Pee Nine Five Oh

I've had a lovely time out today at the hospital. It made for a refreshing diversion to working from home, walking from home, staying at home, food-shopping with people devoid of sense. I've never been so happy at the prospect of a flexible endoscope bringing light to the place where the sun don't shine. I feel very lucky that the NHS is just starting to get back into the swing of dealing with non-Covid stuff in time to coincide with my three-monthly scans and checks. All looks fine, well - clinically at least - if you've ever had a colonoscopy or similar you'll know that it doesn't look pretty on the screen ....

Even in a non-pandemic situation, ordering online on a Saturday evening and parcel arriving on Monday afternoon is pretty good going. Just before 4pm today the P950 turned up, and whilst I knew it would be a bit bigger and heavier than the P600 I've abused for the last 5.5 years, I wasn't quite prepared for how much....

P600 vs P950

P600 vs P950 - both on full zoom

It's a proper handful. It feels balanced though.

Nikon Coolpix 4500, Panasonic Lumix FZ45, Nikon Coolpix P600, Nikon Coolpix P950

The above is not quite the full evolution of my digital photography. My first digital camera was a Sony Cybershot DSC-S50, that really did die and I'm not sure what happened to it (probably in the loft somewhere). It had a swivel screen like the P600/P950 - only a less robust and that's what got broken. It got replaced with the Coolpix 4500 for macro stuff in c2003. I also had a secondhand Canon EOS350D DSLR which I used for birds for a while not long after starting this blog, but it had a dirty sensor and I eventually sold it on e-bay. The 4500 still works (or would if I charged the battery) but has so many dead pixels it is effectively useless. The FZ45 was working fine when I stopped using it, I just wanted a cleaner image which is why I ended up back with Nikon.

The P950 really is a bit of a beast though, and will take a bit of work to get used to. The macro set-up I've been using, with the P600 on a small tripod on the kitchen worksurface and x2 daylight lamps (above), will need some revision I think.

Anyway, out the box, in with an SD card and into the garden with what little charge was on the battery. The first bird I pointed it at was predictably one of the two male Blackcaps that have been frustratingly singing in clear view close by whenever I am without camera in hand. Not a bad first bird photo I reckon.

I charged the battery up enough to have a quick walk down the lane, although the light was starting to go with clouds rolling back in (no doubt they'll roll out before dusk and mothing). I pointed the camera at a Goldfinch on both no zoom and full zoom - no cropping or image editing here, just resized and an arrow added.

and the same with a Woodpigeon ....

It's got potential! I'm waiting for a step-down ring, but as the lens is so massive I couldn't get the full 67mm - 43mm needed for the Raynox lenses. For now I've ordered a 67mm - 52mm which will go onto the 52mm - 43mm I use with the P600. It might not work! The P600 is certainly not dead, and unlike the FZ45 I don't expect it will just be left ignored. Whilst the dials and controls are flaky, that's only an issue when out and about and changing modes. The image is still clean and is the same resolution as the P950, so I may well continue using it at home for macro stuff for a while until I get comfortable with and (hopefully) somewhere near proficient with the P950.


Anyway, that's enough blathering on about cameras - here's some beetles knocked out of hawthorn on Saturday afternoon.

Lochmaea crataegi

 Neocoenorrhinus aequatus, or whatever it's called this week

Cantharis decipiens

Lately I've been listening to the Wake Up the Coma album by Front Line Assembly ...

Interlude

The sun is out, so perhaps later there will be new stuff to post but in the meantime an early post interlude .....

By default working and being at home everyday I've seen more around the garden and posted more in the last month than I have done for a long while. And in terms of content, it must be the most illustrated months-worth of posting (though I'm not going to check to confirm).

April content:
Total posts 24
Total photos/images 184

Named Species / Sp. Featured:
Moths 32
Flies 25
Beetles 25
Bugs 6
Bees 3
Other inverts 5
Plants/Lichens 22
Vertebrates 5

Audio Links:
Bands 17
YouTube links 20


Remember that I mentioned some Facebook thing to post albums that in some way influenced me or my taste in music. I was not old enough for punk, and turned 11 in 1979 just in time for a load of post-punk new wave type stuff, the ska revival and the wider-scale emergence of synth-based music. I have no older siblings, so aside from whatever my Dad was playing (which was mainly prog rock but in the late 70s included Blondie, The Police, The Stranglers) and mainstream TV and radio, my wider appreciation of music started when I hit secondary education in an inner-city comprehensive in 1979.

