Bits & Bobs to end 2024

December has given us some gorgeous sunrise and sunset skies ....Photo 1: Sunset from the Back GardenPhoto 2: Sunset Over a Hereford StreetWe are down to the last few tomatoes from this year's summer crop ...Photo 3: Last of the Tomatoes (December 31st 2024)... and there are still plenty of pears...

The Holly & The Ivy (are useful sources of greens for winter hot composting)

 With a HotBin (other hot composting bins are available), it is possible to continue the hot composting process throughout winter. Some mollycoddling may be required (e.g. the use of hot water bottles and an extra blanket when there are frosts) due to limited internal heating from easily compostable...

Happy Christmas 2024

 I've been busy with Citizen Science stuff during December: writing methods, doing experiments and twice weekly river testing. I've got a few blogposts in the pipeline and hope to catch up in the New Year.In the meantime, seasons greetings to one and all. Mary has decided to downsize 'Christmas'...

Clehonger Waterfall

Although surrounded by hills (e.g. Malvern Hills, Black Mountains, and Shropshire Hills), Herefordshire itself has a gentle undulating landscape. Consequently, there are limited opportunities for waterfalls in the County.Clehonger is a large village (population > 1000) a few miles outside Hereford...

Dark Skies

 Returning from a talk on the importance of Dark Skies, given by the City Branch of the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, we came across this rather dazzling display of Christmas lights (and I don't mean dazzling in a good way!).Photo 1: A bit Early for ChristmasPhoto 2: Still a Bit Early for...

Capital Cardiff

After visiting Worcester on the Monday, the very next day (12/11/24) we caught the train to Cardiff for another away day. Mary said she hadn't been to Cardiff before until I reminded her we had visited the Ikea store there; this would have been 15 or so years ago when we were setting up a couple...

Royal Worcester

We had a couple of days with nothing planned so, rather than stay at home, we decided on two day trips. The first was to Worcester, the historic county seat (town) of Worcestershire. There are excellent road and rail links between Hereford and Worcester; the 25-30 mile journey takes about the same time...

Great White Egret at Brockhall Gravel Pits Nature Reserve (8th November 2024)

 Photo 1: Great White Egret (Brockhall Quarry, 8/11/24)It was a dank grey mizzly November day where the temperature struggled, but failed, to reach double figures. Just the weather for sitting by a warm cosy fire reading a book. For some reason, we decided to go for a walk around a nearby nature...