ChrisC

[ChrisC]

Well i thought it was time to bite the bullet and join in the fun. probably won't be many photo's or if there are they will off my phone as still not taken the expensive dive into buying a camera yet. so if you view you won't be greeted with brilliant photo's like the other diaries on here. By the way all other diary writers keep up the great work the pictures are great to see. i also warn you there may be quite a bit not butterfly related as they are just one of my many interests. so here goes ......

Sunday 16th May
the day started off ok. a couple of new wildflowers around the forest the garden backs on to. they came in the shape of Lousewort and Heath Milkwort never seen either before. Back to the garden and after seeing Pete's Orange Tip egg pics I thought i Should check out my garlic Mustard (not that i have seen an adult in the garden yet this year) and sure enough at least 3 eggs (one had hatched by this afternoon) i also noticed quite a few tiny wasps ( similar size to the aphid parasitic wasps) around the plants, not sure if they will have any bearing on proceedings but i'll keep an eye on them.

Another nice sight greeted me as i was sitting out on the patio, my 3rd glow worm larvae sighting of the year.

an afternoon walk over Stour Valley Local Nature Resrve lifted spirits in the gloom. (walking by water always does that for me) and watched a dozen Black headed Gulls acting like swallows flying back and forth picking flies off the surface which i had never seen before. There was also 3 nice chub of about 4lb wallowing in the shallows in the relative safety of the fishing close season. thanks for dropping in .

[ChrisC]

not much to report today. first cream spot ladybird, berberis sawfly and a mottled umber caterpillar all on a birch outside work. so thought i'd take a bit of time and show any viewers the garden. a work in progress i hasten to add.

this border is definitely a work in progress, i'm fighting a battle in this one with ground elder, once i win that there will be more plants going in. there are plants in there including Verbena bonariensis, asters, tansy, lots of self set honesty, solidago and at the back of course are the mandatory buddlieas.

this one shows the gate into the forest, with my "weed patch" to the right, in there is sorrel, garlic mustard, red campion, marjoram, common and red valerian knapweeds, hedge woundwort, evening primrose, mulliens, upright hedge parsley, hemp agrimony to name but a few, will look better in June hopefully.

this is to the feft of the gate, with 3 more buddlieas, marjoram, buttercups, dog rose, a bit of uncut grass with a few logs in there. beyond the sun dial. there is privet, hawthorn, blackthorn, buckthorn, alder buckthorn, hogweed ( yes i plant hogweed ) and various other shrubs and the new shoots of a pear tree that had to come down when the fence was replaced. in the border to the left, another buddliea, lavender, a couple of varieties of mondarda, more V. bonariensis, salvias, echinacea, verbascum again i shalln't list them all. just giving an idea of what's in there. all new in so it'll be interesting to see how this gets on.

another patch under a rather tasty dessert apple tree that i have plans for once the ground elder war is won. in behind the bench is a magnolia, mahonia, viburnum tinnus with herb robert and dusky cranesbill amoung the plants planted under there.

this is the view from the right hand corner. in the pond i have various pots and baskets. ragged robin, purple loosestrife, yellow flag iris, meadow sweet, marsh marigold some more hemp agrimony, not sure if the fleabane and yellow loosestrife made it after i re did the baskets last autumn.

Anyway i think i have bored you all enough for now, that's my back garden.
Chris

[Susie]

Great stuff

I don't get bored looking at photos of wildlife friendly gardens. I am looking forwards to following it's progress.

[Lee Hurrell]

Wow, what a garden Chris!

Wishing you lots of insect action this year, keep us informed!

Cheers

Lee

[ChrisC]

thanks Susie and Lee, for todays installment........

I had the light out briefly last night and the second moth in was this female emperor who started laying eggs almost immediately, a moth i have always wanted to see. the eggs have gone to a very experienced home to be bred through parasite and predator free.

life and death dramas on the dog rose has recommenced as the wasp on the end eyes up it's next victim to lay eggs in/on

the knapweed is proving popular with tortoise beetles (i think) several pairs doing anything but knap (bad pun, i apologise)

Last but not least my first dark bush cricket nymph of the year. quite pleased with this as first year here none, 2nd year 1 and last year 3 calling at night.

again apologies for poor quality images but it is just a phone after all.

