Friday, 30 October 2020

Cool and Wet October

It’s taken a while to get there but this October has now become the second wettest I’ve recorded in the last eleven years. The total has now reached 74.2mm (2.9in) still some way short of last year’s 106.0mm (4.2in) which is easily the wettest October I’ve recorded.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 23-29 October 2020

Temperature-wise too this October is following a similar pattern to last year in that we are having another cool October. The average temperature for the month currently stands at 9.9°C or 49.8°F dropping this year into the bottom three of the last eleven years.

Most of this month’s rainfall has come in the form of showers rather than prolonged spells of heavy rain. The rainfall over the last week has probably been enough to make the ground at the allotment too wet to do any more winter digging. 
We managed to clear this bed of its summer crops of runner beans and courgettes this week. We managed to dig over the ground but it was right on the limit of being too wet.

However, we’ve made much better progress than last year when virtually all our tidying up and digging over beds was left until the spring because of that very wet October.
The plot is now taking on a very autumnal look. The weather forecast is for a very wet and windy weekend.

Posted by Martyn at 09:46 2 comments

Monday, 26 October 2020

We Missed The Showers

Last week was a showery one with a couple of cold nights thrown in.
Temperature and Rainfall Records 20-26 October 2020
We didn’t have any great amount of rain on any particular day but the showers tended to be spread out through the day. We fancied visiting Fountains Abbey to see it lit up by floodlights. Of course in these Covid times, that means booking in advance so it’s not a case of being able to wait for a good day and just go. At one point the weather forecast suggested that Monday would be the best day of the week and so we booked a visit. By the time it got to Monday the forecast for the day wasn’t as promising as when we booked. We headed off in any case hoping we’d miss any showers that were forecast. Our arrival time was 15:00 giving us plenty of time to wander around the lakes at Studley Royal before it got dark.

As dusk fell the floodlighting of the Abbey began to take effect. Extra evening catering facilities had been arranged and we enjoyed a teatime coffee and cake as we waited for darkness to fall.
Both the inside and outside of the Abbey was lit by floodlights.
As we made our way back to the car park it was beginning to rain so we’d been rather lucky with the timing of our visit.

We did manage a couple of trips to the allotment. Fortunately, we don’t have to book them in advance. We managed some more tidying up, removing the remains of our runner beans and outdoor tomato plants to the compost heap.
It’s all starting to look a little bit bare now as more and more beds are cleared of their summer crops.
It was a case of hoping any showers would miss the allotment. The threat of a heavy downpour was never very far away.
Posted by Martyn at 12:33 2 comments

Sunday, 18 October 2020

Cool October Weather

The weathermen like to call the conditions over the last week "settled weather". They use this term when our weather is controlled by high pressure. However, the weather so far in October has been pretty cool to date. As we pass the middle of the month just one day has managed to reach above the average daytime temperature for the time of year.
Temperature Records for October 2020
On the chart above, I've circled that one day in blue. If it hadn't been for a run of above average night time temperatures (also circled in blue) the monthly average would be much lower. Over the last eleven years, only 2012 has been colder by this stage of the month. Perhaps there will be an improvement over the second half of October.

One minute the sun could be shining and it would seem quite pleasant. Then clouds would roll in quickly and we'd get a heavy shower. It hasn't stopped us venturing out and taking Ruby for a few walks. 

Ruby's first walk, of the week, was in Rothwell Park on a lovely sunny morning. We also took her for a walk at Nostell Priory where we weren’t so lucky with the weather.
When we arrived the sun was shining but it wasn’t long before some dark clouds arrived and it began to rain heavily. Luckily we were near the car, so we decided to sit in the dry and wait to see if conditions improved.

We spent some time seeing who could take the best photo of Ruby while we waited for the rain to stop. After some time, like other people visiting, we left as the rain looked set in for the afternoon.

We had one visit to the allotment, which was also cut short because of the weather.

A little bit of harvesting was done before it began to drizzle. It was the sort of afternoon when you felt as though you ought to get something done but it was just wet enough to make it unpleasant. Rightly or wrongly we decided to leave clearing away our runner beans for another day when hopefully the weather will be a bit pleasanter.




Posted by Martyn at 10:26 2 comments

Sunday, 11 October 2020

Lazy Photography?

The weather forecast for Monday was a little bit out. Instead of a cloudy and cool day as forecast, it turned out sunny and mild in the afternoon. We decided on a walk around the nature reserve at Walton.
It turned out to be the best afternoon of the week as the weather forecast, which had been predicting cold and wet weather all week, turned out to be correct apart from this short blip of fine weather on Monday afternoon.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 05-11 October 2020
I’ve become rather complacent with my photography at the allotment. I’ve been taking most of my photos and videos using my iPhone. The results are plenty good enough for what I require. The photos are used for blogging and record keeping purposes. As I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the photos, I’ve been using my iPhone on visits to several National Trust sites. Again I’ve been surprised by just how good the results have been.
Nostell Priory - National Trust
Whilst my iPhone is pretty good for general landscape photography it’s not much use if you need a powerful zoom lens for wildlife photography. I’m amazed at just how good a handheld shot I can get with my Sony camera. The photo below is taken with my iPhone. On the far edge of the water it’s just about possible to make out there’s a couple of swans. I’ve circled them in red.
The photo below is from the same spot but taken with my Sony camera on full zoom. Not only is it possible to get a decent photo of the swan it’s even possible to read the number on its tag.
In the smaller image above, of the swan, on Blogger it's not possible to make out the tag number on its leg but the cropped image below shows a close up.
In this view, it's possible to make out the tag number around the swan's leg.

It goes without saying that on most of my outings my trusty Sony camera will be in my camera bag as you never know when you might need a really good zoom lens.
Posted by Martyn at 09:56 5 comments

Sunday, 4 October 2020

September Finishes On The Dry Side

September in many ways was similar to the summer months in that we had a few hot days for the time of year but the remaining days were pretty disappointing. This September finished in fifth place, temperature-wise, equal with 2010, with an average 13.8°C or 56.9°F.
September Average Temperatures 2010 - 2020
As you can see from the rainfall figures, it was a dry month finishing in tenth place out of eleven years. The dry weather has meant that we’ve been able to get some tidying up done at the allotment.
I’ve at last managed to get our old strawberry bed dug over. It’s a few years now since the old strawberry plants were removed. Under the weed control fabric, the ground had become exceptionally dry and compacted with large cracks.
It’s good to have it finally dug over. Hopefully, over winter it will be broken down by the winter rain and frosts and be in a suitable condition for planting up next spring.

We’ve already had our first frost of autumn. Whilst it wasn’t a keen frost it was enough to finish off our courgette plants.

It didn’t do any damage to our dahlias so with a bit of luck we might be picking a few flowers for another couple of weeks.

October has got off to a wet start making up for a dry September. Saturday was a thoroughly wet day with the rainfall adding up to 19.9mm or 0.8in. 
Temperature & Rainfall Records 02-04 October 2020
I'm pretty sure,  judging from posts on social media., that we avoided the worst of the rainfall.
Posted by Martyn at 10:40 2 comments
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