Enjoy the Snow?

Well here we are, two days before Christmas and still a small amount of laying Snow. What a cold spell of weather we have had. I'm glad we at least saw some Snow here, and enough to make a Snowman as well. :) The AO diving to such lengths was an indication of severity of the cold blast, and it was indeed severe in places! The uncertainty over the weather (in particular here in the South) has been quite something. Right up until the Snow fell there were doubts as to how far the Lows would track North, South, East, West, whether or not the conditions would be right and would the lows mix with warm air. Down here, that was our problem over the weekend, hence the Snow turned to rain. None the less, we did make a Snowman, who still stands in our garden, looking more like an old man, so I present you with the youthful looking Snowman instead. :)

My attention now turns to Christmas weather and beyond, and it looks as if the slow thaw will continue with a few dry days to enjoy and Frosty nights. From late Boxing Day onwards it looks as if things will turn a little unsettled, but we do still have cold pooling, so there is a possibility of some "battleground Snow" to contend with, as the rain moves in, it meets the cold air turning it Wintry for a time, although I am not expecting it to amount to much Snow wise, but it is one to watch! Beyond the 29th "ish"it's uncertain. It is possible the cold could continue. The AO starting to look like a climb towards positive, I am expecting the weather to turn more average, but we will have to wait and see. A week is an eternity away weather wise! :)

Are you prepared?

Well what a day! Lots to say, so I shall start with the weather! Everyone is talking about it, and I guess the question on most people's lips is, will it or won't it Snow? Truth is, even with the greatest of technology in weather forecasting, no one knows for certain. This has the potential to be a very serious weather event here in the UK, and due to the rather unusual pattern that is forming, it's hard to know what exactly what will happen.

Some are calling it a "Once in a lifetime event" of the Polar Vortex plunging over the UK. That hasn't happened since 1955, and the army were brought in to deliver supplies to people stranded in 60cm of Snow! Others are saying after the initial blast Thursday, it will be Sleet or Rain, and Snow for the lucky few. I would say, be prepared for anything. Nothing is worth taking a risk.

I think it's worth a mention that Thursday could be tricky. We start the day off with rain, and then a sudden and quick surge of Arctic Air. There will be very sharp temperature drops, and that is what is going to be the initial concern for me. The ground will be wet, and around 3-6pm we will go from around +5c down to below zero in very little time. Anything that falls from the sky under the cold temperatures, is likely to be Wintry, and with school runs and rush hours, it could be a dangerous time. Just be prepared, because it's going to be a nightmare for the gritters!!

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On to my walk today. It was cold, damp and cloudy, but as always, Upton Country Park shared it's delights. Wildlife was busy today, all except the Squirrels, who were very quiet. On the ground in the woods, I looked over and saw what I thought was a tree stump, but it was actually a very big Buzzard. Digging for worms I expect. It was very skittish and flew off before I could even take my lens cap off.

A little bit further round, I peered though the Trees and spotted a Fox. The first time I have ever seen one in the open at Upton. I took a couple of snaps before a rather loud dog walker on a phone disturbed it. Not to mention dog off lead, it really is a pet hate of mine, and just, well, rather selfish! I shall refrain from going into a full blown rant, and show you the picture of the rather handsome Fox!

I really felt for it to be honest. It ran off and spent some time skirting, hoping to come back to it's food, but the birds came in for it and the Fox disappeared.

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Lots of Jays around today. It is unusual to see them. They are very shy birds and usually all I can see of them, is the flash of white and blue as they fly away. These were in the field feeding. I must have seen about 8 all in all, and whilst they didn't come close, they didn't fly away. I guess they are either very hungry, or stocking up.

As you can see, Jays are really quite attractive for Crows! They are very clever and mimics very well. In the Autumn we followed a familiar mew of a Buzzard, to find a Jay sat in the tree. Great birds!

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Next up was feeding the little birds. They were hungry as well. Demonstrated by this Nuthatch that picked up a nut bigger than his beak.

