Observations Of Nature Through The Seasons.

[4wd]

14 hours ago, knocker said:

Not looking good with the fault on the D80. Tried all the possible remedies if it was not a serious fault and none have worked so i need to take some advice on this which actually is not as easy as it sounds. But it's likely it will need to be sent away to Nikon for repair which, apart from the hassle and difficulty in doing this, poses another problem. I doubt any repairs would be cheap so it raises the question, particularly as the camera is now a few years old,whether this would be worth it. Of course you don't know what it would cost until you have sent it too Nikon. So I could bite the bullet and spend the outlay on a new camera but that poses another problem. I have a couple of very good lenses that are compatible with the D80, especially a 10mm-20mm wide angle, and I certainly don't want to have to ditch them as well. It's not the end of the world as I still have the Coolpix P610 which I use most often.

Need sleep on this for a couple of days. Any advice very welcome

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nikon-D80-Digital-10MP-SLR-Camera-Body-Charger-Battery-2-208-Shots-Free-UK-Post-/27275118120

[knocker]

1 minute ago, 4wd said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nikon-D80-Digital-10MP-SLR-Camera-Body-Charger-Battery-2-208-Shots-Free-UK-Post-/27275118120

Thanks for that. It did cross my mind last night that this route may well be the best option.

[ciel]

15 hours ago, knocker said:

I have a couple of very good lenses that are compatible with the D80, especially a 10mm-20mm wide angle, and I certainly don't want to have to ditch them as well

If you are considering upgrading your camera there are lens compatibility chart online.

 

[knocker]

16 minutes ago, ciel said:

If you are considering upgrading your camera there are lens compatibility chart online.

 

Thanks ciel and yes that was one of the considerations. I'm trying to keep the cost down obviously so for the moment I've gone along with the idea of buying  a body from E-Bay for £90 as 4wd posted. Certainly the repair route is out of the question.

[knocker]

Had a visitor down at the lake this morning, obviously a member of the heron family, but stupid as it sounds I'm having a bit of trouble identifying which one. I'm thinking Grey without many black bits

Edited July 7, 2017 by knocker

[ciel]

1 hour ago, knocker said:

Had a visitor down at the lake this morning, obviously a member of the heron family, but stupid as it sounds I'm having a bit of trouble identifying which one. I'm thinking Grey without many black bits

Can't see anything to suggest it's not a Grey, knocker.  Maybe it is a sub-adult or a variant with a grey head ?

Edited July 7, 2017 by ciel

[Nouska]

1 hour ago, knocker said:

Had a visitor down at the lake this morning, obviously a member of the heron family, but stupid as it sounds I'm having a bit of trouble identifying which one. I'm thinking Grey without many black bits

It's one of this seasons hatchings - typically uniform grey except for the 'baby' speckling on the breast feathers.

 

 

[knocker]

10 minutes ago, Nouska said:

It's one of this seasons hatchings - typically uniform grey except for the 'baby' speckling on the breast feathers.

 

 

Thanks Nouska, ciel. Can't be certain it's the same one of course but I've caught a glimpse of one on a couple of occasions recently but both times it was disturbed and flew off.

[knocker]

Shaky paw

Grown up but she's still on guard duty

[knocker]

Hundreds expected to gather to catch glimpse of rare bird in Nottinghamshire countryside
 

Quote

A rare bird which hasn't been seen in Nottinghamshire since 1970 has been spotted at a county quarry.

Around 100 avid bird-watchers have gathered at the Cemex quarry, in East Leake, to catch a glimpse of the European bee-eater, which was last seen in the UK in 2015.

However, that number is expected to significantly increase by the weekend, with up to 1,000 people expected to visit the area to spot the seven birds believed to have set up home.

The first bird was spotted on Sunday (June 25), with a further two spotted later that day, and then another four on Monday.

