Deer Friends are new Neighbours

As the towns sprawl ever further into the countryside, I've noticed that the wildlife is beginning to adapt, seeking refuge in the suburbs. The foxes have accustomed well to this environment often living right under our noses unnoticed. More and more I come across signs that deer too are our new neighbours. You might be unaware of their presence but the evidence is there. Food missing from bird tables, choice plants or blooms nibbled away, or the minute little hoofs marks in a soily border. The culprit? The tiny Muntjac deer. The ability to breed all year round, remain hidden in the undergrowth of the most modest garden, and to exist a solitary lifestyle causing little impact to its environment, has meant that it's spread across the country has been inconspicuous.

Although I've come across them during the day in the countryside, in the suburbs they wisely use the cover of darkness. Usually I only spot them in the distance as they cross the roads between parkland and gardens. Their eyes reflect the car headlights, and combined with the pale part of their ears, they can take on the appearance of a Hyena when viewed head on!

Fruitless attempts to film them in an urban setting have left me frustrated, so it was ironic that, after many hours of searching I managed to video this chap just a few hundred yards away from my house.

Their call is very similar to a fox and easily confused (hear it here), but it is slightly harsher, more metallic and less 'musical'. So if you hear what you think are foxes calling in the night, the roses aren't flowering too well this year, and the garden birds are looking hungry... then maybe you have a deer friend too!

Helicopter highs...

The idea was simple. Learn to fly a model helicopter, attach a mini video unit to it and get some cool footage. In reality it didn't turn out so simple.
I began with a cheap 3 channel electric model. No good. After practicing enough to elude myself that it was me controlling it, and not visa versa, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't up to the job. The slightest puff of wind sent it drifting to the far end of the garden.
A better helicopter was purchased. Coaxial rotors (2 main rotors mounted one above the other operating in opposite directions) for stability, 4 channel control employing a proper swash plate for pinpoint positioning. Now I was able to go up, down, forwards, backwards, plus yaw left and right, or any combination of all six together.
Learning to fly this was like patting your head while rubbing your tummy while riding a bicycle!! Two weeks later I could fly with reasonable accuracy.
I started off using a little wireless camera. Fairly light at only 20 grams the helicopter lifted it easily, unfortunately it required a heavy battery to run it. The weight was too much and flight became laboured and clumsy. I purchased a specialist flight camera. It only weighed 37 grams, and would take stills as well as 25 frames a second video, storing them on an SD card...perfect.

After weeks of windy, wet, dull, unsuitable weather, there came a still, brightish day. Everything was set... except the camera battery wasn't fully charged, damn. It switched off after 30 secs of video, which was VERY annoying. Luckily it had enough juice to carry on taking stills, one every 4 seconds. The first attempt seemed to be going well. Achieved a good height, span it around to look back at the house. Then, as I descended, the wind funnelling around the house gripped the little chap and urged him down to the main road. After amusing the rush hour traffic with a couple of jaunty pirouettes, it headed for the sanctuary of the front garden. The Bumble bees buzzed in annoyance as it landed on the flower heads next to them in the Buddleia bush. A battery change and a quick pruning to remove the majority of the collected foliage and it was time for another attempt. Brimming with enthusiasm I flew ever higher... The little machine was a silhouetted speck against a wide sky. This may have been part of the problem as the wind tussled the rotors... The tail boom was missing after a previous incident when the ground came up unexpectedly and hit it. It wasn't now very clear which way the helicopter was pointing. I descended a little, gravity being the only control I was sure of. That was better. Now I could see which way it was facing. Look left, over the neighbours garden... Look behind, for a view of my garden... Spin 180 degrees for a look at.... CRAP!! Who put that roof there?! Rotor tips whined at 3000rpm against the roof tiles, desperate to gain escape velocity. It was no good, the camera and tired battery forced an unceremonious 'gutter' landing. It dangled perilously from the high roof, swinging calmly from the one skid hooked over the gutter edge.
Not to worry. I have a plan. If I buy an even bigger helicopter, and attach a hook underneath. Hover it over the stranded one......

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE notSTATIONary.....

With all this clement weather we are having, and therefore clear night skies, I actually managed to spot the International Space Station. Look, I even got a photo. What do you mean you can't see it?
Hang on, I'll zoom in a bit. See? Yes I know there's a lot of motion blur. I had to use a long shutter, and what with it being over 240 miles up in the sky and travelling at over 17,000 miles per hour there was a bit of unwanted movement.
Here's some video I snatched. It wasn't really darting about like this, but scribing a horizontal path. It was only visible for a few seconds, not surprising as it manages an orbit in 91 minutes!
OK, I've enhanced the video, now you can see it properly. I'm going to have to try and get some better footage. I'm sure with a little more zoom and a very steady hand you would be able to make out some detail. The problem is it's not visible for long enough to get yourself set up. Maybe next time, in another 91 minutes....

The 'Spaceworm' video....

