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Category: General

It’s all too much.

It’s all too much.

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Rain that is!

We, like some other areas, have had a lot of rain recently and I discovered the results of that recently when I went for a walk.

I went down to the River Teme as I often do but when I got to the riverside meadow I found this:

That is a body of water, next to the river, about the size of a small lake which shouldn’t be there and my normal route goes through that water. I didn’t really want cold, wet feet so I detoured inland slightly to here:

This is the stream which is feeding that lake and that stream shouldn’t be there either. The shallowest part of the stream was a couple of inches deep (and about 4-6 feet wide) so it wouldn’t get into my boots if I walked through it which I did. Having done that I didn’t expect to have to walk through any more water.

WRONG!

That water was running along and across Kinsley Road. Again it was only a couple of inches deep so I could walk through it in my walking boots without getting my feet wet but I’ve not seen it like this before. I need to practice my ‘walking on water’ skills a bit more.

Would someone please turn the tap off before leaving?

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

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I went for a walk down by the River Teme in Knighton yesterday and used the path I usually use and came upon this.

You should be able to see the path coming towards the camera except that a lot of it isn’t there anymore. The river has been in flood recently and washed away a large part of the bank not to mention the tree in the top left corner which used not to be there.

It’s surprising what these rivers can do when they get a bit stroppy.

Somebody was hungry.

Somebody was hungry.

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This is a log that has been split to go on our fire. The dried log is very light which probably means that it is Willow and we do have willow trees in our garden.

The creature that chomped its way through that burrow was probably a beetle larva and possibly a member of the Longhorn group. Amanda suggested that it may have been a Cardinal beetle (Pyrochroidae coccinea).

Rather attractive beetles don’t ya think? However there is no evidence to show exactly what beetle it actually was so it’s all guesswork.

The Fungal Jungle

The Fungal Jungle

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We have just been up into Kinsley Wood on the top of Panpunton Hill in Knighton to look for fungi. We found a number of different sorts some of which we think we have identified and some we haven’t. If you can identify any of them do please let me know.

1. Calocera viscosa – Orange Stagshorn (Coniferous)
2. Amanita musceria – Fly Agaric (Deciduous)
3. Helvella crispa (Deciduous)
4. Unknown (Cortinarius/Russula/Bolete ?)
5. Unknown
6. Unknown
7. Unknown
8. Unknown (Clitocybe ? – may be the same as 6)
9. Xylaria hypoxylon – Candle-snuff

These are pictures of Kinsley Wood where we found the fungi. Kinsley Wood is a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees which means a greater variety of fungi as some of them prefer deciduous and others prefer coniferous.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas

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We would like to wish all our visitors a very happy christmas and a happy new year.

It seems almost certain that we won’t be having any snow before the new year but after that who knows?

The New King!

The New King!

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We were in the Offa’s Dyke Centre in Knighton recently and we are now able to introduce you to the new king.

This is the old King Offa:

and this is the new King Offa:

The throne is a replica of what King Offa’s throne would have looked like. The king is a replica of what King Offa wouldn’t have looked like but then you can’t have everything can you?

Our weather

Our weather

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About a year ago I purchased a weather station which I erected in our garden where it has been standing since. I thought that you might like to see some aspects of our weather over the last year.

First the temperature (Blue Line). You can ignore the red line which is the Dewpoint.

  

Secondly the rain.

And lastly the barometric pressure.

If you prefer it in tabular form:

High Temperature   85.8°F at 08-Jul-2018 16:38
Low Temperature   19.5°F at 28-Feb-2018 22:26

High Humidity       95% at 04-Jan-2018 08:20
Low Humidity       21% at 25-Jun-2018 13:05

High Barometer     30.729 inHg at 22-Oct-2018 12:32
Low Barometer     29.050 inHg at 05-Mar-2018 23:02

Rain Total 40.69 in
High Rain Rate 6.00 in/hr at 28-Jul-2018 14:39

High Wind 27 mph from 224° at 24-Jan-2018 02:14

This, remember, is all in our garden in Knighton on the Welsh/English border and is not necessarily relevant to other parts of the country but it gives an overall impression.

The weather station does not measure hours of sunlight which is a pity.