Day 291 - Mysteries of Nature

more sick

The big old sycamore tree in next door's garden is in a sorry state at the moment.

Of course, every Autumn it sheds its leaves...and luckily, having fairly large leaves, they tend to fall straight down - into next door's garden, not ours!

However, this year, the leaves all started to die very early, probably back in August...but not all of the leaves died at the same time...it's almost like the tree is moulting, gradually losing all its cover evenly over several weeks or a couple of months.

A popular theory locally is that the infamous drainage contractors dug through some significant roots and have thus damaged the tree.

You can see in this photo the new fence panel covering the gap in the hedge, where they dug through...also of course, where they dug through the incoming electricity supply...

Idiots!

The line of their digging goes within a few feet of the trunk, and a few feet below ground, so it's certain that they would have encountered the root system as they passed...and we know that their standard approach was simply to cut through anything that got in the way...

So it's a feasible theory...

The flaw, I guess, is that you would expect those parts of the tree directly fed by the damaged root system to be showing symptoms - the leaf loss would be patchy, not evenly spread, wouldn't it?

To be honest, I'm not knowledgeable enough on the intricacies of tree biology to know whether that's true or not...

In any case, the tree does seem very poorly, which is a shame as it's one of only two good sized trees directly around our house (both are in next door's garden).

I'll keep my eye on it, and keep you posted.

In other news, whilst wandering around the garden looking for photo-ops, more gulls passed overhead.

this way

I'm curious as to what sort of gull they are, and where they are going...seeing another similar group, flying in a V, and heading in the same direction, strongly implies migration.

Yet they're all heading north-east...aren't they supposed to fly south for the winter (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least)?!

I'm unreasonably intrigued by this behaviour, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

In fact, if anyone can explain tree biology as it pertains to root damage, and the migratory patterns of gulls across middle England, then please do leave a comment!

ta...

:-)

Day 289 - Evening Light

too much?!

I nearly forgot to blog today, amidst a load of other distracting head stuff, so we went for a stroll down the lane looking for photo-ops in the deepening gloom of dusk.

I managed to catch a surprising variety of interesting (albeit only vaguely) shots...but mainly I learned that it's not that easy to get good shots in low light...or maybe it's just not that easy when you don't know what you're doing?!

Another thing I learned is that you really do need to tweak the photo's afterwards...and this in itself is something of a gamble...sometimes it produces great images, other times it just looks over-processed and a bit rubbish. 

The one above is a crop from a much larger photo, but otherwise doesn't have much processing other than a bit of (admittedly aggressive) contrast...I can't decide whether it's too processed (yeah it probably is...), but I quite like the depth.

This one was taken 10 or 15 minutes later, and the evening had clearly settled in a bit more...

cotton candy sky

This one isn't cropped - I decided to stick with the original framing...now I'm looking at it thinking I should have cropped it...doh!

I have tweaked it a little for contrast and colour...although I don't really know how to do that, so it's a general colour tweak to try to bring out the pink, which was quite vibrant in reality.

no eye deer

This one isn't cropped either, but was the naturally nicest of around ten photo's I took of these autumnal colours on a 5m strip of set-aside (or whatever) down the edge of this field...there was a deer of some type hiding in there, possibly a muntjac, but I didn't manage to get a shot of him.

In any case, the image is still tweaked a little for contrast and colour...and the light is so much better than the previous shot...if only I understood why that is!

new-ish moon

As we turned for home, the waxing crescent moon presented a rare opportunity...invariably when I notice an interesting or even simply a clear view of the moon, the camera is nowhere to be conveniently grabbed...but tonight, it was right there in my hands!

I've tweaked this a smidge to try to bring out some of the detail on the surface, and cropped it down too.  I think the out of focus foliage gives the shot some context...especially as the moon wasn't super bright and detailed.

Finally, a flock of seagulls flew overhead...

flying v

...and not the 80's New Wave band, much to my great relief...nobody needs that.

I think conditions were all wrong for a wildlife shot like this, but I took my chances anyway to see what would happen. 

I've cropped this, adjusted the contrast, and sharpened the image a little too.  

Still not a great photo, I grant.

But, it's a new species for the ongoing Bird Species of South Warwickshire Series, which threads its way back through this blog. 

Nice...

B-)

Day 266 - Clean Getaway

shiny

Continuing the increasingly excited Font preparation, today I cleaned the car inside and out...by which of course I mean I paid someone else to clean it inside and out, whilst I had a delicious sausage and egg baguette in the charming Fat Birds Cafe.

