The Garden Diary 2013

March - part 2 

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 11 March - A thoroughly cold day, with the temperature of 0C being made to feel some 7 or 8 degrees colder thanks to the wind chill caused by a north-easterly wind which has varied in speed between between 20 and 30mph. The forecast snow has turned out to be no more than a light dusting which disappeared quickly.

Great Spotted Woodpecker at feeder, 11 March 2013



We were busy with our grandson for much of the day, but I did manage to look out at the right moment to see this visit by a male Great Spotted Woodpecker during the morning.

I can only guess that is the same individual that I been hearing drumming on trees in the Brickfields park during the last week.





There were also four Siskins here this morning, including one male.

While the 'red' Blackbird female is a regular visitor to the feeder, chasing away the other female that sometimes visits, not surprisingly there is no sign of her taking any interest in the monitored nest site at the moment. In fact, the change in weather seems to have brought a halt to any nest related activities by any of the birds in the garden.

A Robin visits the monitored nest site, 11 March 2013


Despite the lack of nesting activity, the monitored nest site was visited this morning - by a Robin that was clearly hunting for food.

During the rest of the day the only disturbance seen at the site was caused by the strong winds.



Despite the temperature dropping overnight to -1C, more frogspawn appeared in the pond, so that there are now nine clumps which I have covered with a plastic container to protect them from the worst of the cold wind.

 

 

 

 

13 March - The strong winds of two0 days ago continued into yesterday afternoon, with speeds of around 22mph but with gust of 10mph more. Then, after 4pm the wind direction swung round to the north and conditions became a lot calmer (6 - 8mph). Also, after the temperature dropped to -2C overnight, it rose to 4C in the afternoon.

Today started off sunny, although cold enough for the birdbath to be frozen over before breakfast. During the day the temperature made it to 6C, but with cloud cover increasing in the late afternoon. This is a bit disappointing as the forecast had suggested that we would have clear skies around dusk, which would have been perfect for a bit of comet spotting - At 4pm there are breaks in the cloud so my fingers are crossed!

The morning sunshine was enough to encourage a few Sparrows to start collecting straw once more, but our Blackbird pair still seem to be waiting for the right moment. Both birds come down to feed, although while the male comes to the feeding area under the Hawthorn where he enjoys raisins, the female prefers to hunt around the far end of the big pond. Is she now concentrating on a 'high protein' diet ready for egg production?

Blackbird female with leaf, 13 March 2013

 

Having said that, I have still to see her collecting any nest material, although several times this morning it looked as though she was at least thinking about getting started.

However, each time she picked up bits they were soon dumped again. And the CCTV footage shows no visitors since the Robin two days ago.

 

 

 

Siskins at feeder, 13 March 2013The Siskins still visit, three this morning, including the one male seen here.

Also seen just after breakfast was a single Dunnock, drinking from the big pond, but not visiting the area under the hawthorn. It is unusual not to see a Dunnock here more often.

I haven't see the Wren(s) here since the 4th or 5th, and it's now nearly three weeks since I last saw a Jay in the garden.

 

 

 

 

14 March - A much more Spring-like day, with broken cloud, a light, variable ( but mainly northerly) breeze and a high of 7C in the afternoon.

Last night I had a frustrating couple of hours comet hunting (Comet Panstarrs), but failing despite mainly clear skies. It was difficult to pinpoint where exactly to look, especially as there was a steady supply of long fingers of cloud passing between us and the western horizon, which itself was obliterated by a bank of cloud just when it was getting dark enough to photograph stars.

 I'm set up for another attempt tonight. Although there are more clouds about as it approaches 6pm gaps do appear from time to time - My fingers are crossed that they will be large enough to get at least a few shots off.

Sky after sunset, 13 March 2013

 

The time spent on yesterday's attempt wasn't completely wasted though. As the fiery colours that accompanied the setting of the sun gave way to the blues of the night,

 

 

 

Crescent moon - 1, 13 March 2013

 

the waxing moon appeared as a thin crescent.

 

 

Crescent moon - 1b, 13 March 2013

 

 

 

At first it was only that slither of the moon that was visible, along with some detail of the surface, including a few craters,

 

 

 

 

Crescent moon - 2, 13 March 2013

 

but as darkness fell the rest of the sphere started to show as it was illuminated by sunlight reflected off the Earth's surface, in contrast to the clouds which now had the appearance of black smoke.

 

 

Moon in earth-light, 13 March 2013

 

 

Eventually, it was possible to make out some degree of detail from the shadowed area, enhanced in this image by over-exposing the crescent.