Well, at last Blogger has now included video. Yonks ago you may remember a post I did about an object I'd filmed. At the time all I was able to do was post a few snapshots, now here is a couple of moving clips. I know it's a bit wibbly wobbly, but you try holding a camera steady at 35x zoom. Yes, it does look like a modelling balloon, but this was really big (the length of a passenger jet). This object has been nicknamed "The Spaceworm" by my friends, who have been very good about the matter and haven't as yet openly accused me of being a nutcase.




























For more information you can either go to the original post (WHAT THE HE*!!?! IS THAT???!.... 2/06/07) or below is a copy of the text of the same.

























I was out in the back garden lying out on the grass, when I spotted Venus. It was daytime but it still showed up as a tiny pin prick of light.











I tried to photograph it, but even at 35x it doesn't look much.










I had a go at taking some pics of a jet up at cruising height, where the sky begins to turn that darker blue.
I lay back and considered my next target, when I noticed a little black line in the sky. It was slightly curved and at first I thought it was a buzzard up high. The line shrank to a dot, and then stretched out to a line once more. It was something long, tumbling and rotating, giving the illusion of changing shape. Desperately I tried in vain to train the camera at it, but there was nothing to reference the position to. Eventually I decided to put the zoom at full optical (35x), point roughly in the right direction and perform a crude 'raster scan' of whole area. Bingo! There it was!....









To all the world it looked like a modelling balloon...








...but this was big! When I first spotted it, it had passed above the con trail of the passenger jet that I photoed at the same magnification. Logic dictates that this was as long or longer than the jet plane!







I've seen planets, meteors, glints from satellites and often seen weather balloons, but nothing like this. If it was some sort of huge wacky weather balloon where was all the equipment that normally hangs down below? The way it was tumbling wouldn't have allowed anything like that without getting tangled. It was a real struggle keeping the thing in frame at that zoom, my arms were starting to ache.





Any movement would cause the object to skip about, so I held the shutter button firmly down with the camera clacking away taking five pictures a second!




With the SD card rapidly filling up, I switched to video downloading to the hard drive. With all the messing about with buttons, the object fell out of frame. Damn..... Oh, there it was, got it back again...relief!



Now on movie I attempted to zoom in further, 50x, 80x, 100x, 150x...No it was all too much, I just couldn't hold it steady enough.


The last three pictures were lifted from video. I was a little disappointed that the higher magnification pics didn't come out very clear, this was because I didn't have time to bump up the shutter speed to max. So these were the best that I could get.
I have absolutely no idea what this thing was. All I can say was that it did exist (I saw it with the naked eye as well as the camera), it was grey black, shiny (the sun glinted off it, but didn't shine through it), it wasn't powered (it tumbled in the direction of the prevailing wind, but slower), it had no markings and had nothing attached to it. If you know what it is then let me know, cos I'm stumped.

My 7 'P's....

I've been tagged, this time by Lesley (http://thedebrisfield.blogspot.com/). I'm not sure of the rules for this one, just 7 'P's.... PADDLING... Kayaks of course. I'm never happier and more relaxed as when I'm out on the water.

PETER PRINCIPLE... "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." This is why I'm self employed, there is no hierarchy, so I'm free to be incompetent at all times!

PHONETIC... Why is it spelt this way?

PETROL... Why in the UK do we have to pay 80% tax on petrol?! As I fill up I count in my head how much is going to the government and how much is in the tank. Also, while we're on the subject, why when we had the opportunity to protest and make our views known during a rush hour 1 min demo was it just me and one van driver.....where were you all? Premium petrol costs £1.10 a litre (£4.16 a gallon), how much does it have to cost before we demand a tax reduction?

PHOTOGRAPHS... Since my hit and run accident my memory has been patchy at best, if it wasn't for all the photos I'm sure I would have 'lost' big chunks of my life. Now I photo and video everything just in case.

PUBLIC... I'm so glad I'm not a 'member of the public'. They aren't allowed to do anything. You always see signs saying 'No Entry to Members of the Public' or 'Members of the Public are not allowed to.....'. Of course, by not being a member of the public none of these signs apply to me, it makes life so much simpler!

PIPISTRELLE... I was once bitten by a Pipstrelle bat. 'Boris' the bat was found in a gutter by my brother, we tried to nurse it back to health. It was while trying to coax it to eat a yummy moth that I was bitten. Unfortunately Boris didn't make it. I'm still awaiting my special super bat powers to develop, nothing yet, but I do sometimes wake up with the pillows at the wrong end of the bed.

Now I have to pick five victims...I mean people, to tag. As per normal it isn't a chain letter so don't feel obliged...

DIANDRA - (http://diandrasdesires.blogspot.com/)

SECRET AGENT - (http://www.somethingsecretive.blogspot.com/)

ELISA - (http://crazyproctors.blogspot.com/)

LYNN - (http://ukdailyphoto.blogspot.com/)

SHARON - (http://mookyshood.blogspot.com/)