We have an 8 hour door to door journey to get there, in a car loaded to the gunnels with climbing gear, food, bouldering mats, gadgets and people, two of whom are pretty big...so it only seemed polite to make sure that the car is clean and tidy and pleasant...at least to start with!

Anna took hers too, as it's grubby from a full seasons bat-bothering, and we went to grab a coffee whilst we waited.  But the Fat Birds Cafe turned out to have far too tempting a menu, and the service was very friendly and attentive, so we ended up having a late breakfast...and very nice it was too!

Speaking of fat birds, as I was clearing the cars out prior to taking them for a valet, Anna came out to tell me that another swallow was stuck in the house.

can you help me out?

After chasing him around upstairs for a bit, I eventually cornered him in the main bedroom, and opened all the windows.  He seemed reluctant to fly low enough to get to the open window, which was perhaps due to our presence...

certainly, which way did you come in?

After a few minutes he seemed tired to the extent that he allowed me to approach very close to take a portrait of him...

yeah, funny guy...

We decided that maybe he was a little stressed, and left him to find his way out.

When I checked again an hour later, he was gone, presumably none the worse for wear.

I love all these little episodes of unexpected encounters with the local fauna...saving mice from the cats, helping birds to overcome their inability to understand windows, finding evidence of boar and badger and fox, and the endless supply of passing bird, mammal, insect and reptile life.

Living in the countryside is such an endless delight...

Please let me never live in a city again!

:-)

Day 252 - Walking Dead

it's alive!

Over at my brother's house this afternoon I thought I'd stumbled into some dystopian nightmare when this lumbering zombie shuffled, moaning, into the room.

Turns out it was just the BirdZombie, reanimated after a miraculous display of self-healing, defying all the doctor's predictions, and back in the land of the living.

I recommended getting into cosplay immediately and heading for the nearest ComicCon...he looked at me blankly, and for a moment I was concerned that he is actually zombified...but no, he was just being a teenager!

Anyway it was fantastic to see him up and about, and I hear he's enjoying daily visits from the nurse, so you know, I reckon he's living the teenage dream! 

;-)

Following that we visited Kim to see how she's getting on setting up her new business.  Roob had built this elaborate light stage to get professional quality photo's for their website. 

light show

I'm really impressed at the quality of the work they're producing between them, and I'm sure they can make a go of their business...can't wait to see them progress!

Meanwhile, our local sparrows seem to be joining forces to make a lovely big flock that flit around the gardens and hedgerows...it seems as though several families are enjoying the safety in numbers, and the flock is now around 50 individuals.

superfly

This morning, they all appeared in the hedgerows outside my lounge window, and before long a clutch of them were in this loose, fine soil, where drainpipes have just been laid.  Some were grazing on the grass seed that's been sprinkled on the disturbed lawn, whilst others were taking the opportunity for a dust bath!

There are around 30 sparrows in this photo...whilst the flock includes two or three tree sparrows, I can't spot any in this picture...

(update - Anna spotted a tree sparrow, on the far left, just below the centre line of the photo) 

Anyway, to end this rambling weekend post, for those (hopefully few) of you who are still with me, here's a rare treat...

fro

This is Kim and I, around 1990, give or take...Kim just gave me this photo today, so I felt obliged to post it here for posterity...

I'm not proud...

:-/

Day 243 - Gardening Buddy

tiny ball of cute

This is a really terrible photo, but it has proven quite difficult to get a shot of this little chap, so I'm claiming it! 

He's one of our local wrens, and I just happened to notice him in the hedgerow this morning (I say him, I've no idea of gender, in truth...).  

After admiring his cuteness for a couple of minutes, I suddenly realised I was missing  a golden opportunity to make another addition to my Different Species collection.

I dashed back with the camera, as bleary eyed as you'd expect before 8 in the morning, and rattled off a couple of grainy, badly focussed shots. 

Honestly, I've no idea what I was doing with the camera...

On the first shot the aperture stayed open for ages, so my mind went into spasm trying to debug that little problem.  The only thing I could think was errrrrm, f-stop?

So I wheeled the f-stop to the opposite end from where it started, and this seemed to help.

Unfortunately it didn't help with my framing or my ability to see clearly.  

The net result of all of which is this reasonably poor shot of a really lovely little bird.