Summarising your whole musical outlook in ten albums is nigh on impossible, but I picked these as being some of them:

Vangelis - China (1979)
Inner City - Paradise (1989)
Depeche Mode - Speak and Spell (1981)
The Art of Noise - Who's Afraid of (1984)
Jesus Jones - Liquidizer (1989)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Once Upon a Time (1981)
Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981)
Skinny Puppy - Remission & Bites (1987)
Japan - Assemblage (1981)
Madness - One Step Beyond (1979)

These are not necessarily my favourite albums by the artists or in the genre, but they were the lead-in to listening to more of them and/or more of similar artists at the time or over the years. I make no apology for picking a couple of singles/back catalogue compilations for Siouxsie and Japan, and a label re-issue package of earlier material for Skinny Puppy.

It's notable that all of these are pre-1990. It's not like there has been nothing since then, but if I think really hard about it, everything I listen to could be worked back to earlier influences including these. There is lots of new music, but it's all evolved and it doesn't feel like there's been any musical revolution for decades. Or maybe I am really just so old now I am completely out of touch with dem yoot.

I listen to a lot a varied stuff, pretty much anything except out and out hillbilly country of folky stuff. I think some of that varied taste is reflected in these albums but it's clearly far from comprehensive. I could easily have listed another ten and then done it again.


And finally, a vid clip came up on my Facebook timeline this morning reminding me that four years ago today LCFC became Premier League Champions when Spurs handed over a 2-0 lead and cashed in any chance of catching the mighty Foxes. But it wasn't the footballing glory that immediately struck me; it was the huge numbers in the pub, drinking and socialising without restriction. It's only been a few weeks since this became impossible, but the marked contrast to lockdown makes it seem a lifetime away. We were in the main City pub for football fans, the Local Hero, along with media from around the world ....

Fat bloke middle-left in white LCFC shirt throws full pint and celebrates the second Chelsea goal at 0.36secs, and jumps around on verge of coronary when the final whistle blows ..

Bee / Fly

I think I may have struck very lucky today by pointing the camera at a couple of ticks. But, I'll reserve judgement for the moment. Annoyingly, both appeared whilst I had camer in hand and not whilst I had net in hand. I need to find a camera and net technique .....

This hoverfly literally appeared under my nose as I was about to snap something else. I grabbed a couple of quick shots, but it zipped off never to be seen again when I reached out for the net. I think it is Cheilosia caerulescens.

Post-script - record confirmed and accepted by Roger Morris

And this mining bee appeared briefly on the lilac bush ....

Andrena nitida

And whilst I'm at it, another green fly that I'd ignored from a few days ago.

Lucilia sericata

I've been posting the odd weed from the garden. How the hell did I miss this one!

Sycamore Norway Maple

Every spring I literally pull up around a hundred sycamore/maple seedlings, and it never ceases to amaze me how several get missed and overlooked until suddenly it's there in your face poking through other plants.

Also from today, another beetle caught in flight though not one I needed to pot and scrutnise.

14-spot Ladybird. In hand.

I've also got a nice-looking Ichneumon type thing to look at, and an Amara type carabid to key out.

The moth trap was pants last night, and then to top it off the control gear literally fell to bits, so I've had to quickly knock something up this evening which is not pretty or safe but hopefully will work! Trouble is the only control chokes I have are for double-tubes. And I only had spare actinic rings, so have had to run a 22W synergetic and a 22W actinic together (with the extant 12W blacklight LED).

Choke dangling from loose wires, no housing for electrics, precariously balanced double-decker tubes. It does not meet any safety standards .....

Flying Briefly

Got stuck into the decorating today. We'd bought paint a few weeks before the lockdown in anticipation, as it was going to get done sometime this year whatever happened. I'm not much of a self-starter though when it comes to any decorating, but once the prep is done I'm fine with the painting. No time for fannying about looking up to the skies for flyover bird ticks or flouncing about the garden with a camera .....

I'm fibbing. Every coffee break (and I made sure there were several!) was spent in the garden enjoying the sunshine, listening to the Blackcap sing itself stupid and watching the odd Buzzard drift over. Later in the afternoon, I spent 20 mins or so stood in front of a sunlit lilac bush where various flies seemed to be alighting on the leaves to bask in the warm glow. Trying to get shots is not easy when the subject is in full sun, warmed up and fully aware of the slightest movement. Most shots were one handed and reaching at an odd angle, so getting anything was an achievement. The following were the best efforts.

