Another Grand Day

Not quite so warm yesterday but plenty of Sunshine and a top temperature of 13.8C. Just right for getting things done. I had finally made my mind up about the camera inside the Hedgehog House. Instead of permanently replacing one of the other cameras why not automatically switch between cameras at dawn and dusk. I already had a 12V supply in the shed which worked some LED lights over the shed doors at night so I jigged a little circuit with a relay to switch the feed between the bird table camera in the daytime and the Hedgehog House camera at night.

Daytime views:



Night time views:



Still no signs of any takers in the camera nest boxes this year.

Did a little clearing up in the garden and had just decided to call it a day when a Hardy Phoenix Palm Tree I had ordered from Amazon turned up. Re-potted it in a slightly larger and better pot and buried that in a raised bed next to the pond:

 



As today promises to be another good one I will move things around and do a bit more tidying up. That's the theory anyway.

Relaxing in the Sunshine

Tuesday morning the Sun broke through at last to give a very pleasant Spring day reaching nearly 17C so we both made the most of it:



While I got the Summerhouse ready for use madam made the most of the Sunshine to give some very unlady like poses:

 

 

 

 

A Vortex in the Garden Pond

Well, to be precise a Vorticella. A microscopic creature which looks a bit like an upside down bell. The top, the mouth opening, is surrounded by cilia which rapidly wave up and down in turn. This helps to suck minute food particles towards the opening. On the video they are moving so fast that at first glance I thought the top was rotating. From the bottom of the Vorticella is a stalk which it can use to attach itself and also coil it like a spring to rapidly move out of the way of danger.




By photographing the slide scale at the same size as the video view and making the background transparent it was possible to add the scale on the video.  I tried for ages to get the background transparent in Affinity Photo but the result was poor so ended up going to my old copy of Elements which did it in three quick operations. Magic Wand to surround the black markings, hit delete to make the background see through. Save as .png. Job done!

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Congratulations and the virtual Midmarsh Gold Star go to TexWisGirl, Wilma, Adrian and Glo who all recognised the close view of a melon. Yes, it was a Honeydew and very tasty too:

   

Now to see how you get on with this close view.
Guess what:


Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.
No prizes. Just for fun and maybe a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

Affinity Photo Beta + Tawny Owl Nest Box

Affinity Photo Beta continues to be updated, very nearly every week. I had a little play with some of the built in filters to see how they worked. The one thing which keeps impressing me is the sheer speed at which this program works.

This is an example of using the Detect Edges filter with some added vignette.

A normal cropped version of the file I used:



A slightly larger crop with the above mentioned filters:



An interesting effect.


Nest Boxes

Unfortunately my nest boxes continue to have vacant possession.
One I have been keeping my eye on is the feed from Simon King's Tawny Owl box. Two eggs have been laid and one has hatched. The chick is only a few days old.

The video feed can be found by following THIS LINK

There is live video day and night as there is IR lighting. The female stays in the nest most of the time and the male brings food. At the time of writing it looks like there are three dead rats stored ready for a hungry mother and chick.

Friday at the Flicks - Hedgehog

Just a very short glimpse of my first Hedgehog sighting of 2015.
Lighting is a mix of two IR lamps and a white light lamp with IR movement sensor.
It doesn't seem to affect the animal when the white light comes on.



Fortunately I had been putting out crushed unsalted peanuts for a few nights as it was about time for sleepy eyes to be waking from the Winter hibernation. I haven't switched on the camera in the hedgehog house yet. Can't make my mind up which other camera to switch off to make room for it.

Walkies

A few days ago we took a stroll down one of the narrow village public footpaths. Not a lot to look at but a pleasant secluded walk with plenty of birdsong for me and lots of interesting smells for madam. It's one of my favourite routes but often nearly impassible in the Summer once the nettles have grown to cover the path.









I am fairly sure there was a time when this right of way went through someone's back garden. Once over the narrow concrete bridge over the ditch the path continues the far side of the road but this time does go through a property. I have never tried that part as there are two or three Alsations living there.