Wrens are tiny birds - I think only goldcrest are smaller in the UK.  They are remarkably noisy, and can sometimes be seen sitting on a gatepost giving off loud, strident peeps, and doing an amusing little dip with each call.  I guess this is a territorial thing...at other times they sing beautifully with a clear, high tone.

Anyway we regularly have them around our garden, and they often nest in the ivy outside our bathroom window. 

I'm very fond of them...they seem, along with the robin, like my little gardening buddies, that hang around chirping encouragement (on the odd occasion that I'm out there working without noisy machinery). 

But they flit about a lot, and I never seem to see them at an appropriate moment.

So even though the photo is sub par, I'm pleased to have finally got a snap of one.

In other news, TFI(nearly)F...I'm tired and hoping to catch up on sleep sometime soon...

B-zzzzz

Day 236 - The Mighty Tree Sparrow

case to rest

I don't know about you, but I thought I detected a hint of scepticism in Andy's comments on a recent post about local birds.

I'd mentioned that we have tree sparrows in the garden, but had failed to provide documentary evidence, and so apparently had not done enough to offload the burden of proof. 

Tree sparrows are much less common than house sparrows, and so I suppose it was fair to demand photographic evidence of my evidently bold claim.

Well, it's taken a while, but as I was getting dressed for work this morning, I spotted this little chap sitting high in the hedgerow just a few metres from our bedroom window.  

"I'm sure that's a tree sparrow!", I exclaimed, immediately failing to grasp the significance and rushing to grab the DSLR...fortunately Anna was there to point this out to me, so I dashed downstairs to get the camera and rattled off a few shots.

It seems I still had a reasonable dose of the usual morning fuzzy-headedness, as I completely forgot to adjust anything at all on the camera...so the pictures aren't great, to be honest...

...but that is definitely a tree sparrow!

cheeky chappy

This is a juvenile, but still you can clearly see the brown cap and the tell-tale dark dot on the cheek.

Thanks Andy, I accept your apology!  ;-)

Moving on...our walk down the lane this evening was notable in a variety of ways.

Firstly, it was distinct from our usual walks in that we hardly walked, instead deciding to travel by skateboard (or is it technically a long board...or both?).

This was good fun, despite getting a slightly scary wobble on at the steepest, fastest part of the lane, trying to avoid random stones thrown all over the road by recent harvesting traffic. 

Down at the bottom of the valley (sans decent camera, of course), we came across the beautiful sight of a pair of deer wandering across the stubble in the evening sunshine. 

At least I had my phone with me, so I got the proof (cough, Andy...) although pretty much failed to capture any hint of the atmosphere...

not too dear

Finally, I got my first 'boarding injury!!

ouch stings

As it happened, this wasn't from careering (or is it careening? Actually, both!!) down the hill, out of control...it was from doing tricks outside the front door...or trying to, at least.

Ok, ok, I was failing to do tricks outside the front door...or is it the back door?  That's a matter of some controversy! 

"What on earth are you doing skateboarding?!" I hear you cry...

Well, I'm not really sure, but I think it has something to do with my age...and a hefty dollop of denial thereof. 

Bah humbug!

B-/

Day 231 - Not Superman

it's a plane

Throughout Summer, there's often a little plane that flies back and forth over our house, practising aerobatics...but this is not that plane!

On many a warm, dry afternoon, it can be heard (and seen) doing loop the loops, corkscrews, stalls and who knows what else.  It's mostly centred above the test track up on the ridge above the valley, which used to be a military airbase.   In fact, nuclear bombers were deployed out of this tiny little airport, back in the day. 

Now it's a test track for a prestigious car manufacturer, and sometimes we can hear them squealing around the track too. 

Anyway, when I heard this little plane revving his engines above me whilst out checking Anna's tyres, I dashed to grab the camera to catch a shot of him...and I only just managed it as he headed off into the distance.  I thought he might come back around and show me some tricks...indeed he did turn around, but then disappeared back the way he came, and I realised that it wasn't our Magnificent Man in his Flying Machine.

We do get an eclectic mix of air traffic over our house.  

Starting in order of least interesting, there's a southbound flightpath out of Birmingham Airport that crosses above our house.  We've even seen our house whilst on a flight to Spain, although only the once...I always look, but rarely can identify where I am.  The flight path is high, so we can't hear them from in the house, but on a quiet day outside you can hear planes cruising south, and sometimes at night you can see a line of lights coming from the direction of Birmingham.

