Macro on Monday - Guess What

My congratulations and the virtual Midmarsh Gold Star go to TexWisGirl, Wilma, ImaBurdie and Adrian who all worked out the cropped photo was part of one of Penny's cuddly toys. 'Twas Sammy the Squirrel:

   

And so on to this week's mystery photo, again a crop.
Definitely not dead.
Guess What:


Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed next Monday along with the answer.

No prizes, just for fun and maybe a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

A Frog He Would a Wooing Go

I could hear a frog in the garden pond while I was photographing the eclipse last Friday and today sees the first activity:









There are several clumps of spawn. One batch was laid in a partly sunken pot which would dry out when the water level drops so I transferred it to the 'nursery' pond.

Busy Bees and Variable Weather

It's no wonder the weather is a major topic of conversation in the UK.  Once the kerfuffle about the partial solar eclipse was over the afternoon turned out to be glorious for the time of year. Here anyway. Temperature up to 14C, wall to wall Sunshine and more importantly not a breath of cold wind to spoil things. It even got me in the mood for pottering outdoors. Cleaned the pond pump so that is now back to full flow. Grass trimmed for the first time this year.

I was not the only one busy in the garden. The catkins on the corkscrew hazel were attracting dozens of bees. Right little fidgets they are to capture close shots:





Bumble bees were not so active. I saw several on various Sunny PVC windows soaking up what heat they could find:



Last but not least my first sighting this year of a 7 spot ladybird:



Today is completely the opposite. Cloudy and dull all day with a biting Northerly wind which cuts right through you. Makes the 7C feel more like 0C.

Partial Solar Eclipse

When I got up at 6 a.m. things didn't look very good for photographing the partial solar eclipse. Mist and cloud. Fortunately most of that started to burn off and then my only anxiety was the timing of my visit to the local medical centre for some blood tests. I was booked in for an early appointment but there is always some delay. As it happened the delay today was about half an hour so by the time I arrived back home the eclipse was well under way. Almost reaching the maximum point.

There was still some thin cloud about and a direct view of the Sun didn't look very promising:



Anyway I set up the 70D on its sturdy tripod:

 

Fitted with my solar filter:

    

Brilliant. The filter seemed to cut through the haze and cloud to give some reasonable photos.

Near maximum:

 

Maximum eclipse seen  from home in Lincolnshire:



Various shots as the shadow moved away from the Sun:







As for the effect in general, for me it was almost a non event. Light levels did get duller, the most noticeable was indoors in the North facing kitchen which was a lot darker. Outside though there was a noticeable drop in light levels it was still more than light enough to see everything better than on a dull Winter's day.

Finally the readings from my weather station:



There is an obvious dip in light and UV levels about 9.30 a.m. locally

Friday at the Flicks - More Nesting Material

This is not the first time I have seen a Blackbird gather wet material for nest building:



Have a grand weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Keeping Warm

One sunny but cold afternoon about a week ago we went walkabout past the paddock to see whether any horses were out and about.

Down a narrow path to the back of the village church:



Across the back of the graveyard:



Along another narrow track:



Finally a view of the horses well wrapped up enjoying fresh air and sunshine on the far side of the paddock:










On our way back home we were being closely watched by the occasional goat:

Misty Sunrise

It seems more like Autumn this week with misty mornings and evening fog. No chance of seeing a possible aurora last night with fog and low cloud. I hope others had better luck as there was a strong geomagnetic storm after two CMEs had hit the Earth's magnetic field. I did see reports that short wave transmission activity had all but disappeared during the electrical storm.

This photo of the Sun was taken Tuesday morning well after it had risen: