Solar eclipse

During yesterdays solar eclipse, we had a go at some basic observation techniques.

First up was the colander, as advised on BBC national news.  That was basic, but it worked OK.

Then a basic pinhole camera, using a small hole punched into a cardboard sheet,  That gave a more discrete image.

Then we went for a Nikon D5000 camera with a fold out viewing screen to avoid line of sight eye contact with the suns rays.  The sensors are not designed to handle such intense light, but the optical anomalies within the camera lens elements did give an aberration effect that showed the image displaced more clearly.

Just for fun, I took a direct image of the sun during the eclipse and edited the light levels and contrast to give this distorted image.  The light intensity is still creating a lens aberration reflection which represents the real image more clearly.  This blast is from a 90% moon coverage of the sun, and it shows how even at that level, the light intensity is immense.

It is possible to crank the camera sensor down to get a better image, but this session was done without any serious preparation, so that option, or the filter options were not considered.

On 11 Aug 1999 we experienced a near total eclipse of the sun when we were on the Llynn Peninsular in Wales.  It really did go dark, cold and silent then, and we used a pinhole camera to see the obscured sun and its corona. When the light returned, some minutes later, I was impressed by the intensity of bird song around us.  Happy days!

Mowing the wild meadow

 Due to the drought conditions, all of the plants in them meadow area have set seeds early.  It is now time to start mowing it back.  I always do this job in small sections, as it can be quite difficult. The first job is always to comb over the lawn area to be mown to see if there are any moths or frogs in the grass.

The job is done in segments and this image shows the half way point for today.  It is a case of cutting out any sturdy plants with secateurs and removing any pebbles, bits of debris and conker husks. Then the vegetation is mown over at the highest blade setting to take off the top layer, then work down the settings to reduce the grass to lawn level.

The pale grass shows the area that I have mown back today - the area behind the arch will be done on a couple of other days.  Our brown garden refuse bin is now full and ready to be emptied tomorrow morning.

The foxes are finding refuge in our garden at present.  This one is resting on the dry and dusty infill soil that I have levelled where we removed a large raised bed.

The badgers are unable to find worms in the dry conditions as they are too deep in the soil for the badgers to smell them out.  However, this badger has found something to get excited about as it runs off behind the greenhouse with a mouth full.

Drought is official !

 This week, the UK was officially in Drought, having sustained 4 heatwaves and a number of open forest fires.  We now have water hosepipe bans in our area. For our part, we always collect roof rain water into 3 large water butts, which are now almost dry.

The birds are coming in droves to feed, as there is a shortage of natural food for most species. These Long Tailed Tits are usually insect feeders, but with wetland issues, there are fewer insects around for them to feed on.

Our front lawn is in a bit of a state and half or our plants are partially dying off due to low water content in the soil.  This will all recover with the next heavy rain and a bit of post rain tidying up.

Nearby, at Westport Lakes, the water level is very low.  These posts are normally submerged in the water for most of the year.  Levels are probably 60cm low in the larger lakes.  The water birds that inhabit or visit the lakes are dwindling in numbers. A few weeks ago there were lots of Canada Geese grazing the grass, but now the grass has dried out and died back, most of them have moved on.  The Coots are also absent at present and Cormorants are flying in to see if they can find fish to eat.

The smaller lakes are all but dried out and the birds are standing around on pathways to avoid the thick green algal layers that are covering the remaining water.

Not all gloom and doom.  The local council have managed to replace our broken recycling bin, less than 2 months after the reported split in the main body of the bin.  Life goes on.........

Removing Garden Beds

The last 2 weeks of hot and dry weather have had an impact on the trees.  They are all shedding leaves to conserve water, so autumnal leaf fall is here in summer.

The last 2 years have been problematic for growing things in our raised beds.  The hot weather and the problems with Badgers has made the beds very unproductive or very time consuming.  Some of them are now coming out and being levelled.

The longest bed has almost been removed now, but the end flower bed is staying for the time being.  This bed is in the shade of the Tulip Tree and has seldom produced anything much.  The two beds left by the holly hedge are also coming out, but I need to rescue the Rhubarb and replant it.  That has always been a good cropping bed.

I am currently clearing the south bed and I have re-potted the Gooseberry bushes and removed any surplus weeds.  The next job will be to dig in lots of fresh garden compost and then water the rhubarb really well before moving the plants, a few at a time, to this prepared bed.

That done, we can start extracting more blocks and leveling the ground ready for sowing grass.

A day with the Monkeys

Trentham Monkey Forest is the home of two clans of Barbary Macaques.  Visitors can enter the outer area with facilities, cafe and shop, picnic area and butterfly meadow walk.

After a short safety briefing, there is a double gate entry to the Monkey Forest, and a pathway loop with attendant wardens at intervals to supervise and instruct visitors as they move around the forest.

The first feeding zone is occupied by a troupe of Macaques that were established from a French Visitor attraction, and many of the Macaques there today were born on site.  As visitor progress through the Forest, they will come to another feeding area where the troupe of Monkeys were originally established from a German visitor attraction.

The path loops down into a stream valley and back out to the first feeding area.  This is a place where you may see individuals from both feeding groups.

Being a 15 year old Macaque born on site is a reason to be laid back and looked after.

 

As always, there are newborn at this time of year and many of last years youngsters are around to "help out"......

  

What a grand day out, just 200 more photos to deal with!

Badgers becoming more frequent visitors

 We have had Badgers in the area for a long time.  Occasionally we would see one or two in the late evening, and a few years ago we noticed a pair of pale grey and white badgers.

 This is a small badger with the pale grey colouration.  It is likely one of this years pups.  There appears to be two smaller paler badgers and a relatively small pair of adult badgers.  They are often accompanied by a larger black and white faced badger which is a text book example of the species.

This is the darker of the two pale adults in full sunlight.  The other one is paler and with a hint of ginger colouring in daylight.

This can be compared with the colour of a more common Badger, which shows a near black and white head marking. 

I am very fond of this image of a fox by the geraniums at the top of our back lawn.
 

First Fox Cub

This is the first time we have seen a fox cub this year.  In past years we have seen them at a much earlier age.  This is probably due to the presence of an aggressive Badger, which is arriving at the garden in the evenings at about the same time as the foxes.  The parents have been keeping the cubs out of harms way.

Arriving on the garden in the early hours is unusual, but it guarantees that the badgers are not around.  This one cub was left to play on its own for a short while, which surprised me, but it is older than the usual cubs we have seen in previous years.

The Vixen had retreated to the other side of the garden to take a rest, and remained in the garden for some time.  The cub, by this time had left and most likely gone home to their den.

I need to have some breakfast now.