Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “winter”
We had 118 mm of rain in January, a month which averages 55 mm in London. So well over double the average rainfall for the month. But February has had quite a deluge too. We have had 44 mm so far. February is usually quite a dry month, averaging 39 mm. We have beaten that all ready, and if that …
We both came in at 8.30 on a cold January morning, 6 degrees, to count birds. There was a wind too, making it feel colder. We had come in before the garden was open. The RSPB Big Birdwatch rules are one hour over this weekend. 8.45 to 9.45 am was our hour. It felt even colder as bird watching you …
It is cold, the pavement on Earlham Grove icy with frost. Frost on car roofs too, as I walk down to the garden. Car roofs are the most visible frosty surfaces. They are horizontal and so lose heat easily. Clear nights are the coldest as there are no insulating clouds. Car roof tops are metal, good conductors, so easily lose …
We had Auld Lang Syne, fireworks, and drank too much at the changeover from 2025 to 2026. And saw the cheers and joy around the world as 2026 swept in, with hopes for new possibilities this year. Love, money, health and dare one say – peace. It is New Year’s Day as I write this blog and the hope is …
Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The sun rose at 8.02 am and will set at 3.51 pm, giving us 7 hours and 49 minutes of day. The longest day, the Summer Solstice on June 21st 2026, is 16 hours and 38 minutes, more than twice as long. Today’s sunrise is not, though, the latest …
Last Sunday, I led the Witch’s Tree walk. It was a chilly, dull day, unlike last year’s walk when it was sunny and 18 degrees. Nevertheless, 16 of us set off across the Flats to Bushwood. Once into the trees, we had the autumn colour all around. The pronounced yellow of lime trees, the crinkled yellow and brown of oak …
This time of year, we become very aware of trees. The leaves of deciduous trees are going yellow and some like the cherry tree going red too. The big month for leaf fall is actually November which is less than a week away. By December, we’ll have bare, skeletal branches, in the garden and along Earlham Grove. I went around …
Newham Council very soon will be implementing its waste food plan. It should begin for some households before the end of the year, and for all households in 2026. It is government directed. We will all be given what they call a caddy, which is a 5 litre container with a lid. Most people will keep it in their kitchen. …
Gustav Pagenstecher 1829 – 1916 Our interest in West Ham Park begins with Dr Fothergill who owned the house and estate, that was to become the park, from 1762 to 1780. Originally smaller than it is now, but over the years he increased his holding, able to do so from the income from his lucrative practice as a physician and …
Our garden depends on light for growth, for it to be seen at all, and for its colours. We are now converting sunlight energy into electricity with our solar panels. Light is either particles (photons) or a wave. Which is confusing as how can anything take two forms? But this is the realm of the sub atomic and they do …