Other frequent flyers on warm summer evenings are the hot air balloons - when the weather is right there are often two or three at varying distances across the valley...Bluez found them highly suspicious, and I can kind of see his point - strange bulbous beasts floating slowly across the sky, occasionally roaring and breathing fire.  

I don't quite trust them myself!

Then of course there's the aerobatics plane...he's the most fun!   

When the Grand Prix is at Silverstone, we see a steady stream of helicopters ferrying VIP's there or back again...

Then there's the covert night-time traffic, which is a more regular occurrence than you might imagine.

We must be on some military flight path, which is always the same - North-East to South-West...this route is only ever used at night, and they fly very low indeed - much lower than legal limits. 

The most common aircraft to use this route are Chinook helicopters (or similar, I'm no expert), and they're usually in twos, or sometimes threes. 

Sometimes lumbering bomber planes will rumble past, alarming the animals...and once in a while, jet fighters come through, often in twos or threes, sometimes very fast indeed. 

Finally there are the frequent flyers of the feathered variety...we've had plenty of examples of those in the blog, of course.

Whilst out walking this evening, we spied the buzzard across the field, but by the time the camera was ready he'd landed in the tree...

it might be a bird

I think he's in there somewhere...bonus points to anyone who can spot him!

Right, I'm very, very tired, so I'm off to get my Saturday night on.   Climbing today, and Tai Chi all week have left me weary, and somewhat in need of a shower. 

Rest day tomorrow, I think!

:-)

Day 222 - Raven Rocks

big black blob

No, the title of this post hasn't been used before...not quite! :-p

For some reason, I feel strangely wordless today, so this might be a short entry!

I suppose it had to happen eventually...I just wasn't expecting eventually to be Day 222...hadn't really crossed my mind when it might be, to be honest.

So anyway...

Walking down the lane this evening, I spied this big fellow across the field.  Well, given my slightly failing long distance eyesight, I could just see a big black blob on top of the gatepost, where there shouldn't be a big black blob. 

Even on full zoom I couldn't get a great photo, and unusually, I had difficulty holding the camera steady.  

So all the photo's turned out a bit blurry, although at least it's clear that he's a raven...look at the height of him, compared to the 3 bar wooden gate that he's perched next to.

big black bird

His tail is partially hidden too, making him look a little smaller than he actually is. 

Even Anna agrees that he's a raven - because that's just how big he is!

We also saw a sparrowhawk circling in around our hedgerow, dropping on some poor bird...by the sound of it, it was a successful kill.

The incident took place about 7-8m from our lounge window - I saw him drop in from sitting in my chair at the desk where I am now!

Anna hissed a whisper telling me to grab the camera, but by the time I got there with it, he was out of sight around the back of the hedgerow, and all we caught was the awful noise of excited and distressed birds.

So that was pleasant...

Oh no, wait a minute...no, no it wasn't!

:-/

Day 221 - Catwalk

divas

Since losing Jazz, I've become aware that I'm as conditioned into the daily routines of dog-life as he was.

An obvious manifestation of this occurs around early evening each day, when I consistently experience a strong urge to go for a walk.

For 13 years I've been tied to the dogs (both figuratively, and literally at times)...it no longer felt like a chore, but I sometimes wondered what it would be like not to have to get home for 6pm every day...I thought there might be a sense of liberation, but there really hasn't been.

Well, there is an occasional realisation that I don't have to rush home, but it seems like something of a surreal notion, so I ignore it!

I feel institutionalised...like the man who's been in prison for 20 years, shut in a little cell...when he reaches the end of his sentence, the door is opened, and the guard pronounces that he's free to go...but the outside world seems big and scary, and it turns out he prefers to stay where he is, where he knows the routine and therefore feels safe. 

That's how I feel - I'm free of the commitment of having a dog...but I don't want to be!

Anyway, luckily the weather has been beautiful, so we had a lovely warm wander down the lane. 

As would often happen, Loz chose to follow us, so I got this lovely photo of Anna and Loz on their catwalk, in the hazy evening sun.

Entertainingly, a yellowhammer followed us up the lane, all the way stridently alarm calling about the presence of Loz...

disappointingly, no bananas

It really sounded as though it were actually saying, "Cat! Cat!!"...

Anyway, enough of all that, I must get off - it's time for my after dinner treat!

:-)

PS See below for a special bonus post on steep bouldering...you know you want to!

Day 219 - Reclaimed by Nature

serenity

We decided to go for a walk in spite of not having to for the first time in years, so as to not break the routine...then we walked miles more than usual, in order to break the routine...

