Tuesday, 16 January 2018

First Flower of the Year!

As forecast there has been a change in the weather and last week's calm, dreary and dull conditions have been replaced by wet and windy ones. One things remained the same though and that's a lack of any sunshine. So far we have escaped any snow showers.

I noticed this morning that one of our hellebores has come into flower making it the first flower of the year in our garden.
Yesterday we had a flying visit to RHS Harlow Carr on a wet Monday morning. After a coffee waiting for the rain to ease we managed a quick walk around the rain soddened gardens.
At least there are a few signs that Spring is on its way as we pass into the second half of winter.

Posted by Martyn at 10:11 0 comments

Saturday, 13 January 2018

A No Weather Week!

It's been a miserable week weather wise. The last time we saw any sunshine was on Sunday 07 January when we visited RSPB Fairburn Ings.
Since then we haven't had any weather, no wind, no rain, no very mild days, no very cold days and certainly not any sunshine. All in all, it's been a very dull, drab and murky week.
Sue would like to test out her new camera but the only colours available at the moment are a selection of browns and greys. However, it is forecast to change next week with some colder and windier conditions arriving with snow showers in the mix starting on Tuesday and going through to Friday.


Posted by Martyn at 10:29 0 comments

Wednesday, 10 January 2018

Nothing Much Going On

After a mildish start to the new year it's turned a bit colder. At first the colder weather brought some clear blue skies and night time frosts but that's changed over the last few days to dull, murky, drizzly days.
Temperature & Solar Radiation Records 04-10 January 2018
As you can see from the above graphic it hardly bothered to get light at all on Tuesday. So much for daylight hours increasing!

We managed a visit to RSPB Fairburn Ings on a lovely, crisp, sunny, Sunday afternoon. Areas in the shade stayed frosty all day.
RSPB Fairburn Ings on 07 January 2018
It can't have been very warm cruising on the river Aire.

Posted by Martyn at 10:34 1 comments

Saturday, 6 January 2018

Connection Issues

It's been a fairly average start to the new year with dull, wet and windy weather the order of the day.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-06 January 2018
On Thursday evening my computer did one of those magical Windows updates. Since then my weather station seems very reluctant to connect to the Internet. I constantly receive a message informing me of an Internet connection failure.
My weather data to Weather Underground was last uploaded on 04/01/2018 and it doesn't want to upload any more data. As you're reading this post it's obvious that my Internet connection is working okay so I'm not too sure where to look for the problem. If you're looking at some of my weather data on the Internet and it seems a bit out of date this is the reason why.


Posted by Martyn at 11:10 4 comments

Thursday, 4 January 2018

Mild and Windy Start to January - Will It Last?

The first few days of the year have been on the mild side for January but it's also been dull and damp. 
The last time I looked the computer weather models didn't seem to agree on next week's weather. They agreed it will be cooler at the weekend but then disagree on what might occur through next week. Either we'll get a milder option with weather coming in on a westerly breeze off the Atlantic or a cold easterly breeze from continental Europe. 

I've finished sorting out last year's weather data and included a few tables below comparing December's temperature and rainfall records for the last few year's. The temperature in December was a little below average and it was on the dry side too. I've also included some tables giving yearly comparisons of the same records. The year finished up milder and drier than average.
The table below summarises the yearly wind speeds. Although my method probably isn't scientifically correct I think it gives an idea of how windy each year has been. I'd say 2017 turned out to be about average. 
Now I've got to set up the tables for 2018!

Posted by Martyn at 10:38 2 comments

Wednesday, 3 January 2018

Didn't Miss Storm Eleanor

We might have missed most of the snow that arrived over the last few weeks but we didn't miss storm Eleanor as she blew through.
Temperature and High Wind Speed Records for 01-03 January 2018
Wind gusts peaked at 30mph overnight which isn't all that unusual for storms in January. We don't seem to have any damage in the garden.
The birds might have to make do with seed on the bird table this morning as the hanging feeders are being blown about rather dramatically in the wind. Some fancy aerobatics will be required to land on the feeders. In anticipation of this year's winter storms I took the precaution of adding some extra ballast to the base of the bird table.
It seems to have worked as normally winds of 30mph would result in the bird table falling over into the rhododendron bush.
In the past even strong winds in summer would topple it.

Posted by Martyn at 10:14 0 comments

Tuesday, 2 January 2018

New Year's Day Harvesting

The weather for the first day of the new year wasn't too bad. We needed some fresh vegetables and a little bit of fresh air so we decided on a trip to the allotment.
We decided to harvest some vegetables before starting to do any tidying up jobs. It was just as well we did as it started to drizzle heavily by mid afternoon. By this time we'd managed to harvest some decent fresh vegetables.
Parsnips - Gladiator
Brussels Sprouts - Crispus
Before the rain came Sue started digging out one of our clumps of rhubarb which has become over run with wick grass and I did a little more clearing work on a bed on plot 30 which had been neglected for a couple of years.

There's a video below showing the crops we have to harvest on the plot as the new year begins.




Posted by Martyn at 10:39 2 comments

Sunday, 31 December 2017

Epic Camera Battery Fail

Friday's snow didn't hang about for long as some slighter milder weather arrived and so by Saturday morning all the lying snow had disappeared. As it wasn't a bad morning we set off to do a little bit of train photography. Unusually for us this wasn't to capture a steam locomotive but instead a heritage diesel locomotive.
 LNER A4 Class 4-6-2 no 60009 Union of South Africa at Colton Junction with the Christmas White Rose on 20 December 2017
Last week we'd seen 60009 Union of South of South Africa heading up the East Coast Main Line which links London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley station. Steam locomotives like this hauled the fast express trains such as "The Elizabethan" between these two stations in the heyday of steam power. These steam locomotives on the East Coast Main Line were replaced by "Deltics" which were diesel powered locomotives capable of hauling London to Scotland express trains at a sustained speed of 100mph. Some of these locomotives have survived into preservation and one of these D9009 Alycidon was hauling a charter train from York to Liverpool on Saturday.

We arrived at Colton Junction well before the train was due. I connected up my microphone to my camera and checked the battery. Three bars lit up, so I thought plenty of charge, especially as I didn't plan on much more than 5 minutes of video. D9009 Alycidon was approaching and I'd got the locomotive in view approaching my vantage point. Then the dreaded red battery indicator appeared and my camera turned itself off. 
D9009 Alycidon approaches Colton Junction 30 December 2017
The picture above is the last frame my camera captured. I watched as the train sped by on its way to Liverpool. There was nothing I could do. It's the first time I've ever had that happen to me. I've now got to work out whether the battery is capable of holding any reasonable amount of charge or if it just doesn’t talk to the camera correctly regarding the amount of charge it holds. 

Perhaps I'll have better luck on 16 June 2018 when D9009 Alycidon's next charter train from Newcastle to London is planned.

Posted by Martyn at 11:19 0 comments
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