Weather

groundhog wrote:Grey and overcast in West Cornwall this morning, very still though, no breeze at all and still quite mild. Whatever is digging up the lawns for the grubs very active and quite a few different birds seem to have arrived back on the feeders. Have a nice day everyone.

Dull and damp here but the rain has eased off. We had a mini invasion of young Goldfinches and Long tail t it's this morning. They don't hang about, feed for 10 or 15 minutes then vanish. I need to keep my camera handy to try and get a photo, just
about had time to get the binoculars out this morning.

We have a local mob of Goldies here Tony, we have to go to Sewerby woods to see LTT and gold crests.
Dreich here this afternoon, local heavy showers.
Boaby

The new trews for management arrived and they fit. She won’t get wet from the armpits down. Her shape dosnt help. She an 18 with no legs hence trouser problems. 
She did say it wasn’t looking good for next week if I buy her new waterproofs.

Drier morning after showers throughout the night, cooler though with skies clearing.
Might need a good pair of gun boots to go with your wife's WP trew Dave.
Boaby

Another showery one, getting cooler too. Leaves are falling like snow now, as soon as the ground is dry guess it is back out with the blower and start clearing again. Keeps you fit though

groundhog wrote:Another showery one, getting cooler too. Leaves are falling like snow now, as soon as the ground is dry guess it is back out with the blower and start clearing again. Keeps you fit though

Local coastal showers here GH, really dreich.
Boaby

Talking about foot wear for management reminds me of a walk we took the cubs on meany years ago. 
I was in front, management followed at the back helping small people across a muddy patch of woods. 
There was a lot of shouting from the kids telling me management was stuck. She had done better than that. She managed to walk out of one of her wellies leaving it in the mud. Of coarse you can’t pull the wellie out standing on one foot. By the time I got there she had managed to keep her balance by putting her foot down, yuk.
Walking boots are definitely better for sticky mud. They stay on better even though they can end up weighing a ton with mud.
The walk we are planning next week is a mix of fields and lanes so she will have a chance to clear her boots on the lanes. 
I might take the big brolly to hide under if the weather turns soggy at lunch time.

A little condensation in one of the headlights so decided in between the showers and snowing leaves to whip the bulb out and stick the hairdryer in the hole. Simple enough, The heavens then opened and I abandoned ship closing the bonnet on the latch but not fully and not replacing the bulbs. extension lead, hairdryer plus lashing rain not recommended.

Not sure what law it is but how the hell did a leaf manage to blow up under the closed bonnet and through the small hole where the bulb goes landing inside the headlight.  Even more interesting is how I will get it out again.

Oh well sunny tomorrow so off to the North Coast of Cornwall for a walk along the cliff tops, certainly see some puffins and other sea birds and keep an eye out in case there is a chough about.

Really damp cool morning, clear sky, took my big torch with me this morning to see what the " chorkling sound was coming from Hawthorne trees and bushes " couldn't see them yesterday with head torch.
Amazed to see dozens of Redwinds and Fieldfares, must be early arrivals from Scandinavia?, may see some Waxwings soon.   
Boaby

Cripes Boaby, did we not just wave them goodbye Last weekend we saw a flyover of about 500 Geese, heading south so the invasion has probably started.

Dull and damp but improving here. Yesterday's highlight was, after hearing an odd mewing sound in the sky, spotting a Buzzard flying over the garden. I know they're more common but I'm always surprised to see one in an urban setting.

Askit wrote:Cripes Boaby, did we not just wave them goodbye Last weekend we saw a flyover of about 500 Geese, heading south so the invasion has probably started.

Dull and damp but improving here. Yesterday's highlight was, after hearing an odd mewing sound in the sky, spotting a Buzzard flying over the garden. I know they're more common but I'm always surprised to see one in an urban setting.