Lots of other birds came for a feed. Blackbirds, Robins, Bluetits, Coaltits, and even Goldfinches. Sadly, with there being such a fight over the food, the birds were too quick. Before I finish today's blog, I did get a Robin. Not the best quality, but an expression that demonstrates why I love Robins so much. They never fail to entertain me on a long walk.

I finished my walk to the sound of a Woodpecker calling in the trees. After walking for over an hour, I spotted the dog walker I mentioned earlier, who disturbed the Fox. She was still on the phone! I'm guessing the call was important. :/

11/12/10 The Cold Snap..

In case anyone is wondering, the cold snap is most definitely on. I hope everyone is prepared, because it could certainly cause some significant problems as we head towards the end of next week. A few more chart runs are needed in order to firm up the details, but it is looking likely that along with the cold, significant Snow is on the way. Initially for Northern and coastal areas, but spreading South as we head to the weekend. There is a good possibility of even us here seeing enough to cause disruption, but details will become clearer as we enter the new week.

There are signs of a warm up just before Christmas and through the Christmas period, but that is a long way off. This time of year is very busy out there on the roads. So wrap up warm, go out and finish your Christmas Shopping, and be prepared!! If nothing else it is going to be very cold.

My Walk Today

One thing is for certain, it was a lot colder than I thought it would be! The Ice was really thick in places. None the less, I had the most wonderful walk in one of the places I love the most. Upton Country Park. It just has everything anyone could want in a wildlife walk. Ponds, Marshes, Wetlands, Farmland, and Woodland. It really is wonderful, and wildlife watching is never boring that's for sure. Every visit seems to encounter something different, and varies massively through the seasons. The Winter is my favorite time to walk there.

First up, was a visit to the small pond. This is where I encountered something I have never encountered at Upton. A Squirrel that was prepared to practically eat out of hand. Normally, the Squirrels are very wild and incredibly skittish around humans. On top of this, it was clear that a fair few species of animal were hungry, and once I produced the food, they were desperate for a share. It was clear who was boss though, as the other animals were not prepared to step inside the Squirrels territory. So where is the picture of this territorial scary monster?

I couldn't resist it. It put it's "Shrek, Puss In Boots" pose on, and it had my full attention for a while :) It was either continuing to fatten up in preparation of another cold spell, or was hungry after the recent one. Either way, the experience was unique for Upton, and I rather enjoyed it. :)

Next up was a walk round the Shoreline. I just love the Shoreline. As you walk round, on the left there are Wetlands, Marshes and a view over Poole Harbour. On the right is Farmland and in the distance, Woodland. This often provides surprises, but today another. It is usual to see Geese on the Grass, but today there were a few Lapwings joining them.

About halfway round the Shoreline, is the perfect place for a picnic. I always put some bird seed down, enjoy my food and the company of the invited birds. Today was different yet again, in that the small birds were reluctant to feed. Robins are usually the number one species this time of year that happily feed on the seed, whilst treating us to a nice song, but not today. The Robins were skittish, as well as the other small birds. Maybe there was a threat about that was hungry and just waiting to pounce on a small bird. None the less, a few species did join me, be it brief.

A Dunnock, and I have to say, one of my best pictures to date :)

A beautiful Blue Tit :)

A Robin, that allowed me to photograph his tail! But believe it or not, the photo below is actually the same Robin :D

I saw him puff up and deflate a few times. Maybe he had wind? :D Although the logical explanation, was that he was making himself look bigger either for territorial reasons, or to scare off preditors. :)

Also during my lunch, I was treated to a brief flypast of a Buzzard. The Buzzard was being chased off and harassed by Crows and Jackdaws. It is fascinating to watch such a large bird of prey being bullied off by Crows!