Epistrophe eligans

The first time one has settled, several have been buzzing around at head-height for a few days

Melanostoma scalare

A washed-out shot of a Yellow Dung Fly

And I think this is Eudasyphora cyanella

And a quick look at the front garden revealed another 'weed' that I'd not noticed ...

... which I'm sure is Ivy-leaved Speedwell

The garden moth trap is having a break whilst the nights are cool, I'll re-start that tomorrow night when it should start warming up a little overnight. In the meantime my lockdown hairgrowth is starting to get annoying, and I can feel a hack job coming on at the weekend using my hopelessly inadequate beard-trimmer. My lockdown alcohol intake is growing at a similar rate, and some weight-loss gains earlier in the year are in reverse. Feels like I'm going feral.

Lily the Red

To be honest, I thought these would show themselves a bit earlier ...

Scarlet Lily Beetle

Whilst not quite as early as expected, they were exactly where I expected them to be - clambering around on the stems and leaves of every clump of Snake's-head Fritillaries that I have. And as soon as approached, they drop into the undergrowth. Also a male Orange-tip flittering around the garden today, and several Epistrophe eligans hovering about.

Late yesterday evening, I sat in the garden with a bottle of beer. Turned out to be a lucky move as I could just about make out a calling Little Owl over the hum of the M1. I was also struck by how much aircraft activity there still is, where exactly are people going? Birdwise today, a flyover Skylark was not completely unexpected, and the/a Blackcap was singing on the embankment in the morning. In the afternoon, just as I was taking the above snap, I realised that there was a Willow Warbler singing along the embankment out of sight in some sycamores. And then another was singing closer, before the first had another burst. And then they were both quiet and I didn't hear them again. Had I been inside these would have been missed, and they are certainly not annual on the embankment (or at least not outside of working hours!).

Outstanding

Not in the sense of excellence, in the sense of still waiting for something to happen ....

The garden moth trap is still stubbornly dithering, although there was at least a NFY this morning - albeit a worn specimen that's lost it's lustre ...

Shoulder Stripe

Actually, the better results came whilst I was in the garden emptying the trap; a Mistle Thrush singing from somewhere over on the industrial estate and, better, a couple of fly-through calling Meadow Pipits. Later in the morning, whilst having a squint out of the window, another surprise with a Green Woodpecker bouncing across the sky following exactly the same trajectory as Monday's Red Kite. Otherwise, the House Sparrows that seem to have rocked up over the last week or so seem to be staying, and thankfully looks like a couple of the houses at the back have soffets in disrepair. There are more knocking about than can possibly be setting up home in the immediate vicinity, and yet not one of them has actually come into the garden to use the feeders. They seem to loaf about on the embankment, shuffling around a bit and generally sitting partially hidden whilst chirruping away.

Meanwhile, I've been listening to a lot of Yello, new(ish) and (very)old. If there were a more underrated band I couldn't name them.

Shifting Through the Lens

Meh, I'm just not feeling it today. Whilst the sun was out there was a right nippy wind blowing through. Consequently not as much happening with no new insects showing themselves. The moth trap last night was pants too.

In fact the only bit of interest came during darkness without me knowing about it until this morning. I noticed what appeared to be fairly fresh droppings in the garden yesterday, and decided I'd lay some bait and try to make use of the camera trap I bought a while ago (on a whim, it's hardly been used). It worked, but I'd forgotten that the camera needs to be set a bit further back than I had left it so all the clips are a bit out of focus. Here's a brief one ....

So having caught this Hedgehog shifting through the lens, I set it back up later in the morning just to catch a few birds and check the distance whilst I got on with some work. Later on when checking, I had a few clips so downloaded a neat free bit of software to edit a couple of them (VideoPad Video Editor from NCH) seeing as my new PC is Windows 10 and Microsoft have ditched Movie Maker in the process. Nothing exciting, I'm just playing.

Not sure what to do at the weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if the weather was total shite meaning I can't get out anywhere. Oh, wait .....

Non-believer

Bright sunshine, relative peace, solitude. Birds singing and going about their business, plants putting all of their stored energy to use and pushing up through the slowly warming soil, insects awakening or starting the next phase in their journey to adulthood. It could be idyllic. And yet these are dark times indeed. It's at times like this that many will turn to their religion for comfort. Each to their own and all that, but as a complete atheist it's at times like this that I know there is no God. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that all that awaits my 'soul' at the end of my journey is nothing, whilst my body will (hopefully, if my wishes are fulfilled) become a source of nutrition back in the earth. And I hope that is still a good way off!

