Too Much Weather !!!

Derek wrote:You guys should be so lucky the daffs have only just come out up here in the northland's. No show yet with the narcissi.
Winter still hangs on probably into May this year. :-((
D.

Yep same here though the last couple of days have been more spring like  not that it's going to last according to the weather forecast 

But then yours will still be out after ours have finished.

I've spent the last few days doing a series of walks in different places, the commons, the beaches and the estuaries, watching the migrant birds arrive and start singing, the non-migrants start breeding and all the various things coming in to flower.

Pussy Willows (who used to be in CSI), and loads of blackthorn. Another of mother's old country sayings was "blackthorn winter", there was often a cold snap about the time it came into flower, very true today.

Forecast for the weekend ...

"An Arctic plume is set to send UK temperatures plunging this weekend, say weather forecasters.

The news will come as a shock to those who have already got out their summer clothes: it marks an about-turn from last weekend, when most of the country experienced the hottest day of the year so far.

Met Office forecaster Nicola Maxley says: "Polar maritime air will move in while colder air aloft will be brought down by rain, making it feel much colder.

'There is a chance of wintry showers and hail in the north over high ground, with even some to lower levels. "

(above words taken from travel.aol.co.uk)

Well I certainly haven't had my summer clothes out yet, and Eddie's shorts are still in the drawer

Whilst going out shopping yesterday a cheeky robin sat on the garden post, he looked great - should have taken a photo of him. I'm calling it a him but it may have been a her. It was almost as if he was wishing me a safe journey and could I please include some good 'bird eats' in my shopping list  

All the best Jan

I used to feed live mealworms, some robins will come to your hand for them. I used to leave the back door open so the robins, blackbirds and a blue tit could help themselves. When I shut the door the robin used to come in through the kitchen window and fly through the house for them. 

Now the rat invasion seems to have diminished (in the garden not the house) I should start putting out food again, I'm pretty sure the blackbirds are now feeding young.

Yesterday I went for a short walk around town and a long drive through the villages and past the farms looking at all the daffs, cowslips now emerging and trees of all kinds breaking into leaf.

Today it has rained non-stop and I can almost HEAR the lawn growing.

Hi,
Beautiful day here and the Swallows back this am, one twittering away on the overhead line to our cottage. However, it was a frost this am after a very cold rainy night with snow covering the Lakeland hills again.
D.

You too? Yes I saw my first swallow earlier on, flashing along just above the river. Then I saw two, chasing one another around and singing madly, and later a couple of others. When I was young we used to have them nest in the garden shed for years, I think they usually appeared on April 14.

Not so much on the estuary, the wind was chill and the tide high. Earlier I walked on some farmland and failed to see the Red Kite that has been in the area for a few years now - but it has a big territory so may still be around, just elsewhere. I was surprised the Buzzards weren't soaring over the woods, but one went up eventually, followed by a second and then a Sparrowhawk, probably the clod air and stillness inland wasn't generating enough thermals for them.

A couple of Marsh Harriers and some more Buzzards over the reedbeds, and herons and little egrets sitting in the trees around their heronry.

The Magnolia Stellata in my front garden is a picture. One of my neighbours had several. After he died, the new owners grubbed them up. As a tribute, I put in a white one, and not to be outdone another neighbour put in three - his are a delicate pink.

Scurvy grass is all in flower now. For some unaccountable reason I always think of dieticians when I see it. Originally a coastal plant - a tiny cress with white flowers - it has spread inland along the main road verges, probably where the roads are regularly salted in winter as it is salt tolerant. Thinking about it, I only saw the gritters out on about two nights last winter.

Those previous posts sound great ...  


As I sit typing this I can hear some birds twittering / tweeting away ... I can not see them but they sound as if they are having a good natter!
They are probably complaining about the extremely heavy rain showers we had earlier, I know I did complain that is  
Although out in the car I got soaked just going from the 'Super-store' car park to inside the store - having dried out a little I then got rather wet again coming from the store to the car ...
Oh well, some days are just like that.
Thank goodness it's stopped raining for the moment.

Good for grass growing and for ducks ...

All the best Jan

Walked on the common behind a local village and heard my first Nightingale. Normally there are three or four, the others didn't arrive yet. Once when mother was still alive and my cousin was visiting, we ate battered whitebait in the village pub and walked up the back lane as dusk was falling - every other bush had a Nightingale singing away, obviously a load of newly arrived migrants.

