Reed Bunting, Emberiza Schoeniclus

Mrs Sciencebase and I opted to follow the footpath from the RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith) car park to what we refer to as the “Clouded Yellow Field”, which is the patch where we saw that butterfly in numbers in 2022 and that leads on to Brownshill Staunch where I spotted the previously mentioned Sandwich Tern. … Continue reading "Reed Bunting, Emberiza Schoeniclus"

Posted on: 19 April 2024 | 5:35 am

One good tern…

Yesterday, I spotted a Sandwich Tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis, colloquially known as a Sarnie, patrolling the open river lock at Brownshill Staunch on the Great River Ouse. It flew back and forth over a stretch of about 200 metres for 20 minutes or so before heading off downstream. The river cuts through the RSPB Ouse Fen … Continue reading "One good tern…"

Posted on: 18 April 2024 | 4:14 am

Culling in the name of…

If you have even a passing interest in the natural world, you will have most likely heard the phrase “invasive species”. By definition, a deliberate or accidental release of a species to an area beyond its natural environment where it then multiplies and causes damage to that environment and the native wildlife that relies on … Continue reading "Culling in the name of…"

Posted on: 12 April 2024 | 5:00 am

Sciencebase social links

Social Media Mastodon | Threads | Facebook | BlueSky Photography Instagram | GuruShots | 500px | ImagingStorm Music BandCamp | Spotify | AppleMusic Incidentally, you can easily get to my other social media pages. All you have to do is use a link like this – https://sciencebase.com/social – but swap the word social in the link for whichever service … Continue reading "Sciencebase social links"

Posted on: 8 April 2024 | 3:12 pm

Famous Connections – a new parlour game

I’m sure someone will tell me this has been done, but having come up with a silly meme idea on Twitter, I was thinking of a game that’s a hybrid between Six Degrees of Separation and Mornington Crescent. Title: Famous Connections Objective: To be the last player holding all the chips Players: Four or more … Continue reading "Famous Connections – a new parlour game"

Posted on: 5 April 2024 | 12:03 pm

More Fenland birding

Having spent a couple of evenings watching Starling murmurations with hundreds of thousands of birds, it was time to seek out some Aves in smaller numbers. I had a quick look in at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith) as it was bright and sunny on Saturday morning. I was hoping to that there would be a … Continue reading "More Fenland birding"

Posted on: 31 March 2024 | 10:36 am

Upgrading your photographic workflow

Back in February, DxO sent me a beta version of their PureRaw4 software to test drive ahead of the official launch in March. So, having used version 3 for years, I was keen to incorporate the upgrade into my workflow. I’ve pushed it to the limit with a high-speed, low-light photo of a Mute Swan … Continue reading "Upgrading your photographic workflow"

Posted on: 26 March 2024 | 4:50 am

Orange Tip – Anthocharis cardamines

UPDATE: My report of Orange Tip on 2024-03-17 may well have been the first reported nationally this year, according to our County Butterfly Recorder. I saw my first Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) of 2024 on 17th March in Cottenham patrolling a roadside verge (Broad Lane). This was the first report for Cambridgeshire and Essex butterflies … Continue reading "Orange Tip – Anthocharis cardamines"

Posted on: 19 March 2024 | 3:47 am

Denoising with DxO PureRaw4

The kind folks at DxO let me have a copy of the latest version of PureRaw ahead of launch last month and so I’ve been using that to process my RAW photos from my camera for a few weeks now. It does an excellent job of basically knocking out noise to the equivalent of about … Continue reading "Denoising with DxO PureRaw4"

Posted on: 14 March 2024 | 5:37 am

PickBait

So much of what shows up on social media, Threads in particular, it seems, is what might be referred to as “engagement bait”. It’s often inane or perhaps an inflammatory comment, it could be a boring or open-ended question, a reboots of stuff from other places that might be years old, some cliched statement with … Continue reading "PickBait"

Posted on: 8 March 2024 | 5:50 am