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Big Garden Bird Watch
On the run up to the last weekend in January, with the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch imminent, many of my social media bird watching friends were warning that most garden birds seem to mysteriously disappear in the weekend of counting…so when I spotted the long tailed tits in number on the Friday, I decided to start my count then. As it happened, the Sunday would have been the better day with lots more LTTs and twelve goldfinches, but anyway, it didn’t matter – I had already reported my 16 species. The RSPB only display your top ten species on the graph, so they left off some of my more…
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High Speed Flash – Droplet Photography
…A little further up the learning curve… After a few days to think about what I learned in last week’s high speed flash challenge (see “Never say never high speed water drop challenge”), I decided that I needed a Mariotte bottle before having another try. The Mariotte bottle has an air inlet tube and a siphon tube. The distance between the bottom of the air inlet tube and the lower end of the siphon tube gives the “head” of liquid, which controls the exit pressure, enabling a constant rate of flow of the droplets, whilst allowing the exit pressure to be changed by increasing or decreasing the head (raising or…
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Never Say Never
High speed flash photography challenge Something different! At my photographic society, we run a few challenges each year to persuade members out of their comfort zone. The challenge begins with a lecture on the subject, tutorial or demonstration, usually by one of our own members. A few weeks later, members present their examples at a meeting, where they are discussed and enjoyed in a non-competitive atmosphere. This high speed flash photography is the first challenge, over many years, when I have said “I won’t be doing that…not interested…can’t be bothered” and so on. Now I have to say “Never say never”, because I was one of only six members (plus…
