Not a great deal to say about the weekend’s weather as the dull, damp miserable spell of weather continued through the weekend.
With a week or so left to go November has been mildish for the time if year but unless we have a few very warm days in the remainder of the month I don’t think it will beat November 2011.
As you can see the average temperatures for November 2011 (9.3°C) and 2014 (8.7°C) are fairly close to the 23rd of the month. The forecast for the week ahead is for much cooler weather with daytime highs less than that average of 8.7°C so the purple line might be heading in a downwards direction this week.
If it means we get some brighter colder weather it will be preferred to the miserable conditions of the last couple of weeks.
Monday 24 November 2014
Lots to See At Old Moor
After the drab weather over the weekend Monday was forecast to be bright and sunny but chilly. We decided on a visit to RSPB Old Moor to make the most of the brighter weather. To be honest the day wasn’t as bright as forecast with the sun remaining behind light cloud for most of the day but it was much better than the weekend had been.
Our last visit to Old Moor had been a little bit disappointing as far as photographic opportunities were concerned with most of the birds staying well out of range of our camera lenses. Our luck seemed to be in on Monday though.
Our first stop was at the Bird Garden hide and it was a difficult choice to decide who to photograph first. As we arrived so did a great spotted woodpecker, a couple of reed buntings were busy feeding along with a male bullfinch. There were lots of chaffinches and greenfinches happily feeding from the plentiful supplies of seed.
It becomes a challenge to try to capture the birds more in their natural surrounding than sitting on a feeder. This upright log with holes filled with food seemed a great idea for attracting the woodpecker.
I couldn’t help but try this shot as the woodpecker got a little bit closer but I might have extended my zoom lens range a little bit too far loosing a bit of detail.
After the Bird Garden hide we had a wander around the rest of the reserve and found plenty of ducks to photograph. There were lots of cormorants around the lakes too but well out of photographic range apart from one who decided to give us a display of his fishing expertise or lack of it. It will be coming as a short video clip once I’ve had time to edit the movie clip.
By mid afternoon the cloud seemed to melt away and the sun came through giving a lovely if somewhat chilly end to the day.
A few more days like this would be most welcome.
Tuesday 25 November 2014
Paired Up
Tuesday was a rather crisp November day, dry and a bit sunnier than Monday. The better weather brought along a drop in temperatures too and Tuesday finished with the coldest average daily temperature this month of 4.2°C.
Sorting out our photographs from Monday’s visit to Old Moor it was noticeably how many of the ducks were paired up. It wasn’t until we were tagging our ducks that we realised we’d spotted a couple of gadwalls which was a first for us.
In keeping with most of the other ducks Mr & Mrs gadwall were already paired up.
I’ve finished editing my video of a cormorant fishing. I had a full five minutes of video before editing of the cormorant swimming around trying to catch a fish. I didn’t see it emerge from the water with a fish much to my and I’m sure the cormorants disappointment.
Is it just me or are there times when the cormorant looks like the Loch Ness monster?
If you’d like to see the full video of our visit to RSPB Old Moor I’ve added it below.
Wednesday 26 November 2014
Brightness Didn’t Last
It was expecting too much for the brighter weather to last anymore than a couple of days and so Wednesday returned to dull and damp remaining on the cool side as the temperature only managed to reach a high of 8.2°C. The cloud cover meant that overnight temperatures held up reasonably well falling to 5.8°C.
After the brighter weather of Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday became our dullest day of the month.
This chart compares the last four years and the 2014 purple line made an excellent start to the month but since the 12th of the month it’s gradually fallen back until now when it’s become the dullest November of the last four years.
Thursday 27 November 2014
Duller and Duller
I might have mentioned in yesterday’s blog for Wednesday that Wednesday was our dullest day of the month. Well it didn’t hold the record for long as a drab, dreary and damp Thursday took over the record. Not much rain fell but it came more in drizzle than proper rain.
