|
|
 Sleeping SiskinBabooshkaShh! Sleeping siskin. You know what happens they fly into our windows and I sit with them until they come round. This little male, was a little dazed and confused, but flew away eventually. Sometimes they come round in minutes, sometimes hours. This one had a little nap before he flapped off. Me being me, I just had to take his little snap when I knew he was hunky dory. Any references to me being a Manx fairy, a bird whisperer, or a white witch are just not true, and George the siskin can verify that fact. What siskins don't talk to you? Ramsey is actually full of sikins now. They are becoming very common garden birds all year round, rather than the visiting migrating birds to here they used to be. We often have about 30 of these in the garden. Have you any idea how much a tiny bird can eat? Want to attract siskins to your place. Try niger seeds to attract them, and then white sunflower heatrs to keep them. Works a treat, but be warned, they won't leave. By the way this a Europoen siskin, which is quite different to the American. Put siskin as a seacrh word on my blog and you will find posts all about the differences. Now a message for all CDP users. Voting for the 2009 Jan 01 is taking place. It's your chance to pitch in with your choice. Don't forget to use the forum. It's a great place to exchange ideas, have your say, ask questions, get help and see what's generally going on in the community. For more wonderful camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters and be sure to leave a nice comment for Misty' s own outstanding posts.
 Flamming June was a flamming cold, it was not Hotter than July and August has been just plain Awful. Welcome to the world of the Great British Summer! So only one type of critter I could post today to go along with all the rain, the one creature as they say it's nice weather for is a duck. Now what duck this is I couldn't tell you. Anyone out there in Blogland know, throw the answer this way. Do you like his quiff? Along with his bright face his head feathers brushed back really drew me to him. I think he was all spruced for his this little duckette girlfriend, which is why I was able to snap him. Poor thing she never did turn up. I wasn't a close to the duck as it looks. For this shot I had what's called a telescopic lens. Not as scary as it sounds. It's a longer fatter lens as opposed to the shorter slimmer wide angle or portrait lens. To get the blurred out of focus background, and the focus on the foreground in this case the duck it's dead simple. Just turn the zoom on full, and focus on whichever part of the image you want as the main subject, in this case the duck. The light was really poor so I had the ISO on 600 which is not ideal. The higher the ISO the less definition you get, but you can compensate with practise by honing in as sharp as you can on the focal point, your subject. Again it's a manual shot. Auto would have just bleached the white feathers into a block of colour due to the poor light, and the background would be too dark, not allowing the duck to pop out of the image. So was that info of any use or was it as clear as mud? Just trying not get too technical, but impart the know how as simplistically as I can. For more wonderful camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters.
 SAVE THE HUMBLE HOUSE SPARROWThis is a house sparrow chewing a fly for his lunch. It was odd for me to snap a garden bird along the beach, but perhaps not so now with this particular bird anymore. The poor house sparrow used to be the commonest garden bird in the UK. Every garden had dozens of these friendly little birds, not so now. So why has the bird declined in numbers? Modern living. I could elaborate and do a weeks worth of blogs in one post, but to put it in a nutshell that's it. What though do I mean by modern living? Modern housing estates. It's all very well building nice shiny little boxes to live in, but please plant some hedgerows with them. These cute little birds thrive amongst the hedgerows. No hedgerows, no sparrows. Off road car parking. Again a great idea, but birds don't live on a pile of concrete. Would it hurt to surround car parking areas with a little greenery for nesting birds. Less gardens. Again birds don't live on gravel drives. Too tidy gardens. Mow your lawn by all means, trim your hedges too, but don't obliterate the foliage. Keep it neat, but keep it. Birds don't live in apartment blocks. Renovate existing building, not throw up new faceless ones. Birds love eaves. Where have all the eaves gone? Save parks and and Nature Reserves! For all of us really. We really don't need another empty office block or supermarket buying land they will flatten and never use, just to stop a competitor buying it. Sparrows need green areas, hedgerows, trees and grass. In fact don't we need those too. Sure you dog that needs walking or your children kicking a ball would agree! My garden has the house sparrow as a visitor. We too live in a modern house, but we have a garden, full of nuts, seeds and water. A tree to hide from sparrowhawks. Space under the guttering to nest. Too find a humble house sparrow, scavenging for food along the beach, competing with the more adept shorebirds just wasn't right. We share this planet, we don't own it. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters.