[ChrisC]

well i finally took the plunge and bought the popular lumix fz38. so the first clear night for a while i thought i would have my first ever attempt at a few night shots. i even had to manual focus and change shutter speeds etc. what a learning curve this is going to be. But being my first time i was quite pleased with the results (although still rubbish ) now i just have decide what lenses. roll on a decent days weather and something to try the macro out on.

chris

[Padfield]

Hi Chris,

I think I might well have been outside photographing the moon at exactly the same time as you... I had to double-take when I saw your post because I have exactly the same picture! Funny thought.



I've also done quite a bit of star photography recently, including getting Uranus on 4th Jan, very close to Jupiter.

Guy

[ChrisC]

well they say great minds think alike
I didn't do so well with Jupiter. probably a bit too much to ask on a first attempt

Chris

[Susie]

Hey, look who's appeared from hibernation! Glad to see the new camera is getting some use already. Lovely shots and not rubbish at all.

I've never tried photographing the moon before I don't think, I'll have to give it a go. I'll be getting Uranus before you know it, just like Guy.

[Padfield]

Here's a link (so as not to fill your thread with other pictures) to my pic of Jupiter, with Callisto bordering it below and Ganymede above: http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/j ... nus111.jpg. Io and Europa are in front and behind the planet, so invisible. Uranus is the 'star' off to the right of Jupiter. Because it looks just like a faint star you need good planetarium software to identify it (its position relative to Jupiter changes every night). Stellarium is by far the best, in my opinion, and it is free. This is the Stellarium screenshot I used to confirm Uranus: http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/j ... screen.jpg.

I used 5 seconds exposure and 12 x zoom. EDIT : 1 second exposure - sorry if anyone tried to copy with 5 - the moons leave trails.

Happy star shooting!

Guy

[ChrisC]

tried another go at jupiter but probably stretching the cameras abilities too far i think, i did catch 3 moons around jupiter tonight though so better than yesterdays effort.

sorry it's not butterflies, the novelty will wear off soon i'm sure.

[Padfield]

Top left to bottom right: Callisto, Europa, Ganymede. Io is in the glare of the planet.

Guy

[David M]

sorry it's not butterflies, the novelty will wear off soon i'm sure.

Not at all. This is highly interesting stuff.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it on the record that Jupiter's Galilean moons can be seen with the naked eye under favourable conditions?

[millerd]

"Possibly!" would seem to be the answer...
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2001JALPO..43b..35H
This is an interesting read on the subject...

Dave

[ChrisC]

thanks for the extra info chaps. you'll be pleased to know i'm having a night off but i am looking forward to the moon dimming a bit for some more star action
Chris

[David M]

I presume you're using a tripod for these 200 million mile pics?

[Susie]

The moon at 6pm tonight appeared huge just above the horizon and was a bright orangey red. Does anyone know why? Dust in the atmosphere perhaps?

[Pete Eeles]

The moon at 6pm tonight appeared huge just above the horizon and was a bright orangey red. Does anyone know why? Dust in the atmosphere perhaps?

It's an optical illusion. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

The moon at 6pm tonight appeared huge just above the horizon and was a bright orangey red. Does anyone know why? Dust in the atmosphere perhaps?

Regarding size - it's an optical illusion. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

The size and the colour are two separate effects. The size is said to be an illusion, though I've never made the measurements myself to check. Those who have say that the angular diameter of a low moon is the same as that of a high moon, but the mind interprets the former as being huge because of its comparison to objects on or towards the horizon. The mind has a remarkable ability to focus attention on very small parts of the visual field when these present interesting details and this magnifies things in the background. The colour is for real. The sunlight reflected from the moon is white - i.e., is a mixture of visible wavelengths from red to violet. But light from a low moon, skimming the earth to reach your eye, passes through a considerable length of atmosphere, which refracts and scatters differentially according to the wavelength. Red light is least bent when passing though a refractive medium and also least scattered by particles in the atmosphere (like dust, as you suggest). Thus, under certain conditions, it predominates in the spectrum that reaches your eye. Blue light is refracted and scattered the most, making blue moons very rare!

Guy