A Local Visitor Returns

With the exception of last Winter I have usually seen a few Tree Sparrows join the House Sparrows at the feeders. I had begun to worry as to what had happened to them. Therefore I was delighted recently to see one join the other sparrows at the seed feeder.

The Tree Sparrow is easily recognised by its brown head and the white cheeks with a large black spot:





Here the Tree Sparrows are usually seen down a lane with tall uncut hedges and trees but as the weather gets colder and natural food scarcer they often move to join the House Sparrows at bird feeders:





So far I think there is just one but I hope a few more may join the group for the Winter.

Friday at the Flicks - Starlings and Elderberries

Autumn is not only the season of mists, and we have had lots of those recently, but also the season of mellow fruitfulness. One of the plants which has done well this year is the overgrown Elder in next door's garden. That was full of elderberries ..... until the Starlings came visiting:



After a couple of days all that was left were bare stalks.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

A Bleak Autumn View

This time of year the local landscape can look very plain and bare. Summer crops have been harvested, the land ploughed and harrowed. All is ready for the Spring crops:



In the distance I see there is yet another wind generator farm nearing completion:



Though, in principle, I approve of some of the ideas for generating 'clean' electricity which are being introduced I do object to the increased costs, especially the sneaky hidden ones. Wind power is more expensive to generate than the traditional methods so costs us more. On top of that are the subsidies paid to the developers and on top of that the money they are paid to turn off the generators when too much power is generated. Those payments were originally fixed at a higher rate than they get for generating power. Such is the way with governments who are ruled by (in the pay of?) big business and, after all, it's not their money. It's the taxes those of us who can't hide our wealth in off shore tax havens have to pay.

Autumn Mornings

 

Definitely into Autumn and the season of Mists. This is the view which has greeted us on most mornings recently when going for our early morning walkies:





This morning was a little different. Nice Sunrise. No clouds, just aircraft con trails:



Title created with Art Text 2 using the font Aunt Bertha NF.

Another 'Round Tuit' Off the Pile

Not a bad speed for me - parts purchased near the end of Spring finally assembled last weekend. What was it? Just a controller for the under gravel heating for my Lithops (Living Stones). They live in my unheated conservatory where it can go below freezing in the depths of Winter. Last year I had a simple system which was difficult to set to the temperature I wanted. I found an excellent bit of electronics on eBay which would be versatile and easy to set. This is the front panel I made for the new set up:



On the left is the new electronics showing three temperatures. In the centre, in red, is the actual temperature next to the plants. Either side are the temperatures which can be chosen using the small buttons below each display. At the moment it is set to switch on the under gravel heating pad when the temperature drops to / below 8C and to switch it off when the temperature has been raised to / above 12C. The other display (in blue) just shows the voltage being used by the display.

There is little else inside the box:


Besides the aforementioned displays the block in the centre of the box is a solid state relay. Basically a switch with no  moving parts. With it the low DC voltage from the temperature controller can safely switch the mains voltage which goes to a couple of sockets mounted on top:


No. The displays haven't gone haywire. They are multiplexed, each number is lit in turn but very rapidly so to the the human eye they appear lit all the time. The camera shutter is so fast it only sees the bits that are illuminated at the moment a still photo is taken. How then did I get the first photo? I took a short video. Each frame is taken much more slowly so catches everything. I just grabbed one frame from that.

Monday Mystery - Guess What

I found a new program for distorting / hiding photos of creatures, plants, etc.
It is listed as an artistic type app and has a range of ways of applying triangles and other shapes to a picture. I'll see how this goes for my Monday mystery photos.

Here is the first one which I hope will be an easy start.
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 a warm fuzzy feeling if you gain a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

The Mac app used is called Trimaginator (free at the time of downloading) and is also available for tablets. It has a rather unique layout, meaning strange / different, but once played with for a while it is easy to use.

Vapourer Moth

The Vapourer Moth (Orgyia antiqua) is a small day time flying moth, common in the UK but rarely seen at rest. This specimen caught my attention as it was rapidly twirling round and round in the middle of the lane. At first I thought it was a bee but once it stopped moving I noticed the brilliant white spots on its wings:


 

At just 3/4 inch (20mm) across I wouldn't have noticed it if it hadn't been moving.
Identification was found on the Butterfly Conservation site.