After lunch, I continued round to the Woodland trail. Plenty to see brief glimpses of, but nothing to photograph. Skittish Robins, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatches, Blackbirds, Magpies, Crows, Pigeons and another Buzzard to name a few. It led me towards the end of the walk and a sight I just can't stand or understand. A dog poo bag thrown into the trees, hanging from the branches.

Just why do people do things like this? I think it is a disgrace. Such a beautiful place to walk, with wonderful wildlife, and people disrespect it by throwing bags of dog poo into the trees. It is also common to see poo bags tied to fences, and an abundance of dog poo lining the paths. I can't abide lazy dog owners, and whilst I'm on the subject, I have to mention the amount of dogs being walked off lead! It is a nature reserve, and people obviously walk their dogs there, because Upton is such a wonderful place. So it confuses me as to why they break the law by walking their dogs off lead? It endangers the wildlife, and spoils the enjoyment of those watching it. Upton used to have ten resident Peacocks. They had two left that were removed for their own safety. It is thought that at least two of the Peacocks were killed by dogs. How sad is that? It is a shame to end a blog with such negativity, but it is an important issue I want to highlight, in the hope that one day, it might just sink in to someone to do something about it.

A White Christmas?

Possibly! That is the answer! As we move closer to the festive season, it's looking more likely that we will see a return to the bitter cold patterns we have seen over the past few weeks, with the possibility of Atlantic blocking through January which will mean sustained and bitter cold, for many weeks to come. From today, we start to see a very slight warm up until around Saturday. Temperatures will still only be around 6c by day, and followed by Frosts overnight. From Saturday, that is when the fun and games start as temperatures begin to fall away again. As we enter the new week, we will see firming up of the weather patterns, but for now take a look at this;

The Arctic oscillation chart, to put it simply, when the lines go above the centre line, it is positive and below the line, negative. I have highlighted the charts position during the current/last cold spell, and as you can see, it was negative. Strong negative indicates cold Arctic conditions from a High pressure, Northern blocking, that prevents the usual Atlantic patterns of weather in the UK. The steeper the negative, the stronger the block, the colder it is for us. As you can see from the forecast line, it is possible the negative will be even more intense than recently, indicating a strong pattern of sustained cold that will take some shifting! If this was to happen, be prepared for more record breaking low temperatures, and more Snow.

The chart you see above is the AO archive. The red indicates a positive AO year, the blue a negative one. The past two Winters, and now this one, have provided us with very cold weather and Snow. As you can see, the AO has been negative. Looking at previous years, you can identify the level of Atlantic driven years we have had. As you can see, as we enter 2011, the AO is forecast negative again, but how low will we go? Exciting times ahead :)

The cold continues..

At least until the end of the week. There will be plenty of dry weather around, harsh Frosts and occasional Freezing Fog lingering. At the end of the week, things are set to turn much milder, but staying settled. As we move into the next week, there are signs to suggest things turning much colder again. Could a repeat of last week's weather be on the cards? It's too early to say, but the possibility is there.

I am looking forward to getting out this week walking. I love the cold, clear, crisp days of Winter, enjoying the company of Wildlife and especially the Robins, who seem to enjoy human company this time of year :) Expect to see lots of pictures of Robins from me in the coming weeks!

Our Birds and Wildlife

The weather is cold, the ground is hard and our wildlife will be beginning to suffer during the Winter as they forage for food. There is a lot we can do to help. We can put out feeders, seeds, nuts, suet and fat balls or bits of unsalted bacon rind to help feed them. The RSPB have a lot of useful information about simple things we can do to help our wildlife during the Winter. The RSPB is a very worthy cause to support. I wholeheartedly support every bit of their work. If you love wildlife please consider either a donation or joining them to support their work. The membership has many benefits, and it is incredibly reasonable. At the very least, please have a look on their website by clicking HERE to get information on how to help your own local wildlife.

A Snowy week.

What a fantastic few weeks weather wise. It's been cold and we had a lot of Snow! It's all melted now, but the cold spell is expected to last, quite possibly until the New Year!