Yesterday was one of those days which prove the old saying that things come in threes. I should have been out for lunch but my friend had to postpone the date. I went to the local surgery to have blood taken for my annual check up and for the first time the nurse had to try several veins to get one to work. (Not my idea of a fun activity) In the evening, just as the recorder had started to record a couple of TV programmes I wanted to watch later, the power flickered a few times and died for the next hour and a half. In the 30+ years I have lived here there has hardly been one without a power cut, sometimes several. A few years ago I installed some automatic emergency lighting which can give up to three hours of light during a power failure. I hate the darkness and it is so eerie when the whole village is without light.
Anyway. On with the show:
I don't know about being up with the Lark. Here it is a question of being up with the Blackbird. They must be the first to be out and about looking for breakfast. We often get clucked and tutted at on our early morning walks at twilight. One of the video cameras caught the first to arrive in the garden at 6.30 a.m. as daylight was just breaking. On mild evenings I still put out a dish with a few raisins, sunflower seed hearts and dried mealworms. No signs of Hedgehogs but it doesn't go to waste.
Yesterday a male Blackbird spent quite a while preening in the warmth of the Sunlight. I'm nor sure whether it had been injured, possibly in one of their many squabbles but it flew away normally a while later. The last couple of days have been so warm it has been T-shirt weather.
Before I had to temporarily remove many of the feeders the Starlings had started their winter invasion of the garden.
Have a great weekend watching the wildlife around you.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
False Alert
Would you believe it - new e-mail from AuroraWatch says the alert was falsely triggered by man made disturbance at the Lancaster site - no aurora today then :(
Still more activity on my detector than normal though.
Still more activity on my detector than normal though.
AuroraWatch Red Alert
This morning I received mail from AuroraWatch (Lancaster University) which stated they had observed a very large increase in geomagnetic activity. This is the first red alert of a possible aurora I have received for a long time. It may well be worth those in Northern latitudes keeping a watch on the sky tonight. No guarantees but not to be missed if it should occur.
I have a relatively simple magnetometer (a device for detecting very small changes in the Earth's magnetic field) which isn't showing much activity here but it is inside at the moment. I really should move the detector where it belongs - outside away from the house electrical fields.
Outside there is not a bird to be seen or heard. Have they detected this magnetic activity I wonder? It really is eerily quiet.
Later in the day I moved my magnetometer (built from a kit some years ago) into the conservatory and videoed some of the readouts. The numbers on the scale do not have a meaning. All that is important are changes in the reading. On a quiet day the needle will move one small division every so often. This video is speeded up 10 times. Unfortunately the camcorder ran out of space on the DVD but sometimes the needle reached both ends of the scale. The needle jumps as the unit takes snapshots of the strength of the magnetic field every so often.
At 3.20 p.m. there is still almost complete silence from the birds and I have seen none come near the feeders. It was just as quiet round the rest of the village when we went walkies.
For those interested the AuroraWatch site is HERE but it seems to be very busy so it may take a while to get any information downloaded..
I have a relatively simple magnetometer (a device for detecting very small changes in the Earth's magnetic field) which isn't showing much activity here but it is inside at the moment. I really should move the detector where it belongs - outside away from the house electrical fields.
Outside there is not a bird to be seen or heard. Have they detected this magnetic activity I wonder? It really is eerily quiet.
Later in the day I moved my magnetometer (built from a kit some years ago) into the conservatory and videoed some of the readouts. The numbers on the scale do not have a meaning. All that is important are changes in the reading. On a quiet day the needle will move one small division every so often. This video is speeded up 10 times. Unfortunately the camcorder ran out of space on the DVD but sometimes the needle reached both ends of the scale. The needle jumps as the unit takes snapshots of the strength of the magnetic field every so often.
At 3.20 p.m. there is still almost complete silence from the birds and I have seen none come near the feeders. It was just as quiet round the rest of the village when we went walkies.
For those interested the AuroraWatch site is HERE but it seems to be very busy so it may take a while to get any information downloaded..
A Quiet Couple of Days
Very little to report really. Not a lot going on here. Plenty of Sparrows and Starlings attacking the fat balls and peanut feeder. No sign of the Heron, nothing captured on the wildlife camera. Occasionally a lone Goldfinch arrives to check whether their feeders have been returned to their rightful place. It is a few day now since I saw any ill looking birds so I hope get the seed feeders back up in the not too distant future.
Trying different settings on the Canon I at last found out which to use so that birds photographed against a bright sky don't end up as silhouettes.
House Sparrow
There are still fleeting visits from the tit families which dash in, grab a bite and dash to the safety of the nearby bushes.
Great Tit
From time to time I manage to get a glimpse of a Wren as it searches round all the junk lying about some parts of the garden.
Wren
The only night visitor has been the occasional cat. I notice they pass very quickly through the part of the garden covered by the Cat Gard so it is doing a reasonable job of keeping them away from the bird feeding area.
Trying different settings on the Canon I at last found out which to use so that birds photographed against a bright sky don't end up as silhouettes.
House Sparrow
There are still fleeting visits from the tit families which dash in, grab a bite and dash to the safety of the nearby bushes.
Great Tit
From time to time I manage to get a glimpse of a Wren as it searches round all the junk lying about some parts of the garden.