Sue ordered three new rose bushes last week, which I’m sure Sue will writing a blog post about soon. This time of year roses come bare rooted and so can’t just be left until conditions improve. On a wet Thursday I didn’t fancy trampling all over wet soggy soil to plant them in their final locations so they’ve been heeled in until conditions improve.
I could reach this little bit of ground without having to walk on the soil or grass so our new rose bushes have this spot as their temporary home.
Friday 28 November 2014
And Duller Still!
Wednesday’s record dull day for this November was beaten by Thursday which in turn was beaten by Friday.
For comparison purposes I’ve plotted out three good days in July with their temperature and sunshine records.
With the scales for outside temperature and solar radiation kept the same this is the chart for the last three days.
Temperature and sunshine records 26 November 2014 to 28 November 2014
Temperature and sunshine records 09 July 2014 to 11 July 2014
It’s a bit of a stark comparison three good days in July against three dull days in November but it does show why we struggle to grow plants through the dark days of winter.
If you’d like to see some numbers for this comparison I’ve added a table of values output by my weather station below.
Brightness Comparisons July & November 2014
All Values in MJ/m2
09 July 2014
24.0
26 November 2014
0.7
10 July 2014
24.8
27 November 2014
0.6
11 July 2014
16.5
28 November 2014
0.4
65.3
1.7
To finish off I had a look to find the lowest value output over the last four year’s and that turns out to be 14 December 2012 with a value of 0.1 MJ/sqm. Whilst I was checking back through the records I noticed that on 28 November 2010 the temperature fell to -7.6°C so perhaps I shouldn’t complain too much about our current dull and damp but reasonably mild conditions.
From the forecast its looks like we might have to wait a few more days for a bit of brighter weather though.
Saturday 29 November 2014
Temperature Flatlines
The dull miserable weather continued on Saturday as yet another day passed without any glimmer of brightness let alone sunshine. It was a remarkable day as the temperature remained constant over the whole day varying by less than 1°C.
The highest temperature was 9.9°C at 13:25 and the lowest 9.3°C at 16:25 giving an average for the day of 9.6°C a little bit on the mild side for the end of November.
On Sunday morning something strange had happened to the sky. It had somehow changed colour and became blue rather than a drab grey colour.
After days of dull, dreary and damp weather the sun has made an extremely welcome reappearance on Sunday morning and all seems much better with the world.
We’ve now finished sorting out our photos from our visit to RSPB Old Moor last week and the best can be viewed in our Zenfolio album here.
Sunday 30 November 2014
Autumn Leaves
After such a lovely start to the day on Sunday it was a pity the sunny conditions didn’t last beyond lunchtime before the clouds once again took over. At least I managed one sunny picture taken in the garden on Sunday morning which was posted on yesterday’s blog.
Our medlar tree has been hanging onto its leaves well into autumn. I noticed on my short expedition into the garden on Sunday morning that over the last few days almost all the leaves have fallen. The gloomy weather has been very calm and the leaves all appear to have stayed where they had fallen over the last few days.
There hasn’t been any breeze to distribute them around the garden which is what normally happens. The magnolia has also shed lots of leaves too and these are piled up on top of some ferns growing around the base of the bird bath.
Although it turned cloudy in the afternoon we headed down to the plot to harvest a few more vegetables as supplies were running a bit low. There too where the leaves had fallen from the hazel bushes they remained around the base of the plants waiting for a breeze to come and distribute them around the allotment site.
It wasn’t a bad afternoon at all on the plot. The sunshine had disappeared but with hardly any breeze and a temperature of around 12°C it was a decent last day of autumn.
With all the plot trees now leafless the task of giving them a winter wash can begin. With a bit of hindsight Sunday with its calm and still conditions would have been an excellent day for spraying our plum and apple trees. I’m sure I’ll get another chance before the trees are breaking their buds next spring.
I’ve added our harvested carrots, parsnips, leeks and cabbage to our November harvesting list which can be found here.
