact, a slate roof on the feeder:



The Midmarsh virtual Silver Star goes to TexWisGirl who worked out it was a feeder of some sort.

   

The all wire mesh peanut feeders are good for birds to gain access to the food but being so open the peanuts are quickly affected by the damp weather. The wood frame with a slate roof should make the contents last longer. The mesh goes right underneath so the Blue Tits ought to be at home with it.


On to the new Twisted Photo.
Guess What:


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

Raiders in the Night

Very few of the regular birds seem to visit these days. Weeks since I saw a Goldfinch, not since a Greenfinch brought finch disease. I cleaned, disinfected the feeders and reduced their numbers for a while but numbers of all birds visiting has stayed low. I also think a local Magpie might be scaring some away. There is a Magpie with what appears to be a damaged wing spending a lot of time around local gardens. It can fly a bit and is very adept at hopping up through the lower branches of small trees.

The only activity spotted was a couple of mice raiding the crushed peanuts I put in the Hedgehog House in case one visited:

Simon King Video Feeds

Little of note going on around here recently. Remarkably few birds visiting the Birdy Bistro so I thought I would mention a couple of the video feeds set up by Simon King who many will know from his nature programmes and appearances on Spring and Autumn Watch in the past.

A new camera is Scavenger Cam which has some great close shots of buzzards and other scavengers visiting an area where meat is left near the camera. It is pot luck as to when they will make an appearance so I follow the tweets from Simon King which alert people when to tune in.

The second camera is more predictable as to when there will be some action. This camera gives a wider view of an area where once again meat is put out. This time for Red Kites. It is a wider view and often over a hundred Kites can be seen visit. The beauty of this video feed is that feeding takes place at the same time every day: 2 p.m. GMT.

Links are:

Scavenger Cam

Kite Cam


These are just two on the many nature feeds set up by Simon King.
Go HERE to choose from all available feeds, including otter feeding, foxes and nest boxes.
Don't be surprised if the feed stops after watching for a while. Just start it again. I think that is done to conserve bandwidth so that people can't just start watching and forget the feed is still active.

Tuesday Twister - Guess What

This should just about make it for Tuesday in the UK. Received a new Ham Radio hand held this afternoon and it's taken longer than expected to learn how to drive it and test it out on air (first time on air for nine years). Everything comes with endless menus for setting up these days. Fortunately it also comes with a computer program which simplifies some of it.

Anyway - here we go.

Just two virtual gold stars for last week.
Congratulations to TexWisGirl and Wilma who both recognised the Sunspots in the twisted photo:

    

It was taken about a week ago and shows the largest Sunspot seen for over 35 years which was big enough to hold about 30 Earths giving a good idea of the overall size of the Sun.

On to the new Tuesday Twister
Guess What:


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

Friday at the Flicks - Ivy Visitors

A bit of video of some of the insects visiting the Ivy flowers:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Ivy Visitors

 


Not many in the way of flowers for insects to feed on these days. The one exception is Ivy. This must be the best years I have seen for the amount of flowers on my Ivy. Some in the front hedge and a clump at the back have been attracting scores of flying insects.

While the Sun was out yesterday one clump was attracting bees which were filling their pollen sacs.



Outnumbering the bees were flies by the score:



They are making the most of the dwindling pollen and nectar supply as the flowers are fading fast.

Tuesday Twister - Guess What

The virtual gold star winners this week are TexWisGirl, Keith and Ragged Robin who all identified the Water / Pond Lily.










 A consolation virtual silver star for Adrian for guessing it was a lily.









      

I wonder how people will get on with this week's twisted photo.
Guess What:


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