Maybe a Bute Buzzard Tony, really there are dozens of them on the Island and spreading out heading to all points of the compass.
We have regular skeens of Pink foot and Graylag geese heading down the coast, this month they are above the cloud cover so I don't know the numbers.
Nice sunny now ,warmer too.   
Boaby.  Common Buzzard. buteo buteo

Star lite morning,cool ,no wind and damp.
Have a nice day.
Boaby

Really bright starry night last night here too and now a still sunny morning. Put the screen cover on the van last night just in case it got really cold but didn't drop below 7 degrees. Blowing and mowing again today.
Beautiful walk along the Cornish clifftops yesterday, North coast ( Bassetts Cove), fascinated to see a bird that I have absolutely no idea what it was.
Pinky red breast and high up to the neck, slim so not a finch and somewhere just below a blackbird in size. Dark coloured otherwise and sitting on the grasses where they meet the cliffs. Tried googling but didn't get far!

If you put "pinky red breast and high up to the neck" into google, I hate to think what might turn up  

Hmmm best not take the computer for repair any time soon!

Could it be a redstart, closest I can find.

groundhog wrote:Hmmm best not take the computer for repair any time soon!

Could it be a redstart, closest I can find.

Linnet ?

Boaby you are a genius! Looked exactly like that, I owe you a dram

groundhog wrote:Boaby you are a genius! Looked exactly like that, I owe you a dram

Not a genius GH,just a bird watcher, we have lots of Linnets up on the Filey Brigg feeding on the wild rose hip berries, usually treating us to a nice wee tune.
Dry overnight, not as cold as previous nights, clear starlite morning, Robins out singing.
Longer walk through the outskirts this morning,don't like these new street lights.
Boaby

That's for the wee half GH

Clouds and more clouds, very breezy, showers forecast for the day off to the out skirts of Sheffield for 3 days to see the grandkids

Back from the old peoples shop early this morning, had Sainsbury's pretty much to ourselves. Fresh morning but sunny now, looks like another beautiful day, what a shame the mower broke yesterday and looks like a specialist job.
Lovely mist over the river again with the tops of the hills just peaking out in to the rising sun.

Warmer dreich night, fret hanging about this morning,clouds slowly clearing.
Sitting outside in the garden yesterday afternoon, wearing my baffies watching the parachutists free falling , I noticed a male Bullfinch in an old apple tree ,a few gardens back, delightful bright colours.
Boaby

Dry here but the rain is on its way with an unsettled few days ahead. We used to have a pair of Bullfinches visiting the garden but that was a few years ago. We've spotted them just about everywhere we've been this year, including our walk from the site outside Forfar into the town. Also had a Red Squirrel run across the road in front of us but my camera was safe in its bag

Just got our van delivered back (intact) after son, daughter in law and two grandchildren went round the North 500 (anticlockwise).    They had, on the whole, good weather and had a spectacular time.    Even were "off grid" one night, but in a campsite.      Lots of hire vans, and newbies, quickly noticeable by their antics ....   do you really need a wheel lock fitted to prevent theft, at Lochinver ??      They did Inverness, Brora, Durness, John o'Groats, Dunnett Head, Achmelvich, Lochinver Old Shoremore, Gairloch.

Overcast and a SE breeze today so should be reasonably dry. Long tailed * Inappropriate Word * on the feeders this morning we see them quite a lot, used to get lots of finches but sadly no more, there are too many cats round here one or two of which seem to be living wild and have decimated the bird population along with the sparrow hawks. Haven't seen a starling in ages.
Food going rotten in the feeders at the moment where previously there would be dozens of diners.

On the plus side we are very close to a river and small salt marsh estuary, masses of bird life there and soon all the Canadian geese will be back to make me feel at home!
Stay safe.

BobK wrote:Just got our van delivered back (intact) after son, daughter in law and two grandchildren went round the North 500 (anticlockwise).    They had, on the whole, good weather and had a spectacular time.    Even were "off grid" one night, but in a campsite.      Lots of hire vans, and newbies, quickly noticeable by their antics ....   do you really need a wheel lock fitted to prevent theft, at Lochinver ??      They did Inverness, Brora, Durness, John o'Groats, Dunnett Head, Achmelvich, Lochinver Old Shoremore, Gairloch.

We did the same route ( almost) a few years back, wouldn't attempt it now, I'm to grumpy. 
Boaby