Mystery Photo - Revealed

It's a while since I showed this macro photo and asked if you could guess what it was:



Some wider views of the same object:





As should be obvious now I was looked at the underneath of a fern frond and the yellow blobs are sporangia - where the spores will be produced.

Congratulations to Wilma who deserves a  for spotting they were spores under a fern frond and my thanks to all who had a go and made a guess.

Measuring Rainfall

The other day Adrian asked how rainfall was measured with my weather station. It is easier to explain with a few photos taken with a similar 'gauge' from an old defunct weather station.

To look at the rainfall measurer it is just a plastic cuboid with a hole in the top. The top surface is sloped to allow the rain water to run down to the hole:



Inside is basically a sea-saw so designed that the rain water entering the device runs to the 'bucket' which is horizontal. When the weight of rain water reaches a pre-determined amount the sea-saw flips emptying that bucket and stays in that position until the opposite bucket fills.



The measuring device consists of a reed switch - a switch operated by a magnet - which is on one side of the upright support . The magnet is on the same side as the bucket and swings with the movement of the sea-saw . When the bucket swings one way the magnet closes the switch - the opposite swing opens the switch.



The reed switch is wired to the electronics board contained elsewhere. This counts the number of times the switch opens and closes and at some pre-determined count registers 0.01 inches of rain and starts counting again.

All the complicated counting and timing is done with the electronic circuitry.
Adrian - a good project for an Arduino based rainfall gauge!!

Tarka Challenge

A while ago I stumbled across a blog called Tarka Challenge. It is about an 8yr old boy, Rudi, whose favourite book is Tarka the Otter. He has set himself the challenge of seeing every creature and plant mentioned in the book. That is quite a challenge and Rudi has been doing well in his quest which is written about in the blog.

I thought it was fantastic that a youngster has got so interested in the natural world of this country and his parents have obviously been great in encouraging him and taking him to places where he can explore for all the things he wants to see.

I mention this as I have a look every now and then at the blog to see how things are going and thought it would be nice if a few more people could have a look and maybe leave a few words of encouragement for Rudi. You never know you may be reading about the future replacement for David Attenborough.

Stormy Day Updated

Adrian asked whether I had recorded the air pressure. Yes sir. See below.
A second storm has passed through bringing this afternoon's rainfall total to 2.5 inches (64mm) so far:



Air temperature dropped both times:



The pressure dropped overnight as some rain clouds passed through the area and there were some noticeable changes as the storms passed through.



With the rate of rainfall gutters just overflowed so my back lawn has begun to turn in to a lake.

 

By the looks of the sky there is more to come yet and this is the dry side of the country!

A Wet Dream (Hammock)

Just had one of those exceptional rain storms. Worst I have seen for many a year. Thunder, tropical downpour, hail ..... Water flowing down the lane like a river.

In less than an hour my weather station recorded 1.33 inches (33.8mm) of rain at a rate of over 2 inches per hour:



Of interest, to me anyway, was the change in temperature as the storm passed through:
Dropping from 21C to 15C



Lest I forget - the wet Dream Hammock:

Though the cushion is said to be waterproof I had put it away after this morning's siesta..

Clouds building up for the next deluge:

Friday at the Flicks - LTTs

Another brief visit from the Long Tailed Tits this morning. Unfortunately most of the feeders needed topping up and when they settled on the peanut feeder they were soon barged out of the way by a gang of Starlings. I did manage a few photos:



A few of the LTTs then investigated the ground feeder and gave an opportunity for my first ever short video clip of them though it is so short I slowed it down to half speed:



Soundtrack made with NodeBeat on the iPad.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you wherever you are.

Taking a Breather

What does the amateur garden wildlife observer do to have a rest. Well, if you are like me you expend energy to save energy in the long run. For a few years I have debated whether to buy one of those garden swing seat arrangements but these days I am not built for sitting upright for very long. Reclining, now that is another matter. I could recline for England with no problem. Whilst looking through various sites for garden seats I came across a more novel idea which appealed to me so there and then, well after finding about the cheapest place with overnight delivery, I e-handed over the readies before the idea ended up on the Round Tuit pile and sat back to wait. For what? A Dream Hammock.

Yesterday it duly arrived, in various pieces for self assembly of course. A browse of the instruction booklet gave a distinct impression it was along the reputed Ikea school of instructions. This was not a job to be undertaken lightly as the completed thing weighs in at around 40Kg. In spite of the instructions, the provided spanners not fitting the nuts and one small bit being missing I had the skeleton erected in about an hour. having found a suitable replacement for the missing part:



Soon followed by the 'seat'. (There is a cushion to go over that)



No time to test it out though as very soon after reaching this stage the heavens opened - nothing new there then.

Once this morning had warmed up a bit I fitted the cushion ready for the test drive to see whether it would live up to its dreamy name. Of course the on site supervisor kept a watchful eye on proceedings:



Not as cantankerous as a true hammock it still takes a little practice to find the best way of getting on and off as the seat section hangs on a single support and can rotate and rock to some extent.;


(Soundtrack created using Loop Twister on the iPad)

Is it dreamy? 100% so. (or if you are a numerically challenged Chancellor of the Exchequer, 110%)  Once in place on the hammock the shape makes for very comfortable reclining and the way it gently rocks and rotates a little in the wind is very soothing. As you can see I still use my old sunshade as the fiddly one on the hammock is of only partial use, depending on the Sun's position in the sky. Bet the weather takes a nose dive now!