Oct wk 2

Thursday - Monday, 06/10 October 2016

A Long Weekend Away

We had a long weekend away in Somerset with a few different photographic opportunities. The weather was a little bit mixed although I'm not sure which weather produced the better photographs. On Thursday we made a visit to WWT Slimbridge giving us a chance to photograph a few different birds at close quarters.

It was a lovely sunny afternoon at Slimbridge and the wildlife didn't let us down with plenty of photo opportunities.

It was a bit different on Friday as the weather was dull and overcast all day with the sun stubbornly refusing to make any sort of appearance. The rain held off though. First up was a spot of steam train photography as the West Somerset Railway were holding their autumn steam gala.

Williton Station

Near Watchet

We also visited Cleeve Abbey looked after by English Heritage. It's supposed to be one of the best preserved monastic sites in the country. After our disappointing visit to Whitby Abbey the other week I was a little bit dubious about what we might find. I needn't have been as I thought the site was much better than Whitby Abbey with plenty to see and photograph as we walked around the site.

Cleeve Abbey

Cleeve Abbey - The Refectory Hall

Saturday's plan was to visit Minehead and then go on to visit the National Trust Property, Holnicote Estate, and in particular the village of Bossington and its beach. The weather remained dull and overcast all day but apart from a very light shower at Minehead it was another dry day.

Holnicote Estate - Bossington Village

Holnicote Estate - Bossington Beach

On Sunday we planned calling in at Tyntesfield another National Trust property as it wouldn't involve too much of a detour away from the M5 as we headed back home. It was a good choice. The estate has some fantastic trees that it's difficult to stop photographing. We didn't have any time to look around the house. As you can see from the photos the sun decided to put in an appearance.

Tyntesfield

It's now a case of sorting through lots of photos and video.

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Back to a Rather Damp Allotment

There seems to be little doubt now that autumn has finally arrived. September was warmer than average for September and with some decent sunny days we were spoilt a little bit. October has certainly brought with it some much cooler and damper weather.

Back on the 11 September I planted out some cut and come again lettuce plants called Catalogne in our raised salad bed at home.

For one reason or another I haven't given them much of a thought. There's been enough rain for me to forget about watering plants outside so it had been a while since I'd checked out how they were doing. I had a look this week and got a pleasant surprise.

A forest of leaves ready for picking and as far as I can tell no damage from slugs and snails. Hopefully these leaves should keep us supplied for some time providing we don't get any frosty nights.

We decided on a trip to the plot even though it was cold and damp. I carried on with a Somerset theme and harvested a few more apples, well 15kg or another 33.5 lbs.

Our main problem is storage as we haven't got any. I think they'll have to go on the floor in our summerhouse although we are rapidly running out of floor space in there. It's a nice problem to have though.

After harvesting this little lot we'd got a little bit wet in the spells of drizzly rain and decided to head for home to warm up and dry out.

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Not Very Rosy

Wednesday was another cool day with some heavy showers and not much of a day for gardening.

Temperature & Rainfall Records for October 2016

We haven't had a great amount of rainfall on any day but the showery nature of the weather and the cool temperatures mean that nothing dries out during the day. The monthly total stands at 18.2mm or 0.72 ins at the moment.

Our rose in a pot which stands outside by the summerhouse door is doing its best to continue flowering despite the poor weather.

However, each flower doesn't last very long before it surrenders to the damp conditions and goes mouldy.

Still it's nice to still have a few flowers even if they don't last very long.

Thursday, 13 October 2016

First Milestone for Autumn

Thursday produced a sort of first milestone of the onset of autumn and winter weather as the daytime high temperature didn't make it into double figures with a high of 9.9°C or 49.8°F. Throughout the day, we had lots of showers, some of them pretty heavy, finishing up with 6.4mm or 0.25 ins of rainfall.

Temperature & Rainfall Records for 13 October 2016

Our cherry tree is in no doubt that autumn is in full swing.

Disclaimer

This weather site is operated as an amateur weather station site and should not be used as official data. I make every effort to ensure my data is as accurate as possible but I cannot guarantee that the data meets the requirements of the Meteorological Office or other professional weather monitoring organisations.