More Bird Feeder Visitors

The soundtrack was recorded at a different time using a small wav / mp3 recorder
50p coin for scale.



Most of the bird sounds, including the clicking, were made by Starlings.

Monday Mystery

Last week's was difficult to identify



Until almost the last minute I though  I was going to win this one.
Well done to Ragged Robin who was correct in identifying



spores on moss stalks.  (spore capsules)
It is Swan-neck thyme moss, one of the most common - in my garden anyway.
You can read about how moss reproduces HERE.

Maybe this week's mystery close up


will be easier to identify.

If you would like to have a go please leave your guess in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

A Popped Pitcher

My pitcher plant is really taking off this year.
The new growths are about twice the size of last years.
The kitchen windowsill seems the ideal place for it.



A first use of the Mac app Tweak Color which enabled me to colour pop the plant and blur the background.

Churchyard Speckles

As we wound our way past the grave stones a flutter of brown landed nearby.





Lovely to see a couple of Speckled Wood butterflies about as I rarely see them in the garden.

Company

When the weather is nice enough for sitting in the garden you never know what will stop by.



This little weevil decided to see whether there was any tea left in the mug



Too late sunshine. I had drunk it all.

Monday Mystery

Last week's mystery



might well have been part of a chair or sofa but in fact it was



the lamp shade on one of my wall lights.

Hard luck but many thanks to all who had a go.

This week I have a b/w (greyscale) close up photo



of what?

If you would like to hazard a guess please leave it in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

Hovering Again

Apart from our one walkabout we spent most of yesterday lounging in the garden. Saw a few blue butterflies flitting through but so far none stopped long enough for a photograph. There were several hover flies which spent all day hovering around the same section of the garden so I had another session trying to get flight shots.









Adrian was quite correct when he commented last time that head on shots seem impossible. Several times I tried moving in front of one but they always turned away.

This time I used the Canon 70-200 mm IS zoom lens on manual focus. Though the minimum focus distance is about 4 feet it doesn't change whatever zoom is used.  I fixed the aperture at f11 to get a reasonable depth of focus.  As well as missing the blue butterflies I also missed a really good sighting of a buzzard when the auto focus wouldn't lock on it.