 

http://www.nottinghampost.com/hundreds-expected-to-gather-to-catch-glimpse-of-rare-bird-in-nottinghamshire-countryside/story-30415855-detail/story.html

[knocker]

Sidney was about to leap in the tree when I was photo bombed by a leaf

[knocker]

Just had a very senior moment. The D80 body I ordered from E-bay arrived this morning. Went to try it and the shutter wouldn't work. Tried a few things with no success so much gnashing of tooth. Eventually managed to contact the dealer and after a fairly brief conversation she said, "I take it you have put a memory card in it?" Oh Mama Mia

[ciel]

2 hours ago, knocker said:

Just had a very senior moment. The D80 body I ordered from E-bay arrived this morning. Went to try it and the shutter wouldn't work. Tried a few things with no success so much gnashing of tooth. Eventually managed to contact the dealer and after a fairly brief conversation she said, "I take it you have put a memory card in it?" Oh Mama Mia

Hope the camera body is all in good working order, knocker.

My many dopey moments with the camera include failing to remove the lens cap before attempting to shoot - and becoming quite cross with the black viewfinder - before the penny drops.

[knocker]

1 hour ago, ciel said:

Hope the camera body is all in good working order, knocker.

My many dopey moments with the camera include failing to remove the lens cap before attempting to shoot - and becoming quite cross with the black viewfinder - before the penny drops.

I haven't had time to give it good run through but so far it seems okay so fingers crossed. After I had inserted a memory card of course.

[knocker]

An American friend posted these today taken at her homestead in Toledo, Or.

Juvenile Tree Swallow

Male American Robin

Edited July 13, 2017 by knocker

[ciel]

As it was quite warm today,with some sunny spells and just a slight breeze, I went on a butterfly hunt around the garden and the neighbouring field edge.  Not a single butterfly was found, only a very few wild bees. This year seems even worse than the previous for such bees and insects, I have only spotted a handful of white butterflies so far and none of the more common species.  The field-edge was bonny, though.

 

[knocker]

Ravens parallel great apes in flexible planning for tool-use and bartering

Quote

The ability to flexibly plan for events outside of the current sensory scope is at the core of being human and is crucial to our everyday lives and society. Studies on apes have shaped a belief that this ability evolved within the hominid lineage. Corvids, however, have shown evidence of planning their food hoarding, although this has been suggested to reflect a specific caching adaptation rather than domain-general planning. Here, we show that ravens plan for events unrelated to caching—tool-use and bartering—with delays of up to 17 hours, exert self-control, and consider temporal distance to future events. Their performance parallels that seen in apes and suggests that planning evolved independently in corvids, which opens new avenues for the study of cognitive evolution.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6347/202

[knocker]

Jaw dropping -mother with the little fella

[ciel]

Climate change impacts on UK biodiversity: declining moths and increasing aphids

https://www.bto.org/science/latest-research/climate-change-impacts-uk-biodiversity-declining-moths-and-increasing-aphids?dm_i=IG4,51LE7,39HKIK,J9PJW,1

[ciel]

On 7/8/2017 at 11:48, knocker said:

Hundreds expected to gather to catch glimpse of rare bird in Nottinghamshire countryside
 

http://www.nottinghampost.com/hundreds-expected-to-gather-to-catch-glimpse-of-rare-bird-in-nottinghamshire-countryside/story-30415855-detail/story.html

 The chicks have hatched at one nest, with another two broods on the point of hatching.

https://www.birdguides.com/news/bee-eaters-hatch-young-in-nottinghamshire/

[knocker]

See yer

Some late ducklings but the recent downpour on Friday has done little for the water clarity of this pond next to the lake. The Kingfisher is back and saw it fleetingly a couple of times this morning. And half a dozen Black Swans have turned up in the Hayle estuary.

[ciel]

A couple of pics from this afternoon's sojourn up Glen Esk.

Ghost Sand martin, but at least it was caught on camera.

Couple of Red Grouse

One of the most striking observations today was the vibrancy of the heather just now. 

[knocker]

Skeleton

[knocker]

I  have a soft spot for the Dunnock and managed a couple of shots this morning, one a youngster I think

Puffball

Punch up at the OK corral this morning

 

[knocker]

Call for action to protect Scotland's endangered capercaillie birds

Survey finds Highlands population has halved since 1990s, believed to be because of climate change and human activity

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/26/call-for-action-to-protect-scotlands-endangered-capercaillie-birds