Nothing to report this week, too weary to comment on politics, though I surely will once we know (around 11pm on 31 October) where Brexit is going. On the other hand I am now successfully the other side of another birthday and still fit and firing on all guns. So I will simply [...]
About a week into September, days are a little cooler and the colours are moving towards warm yellows and reds ... some pictures for you to enjoy as text is in short supply this week.
Pictures From a Different Age For reasons I won't bore you with I have been evaluating a couple of software packages for "digitally developing" RAW format photos from my cameras. One of the test pictures I have been working with was taken in May of this year in England when, with friends, we [...]
How good are old cameras? Rootling in the basement last night I happened upon an old digital camera - the first I had owned and purchased back in 2011/2012. It was, still is for that matter, a Nikon Coolpix 995 and was my faithful digiscoping companion for a few years before I moved [...]
Japanese Beetles in the Ascendency Recently we wrote about the welcome appearance this summer of the eggs of parasitic Tachnid flies on the bodies of Japanese Beetles in the garden and we have been looking forward to a decline in beetle numbers as a consequence. No such luck. For the past four years, [...]
The Golden Rod was alive with insects Tuesday morning in the warm sun - here are four that posed for their portraits. There were also a number of Hover Flies which never paused long enough to be immortalised. Clearly a Bumble Bee and I think most likely Bombus impatiens (Common Eastern Bumble Bee) [...]
A Garden Month (to 24 Aug 2019) Pictures follow Even back in late July some end-of-summery things were already being noticed such as a small group of Waxwings taking berries from the Dogwood bushes on a hot and windy day … the sort of day on which it is perfect for Japanese Beetles [...]
A little Sunday morning magicThis tiny bird appeared to accompany the Sunday morning cup of tea … the red flowers are Cuphea (Mexican cigar plant) and have proved to be the best attractor of Hummingbirds we have ever grown. They are not hardy, but plant some where you can nsee them next summer and [...]
HAL 9000 This isn’t product placement, just a comment. I pay just under a couple of $$ a month for added storage on GoogleDrive and last week Google invited me, “as a loyal customer”, to accept a free Smart Speaker which, naturally, I accepted. Yesterday I took delivery of small grey hamburger [...]
Berries and Birds Everyone has remarked on the amazing size and variety of the tree fruit crop this year - and it has not gone unnoticed by the juvenile American Robins in our garden who have started to fill and fatten themselves on the bounty - observed by some young Song Sparrows. [...]