One major problem caused by photographing through double glazing is illustrated by the ghost image in the lower part of the frame, caused by reflections between the two layers of glass in the window.

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to set my camera up to shoot through the opening window.

 

 

Tonight there was a lot more cloud, so compared with yesterday's conditions the chances of success were very slim. However, with a belt of clear sky developing just above the horizon I decided to rattle off a couple of dozen shots of the area that various websites suggested the comet would be.

The Western sky at 6pm, 14 March 2013

 

This shows the view from the bedroom window as taken just after 6pm, showing what I hoped was a glimmer of hope in the far west. The tall TV antenna just right of centre is very conveniently positioned at a bearing of almost exactly 270 degrees.

 

 

 

The Western sky at 7pm, 14 March 2013

 

Over the next hour, while the cloud thickened overhead, the distant strip of clear sky moved very slowly closer,

 

 

 

 

The Western sky at 7.30pm, 14 March 2013

 

 

and by 7.30pm it was showing above the tops of the conifers at the right of the pictures.

 

 

 

It was then that I took a series of sixty images (all with 10 second exposures) in an attempt to confirm at least that it would be possible to record star tracks, even in the far from clear conditions.

Feint star tracks in the western sky, 7.30pm 14 March 2013

 

 

This is a typical example. The image has been processed somewhat, removing some noisy pixels and also some of the orange light pollution from neighbouring Farnham.

It is a full frame image that includes the antenna that provides the westward pointer so that you can orientate this image with the views above. If you look carefully at the large version of the image you will see just three parallel star tracks.

A closer look revealed a grand total of eight stars, the most I found on any of the frames, and quite encouraging considering the conditions. It will be interesting to take a similar shot under the good conditions that we get just once in a while!

 

 

I looked through the rest of the images, searching in vain for any sign of something that didn't look like a star track. The stars that did appear, even feintly had to be the brightest in that bit of the western sky, and with a much dimmer Panstarrs being visible only through binoculars even under good conditions then there was no realistic chance of the comet appearing, even if one of the frames I took had it bang in the middle.

Perhaps there will be another chance to spot Panstarrs when it is a bit higher above the horizon, despite it getting dimmer as it moves away from the earth.

 

Crescent moon, 14 March 2013

 

Tonight the moon was hidden for most of the time, although I was able to get a couple of shots as it was exposed by a gap in the clouds.

I must try to identify the craters that can be seen in this image.

 

 

 

 

15 March - The rain arrived as predicted, not heavy, but enough to turn a dull grey day thoroughly miserable. At least it was less cold (max 9C) as the wind had swung round to the south southwest yesterday afternoon.

I had hoped that with these more favourable conditions (!) there may have been a renewal of frog activity in the big pond after the cold spell, but I saw no sign of frogs at all, and there has been no addition spawn produced. It does appear that spawning is now over. If this is the case then it must be the poorest season since the early days of the pond, and times when I could count in excess one hundred adults here. I hope that the newt numbers are not also down - I have yet to spot any.

Last year my neighbour had a new fence installed which included concrete gravel boards which effectively cut off any approach from that direction by frogs and newts. I can only assume that this has had some effect on frog numbers. I had intended to install some 'underpasses', but like a lot of jobs that was not done last year. Perhaps I can get these installed in 2013.

 We didn't have a good season in 2012 (before the new fence was installed) so there may also be other factors at work. I have not seen any sick frogs here over the last few years, but we have been plagued by a lot of cats that I suspect will have killed some frogs. The poor summer weather in 2012 did mean a lower insect count here, but conversely the conditions seemed to encourage a good worm population so there was food about.

Tonight at 7.30pm there a clear indication that things are not good with the frogs. The temperature is 7C and is raining. There are earthworms to be seen on the surface but not a frog to be seen. Once spawning is over, in these conditions I would expect to see half a dozen or more frogs to be out and about in the area in front of the verandah.

Finally, back to the birds - Despite the wet conditions today, it was good to the a Wren once more after its absence during the cold spell. While we had breakfast we could see one hunting around the trunk of the Hawthorn before heading down to the small pond.

 

A Dunnock visits pond to bathe, 14 March 2013

 

While the Dunnocks continue to stay away from the feeding area, yesterday I spotting two of them by the big pond and was able to capture this one heading down for a quick wash.

There was no sign of them today.

 

 

 

 


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2013 Garden Diary Index....  ....................... .   March - part 3