June '09 Weather This Month Max Temp = 25.5°C Min Temp = 3.9°C Max Wind= 19 mph Max Rain in 24 hr Period = 16.5 mm Max Rain in 1 hr Period = 3.6 mm Total Rain For Month = 39.3 mm Diary 28th. The
Rossendale valley has certainly had it's fair share of good weather of
late and that is supposed to carry on through into the coming week with
possible temperatures of 28°C! It has felt very clammy at times with
the inside temps reaching a maximum of 25.9°C as I write this at 19:40.
The humidity level that is much talked about is actually quite a poor
recording of true humidity and the moisture level in the air so I
prefer to use the dewpoint which is a much more accurate way in which
to measure and describe relative humidity, If you are interested a good
example and description of this is shown HERE.
The dewpoint at the moment is showing 16.3° whilst the maximum was
reached on the 23rd of this month at 17.8° Both these measurements when
looking on the table on the link above are described as "OK for most"
The upper two measurements is bordering on "uncomfortable" if it had
reached 18.3°. Switching
topic here as I have looked for information regarding the earlier
thoughts of the release of the Beaver back into the British
countryside. I managed to find a bit of info which if any body feels
interested by this release can pick up a little background info HERE. & HERE The
garden colour is looking very good with a good amount of plants now
coming into their best. The real bonus for me is the two most lovely
smelling plants in the garden, Dogrose and the Common Valerian. I have
to admit that I snap off a few rose flowers as the smell is just so
sublime. The birds are slowly calming down after all the hustle and
bustle of the breeding season. It won't be over for a good month or so
yet but the initial intensity of the May-June period is over. A new
young bird seen this week is not a common youngster in the garden at
all so it was great to hear it's piping call as it begged food from
it's parents. The young Bullfinch was a lovely surprise and once one
had been seen another followed closely as they circled the garden
before flying off in pursuit of mum, dad carried on eating sunflower
hearts. We have not seen the young since but I would presume Mum will
be keeping them under wraps whilst their flying skills improve! 21st. Happy
fathers day to all fathers around the globe I hope you have had a day
that you enjoy...whatever that maybe! The gadget count has risen with
Mandy gaining a Macro flash to use with her DSLR setup. It is a Marumi
version that seems like quite a good little addition to her camera kit. A
few things at the moment keep coming to mind that I forget to mention
and that is firstly where are all the Butterflies????? I have seen a
few Cabbage Whites and Green Vein Whites but as to the recent mass
immigration of the Painted Lady...well we have not had any in our
garden....or any other little beauties. I noticed about 2 Painted
Ladies in n=my Fathers garden a week back and they were happy enough on
a lovely smelling plant that we narrowed down to sweet rocket. The
perfume is lovely so we made a stop at our garden centre and picked up
a few young plants and a packet of seed. They are now sown and planted
so let's hope this changes are butterfly count! The
other thought I have wondered about are the recent reintroduction of
the European Beaver to a place In Scotland I think. It will be a
strange thing to have this critter back and I am not sure that it will
fit in very well with "modern" Britain. I shall see if I can find some
info out on it's well being and hope that it is a positive outcome for
the future. 19th. A
celebration of our Anniversary has brought more gadgets into the house
but the gadget of the lot being one I have had my eye on for some time.
I have done a little research on Night vision and, like most people,
have decided that the Generation 1 is the one for me (price of Gen 2
& 3 are very expensive). Mandy must have done her homework as not
only did she get a brand that was a well known one but she eliminated
some of the disadvantages of night vision. Like most things these days
night vision has gone through a digital revolution and my scope is now
this, digital. Any body whom as looked at night vision knows that they
cannot use them during the day and that whilst using them at night any
exposure to bright light (car headlight or street lamps) over time can
damage the intensifier to a point where it is useless. The other thing
with a lot of night vision is the green cast to the image and a
"bubble" effect on the optics. They also suffer from poor outer edge
image quality which can give a halo effect. This new digital version is
black and white in it's image with very good image definition right
along the viewing area and it is not damaged by any rogue bright lights
and goes one step further in so much as being able to be used in
daylight! It also has a brightness intensifier wheel, 2 IR levels,
ability to increase and decrease the IR on it's no2 brighter setting
and a great feature that allows me to have the image sent out as video
directly to the computer or any other device with a phono video input.
