Sunday, 07 October 2018
A Cold One
The early hours of Sunday morning turned out to be a cold one with the temperature falling to 0.7°C or 33.3°F.
Temperature Records 07 October 2018
That makes it the coldest October night I've recorded since 25 October 2010 when the temperature fell to 0.2°C (32.4°F). Of course that means it's the coldest October night I've recorded this early into autumn. The average temperature for Saturday was only 7.4°C (45.3°F) also making it the coldest day I've recorded this early in autumn.
It's not forecast to warm up much today so I might peel, chop, cook and freeze some of the quinces that we picked on Friday. As I've passed our quince tree on the allotment it didn't give me the impression that it was that heavily ladened with fruit this year. However, that impression turned out to be wrong as our Meeches Prolific produced its heaviest ever crop to date of 33kg or 73 lbs.
Preparing quinces is a bit of a challenge. They might look a bit like pears but unlike pears they have a very hard core so they can't be cored easily. The best way I found of preparing them is to peel the fruit and then carve as much flesh as possible from the quince avoiding the hard central core. Once prepared the flesh will be cooked until it softens and then frozen in crumbles or as a compote for use over winter.
Thursday, 11 October 2018
A Brief Return to Summer
After the cold weekend, the weather's turned much milder and we've had a few very pleasant days, summer like days. On Wednesday afternoon the temperature reached 21.3°C or 70.3°F which is the first time this month we've been above the 20 degree C or 70 degree F mark.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 05-11 October 2018
On Wednesday afternoon to make the most of the fine weather, we decided on an afternoon trip to RSPB Old Moor. Storm Callum is due to arrive during Thursday night bringing wet and windy weather for Friday and into the weekend.
RSPB Old Moor
It's usual for the birds to do a disappearing act when we turn up and Wednesday afternoon wasn't any different. The birds that were in range of our lenses decided to look the other way and keep a very low profile.
This sparrowhawk was looking in the right direction but was determined to make getting a photo as difficult as possible. It was perched in a hedge in deep shade with a very low afternoon sun behind the hedge.
We're planning a bit more tidying up on the plot this afternoon (Thursday) before the arrival of storm Callum.