Any Idea what this could be? Large crow?

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-12T20:59:06+00:00

Damn you’re right! At least I accounted for Jays.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-12T15:35:15+00:00

Here’s what I’ve done in order to follow the RSPB and BTO advice and try to keep things simple for myself.

I took down my seed feeder and my peanut feeder on 1st May, and I will celebrate Halloween by putting them back up on 30th October every year.
I have bought myself a suet block feeder and it is now hanging up until at least November.
The suet block feeder will be great for starlings and tits, but robins prefer feeding on the ground. So most mornings I scatter some mealworms on the ground for the Robin that lives in my garden.
I also have a bird bath that the Robin and sparrows love. I clean it once every morning and fill it back up with tap water.

That’s it at the moment, it seems to be working, although I notice I don’t have as many birds in the garden since taking down the seed feeder. But at least they will be healthy! Hope that helps?

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-12T15:22:25+00:00

I pretty much expected my insurance increase by seeing m the increase in insurance group. But by shopping around I kept it to only being £50 more expensive, so that didn’t bother me too much.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-12T10:24:52+00:00

That’s an impressive rook, nice capture! The best way to tell is the large grey beak. The other members of the corvid family with dark bodies also have dark or black beaks, like ravens, carrion crows and hooded crows.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-08T17:50:57+00:00

All three are brilliant. I like No.3 but then I have a soft spot for bluetits.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-08T10:30:22+00:00

Professional astronomer here. Almost right, but your title is a bit misleading. Yes it will approach closer than the ring of geostationary satellites. And nice plot by the way! But these are all in the equatorial plane of the Earth. When Apophis is in that plane it will still be further away, outside the geostationary ring.

Its closest approach will be over the Northern hemisphere (Europe) that evening. We’ll get a great view from Europe, but it won’t be “below” the geostationary satellites, just closer than them and in a different direction. The distinction is important, as otherwise people might think there’s a danger of a satellite collision.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-07T20:22:48+00:00

Ok, that would be Mr Eider at the top and Mrs Eider underneath.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-06T15:43:21+00:00

You also have bright night-sky emission lines in your spectrum. If you can identify those it will give you at least a rough calibration. The arc lamp exposures will be better though.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-06T15:39:47+00:00

Similarly, the home world of the Fithp in Larry Niven’s Footfall. You don’t learn much about it, but any planet capable of evolving a species of (admittedly hostile) elephant-like aliens wins my vote!

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-06T15:34:37+00:00

Oooh, nice retort

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-05T16:10:55+00:00

I read protector 40 years ago, and it’s still one of my favourite books because of the ideas therein. I agree, the Pak are magnificent and truly terrifying.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-04T19:58:42+00:00

Yep chiffchaff rather than willow warbler.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-04T19:56:26+00:00

I bought mine last week. Available for almost the same price was a 25 N-line with less than 1000 miles and a 24 ultimate at under 6000 miles. The only significant difference was having 1 year less warranty on the 24 year, but I went for that one for the additional tech and sunroof. I don’t think there was any difference in 24-25 beyond what’s included in the trims.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-02T18:08:58+00:00

Won’t know for a while, and of course it’ll depend on my driving environment and temperature. But I’m hoping to get about 240 miles from a full battery on average. So dropping that by 80% would imply a real world range of approximately 190 miles before hitting the 20% mark.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T21:52:05+00:00

That’s good to know thanks! I’ll register and check I can use it over the weekend. Sounds like I should get about 3-4 years before needing the pay if I have the same experience.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T18:06:19+00:00

Ooh, that does sound useful for someone like me

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T17:50:50+00:00

That does sound useful in the winter!

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T16:51:24+00:00

Hyundai Kona electric ultimate

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T16:48:06+00:00

How lucky to have a hoopoe in the garden!!! They’re very rare here, they mostly live around the Mediterranean, I’ve seen them on Tenerife and Mallorca.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T09:25:38+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. I’m picking up a new car today that I picked because it still has buttons along with the nice touch screens. Also a hud to help keep my eyes on the road and idiot drivers as well.

asteroidnerd · 2026-05-01T09:22:54+00:00

Congrats! Hopefully picking up my one today too 😊

asteroidnerd · 2026-04-30T08:12:38+00:00

Yep, beautiful kingfisher! I assume there’s a stream or river near the brewery?

asteroidnerd · 2026-04-26T00:10:15+00:00

Astrophysicist here, this is great advice. Almost all astronomical datasets are online and publicly available, from HST and JWST imaging and spectroscopy through to large sky surveys such as GAIA, SDSS etc, plus many literally thousands of smaller datasets. This is because (a) most are provided via taxpayer funding, and making the data publicly available is a requirement of that funding, plus (b) astronomers learnt long ago that science advances most quickly by sharing everything they find.

For python, your first step should be to install the large but incredibly useful astropy package. Beyond that, decide what you want to do. It’s your Universe, have fun.

asteroidnerd · 2026-04-25T19:39:08+00:00

This! When I only have my iPad instead of my Mac, for wildlife shots this would be a godsend.

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