 I know it's a really bad pun but I couldn't resist it. Ramsey Harbour, Birds File 5 Having a sort out of the photos and came across this one hiding amongst Birds file 5. As it's been a pretty bad week for birds and animals around Ramsey, and atrocious weather, I went for a reliable image. I like these kind of shots. Best left as they were taken. As you can see it was grey light day but his dramatic entrance really livened things up . To the person who commented "do I always have a camera with me," in the main yes, and this kind of shot is why. You can't plan these they just happen and are best left as taken. I'm still looking for the escaped wallaby from the wildlife park, but no luck. It could be a myth of course but apparently there have been some reliable sighting. No seriously, there is an escaped wallaby roaming the hills outside Ramsey. Possibly with the Loch Ness Monster, a flying pig and a pink elephant entering the local pub. Sounds like a bad joke! For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters.
 I am a confirmed dog lover, but sometimes even I crumble for the cat. This dear little pure white one with sparkling green eyes meowed his hello and proceeded to pose for several photos. He was rewarded with a tummy, under chin, and behind the ears tickle. I hope to see him again as he's so photogenic. He's not a Manx cat, a stubbin. They as you may recall from another cat post are cats with no tails. Lots of myths and legends surround the origin of the Manx cat. Here is one for today. The rest will follow. Even with the tale, there are variants on the myth. The Manx cat was invited onto Noah's ark to avoid the great flood. He refused the offer having found food and shelter on land and thought he would be safe from the flood. Only when the rising waters became so high the Manx cat fearing for his life ran to the Ark. Noah by this time had given up on the Manx cat and started to shut the door. The Manx cat jumped towards the closing door. Thrusting his way through the tiniest gap, he managed to squeeze almost all of himself through. Alas, his tail was not so fortunate. Poor Manx cat's tail was severed as Noah slammed the Ark's door shut leaving the cat now without a tail. Forever more no Manx cat was born with a tail on the Isle Of Man Is that myth not just the cat's whiskers! So have you seen or owned a Manx cat? For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters.
 Perhaps my garden birds just want their Andy Warhol 15 mins. of fame. Is that why they fly into the patio windows. The familiar thud of the bird against the window, and the all to familiar sight of a bird prostrate in shock. We know this scenario so well now that it has become commonplace. Place them on their feet, sit with them so they don't become prey to cats and sparrowhawks, feed, talk to, provide water and encourage to stay awake and fly off, allow to sit on hand when so inclined. This little fellow, a male identifiable by his so brightly coloured green/yellow wing bars was quite the sleepy one. Eventually he flew to the feeders. We now have the patio doors open when it's bright sunlight, and so far no birds have misjudged their flight path. May I take opportunity to say thank you so much to everyone who has ever visited and took the trouble to comment. There are so many of us blogging now that I'm constantly amazed by the mostly positive feedback. There are so many others bloggers out there who I have happened upon who have fantastic blogs that perhaps don't receive the recognition they so richly deserve. So if I can take a further opportunity and ask next time you leave a comment, take a peek at the other commentators and perhaps visit a blog today you haven't before. You may be pleasantly surprised, educated, have a laugh. Now that can't be a bad thing can it just for the sake of a click into the unknown. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters.
 Due to there being lack of pictorial evidence of the escaped Wild Wallaby, Big Manx Wild Cat, and no new sighting of George the escaped pelican, I give you a very cute Red Panda all the way from Curraghs Wildlife Park here in the Isle Of Man. Obviously the Red Panda, or Lesser Panda (shining cat) is not a native creature of the island. Well if we don't have foxes we are hardly going to have these cuties running around. Curraghs Wildlife Park has been paramount with the breeding of the cute little animals which are sadly on the decline, for many reasons ie. habitat fragmentation in their native dwellings of China, Nepal and Myanmar to name a few. So much so that they are classed as "threatened" on the Conservation List. Thanks to not only the wildlife park, but others around the world, these other wordly cuties are currently breeding and hopefully can be saved. Pichu and his mother Isla, the escaped Red Pandas from Scotland were of course originally from the Island. We breed adventurous spirits here. Gary and I are both a little unwell this weekend and mostly been confined to the house. Gary by the way added his comment on my skywatch pic out of his own volition, about him being my witness, being there when the image was taken. I am still annoyed at the idiots who dropped some lousy comments on about the image not being real, and if it continues I may have to rethink the blog. This also goes for the emailing idiots. So apologises for not visiting, just hadn't got the inclination too. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctritters.
