Two beheadings out of six wives is too many - Henry VIII
It was late April and the weather forecast was good: warm, sunny days and not too cold at night. Time for our first camping trip of the season? Where to go? We didn't want to travel too far (maybe one to one & half hours maximum) and it would be nice to visit somewhere new. I suggested the Camping & Caravanning Club site at Winchcombe (41 miles, 1 hour by car) which we've used a number of times and highly recommend.
Photo 1: Sunset over Winchcombe Camping & Caravanning Site (29th April)
Nearby is Sudeley Castle (4 miles, 10 minutes) in the historic town of Winchcombe. For some reason we have never visited before despite often being nearby; so this seemed like a good opportunity.
On the way, we stopped off at the Malverns to view the bluebells that cover the western down slopes of the Malvern Hills (Photo 2) ...
Photo 2: Bluebells on the Western Slopes of the Malverns
... then onto the campsite with a stop-off at Morrisons in Tewkesbury for supplies. After setting up camp we relaxed for a couple of hours. After dinner,we made use of a gorgeous evening to do a circular walk to The Royal Oak at Gretton for a pint before returning back to camp (about 7 miles). No problems sleeping that night!
The next day was a little overcast, though still warm, so ideal for visiting Sudeley Castle & Gardens. The admission price was £21 each (over 60s) which seemed reasonable for a privately-owned estate. After paying to go in, it is a short walk passed a ruined chapel before the main building comes into view (Photo 3) ...
Photo 3: First Glimpse of Sudeley Castle (28th April)
Sudeley Castle origins date back to 1443 when the 1st Baron Sudeley (Ralph Boteler, Lord High Treasurer of England) started the building process on the site of a 12th Century fortified manor house. In 1469, it was confiscated by King Edward IV (Lancastrian Ralph Boteler had picked the wrong side in the War of the Roses!). During the Tudor period (1485 - 1603), it changed hands many times before, in 1547, it was given to Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour (3rd wife of Henry VIII) and husband of Katherine Parr (the surviving 6th and final wife of Henry VIII).
Photo 4: Wives of Henry VIII, Sudeley Castle (April 2026)
Unfortunately for Thomas, he literally lost his head in 1549 and Katherine's brother (Willian Parr) inherited Sudeley Castle. Katherine only lived at Sudeley Castle for 3 months before dying from puerperal fever just 6 days after giving birth to her daughter, Mary. Despite this brief stay, Sudeley Castle pays a huge homage to Katherine Parr.
During the English Civil War (1642 - 1651), Sudeley Castle once again picked the wrong side (Royalists) and the castle was 'slighted' (i.e. part demolished and left as a ruin) in 1649 after falling to Parliamentary forces. After nearly 200 years as a romantic ruin, the estate was bought in 1837 by John and William Dent, wealthy glove makers from Worcester. They rebuilt/extended the castle and the family continue to live there.
There is plenty to see in the numerous & varied gardens surrounding the Castle. Here are a few photos ...
Photo 5: Knot Garden, Sudeley Castle (April 2026)
Photo 6: St Mary's Church, Sudeley Castle (April 2026)
Photo 7: Sudeley Castle, Ruins and Victorian Rebuild (April 2026)
Photo 8: Topiary at Sudeley Castle & Gardens (April 2026)
Photo 9: St Mary's Church centre), Sudeley Castle (left)
Photo 10: Sudeley Castle & Gardens (April 2026)
Photo 11: St Mary's Church, Sudeley Castle (April 2026)
We spent about 6 hours touring parts of the castle and the extensive gardens including a couple of breaks for lunch and afternoon drinks (choice of cakes, savouries was a bit disappointing). The gardens were delightful and the displays in the castle were informative. Mary was enthused by the many textile and embroidery displays. Overall, good value for money. As we drove away, the car park was almost empty; perhaps the average stay is a little less than the six hours we spent at Sudeley Castle & Gardens!
Tact is the art of making guests feel at home when that's really where you wish they were - George Bergman
April 2026 was warm, sunny and dry; in other words, very similar to the previous month, March. There was an unsettled period in the middle of the month when most of the rain fell but otherwise it was very pleasant. The fourth named storm of the season (Dave) occurred early in the month (4th/5th) and impacted Northern Ireland and Scotland; we didn't notice it in Herefordshire.
This month's garden photos were taken on the 4th, 19th and 26th of the month to show the rapid changes during springtime. Early in the month of April (Photo 1) we see the new season leaves appearing. The white cherry blossom is out; both on our neighbour's ornamental tree (peeking above the roof line in the top right of the picture) and on our eating cherry (left of centre). Meanwhile, the tulips bring a splash of vibrant colour to the flower beds. There is plenty of activity on the patio as I'm busy cleaning and sterilising plant pots, ready for the new growing season.
Photo 1: Back Garden on 4th April 2026
By the middle of the month (Photo 2), everything is looking verdant; the tulips have gone but we have the bold purple colour of the acer (centre, foreground) and the appearance of wisteria flowers in the distance.
