I have just listened on i-player to Tweet of the day showcasing the greater spotted woodpecker, a "starling-sized bird".
I was brought up in a hamlet in Cornwall with a large garden. One of my memories is of seeing on several occasions a spotted woodpecker on the other size of the lawn. It was a bird larger than a starling, more magpie-sized. So, unless the lesser spotted woodpecker is larger than the greater spotted woodpecker(!), either my memory or Tweet of the day is wrong.
I know it must be my memory, but I feel it must be Tweet of the day!
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Logs finished, luckily off-cuts remain
I will finish the last of my logs this weekend. Luckily I have scrounged enough off-cuts from skips and cut up enough pallets that I hope to be able to have the stove lit as often as I want to for the rest of the winter.
I got 30 bags of logs two years ago and used just over half of them, so I didn't buy any last year. I am a little surprised to have used up the logs so quicly when I only occasionally had the stove lit until Christmas.
Hopefully the February cold-snap that my friend Tony predicted (see my post of 23 January) won't happen, as that will use up the off-cuts too quickly.
At one point last Sunday night, when it was very windy, the flames were racing around the inside the stove so fast they weren't properly burning the log!
I got 30 bags of logs two years ago and used just over half of them, so I didn't buy any last year. I am a little surprised to have used up the logs so quicly when I only occasionally had the stove lit until Christmas.
Hopefully the February cold-snap that my friend Tony predicted (see my post of 23 January) won't happen, as that will use up the off-cuts too quickly.
At one point last Sunday night, when it was very windy, the flames were racing around the inside the stove so fast they weren't properly burning the log!
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Buy expensive puncture-resistant tyre and get puncture 9 days later - but not tyre's fault
Last Friday week I went to the bike shop with a flat front tyre and got a new inner tube and a replacement tyre, the more expensive version of the Schwalbe puncture-resistant tyre, to match the one on the back wheel.
After kayaking today I am loading my bike and realise my front tyre is flat. Even though I only work on punctures at home, I do carry the tyre leavers and puncture kit, and the club, as it does mountain biking, has a stirrup pump. So Klaus can then sort out the puncture without even taking the wheel off.
The puncture is quite a large hole and the cause is the rim tape which leaves cylindrical holes which traps the inner tube. Probably going over a bump did for it. Beate finds some gaffer tape in the workshop so we put a 6 inch (15 cm) strip in over the rim tape.
It survived the journey home, though I am a bit nervous about happening again.
After kayaking today I am loading my bike and realise my front tyre is flat. Even though I only work on punctures at home, I do carry the tyre leavers and puncture kit, and the club, as it does mountain biking, has a stirrup pump. So Klaus can then sort out the puncture without even taking the wheel off.
The puncture is quite a large hole and the cause is the rim tape which leaves cylindrical holes which traps the inner tube. Probably going over a bump did for it. Beate finds some gaffer tape in the workshop so we put a 6 inch (15 cm) strip in over the rim tape.
It survived the journey home, though I am a bit nervous about happening again.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Cold snap February, mild March, hot summer
My friend Tony is predicting a cold snap again next month, a mild March and a hot summer.
When professional forecasters can't get today's weather right a lot of the time, and the 3 months of freezing weather forecast in the autumn has, in the South East ,turned out to be a couple of cold days in December and a week of cold weather just now, why should I believe him?
Well this is the man who, execting a mild autmnn, sowed runner beans last October and got a crop!
When professional forecasters can't get today's weather right a lot of the time, and the 3 months of freezing weather forecast in the autumn has, in the South East ,turned out to be a couple of cold days in December and a week of cold weather just now, why should I believe him?
Well this is the man who, execting a mild autmnn, sowed runner beans last October and got a crop!
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Mistletoe in ash trees?
I went on a kayaking trip to the weirs around Shepperton yesterday (cold but dry, and I capsized once, luckily just at the end as my feet got really cold!).
On the way there we passed a roundabout with trees with mistletoe in them. They could have been ash trees.
I have a couple of times hung mistletoe on one of the overhanging branches of my neighbour's ash tree in the hopes that birds would eat the seeds and then rub their beaks on a branch. No luck so far and thought this because ash trees are not one of those listed in the books as having mistletoe. But if there's a chance I will try again.
Round my way the mistletoe is not marked as British which I presume means it is not.
On the way there we passed a roundabout with trees with mistletoe in them. They could have been ash trees.
I have a couple of times hung mistletoe on one of the overhanging branches of my neighbour's ash tree in the hopes that birds would eat the seeds and then rub their beaks on a branch. No luck so far and thought this because ash trees are not one of those listed in the books as having mistletoe. But if there's a chance I will try again.
Round my way the mistletoe is not marked as British which I presume means it is not.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Daffodils in Victoria Park
First nice day of the holiday so off on my bike along the Lea Navigation and then the Hertford Union to Victoria Park (both East and West side).
The tow path seemed a less busy than it would have been on a Sunday at that time. I met Denise from work walking her dog back to her house boat.
It was blue sky and mild.
I can remember once cycling to my friend in Highbury one Christmas Day when it was blue sky, but cold. The cold air hurt my nose, and I had a runny nose for about 5 days afterwards.
There were some daffodils in flower in Victoria Park. I've read about Cornish daffodils being in flower but I was still surprised!
The tow path seemed a less busy than it would have been on a Sunday at that time. I met Denise from work walking her dog back to her house boat.
It was blue sky and mild.
I can remember once cycling to my friend in Highbury one Christmas Day when it was blue sky, but cold. The cold air hurt my nose, and I had a runny nose for about 5 days afterwards.
There were some daffodils in flower in Victoria Park. I've read about Cornish daffodils being in flower but I was still surprised!
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Bumble bees in December - again
This morning there was a bumble bee outside my bedroom window.
When I went to write about this in my perpetual diary I found that on 13 December 2006 a colleague had seen a bumble bee in his winter clematis.
As the years pass, a perpetual diary gets more and more interesting.
I also saw a kingfisher this morning when paddling up the Old River Lea between Tottenham and Waltham Forest. And there were 2 Egyptian geese grazing between the riding stable and Lea Bridge Road as I cycled home. I often see a pair of these on the side of the Lea Navigation, but their location today was a surprise.
When I went to write about this in my perpetual diary I found that on 13 December 2006 a colleague had seen a bumble bee in his winter clematis.
As the years pass, a perpetual diary gets more and more interesting.
I also saw a kingfisher this morning when paddling up the Old River Lea between Tottenham and Waltham Forest. And there were 2 Egyptian geese grazing between the riding stable and Lea Bridge Road as I cycled home. I often see a pair of these on the side of the Lea Navigation, but their location today was a surprise.
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