Some huge puddles - I could hear a thunderstorm the other day but it didn't come close, though the rain did. I guess now I know where it was centred. There was another distant one today. Typical april. Was it last year or the one before when every month was like April, except April which was like midsummer?

Swallows singing their little hearts out over the garden and the back field while I was mowing the lawn again. And a hare, but not doing the mad march act, it was chumbling along quite slowly.

Lots of other birdsong, and I'm starting to get a queue of robins, dunnocks and blackbirds waiting to see if I throw out any mealworms.

Well I was going to say what glorious weather today ... and actually it hasn't been bad at all.

The temperature scale has gone up quite a few notches and both Eddie and I were out in short sleeved tops. Luckily we were in the car when we had two sharp bursts of rain - isn't that just typical for April.

I've certainly noticed the birds song early in the morning, they are quite a good alarm clock!
Late evenings too they chirp away ...

I am hopeless at knowing which is which - but they sound great whatever they are.

Cold spell over the weekend I bet

All the best Jan

Had a good day yesterday sunny and pleasantly warm got a few hours work in the garden still plenty to do though  Today was a complete contrast cool and overcast with occasional showers not ideal for outdoor work but did manage to do a bit of weeding and prune a few shrubs back

Back on child minding duties tomorrow so weather dependent may take them to the park

It is going to snow today! :-))

Well we had a lot of rain this afternoon ...

Not really weather related but it is nature ...

I read this today

England's last golden eagle feared dead

The eagle hasn't been seen since last November



England's only resident golden eagle is feared to have died.

The bird occupied a site at Riggindale Valley, near Haweswater in the Lake District, but has not been since last year.

Wildlife experts now believe the 20-year-old bird may have died

Speaking to the BBC, Haweswater site manager Lee Schofield, said: "By this time of year you would have expected to have seen him on display to attract a mate.

"As the last golden eagle in England, it's an element of wildness that has gone.

"There's no real way of knowing for sure. It's a single bird in a huge landscape and he was of an age we couldn't rule out death by natural causes.

"We've not given up hope. It may be that he has found an alternative food source."

Golden eagles have been present in the Lake District since the late 1950s and first nested in the Haweswater area in 1969.

The last eagle had lived alone since the death of his mate in 2004.

According to the Guardian, Mr Schofield added: "His disappearance marks the end of an era as he has been an iconic part of the Haweswater landscape for the past 15 years. During this time, thousands of visitors have travelled from across the country hoping to catch a glimpse of him at the Riggindale eagle viewpoint."

Adrian Long, of Birdlife International, also told the paper: "Raptors are at the top of the food chain, and eagle species need big areas to live. We must remember that decades of altering our landscape and habitats has caused this iconic bird to no longer patrol the skies of England.

"I hope that eagles will one day be seen flying again the hills of England again, with perhaps some of the Scottish population moving south."

There are an estimated 440 annual breeding pairs in the UK, which are mostly found in the moorlands and mountains of Scotland.

According to Wikipedia, golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as 77 square miles. They build large nests in high places (mainly cliffs) to which they may return for several breeding years.

Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life.

Story from here
http://travel.aol.co.uk/2016/04/15/englands-last-golden-eagle-dies/

The Lake District a truly beautiful part of the UK ... indeed the world

Derek wrote:It is going to snow today! :-))

did you have snow .  we had heavy rain i did not get wet .  doing housework indoors .

No snow here (yet) but bloody parky. And lots of rain, though the sun's out now just before it sets.

Grrrr! The rats are back, they seem to be coming under the fence again from beneath next door's patio. There are signs up in town in Duck Lane and elsewhere asking people not to feed the ducks because of the rats, presumably the mild winter has kept the population up and breeding.

I've been seeing and hearing Woodlarks all over the place, obviously they have had a good year. This time last year they were conspicuous by their absence from many of their usual haunts but there were Dartford Warblers up the wazoo. Theoretically they should also have had a good year thanks to the mild winter but this year I've seen and heard none. Perhaps they are hiding from me.

Sad about the eagle, but in the Big Picture most predators seem to be increasing over most of the country, a good sign as it means there must be lots of prey to sustain them. Perhaps a replacement eagle might cross the border from Scotland. A pair would be even better.

Fabulous weather today ... the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the grass was very green. Spring at it's best.

