Orange Macro

A second small cactus plant has started to flower. A lovely orange colour.



Just the subject for taking a series of focus stacked macro shots:



Built up from 42 shots at slightly varying focus distances using Helicon Focus software.

Prickly Visitor

Had a very pleasant surprise to see a hedgehog had visited the back garden recently:



There was a time, some years ago, I would have two or three visiting every night throughout the Summer. I hope this one becomes a regular. To give it a bit of encouragement I have moved the old hedgehog house near to where it was seen so I could put some food inside, safe from cats, pigeons and Penny:



I also crushed some of the birds' peanuts to place in the hedgehog house.



Remember, don't use peanuts sold for human consumption as they may be salty which could kill a hedgehog.

This is the trail camera which has captured the video clips of fox and hedgehog night visitations:



The shelf above the camera is to give a bit of extra protection when we have heavy rainfall. The camera body is weather proof but a bit of extra protection against the elements never goes amiss.

Daffodils Galore

Yesterday I had to collect Penny's repeat medication from the vets. Lots of lovely yellow daffodils were brightening up the grass verges on the way. I think this in Alvingham, Lincolnshire, was the best display.



The bit of video taken from the car doesn't really do the scene justice.

Outdoor Weather

Quite a decent day yesterday, for the time of year. The lawn dried out sufficiently for me to give it a first trim of the year before the grass got too long. Spring bulbs are showing and my favourite are some double flowered miniature daffodils I planted last Autumn.



To end the day a colourful Sunset:



Next I will have to think about trimming back some Ivy along the side of the garden.

More Foxy Visits

At last - some video of the fox visiting my back garden at night. A compilation of several 12 second captures from the trail camera. No sound.



Looks as though it is finding insects to eat.

HAMming it Up

On Saturday I felt in need of a change of scene Ham radio wise. I had been working on VHF and above for quite a while and decided to go back to HF working. Looking at activity reports on the 'net it was obvious VHF conditions were poor but HF was alive with contacts. I retrieved my HF transmitter from its resting place in the utility room. I really must get my aerial cables identified as to which goes to what aerial. It took at least an hour to find the correct one. The transmitter is the bottom one in this photo.



There should have been lots of activity on the 10 metre band but I was receiving a fat zero so I changed to 30m - the magic band. Lots of signals received and plenty of contacts made using the digital mode FT8. I even managed to contact a country I had never worked before. I had received signals from an operator in China but initially couldn't make contact. About half an hour after that he called me and a two way contact was made. That made my day.

I use a web site (pskreporter) to see who is receiving my signals and my 70-75 Watts of RF seemed to be travelling well.



At one stage a Radio Amateur in Ghana reported receiving my signals but so far that is another country I have yet to make a two way contact with.

Macro Session

I felt just in the right mood to take a few macro shots this morning. First I chose the subject - a small flowering cactus plant:



Found a space to set up my home brew set-up for taking a series of focus stacked photos:



The Canon M5 fitted with Canon 18-150mm zoom lens and added a Raynox DCR-150 macro lens. Each stacked macro photo is made from 40 - 50 individual shots and processed in Helicon Focus software. The results ....









The flower is about 17mm across.