ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Thursday 22 January 2015

HAIR ICE. (22/01/15)

We have had a grand wander through the woods. The weather is still fine, the wind is getting up a bit and the temperature is a nippy –4oC.

There was lots of Hair Ice to admire. I’ll not apologise for posting more pictures as it is not often I see things I’ve never seen before and since I first saw it on Monday I’ve not seen it since. It must require an ideal temperature to grow.

_MG_2459

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_MG_2469     The individual filaments vary from 25mm in length to about three or four times that, it’s difficult to tell exactly as they always seem to curl up a bit. I have a dozen or more pictures from this morning but will spare you the rest.

Whilst rooting around in the leaf litter I looked up and noticed this growing on an old tree stump.

_MG_2462   It is a very large Many Zoned Polypore. I don’t think it is green, well it is but I think the green is some sort of tiny moss or lichen growing on it. I didn’t have my little plastic box with me but have marked it’s location and if I remember I’ll get a bit and have a closer look. I really ought to have done the same with the Hair Ice and popped it under the microscope. I am not really with it at the moment.

I have quite a few comments to catch up on and will get round to it but I have a couple of dozen images to edit for print and I must sort out my Actions thingy in CS6. I don’t know what half of them are and some don’t even work. There must be thirty or so and it means I can’t find the ones I want easily. I’ll also have to check a couple of sets of batteries as the ring flash died on me this morning. It could have been the cold but it wasn’t that cold. I know it is not very green but I buy Maplin AA batteries in packs of fifty or a hundred. Catch them when they are on special offer and they are less than ten pence each and last far longer than Duracell.

It looks as if the weather is going to turn warm and wet for a few days. Mrs Sparrow Hawk has been back this morning. What a clatter, she must have hit the feeders at fifty miles an hour, the peanuts are all over the floor as are the fat balls. She got another Chaffinch; she is starting to treat the place like the butchers or poulterers. So much for moving everything around. I wouldn’t mind too much if she would pose for a picture. I assume she’s a she as it has orange colour where the beak meets her feathers.

If I don’t post tomorrow have a great weekend.

43 comments:

  1. I'm glad that you managed to find some more Hair Ice Adrian... and you also captured another set of super shots of it too. It's amazing stuff to see, isn't nature wonderful?
    Yep!..Many Zoned Polypore or Turkeytail (Trametes versicolor)...much prettier when it's younger.

    Have a good weekend and I hope that date goes well!!...[;o)

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    1. Trevor, it is amazing stuff and thanks for telling me what to look up and read about.
      This morning was wind free and about -4/5C it has to grow in shade. -2C and nothing happens. It does it on Birch and Beech twigs that are just starting to loose their bark. I bet if you soaked a suitable stick in rain water and set the freezer low it would do it.

      This is a monster it's individual bits are several inches in diameter The fungus is about a yard across.

      The date will have to wait she is only coming for a memory stick full of snaps. I'll treat her to a pie and a pint as she is lovely to look at.

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  2. That sounds exactly how the hawks hit the squirrel nests, then back peddle with their prey. Or is it reverse. Astounding they can reverse out so quickly.

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  3. hope the weather improves. Hugs to Mol and Alf

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    1. R. Mac., I enjoy cool dry weather. It has warmed up this morning and is drizzling. Too dark to tell how hard.

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  4. Absolutely love the ice macros! Fantastic!

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    1. I do Mersad. I waas thrilled they did it again.

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  5. That hair ice is stunning. I'm glad you've left your somewhat risqué topics of yesterday. There's just so much I can cope with in this cold weather(actually, could the cold be part of the problem, Adrian?).

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    1. The ice is beautiful.
      Could we forget about my little problem?

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  6. I am so glad you found more Hair Ice. Your images of it are facsinating and very beautiful

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    1. Margaret, I'll have to see if it will do it in a freezer.

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  7. Adriaan what this is beautiful.

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  8. These images are lovely. Fascinating finds, Adrien.

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    1. Hilary, whilst reading about it on Google I noticed it does appear in Canada. It is wort looking for.

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  9. Now the sprawk knows the birds are around it'll keep coming, given the weather and location it's probably an easy target hopefully you'll get an image. The hair frost is amazing, what causes it to form like that?

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    1. Douglas, it is here and away in the blink of an eye. Kestrels will often stay to eat their catch but this just zooms off.

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    2. Douglas, I'm not sure but it grows from it's base from pores in the twig or branch. Google has a couple of articles on it.

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  10. Thats a great set of photos,taken well.

    peter

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    1. Peter, the ring flash does all the work. I rarely bother with macros without it.

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  11. The Hair Ice is fascinating. Makes good pattern photos.

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    1. John, I'll probably never see it again. I did try back lighting it but it doesn't work as well.

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  12. I Never seen somethings like this ice before

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    1. Laura, neither had I until this week. It is great.

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  13. The hair ice photos are awesome but the idea of hair ice is intriguing. I will have to see what I can find on it. Maybe I have hair ice here.. Very few people have seen the sparrow hawk in action although it is a little falcon. They are incredibly swift.

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    1. Red, if you Google it there are a few articles on it try this one HAIR ICE

      The best place to see them is a falconry centres.

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  14. Amazing photos of the hair ice ~ thanks so much for sharing them... fantastic :)

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  15. Hi Adrian, Joanne Noragon mentioned you and your frost flowers (as they're known round here) as I published one too yesterday. This morning the frost is very hard and the field where I keep my pony is covered in them; lots of dead Beech twigs lying around which they seem to favour. Are yours on Beech? Best wishes, Em.

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    1. Em, I just visited your post. Some grand landscapes and pictures generally. I still have seventeen images to edit for print today but will have a good look at your Blog. It looks excellent.
      Most of these are on Beech but a few are on Silver Birch. It doesn't seem to favour Pine or Willow.

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  16. The hair ice pictures are amazing. I guess the air must be quite still to allow the filaments to grow?

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    1. YP, most of it grows in very cold leaf litter so it is sheltered. Sometimes it seems to be a bit clumpy and that is usually where it is more exposed.

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  17. Estas son mejores que las anteriores, Adrian. Unos primeros planos fantasticos, me gustan!!!
    Un abrazo y buen fin de senana.

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    1. Jordi, éstos se iluminan mejor creo. Usé un flash de anillo.

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  18. Oh, so it WAS ice. You're confusing me ;) ...

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    1. Monica. yes ice. It confused me. On Beech twigs it's triggered by carbondyoxide released from fungi but having Googled it I don't think folk are sure. It's worth looking at little sticks for. Birch twigs do it.

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    2. My first thought was it looks like rime frost but only in certain spots? I suppose it might have to do with humidity affected by the fungi? Anyway it's beautifully weird, isn't it - keep looking :)

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    3. Monica. It is weird. It just does it from time to time. You keep looking as well.

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  19. I wish I had read up on your current travels approx 1.5 weeks ago. Have you been to Parrot Island in Oban?

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    1. ImaBurdie, I have been to Kerrera but I didn't visit this time and have never been to The Parrot sanctuary.

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  20. Hair ice is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful things I have seen on one of your photos.

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    1. Graham, I was really chuffed that it did it again. I tried to get a stick to produce it in Donald's freezer but no luck so far.

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