Unlike a lot of other scopes it also has a magnification of 5x which
helps bring the image a lot closer. The only down side to this new
scope is the very narrow field of view which is 5° as opposed to 15-20°
on the older scopes. If you would like to read more on this scope
please click on the link 17th. Another
garden murder has occurred this morning as all the noise from a
Blackbirds alarm call woke me at 06:00. I went out into the garden to
find a pile of feathers in one of the borders. Sadly it is either
another Starling or a Blackbird that has fallen victim to the cat. The
border has little vegetation to allow the cat to hide in but it must
have found a spot so more bamboo canes will be used in this area. This
cat is a serious pest at this time of year and whilst the cat is the
culprit I could quite easily use a bamboo cane on the owners as the
amount it must bring home would make any reasonable person to keep the
cat in in the mornings at least. I find it tiresome that a lot of
people say "ahh well it's just nature/or natural" It quite clear that
whilst the cat is doing something quite natural to itself it should not
be doing it in the UK as this is not a native beast but a alien species
to the British Isles. As I have stated many times I am a cat owner so I
squarely put this at the owners feet and say it is a dereliction of
care and responsibility often acquired through apathy and
ignorance....own a cat? Think of your actions in the wider
world...please!! Soap
box away and I am glad to report that the weather has been very kind to
us indeed with a lot of warm and sunny days....which seems rather
grand. The forecast today is for rain and at the moment I would not
doubt this as I look out of the window the wind has picked up and thick
clouds are covering the skies. I have to give a lot of credit to the
forecasters at the moment as most situations have been forecast
correctly and back on the 15th we were told of heavy showers and a
possibility of hailstone and so it was...rain like was last seen in
Noahs day poured out of the sky followed by large hailstones. The
spectacle was over in 30mins and the sun once again shone which soon
dried the rain up . The odd thing was that I work 5 miles from home and
my wife works within 2 mins of home and I mentioned the storm was
heading her way yet Mandy said it never arrived. On return home I was
looking forward to seeing how much rain had fallen in this short period
but as Mandy had said not a single drop had fallen on the
garden....who'd be a weather man! 11th. A
few very contrasting events of late in the garden as one of the better
stories is the fact that a single Male Bullfinch was spotted feeding
back on the 7th from a feeder and now he has brought a mate with him so
that they have now been seen regularly which makes the mind leap
forward of thoughts of Bullfinch young being a possibility. It was some
time in April last year that a pair turned up and stayed around the
garden for a few months before disappearing and although it may be a
few months later than last year, it is still just as welcome a sight. A
lovely proud bird which has a very timid nature which often only ever
leaves you with a view of it's very white rump as it flies off into
dense woodland. The
contrasting site has been one of great consternation as I have gone to
great lengths to stop a neighbours cat from wreaking havoc on the
birds. I have erected small fences and used chicken wire in vulnerable
areas where it sits in wait and I use prikka strip in other areas. I
had been noticing a few feathers on the lawn but was unsure as to what
it maybe but sadly this morning it was all to clear to see as the
garden erupted in noise as the cat pounced on a young Starling before
wandering proudly up the garden with it in it's mouth. I have tonight
erected yet another fence to alleviate the straight out pounce as with
a 12" high fence in place it has to go up and over which hands a very
small advantage back to the birds. I have also used garden canes in
areas to stop the beast from sitting in the plants which are growing at
a fair pace. I drive them in at angles and wedge them at short
distances apart in the hope that it can no longer deliver a deadly and
undetected assault. It too has damaged a lot of some of the plants that
I have been waiting for ages to smell the scent of and that is common
valarian. It has decimated one plant to the point that it will now not
flower this year and on another reduced the flower heads by 50%. It
is a constant battle and one I am never sure I will ever win but it's a
part of life that whilst I find hard to accept ( as although a cat
owner we seek proactive cat restrictions on our own at various times of
the year) I will have to live with. 6th. The garden is now awash with many species of young birds of this year. We have now added Goldfinch,
Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Mistle
Thrush, Magpie, Robin, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Starling and
hopefully we will soon see Lesser Redpoll young. The Starling young are
making such a noise at the moment that it feels a constant chatter is
all around as they come in to dive bomb their parents. They often sit
with beaks wide open stood on top of the sultanas whilst shouting "feed
me"......kids hey! The
hot weather that was with most of the Country at the end of May carried
through for a few days into June with the top temperature of the year
so far being reached on the 1st at 18:00. It felt lovely as it topped
25.5°C and this was fully appreciated as we ate our evening meals
outside on the decking for the first time this year. Of course nothing
lasts forever and the wind and rain soon returned after over a week of
glorious weather. As I write this at 15:30 the temp stands at 9.9°C and
it feels rather cool with light drizzle and low cloud! It
seems the only bird that we are missing at the moment is the male Great
Spotted Woodpecker which has not visited from the middle of May so I
just hope he is well and has found a mate in another spot locally. The
Hogs are still being fed at night as the sounds of their snuffling
continues. The
frogs also enjoyed the warmth of the recent sunshine so much so that
one took to a bit of shade in next doors kitchen...quite a shock for
them by all accounts! We
have been video recording the Great Tit taking food from our hands and
BBC Springwatch decided to use it so if you would like a quick snippet
of this visit this link.