gold on blue

It might seem garish, but the blue feeder seems to attract goldfinches. The arrangement may work so well because it reminds them of thistle flowers, with the blue container below the seeds giving them the impression that they have found an enormous thistle. The blue is probably very vivid in UV, and is acting like a lighthouse. They definitely think they have found a new motorway service station. Other birds seem to avoid the feeder. Behind is the new installation for watching the birds feeding which is fed directly into our PC, allowing many hours of pleasure. We are considering setting up a rabbit watch to provide even more canine amusement, ... and hedgehog watch ... and ... twig watch .....

owls and tits

coming back late last night we saw two owls fly silently past followed by a blood curdling screech (check the link) ... barn owls out hunting. We would really like to get a picture of owls but we never see them in the day time, so for the time being this pic, from yesterday, of a long tailed tit will have to do. Also lots of interesting twigs (see below).

no frost and it flowers

our pet twig photographed last night, with the frost flower developing. There is no frost on the ground, and this is consistent with what happens in the woods (see below). It is some property of cold air on bare wood that has been in woods. I don't think the explanations that have I read so far quite hold up. It is not the woods themselves, or the cold alone.



Spot (bottom literally left) says he will lose the will to live unless we change the subject.

frost flowers

At last I have some more information. This sort of ice formation is called frost flowers (see link and Wiki), and is rare, and has never been reproduced in controlled laboratory conditions (according to the source). In fact, it seems highly likely to me that the critical factor is that it happens on water logged wood. Oh, the joy of science. We shall see.

Spot is yawning.

He wonders why there is no tag for calling a post boring

the plot thickens

soft rime on a piece of wood, that had rime on it yesterday and was brought back from Inny woods, and spent last night on the lawn. The formation of rime is not due to location in a wood or near to a river, therefore. It doesn't seem to form on other bits of wood lying around, but we will put that to the test next. Boring but all in the interests of scientific curiosity.

no rime or reason, mystery solved

at long last definitive proof that ice is ice (see earlier pics). And Spot says it melts in his mouth and tastes just like water. The ice formation is very distinctive. It occurs on twigs and small branches on patches without bark. It is very localised and it does not occur on all bare surfaces. I would have thought it should have a local name like Jack Frost's beard, Christmas rime, or St Nicholas's mushrooms. We have brought back a frost covered bare branch and placed it in a sheltered spot in the estate to see whether it happens here. Further research suggests this is a particular form of soft rime, possibly related to the unusual location in woodland in a sheltered river valley.