Daddy Long-legs

Spotted this Crane Fly outside a window this morning:



An aptly named Daddy Long-legs. This must be one of the largest I've seen at a good 60mm across.

Holly Blue

I often see small blue butterflies flitting about the garden but Sunday was the first time I have seen them land. I was tidying up at the bottom of the garden when I noticed several different flutters were landing on the Ivy growing over my fence from the property behind me. Among them were several Holly Blue butterflies so I spent a while making sure I got some shots of them:







By the markings I think they were all females.
It was interesting to see that some of the larger butterflies often seemed to be chasing the blues away.

Monday Mystery - Guess What

I had a feeling that last week's mystery close up might be too difficult.
In fact it was a close view of the 'home' button on an iPad (middle right hand side of the photo) - on this model it is also where fingerprint recognition is made. A facility which works very well and saves having to type a password every time I want to use it:

   

This week, and maybe for a few weeks I'll go back to making some mosaic mystery pictures.
Here is the first - what sort of creature is this?
Guess What:
 

Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.
No prizes but possibly a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

I'm Hungry

While I was in the kitchen I heard such a loud thump as something hit a window in the conservatory. I nipped through and just saw a shape fly up from the ground and disappear in the nearby trees. Then I spied the Sparrowhawk, female by the size and colouring:






I'm not sure whether it was her or what she was after which bounced off the window but after a short while she flew away.

A Great Hour Garden Bird Watching

Friday: When I went to put some bits in the recycle bin I thought I could hear the unmistakable twittering of Long-tailed Tits. Sure enough within a short while there were 8 to 10 of them in next door's Christmas Tree. It started life many years ago as a 2m Christmas Tree which Joan, who lived there then, planted out and it has grown, and grown.



There must have been plenty of food as they stayed, unusually, for about an hour as did a similar number of Blue Tits, mainly juveniles:



What made the hour even better for me was a couple of other birds flitting about the same tree. I am pretty certain one was a Chiffchaff:



If I am correct then it's my first sighting of a Chiffchaff.

It didn't end there.
Among the branches I spotted a Goldcrest rapidly darting about:



Altogether it was a very enjoyable morning's garden bird watching.
One unusual thing. All the time I was watching these visitors I didn't see one of the usual large group of House Sparrows.

Mac app 'Picture Collage Maker 3' was used this time.

Friday at the Flicks - Under Water(drop) Attack

When I had the microscope set up to see what was in a few drops of pond water I was videoing a ciliate (possibly Coleps) when it found a source of food. For an idea of size both are less than one millimetre:



Soundtrack: The Lyrics Clowns from a ProTracker module 1982.

Wednesday was one of those days when all the rain arrives in one short burst.
For a short time the rate of rainfall exceeded 30mm per hour:

 

Have a great weekend observing nature (large or small, wet or dry) around you.

We're Watching You

Walking to the far end of the cricket field we had a look at the sheep grazing on the adjoining paddock. They were all busily eating until we got close then most eyes were on us:











Some nervous ones moved further away and after a minute all were back to the important thing in life - eating.