Tuesday was another cold day although we had a little more sunshine than on Monday. Even though the temperature didn't fall below freezing it became our coldest day of winter with an average temperature of 1.3°C.
My weather station has now been operating since the middle of 2009. It doesn't seem to need much maintenance touch wood. So I was a little bit surprised Tuesday morning when a message appeared on my console stating that the battery power to station 1 was running low.
I couldn't remember whether the station was totally solar powered with a backup rechargeable battery. Trust something to go wrong when the temperature outside is only just above freezing. How long could I leave it without doing anything? We'd had some pretty dull days so maybe the recharging hadn't been going too well.
A bit of Internet research confirmed that my weather station operated on solar power when possible with a normal battery as backup in hours of darkness. It was a case off to the shops for a new battery.
Ladders out it was just a case of swapping over old for new. A pity the failing battery is located in the little white housing well out of easy reach. I had a few concerns about the condition of the old battery after being five years installed outside.
Once the cover was released I was pleasantly surprised as the insides looked like new. The new battery installed and the front cover replaced after reconnecting the solar power cable it was a question of checking that data was transferring back to the station console and computer. Despite the interruption in power supply everything appeared satisfactory. The job turned out easier than I had anticipated.
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| Old battery after 5 years (solar power cable unattached) |
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| New battery installed and solar power cable re-attached |
I mentioned that on our visit to RSPB Old Moor I'd managed a couple of photographic firsts. I posted some pictures of a wren on Monday so today I'm adding a photo of a yellowhammer. It was almost out of reach of my camera lens but the photo didn't turn out to be too bad.
Although we've seen woodpeckers before at Old Moor I thought I'd post these of a male and female great spotted woodpecker.
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| Male Great Spotted Woodpecker Identified by red patch at the back of his head |
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| Female Great Spotted Woodpecker |
The male went off to do a spot of proper woodpeckering in a tree close by. I managed to get a bit of video of him doing his stuff looking for food. The video is included below.
To finish off with a note about Wednesday morning which has started off with wet snow falling. The forecast is for snow showers all day dying out this evening and with a predicted high temperature of 2°C.
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I loved seeing the photos and video of the spotted woodpecker..in our part of Kentucky we mainly have red-bellied, downy & hairy...even the occasional pileated. Love the colors on the spotted!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the video. We've occasionally seen a green woodpecker but never managed any pictures or video of one.
DeleteEek, careful up that ladder. I have an image of you up there with a screwdriver, the new battery, the cover and your camera. Lovely photo of the yellowhammer. Funnily enough I was just talking to the biggest boy about yellowhammers, we saw a picture of one earlier. The woodpecker footage is excellent, it's nice to see one doing some woodpecking, not something I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteThat image you have is about right. Amazed I managed to hold the camera steady enough for a decent photo.
DeleteI was a little disappointed that I didn't get the sound effect of the woodpecker hammering at the tree on the video. Maybe next time.