I am not a complete philistine though. I find the architecture of buildings of religion impressive. I find the internal structural work, objects and artefacts equally interesting. Any time I am visiting a city where there is a large building of religion I quite often grab a few snaps. If we're on holiday, we will usually make a point of going inside such places. I see no contradiction in this - I feel the same visiting any other historic building.

There is no point to this rambling, it's just something that came to mind whist browsing through past photos with a cuppa after a day sorting out our front conifer hedge.

La Basilique du Sacré Cœur - Monmartre

Hassan II Mosque - Casablanca

Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Annonciation et Saint-Sigisbert - Nancy

Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Lincoln

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede - Sevilla

St. Alban's Church - Copenhagen

Keep yer Pecker Up

Today I was on rotational working from home as part of an increasingly escalating suite of measures for risk reduction and business continuity, like many others up and down the country - including Nichola who has been dumped with a brand new laptop and told to stay away from her office indefinitely. I can only do part of my job from home, though what I can do I get done quicker and more efficiently than when I am actually at work. It's not the same though; no sudden changes in tempo, no questions from others about the production lines, no noise and heat from machinery and industry, nothing going bang and needing a spur of the moment plan for engineering recovery. I don't like it.

I've actually got a few days booked off around the coming weekend anyway, as I was meant to be going to two gigs in Sheffield (which are now postponed) and celebrating Nichola's birthday (which we now don't know what to do). What I will do, if the weather stops being as wet and drizzly as it has been all day, is get out and about to big open sites, avoiding unnecessary contact and trying to enjoy life.

Given that I had some spare time later in the afternoon, around the now-daily podium updates, I had another check on a couple of links that were shared on Twitter by Andy Musgrove. These are continual live feeds from bird feeding stations. I realised today, when watching via the PC rather than a phone, that you can actually wind back c12hrs. It is extremely mesmerising and therapeutic, especially with the sound turned up loud enough to hear calls, tweets, whistles, honks and the wind.

My favourite so far is this one from Sapsucker Woods near to New York:

Flick(er)ing through I've seen a variety of woodpeckers on the feeders today ..

Pileated Woodpecker?

Hairy Woodpecker?

Downy Woodpecker?

Red-bellied Woodpecker?

The other one is from Panama, a fruit baited station where I have seen hummers, big butterflies and a fair few colourful birds that are nothing like the UK fauna (though the sound is a bit more hit and miss on this one) ..

And whilst I'm at it, this one from Costa Rica is not live but has some great birds close up ...

Trust me, after last year's experience I know that being stuck at home is no fun at all. Daytime TV is absolute shite, like a lot of evening TV (in fact the only good news today is that they are stopping filming Eastenders and Holby City). If you need something more stimulating to watch, copy these links, get them on the big screen and get your field guides out!

New Guide, New ID

Much less than 24hrs after posting a photo of a caterpillar that had me scuppered, and my pre-ordered copy of the new caterpillars field guide turned up from Atropos. Brilliant timing, as it didn't take long to flick through the plates and find the match - Green Carpet. The book looks pretty good on first flick through too, looking forward to putting it to a few more tests this year.

Meanwhile, this evening I am listening to whatever I like as loud as I like as the rest of the family have all buggered off out to separate destinations. I am self isolating by default! 

Waterworks

Today I've been to work, which didn't matter much as this morning was dull and drizzly anyway so I wasn't planning on going anywhere. By the time I'd left it was drier, albeit with a strong biting wind making it feel bloody cold despite the sun poking through.

I mentioned a few days ago that Jubilee Park and the floodplain area over the road was almost constantly flooded, and that there was some work being done. During that time the area did drain enough to see that they had made some progress with a wide channel .. but this morning it was all under water again. So on the way home, I pulled over to grab a couple of shots on my phone although by then the sun was completely in the wrong place but you get the gist.

Somewhere to the right of the temporary fenceline that you can see is the River Soar, and on the left of that fence is a deep wide channel which is (so far) completely ineffective!

The machinery is sitting in water in a makeshift compound, though they have moved out the portacabin that has flooded several times whilst in situ.

I still have several gigabytes of photos to sort and archive, a job that I started last year and have made good progress, but it will take a fair while. And I'm still finding a few bits to put up here from periods when I wasn't making time to post anything.

Such as these, yet more retro beetles, these all from the last PSL meet-up I went to over at Holkham in June 2016.

Broscus cephalotes

Phylan gibbus

Tasgius ater

Agrypnus murinus

Calathus mollis