It was good to see so many people out and about, with some in short sleeved shirts enjoying the day.

Only trouble is apparently it's going to get cool again so make the most of it.

All the best Jan

After morning frosts the days are superb in Cumbria, it just went above 20 deg c today.
Saw two white wags on Solway and orange tip butterfly. 109 Barnacle geese on local bay that have not gone north yet.
D

Sharon wrote:

Derek wrote:It is going to snow today! :-))

did you have snow .  we had heavy rain i did not get wet .  doing housework indoors .

Yes the snow was above 1200 feet . We went over Bowes moor to York and there was snow on the moor at sides of road.
D.

I caught some rays the last couple of days. Strange though, after the first early migrants arrived the main crop doesn't seem to have caught up yet, I've only seen a few more swallows and not many willow warblers. The air has been stunningly clear.

The fritillaries in my lawn have been out for a while so I went to a fritillary meadow but they are late, there was only one in flower.

Likewise the garden bluebells have been flowering for a while, but they are the Spanish abortions, the wild ones have only just started. Today I walked through what used to be a block of forestry. Some of it blew down in the original hurricane in 1987 and since then it has matured and has been and is being felled, leaving a load of clearings, scrub and new plantings. Not many birds though. I walked on to a remnant of Ancient Woodland at the back and the bluebells were not only in flower, they were scenting the air.

Then I got caught in a rain shower.

Didn't take the starlings long to notice I was feeding mealworms to the robin and blackbirds, they are currently carrying them away in relays as fast as I throw them out. Obviously lots of young in their nests. Hope they don't get snowed in, sounds like the cold is returning.

I walked up the lane just across the fields. The steep part is a "linear nature reserve" but was too steep for mother. We used to walk the level bit and the less steep hill, which were nearly as good, currently covered in primroses and cowslips.

I walked up from the bottom and stopped on our friends' seat - they put it out at the top of their garden to look at the stunning view - miles of farmland with scattered trees - and invited us to use it as we were passing. Failed to see the expected swallows. I did see a pair later the other side of the hill, and a whitethroat - our garden/hedge whitethroat is yet to arrive.

Took a side trip along a farm track atop the hill but when the sun went in the arctic blast was too much, especially when it spotted with near freezing rain, so I aborted the mission and turned back. There was a queue of starlings, blackbirds and robins awaiting their mealworms when I got home.

This lovely picture from AOL as they warn " Spring snow warning as Arctic blast blows in"

"Britons face chilly temperatures and snow this week, thanks to a blast of Arctic air.
Despite the approach of May, forecasters say that summer will feel a long way off.
Temperatures will struggle into double figures in the south of the country, but many areas will see highs of just 7 degrees Celsius (47F) - about 4 degrees Celsius below the average for this time of year.
Global temperature records were broken in January, February and March, Nasa announced last week, but the UK is unlikely to feel the benefit of this trend this week.
Scotland and north-east England will also see gale force winds in exposed areas.
The Met Office predicts frequent showers which will mainly fall as rain but Scotland and parts of northern England - especially on high ground - may see snow.
Overnight it will be cold enough for a frost."

Words/picture from here
http://www.aol.co.uk/2016/04/25/spring-snow-warning-as-arctic-blast-blows-in/

...if anyone has planted out bedding plants - do take care of them.

All the best Jan

Not much chance of getting bedding plants out here it's going to be a few weeks yet

Ne'er cast a clout til May be out" - one of my mother's sayings. "Especially not waterproofs" - my addendum.

Judas F Priest, after midsummer not long ago, today I drove through the edge of a storm with rain hail, snow and lightning. Yet a few miles north I walked on one of the commons which was dry as dust, especially the dust.

My impression is that for the last six months or so, apart from the extreme weather events it had not only been very changeable but the changes are timed much faster than usual.

Seem to have escaped the worst of the weather last couple of days have been mainly dry and sunny, the wind dropped today still cool in the shade but quite pleasant in the sun

Incredibly cold this am on morning walk up the hill near my house. I could see bad weather approaching some 50 miles away over southwest Scotland. This depression looks like bringing fresh snow to the fells again.
Don't know what the migrants think, spring is on hold this year.
We should be getting Pomarine Skuas passing through the Solway from the Atlantic to the North Sea now, but none as yet. Perhaps they may be coming through this pm on the short haul SW winds but it is just too cold to watch from the car.
regards
Derek