Christmas Tractor Charity Run

Local farmers and businesses joined together for the annual Louth Tractor Charity Road Run. It was a wonderful, though deafening, site as they took 16 minutes to pass through the village. Here are just 4 minutes of extracts showing some of the vehicles:



Filmed using a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the clips selected using iMovie on a MacBook.

Update - Orchid and Nestboxes

It has been far too long since I last posted here. First I have been setting up two bird nesting boxes with cameras. Now is the time to get them ready as I have seen BlueTits and Great Tits checking out possible nesting sites. Sometimes a nestbox is used as a Winter roost. As usual it is a waiting game to see whether either or both are considered suitable Des Res. The view inside the boxes:
The old nestbox:



The new nestbox:



One of my miniature orchids (Potinara Little Toshie 'Swan') has finally produced its first flower:



A real beauty!!

Badger Visits

It has been quite a while since the Badger last visited my garden.



It ignored the two apples and proceeded to scoff all the pieces of dried bread I had thrown out for the birds.

Outnumbered

The long wriggly creature in this video is a Nematode:



These can be found almost everywhere on the Earth. There are thousands of varieties whch inhabit the ocean bed, ponds, underground in mines, in soil and even in a small piece of moss. That is where I found this one. It is thought there are approximately 60 billion Nematodes to every human. We are well and truly outnumbered.

Lunch Time Visitor

I never know what I am going to find in my kitchen. A couple of days ago it was:



a small beetle, a Lagria hirta. Photo taken with a cheap DooGee Note 58 Android phone. For just under £100 the phone was really excellent value, though unfortunately no longer available. BTW: I identified it using the Google photo search which I find to be quite useful from time to time.

Microscopic Life in Moss

Some video clips, slowed down to a quarter speed ....



... as they are constantly rushing about. This time I was able to use the above stage lighting which gives somewhat clearer views of the activity. My first thought on identification was Ostracada but now I am not so sure, Thay may be Cillates. PS. Just been identified by Izmi Gigavista from Fort Hays State University as being a cillate known as Colpoda.

Moldy Breaf

Basic microscopes only have a lamp under the specimen being viewed. Sometimes better results are obtained with illumination from just above the specimen, or even a mixture of both. This photo shows the microscope and above that is a Schott lighting unit. The light travels down the flexible tubes so it can be aimed just where I want it.



Here are some views of a piece of mold from an old slice of bread:







PS. The flag seen just above the Schott unit is the flag of the county where I live - Lincolnshire.

Pond Life - Little and Large

First the little. Some Ostracods I found near the edge of my raised pond. They are large enough to be seen as tiny brown dots moving around in the water. These crustaceans live in a hard shell which is in two parts. In the second clip, top creature, you might just see the thin opening when it moves about. This shell closes when it senses danger. The video was made under a 3.5X objective lens on my microscope.



For the large - what could be more beautiful than ..



.... a water lily.

Little and Large

First the microscopic object. A Tardigrade (water bear) I found in the moisture taken from a clump of moss, about 150 microns long (150 thousandths of a millimetre)



Second, a beasty quite a few (thousand) time larger:



A field cricket which ended up on my kitchen windowsill.

Life in Moss

I picked up a bit of moss kindly thrown on my path by a bird. It was placed in a small petri dish and soaked with boiled tap water for a few hours:



Then the moss was removed and squeezed to drip some of the moisture in another dish. Now a small amount of that liquid was picked up in a pipette and a drop or two placed on a microscope slide. With the naked eye only a few minute dots could be seen in the water. After adjusting the lighting the sample was viewed to see what microscopic life could be found and photographs taken. Here are a few:

A nematode:


Probably a rotifer:


An as yet unidentified creature:


I must try this again with some moss from a different place.

Microscope Camera

I decided to purchase a Swift EC5R camera which is designed to replace the eyepiece on a microscope:

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The software which comes with the camera will run on Windows or Mac OS and allows the user to take photos or video clips. I picked a small clump of pond weed from the edge of my raised pond to put under the microscope.



For scale the strands of weed are just under 1mm wide.

Blooming Beautiful

Just a quick post to keep the blog active. I have been trying out a photo app on my newly acquired DooGee Note 58 mobile phone and found a water lily which was partly open:



This DooGee may not be as all singing and all dancing as a Samsung Galazy or iPhone 15 but does remarkably well for the princely sum of £99.98. I have had a DooGee tablet for a year and found it to be really reliable, again at the fantastic price of £128. If the weather is kind on Sunday I hope to use the phone to take some video at the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway.

Wren Inspects Nestbox

A Wren has inspected the nestbox two days running.



This is a Birdfy nestbox which has two cameras so I can see birds ariving and leaving as well as any interior activity. It looks as though the Wren removed a dead fly while it was there.

Two Magpies and an Egg

This chicken egg cracked as soon as I put it in a pan to boil. As the contents started to spill out I cooled the egg and put it in the garden to see whether the Magpies would be interested in it. (No sound on this camera)



The Badger seems to have moved on. It hasn't visited for over a week. Its new living area under the shed was invaded by rats. Probably from nearby arable land. The rats have been eliminated but the Badger hasn't returned.

Resident Badger

A few nights ago a Badger visited the garden and decided to stay. It has made its home under a large shed and potters about the garden each night.



The Badger is eating some unsalted peanuts I put in a dish. Not the clearest of videos but the best I have so far.

Blue Tit Checks Nestbox

Latest of several quick visits to the camera nestbox:



So far I haven't seen it go inside.