Rook Raids Seed Feeder

Several times I found the lid on the seed feeder had been opened. It shouldn't have been gusty winds as it has a magnetic catch. I thought it may have been a squirrel though I haven't seen one in the garden for over a year. This morning I decided to check the camera recordings .....



I should have known that a corvid would have the intelligence to work out how to open the lid - as you can see with this Rook.

More Pocket Love

Six weks ago I showed the few flowers which had been produced on last years growth. Now this years mature growth is showing what a Dendrobium hybrid Pocket Love orchid can really look like when in flower.





Only just viewable in the first photo - on the left hand side of the plant - there are two new growths which, with good luck, should both produce flowers.

Oncidium croesus Orchid

I knew I obtained this miniature orchid some time ago but was surprised to find it was bought five years ago. It has taken until this year for it to finally produce some flowers. As I appear to have found the right conditions for growth it should now flower every year.





This orchid is a native species to Brazil, growing at elevations of 400 to 600 metres above sea level.

Hedgehog in a Hurry

A quick movement on the monitor caught my intention. The animal was moving so fast I thought it may have been a rat. On checking the video recordings I could see it was my Hedgehog visitor rushing to check whether there was any bird food worth eating and then rushing off to the back of the garden.



The times shown by the clocks are set differently. The first in on GMT and the second on BST.

Thirsty Hedgehog

Last night my regular visitor arrived just before it got dark (no sound on this video):



That was the first of several visits to the hedgehog house to feed during the night.

Pitcher Pollen

The second flower on the pitcher plant has now fully opened.



In the process a couple of the strands bearing pollen fell off. I placed them under my LCD microscope to try taking some closer shots.

The ruler (cm / mm markings) shows how small they are:


The resolution is reasonable, though as expected, the depth of field in shallow:



Those tiny grains of pollen are really minute.



In case you don't remember the LCD microscope I use .......





It works from 5V, has a memory card which can store photographs and video and connects to a PC / laptop so the card content can be copied across.

Dog Walker

I took the 1200D full spectrum and R72 IR filter for another walkabout. This time through the back of the churchyard and then across the street to Old Mill Lane. I took lots of photographs but for now here is the one I personally like best.



I have always liked this view with the trees standing out against their surroundings. I happened to take this shot just as a dog walker and his three dogs were approaching them. That, for me, put the finishing touch to the composition. I cropped out some of the insipid looking sky.

I case you were wondering - no it hasn't been snowing. The usual practice when taking photographs with an IR filter is to photo an area of grass and set the camera to use that as a reference for white balance. Hence grass and similar shows up as white.