Go figure!

It's been a difficult, flat, sad day, and we felt the need to get out into nature and try to find some peace out there in the warm evening sun.

Resisting the temptation to look back every minute or so to see how Jazz was doing, we ended up walking all the way down to the bottom of the lane, quietly remembering him, and pondering the pros and cons of getting another dog.

Idly snapping as we strolled, we caught a few interesting sights, like this balloon peacefully wandering the skies.

By odd coincidence, we got another shot of a juvenile Green Woodpecker, a mile down the lane from where the last one was...

woody

As we got to the bottom of the valley, we came to the little river that Jazz and Bluez liked to cool off in, back in the days when they could walk that far (a couple of years ago probably)..

no jazz

It was very overgrown, and very hard to focus, but it brought good memories of my boys splashing about, happy as labradors in cold water!

One photo I would never have captured if Jazz had been with me was this healthy looking rabbit...

jack

As we started back up the lane, I caught this nice shot of a buzzard alighting on top of a tree...

big ol' buzzard

I'd been remonstrating with Anna for not getting me a photo of a deer when I gave her the camera for two minutes...and then spotted this lovely young buck Roe, who remarkably hadn't noticed us as he strolled across the field. 

oh deer

Handsome young chap, isn't he?

yes deer

I've been wanting a photo of a deer for ages...Muntjac next - we have those around here too.

Well there you are, made it through a whole post without getting too upset about Jazz, even though we're missing him painfully...

Going back to nature definitely helped, as always.

Day 216 - Ah, Grasshopper

buttocks

It's Friday night once more, so as usual this is going to be a light post...especially as my mission to get a good photo more or less failed today...

Yesterday, I'd noticed these House Martin nests high up on the 3rd floor of the office where I work...they were a hive of activity, with fledglings wanting to be fed and busy parents flitting noisily about.

So today I took my camera to work, and the first chance I got (which was mid afternoon!), I nipped out to get some shots.

Nothing...nada...rien...niente...all was quiet, no sign of activity at all.

Bugger!

Disappointed, I just rattled off a few careless shots and left.  However, when I got home and took a closer look, I found this:

hello hello

Peeking out of the right side of the left nest you can see two youngsters, patiently waiting for their parents to return with food (maybe a nice green grasshopper?).

Ironically, because I thought there was nothing there, I didn't take much care with my shots, and so this is a little blurry and indistinct...so there's a lesson!

As I had my DSLR in the office, I thought I'd take a final opportunity to wind up Portvinder (not his real name!), one of my main men at work.  

He's taken a secondment on another team, doing something completely different for the next year...therefore he fully deserves a little teasing. ;-)  

So I sat at my desk over the other side of the office, taking photo's of him through the PC screens...

portvinder

He was suitably embarrassed, so that worked a treat!  B-)

But seriously though, it's been a pleasure working with him over the last 18 months or so, he's been a great help to me as well as to the rest of his team...not to mention other staff who've fallen on hard times, and would have been in a much worse boat had it not been for Portvinder's generous assistance...I'm not sure exactly what sort of boat, but there would certainly have been a dearth of paddles!

So thanks AP, and good luck in your quest for new challenges and opportunities...I'd love to have you back with us in 12 month's time - but I really don't expect it...

Now go - fly, grasshopper!

:-)

Day 210 - Party On, Dudes

why are you all being weird?!

We are at a wedding in Lancashire today, and looking through the photo's one thing struck me immediately - how much fun everyone was having.

Baby Luca here is setting the tone...this is an obvious reaction to the jollity on display all around him...

WAKE UP!!

It was just the noisy ones though...all generations were joining in the celebrations, from young...

but you've got soup...

...to old...

and I'll tell you summat else...

...to those in between...

really?

...and all generations in between...

now you're being weird...

...everyone was really getting along famously...

friendly banter

...and even yours truly was really letting his hair down...

party on

But seriously, it wasn't so bad...here's The spAnna (looking gorgeous) and I with our gladrags on...

suit and tie?!

The reception was in a lovely old hotel, and I even got a shot of a heron wading in the river across the way, to add to my growing collection of bird species photo's on this blog.

bonus gull

All in all a good time was had by all (obviously).

Tomorrow we're going to try a little Lancashire bouldering for the first time.  I expect it might get a mention in tomorrow night's blog.

Right, back to the party!

Pip pip!

B-)