A Few Real Cars

One of the attractions at the annual village show was a display of classic cars. I had expected maybe half a dozen but there was a whole line up of them. I love cars which look like cars, each with its own distinctive design. These days I find it very difficult to tell what make some cars are as so many look alike to me.

 


At some similar shows I have been to the owners have put up small signs with details about each car but I didn't spot anything like that so here are a few which caught my attention.

 

 

 

 

 

Nearby was an immaculate looking Harley:

 

A latecomer was a classic Ford with a few modifications. Not least of which were the large rear wheels and a 4+litre engine.







Finally there was an opportunity to enter a raffle to win a short ride in a rather snazzy looking Ferrari:



All the owners had obviously given their vehicles a lot of TLC to present them in showroom condition.

Mystery Fly

I regularly have to change the water in Penny's outside water dish as all sorts of bugs keep using it as their personal swimming pool. Most are too small to be a problem but some larger specimens need to be removed before Penny enjoys an unexpected extra added meat flavour to her water.

This evening this beauty was doing an imitation of a doggy paddle:

 

 

I don't remember having seen this type of fly before and its identification is evading me at the moment. Size is about the same as a hive honey bee, about 9mm long. Its large eyes, thick legs and colouring ought to make it easy to identify but Google isn't helping one little bit this evening, even when I uploaded a photo to help.


Addendum
I tweeted a photo to Africa Gómez at Hull Uni who writes Bug Blog. She suggests it is probably a honey bee. The give away being the enlarged rear femur where they carry pollen.

Monday Mystery - Guess What

Congratulations and the virtual Midmarsh Gold Star go to Adrian and Ragged Robin for correctly identifying a plant sprayer.



The virtual Midmarsh Silver Star to Wilma who thought it was an oil can. I used to have one which looked very much like the one in the photo.

   

Here is a close view of another everyday object.
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 possibly a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

The Aliens Have Landed

There are only three entries locally for the village Scarecrow competition.
Here are the other two:





There are a few more in the adjoining village. I hope they are still on view when I get round to hunting them out. Looking at the list of entries there seems to be two sections to the competition. Just a scarecrow and a scarecrow combined with the garden as a whole.

Today I had a wander round the village show which is held on the school playing field so there are a few blog entries to come from that over the next week.

Friday at the Flicks - House Sparrows & Stretch Spiders

One particularly hot day many of the local House Sparrows spent a lazy time Sunbathing on my shed roof. Who says their numbers are in decline? Here they have been breeding well this year:




I have tried several time to video the Stretch Spiders which build their webs between the plants in my garden pond. They seem to re-build them every day, if not more than once a day. This is the best I have managed so far. The webs are large and they work so quickly it isn't easy to try getting in really close:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

The Friendly Scarecrow

How the time flies. It doesn't seem a year since the last village scarecrow competition. On our morning perambulation I spotted this local entry. Not just a scarecrow but a whole scene:







   



A lot of thought, planning and effort has gone in to making this delightful scene.

Springtail

Plenty of little bugs keep going for a swim in Penny's outside water dish. Mainly Pollen Beetles at the moment but spotted this one in the empty dish: (Length about 3mm)



Quite a little devil to get really close for a macro shot as it kept leaping all over the place but I did manage to get five shots to focus stack for the above picture though I had to make some manual corrections where it had moved its antennae between shots.  I'm pretty sure it is a springtail.

BTW This photo uses the latest incarnation of Flickr's added information. Now it seems to show briefly on loading and then can only be seen as you hover over the picture. So far I don't object to that and clicking on the photo still takes you to a larger view on the Flickr site. I am pleased to see that their people have taken notice of the real dislike penned on the forum regarding the first attempt.