 This is a very friendly seal, who popped up to say hello, is in the town of Peel, situated on the east coast of the island. Yesterday I posted a photo of Peel Castle and it's Viking history. This image was taken on the far right of the castle in the harbour. Peel is a great place to see seals up close as they are often in the harbour competeing with the fisherman for fish. I have been having a Viking theme and it's history in relation to the Isle of Man. I had planned on posting a lot more but I have a very poorly laptop. I am in the middle of saving and backing up all my photos before it dies completely and have been off the net all day, and may be for sometime. Here though is a historical Viking find found at Peel Castle. Pagan Lady’s NecklaceThe Pagan Lady’s necklace, excavated in 1984 from a grave at Peel Castle, Peel, German | Dimensions: Largest bead diameter 3.3cm. Manx Museum Accession Number - 1984-16/L 483 |
Thought to date to mid to late 900 AD, a total of 73 beads were found in the grave of the “Pagan Lady”, mostly clustered around the area of her head, and probably forming one long necklace. Every bead is different: most are made of plain glass (white, red, yellow, green, orange and blue), coloured patterned glass, and a few others are of amber and jet. Their shapes also vary - round, square, rectangular, oval, flower-shaped, melon-shaped, spiraled and grooved beads are all represented. The largest bead is 3.3cm in diameter, whereas the smallest is only 0.3cm diameter. Both the number of beads found and their variety is striking. Perhaps the beads had been collected by the “Pagan Lady” herself, or had been brought to her as gifts from trading or travels around the Viking world. The shores of the Baltic and the North Sea provided sources for amber during the Viking period. The only known source for jet was the Whitby area of North Yorkshire. Glass and bead making took place throughout the Viking world, including Great Britain and Ireland. The necklace was certainly a demonstration of wealth and status. The beads, and other objects from the grave, are on display at the Manx Museum. A selection of Viking objects - If you get the chance take a look at yesterday's pic to see Peel Castle, where the necklace was found. We have had many Viking finds and this is considered to be quite an important one. Got to run and save my photos, thousands of them. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctrittrers.
 Fot Critters Sunday I thought I'd have a change from the birds and show you a Manx Cat. This is quite a young one, not quite showing the muscular physique yet across the shoulders but he is manx nonetheless. I've mentioned this before, but if anyone has a naturally tailess cat with very broad shoulders, what they have is a manx cat, a breed that originates from the island. This little fellow is quite a friendly chap and came over to Gary and I for a little attention. He very kindly posed for me a I rattled off several shots of his acrobatic preening, before he purred his goodbyes and continued his afternoon stroll around Ramsey. I pass this cat almost daily and everytime he meows his greeting, waits for a little stroke, then toddles off around the town before heading back our way to a neighbours house. Purrfect day for kitty. Well, in the short time this blog has been going, my 5000th visitor stopped by yesterday. Guess what, they had never been here before, not a blogger and stopped by because they just liked the motorbikes. Nice of them to email and let me know they enjoyed the bikes and were the 500th so Pat hello. So 5003rd visitor has to be mentioned instead and I happy to say it's a regular blogger to most of us in blogland, and a confirmed Isle of Man TT aholic, the one and only Mrs Nesbitt of this link MRS NESBITT'S PLACE who gets todays roll call. Do stop by if you are curious to what ABC Wednesday is, or if you just want to while away some virtual time at a brilliant, funny, touching blog. A warm welcome awaits you. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctrittrers.
 I will not have a cable for my laptop until next weekend, so in the meantime all images this week will still be of Ramsey but from older stock. You may notice my real name appears on them as these are my copyrighted images from my sales site. I will answer emails and comments as and when I can. Basically when I can get access via the and only internet cafe or my partners laptop, when it's free, which isn't that often. This was an image I took of a mother blackbird and her 2 day old babies. They were nesting in a conifer right under the kitchen window. We kept an eye on them, warding off cats and sparrowhawks as the nest was quite low to the ground, and not that well covered. When the birds were a few days old we had 4 baby blackbirds hoping about the garden. Yes I photographed them, and they even posed showing me their best side. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctrittrers.
 Say hello to George posing nicely here showing his best side. George is a bit of a celebrity as he escapes from the Wildlife Park, here on the Isle of Man, to Ramsey, usually the promenade, (where this pic was taken) on several occasions. Why he only flies to Ramsey is a mystery, must be good fishing for pelicans. He is not the first escapee pelican, that honour goes to Scotty in '98, and I'm sure he won't be the last. Scotty though made it to Scotalnd, so obviously a more adventurous pelican. Actually I think George just wanted to feature in the Ramsey Daily Photo and was a bit miffed I have photographed so many other birds. He's make a great odd shot sometime. Whole new meaning to a Pelican Crossing! For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctrittrers.
 Back to the birds! Not a chaffinch on my hand this week, but a goldfinch. This little male goldfinch I rescued from a very naughty cat. He had got a paw to him, swatted him bringing the bird to the ground. I just ran at he cat(as you do) to scare him off. Again I had to pick this little bird up as gently as I could and coax him round. Eventually he had a bite to it and posed for this photo, before flying off with no lasting damage. You can see why I had to stop working at the bank, to be a photographer. To keep a watch on my clumsy garden birds. For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctrittrers.
|
|
2 ... 2 ...
Sleeping Siskin