Wren
The only night visitor has been the occasional cat. I notice they pass very quickly through the part of the garden covered by the Cat Gard so it is doing a reasonable job of keeping them away from the bird feeding area.
Monday, 26 October 2009
Black is Beautiful
It is always great to see the colourful birds like the Goldfinches and Blue Tits visit the garden. But there are others, less showy, which visit from time to time. I often have Rooks drop in, especially when I start putting out the fat balls. This morning it was the turn of a Carrion Crow. It appears to be totally black but closer inspection shows different shades of black and dark greys.
To my eyes it looks just a beautiful in its own way as any other visitor. Before the introduction of wheelie bins, when rubbish was put out in black sacks, they were regular visitors on refuse collection days tearing great holes in the sacks to get at anything edible. These days I normally only see them in the fields mixing in with the Rooks.
To my eyes it looks just a beautiful in its own way as any other visitor. Before the introduction of wheelie bins, when rubbish was put out in black sacks, they were regular visitors on refuse collection days tearing great holes in the sacks to get at anything edible. These days I normally only see them in the fields mixing in with the Rooks.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Paddling in the Garden Pond
With the clocks having gone back an hour last night it was light again at 7 a.m.. I had a quick look at the pond but nothing in sight. After walkies I took the wildlife camera out to fix in position. I noticed water splashes on the pond edging so I assumed Harry the Heron (named by Glo of Porcelain Rose) had already been for his breakfast. If he had then he came back for the second course about 8.30. I hadn't yet got the cameras ready. Which one to grab? Yesterday afternoon I had experimented with the camcorder - lowered the tripod so it could just see over the window ledge and with the tiltable LCD screen I could kneel down and still operate it and be reasonably out of view.
I grabbed the camcorder, set it up and slowly moved it to get the only reasonable view. Harry had landed on the lawn and had by this time carefully made his way to the end of the pond. All the time he kept glancing at the kitchen window. As he entered the pond I started the recording and managed a short clip before he disappeared from view.
I tried to slowly move the tripod to get another clear view but Harry noticed and was off like a shot. Did the wildlife camera get a picture. Did it heck as like. Partly it was facing slightly the wrong way. Partly it takes a one minute rest after each detection time. All I got was a lovely photo of the ripples fanning out from where the Heron was standing just out of sight.
Today's tasks:
1) Remove the post next to the rose bush which was to mount the wildlife camera overlooking the waterfall.
2) Reposition the post at the end of the pond to cover more of the pond itself.
Wow - 11 a.m. and both 'round tuits' done. Is this a record I ask myself. New post for the wildlife camera with a cover over the top to keep rain and direct Sunlight off the lens. Temporary post next to the rose bush removed. The other post in the way is unfortunately needed where it is as it carries the weight of my aerial mast when I tilt it over - unless I redesign it to tilt over as well. I just knew the 'round tuit' pile would keep growing.Sigh!
I grabbed the camcorder, set it up and slowly moved it to get the only reasonable view. Harry had landed on the lawn and had by this time carefully made his way to the end of the pond. All the time he kept glancing at the kitchen window. As he entered the pond I started the recording and managed a short clip before he disappeared from view.
I tried to slowly move the tripod to get another clear view but Harry noticed and was off like a shot. Did the wildlife camera get a picture. Did it heck as like. Partly it was facing slightly the wrong way. Partly it takes a one minute rest after each detection time. All I got was a lovely photo of the ripples fanning out from where the Heron was standing just out of sight.
Today's tasks:
1) Remove the post next to the rose bush which was to mount the wildlife camera overlooking the waterfall.
2) Reposition the post at the end of the pond to cover more of the pond itself.
Wow - 11 a.m. and both 'round tuits' done. Is this a record I ask myself. New post for the wildlife camera with a cover over the top to keep rain and direct Sunlight off the lens. Temporary post next to the rose bush removed. The other post in the way is unfortunately needed where it is as it carries the weight of my aerial mast when I tilt it over - unless I redesign it to tilt over as well. I just knew the 'round tuit' pile would keep growing.Sigh!
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Something Beginning with H
I spy with my little eye - something beginning with H
Yes - yesterday there was a visitor to the garden. Where was it? In the pond of course. It was impossible to get a clear shot from the kitchen window but at least it was a shot.
The local Grey Heron is now making almost daily visits to the pond. Today we had just got back from the morning walkies when I spotted it arrive about 7.30 a.m.. It was hardly light but I grabbed the camera and dialled the ISO as high as it would go, crept cautiously as near the kitchen window as I dared and tried for a few shots.
Thank goodness for the image stabilised lens as 1/15 sec was the fastest I could get and it was impossible to stop my hand shaking with the excitement of getting a clear view for once.
Yes - yesterday there was a visitor to the garden. Where was it? In the pond of course. It was impossible to get a clear shot from the kitchen window but at least it was a shot.
The local Grey Heron is now making almost daily visits to the pond. Today we had just got back from the morning walkies when I spotted it arrive about 7.30 a.m.. It was hardly light but I grabbed the camera and dialled the ISO as high as it would go, crept cautiously as near the kitchen window as I dared and tried for a few shots.
Thank goodness for the image stabilised lens as 1/15 sec was the fastest I could get and it was impossible to stop my hand shaking with the excitement of getting a clear view for once.
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