Photo 2: Back Garden on 19th April 2026
The final garden photo was taken towards the end of the month (26th April) when the wisteria was full of blossom (Photo 3). Just to the left of the wisteria, is the purple-leaved crab apple tree which has recovered well from a drastic pruning after it appeared to be dying a year or two ago. Unfortunately, the Photinia bush at the end of the garden has somewhat mysteriously died.
Photo 3: Back Garden on 26th April 2026
Daily garden photos for April 2026 are collated in Video 1 ...
Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden (April 2026)
Table 1 summarises some weather stats for our garden location collected by our Davis Weather Station. No frosts although it did get close on one occasion in the middle of the month. Precipitation was low with more than half the monthly rainfall falling within a single 24 hour period (11th/12th).
Table 1: Summary Weather Statistics for April 2026
Daily min/max temperatures for April 2026 are plotted in Figure 1 (click to see a larger image). No frosty night although the overnight temperature dripped to 0 ℃ on the 13th; so a good month for gardeners! Daytime maxima ranged from 12 - 26 ℃ in what turned out to be a pleasantly warm and not too hot month.
Figure 1: Daily Min/Max Temperatures (April 2026)
Daily rainfall and solar radiation (W/m²) - a proxy for sunshine hours - are shown in Figure 2. What little rain there was in April was confined to the middle of the month. The last 10 to 12 days of the month were dry and sunny.
Figure 2: Daily Rainfall & Sunshine (April 2026)
We now have 7 years of Hereford city weather data for the month of April covering the years 2020 - 2026. This information is summarised in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Although weather is still highly variable in April, there is a general trend towards warmer conditions (2020 is an outlier perhaps due, in part, to the Covid pandemic shutdown reducing air traffic by 90%). Certainly, the last three months of April (2024 - 2026) have been frost-free.
Figure 3: Time Series (2020 - 2026) of April Temperature Data (Hereford City)
Figure 4 shows rainfall is generally low in Hereford during the month of April but also highly variable. It does mean some additional irrigation is needed most years as the gardener/farmer starts sowing/planting out during April (the first, generally, frost-free month). Low rainfall usually goes hand-in-hand with more dry days and higher levels of sunshine; except for the usual suspect, 2020, which was abundant in both rain and sunshine.
Figure 4: Time Series (2020 - 2026) of April Rain, Sun & Wind Data (Hereford City)
The following three figures are taken from the UK Met Office's monthly report for April 2026. The headline for this report read 'April showers in short supply, but sunshine plentiful for many'. This was certainly true for Hereford city (i.e. my back garden). April saw the fourth named storm (Dave) of the current season (4th/5th April); it passed largely unnoticed in Hereford with perhaps a stiff breeze and a drop of rain. As Figure 5 indicates, most of the UK was warmer than normal and this included Herefordshire. Our local long-term weather station at Credenhill reports a mean daily temperature for April of 9 ℃; 2 ℃ lower than the monthly average recorded by my back garden Davis Weather Station (Table 1). According to Figure 5, the Met Office data suggests somewhere between 9.5 ℃ and 10.5 ℃; so not far from my own data.
Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (April 2026)
Rainfall in England and Wales during April was low, especially in eastern England (Figure 6). Credenhill, just 4 miles outside Hereford, reports a typical April rainfall of 50.21 mm. Hence the 24 mm recorded in my back garden represents about 50% of the expected rainfall - in good agreement with Figure 6. Rainfall in Northern Ireland and Scotland was close to normal; boosted by heavy rainfall from Storm Dave on top of an essentially dry month for the whole of the UK.
Figure 6: Relative UK Rainfall (April 2026)
UK sunshine levels (Figure 7) were generally about 150% the expected levels for April. Table 1 infers sunshine levels in our backgarden (Table 1) were only 115% of the normal levels for the Midlands. Maybe I need to check the calibration of my solar radiation detector again.
Figure 7: Relative UK Sunshine Hours (April 2026)
Jobs in the Garden
Sowing seeds (tomato, cucumber, squash, celery, celeriac, bell peppers, aubergines)
Composting
General tidying
Flora & Fauna in the Garden
Blackbird (x2)
Blue Tit (x1)
Collared Dove (x3)
Dunnock (x1)
Great Tit (x2)
House Sparrow (x6)
Jackdaw (x2)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (x3)
Robin (x1)
Starling (x2)
Wood Pigeon (x2)
Wren (x1)
Peacock Butterfly
Holly Blue Butterfly
Photo 4: Peacock Butterfly in the Kitchen Garden (3rd April)
Photo 5: Holly Blue Butterfly in the Main Garden (6th April)
I cannot choose one hundred best books because I have written only five - Oscar Wilde
Climate Monitor is a new app just launched by Reuters, the British news agency The app provides a snapshot of how much hotter or colder today will be for your location (e.g. Hereford, UK) compared with the normal (or expected) temperature for today. The normal daily high temperature is calculated from the 1961-1990 ERA5 reanalysis dataset. For people of a certain age (i.e. me), this is a highly relevant comparison as the 1961-1990 period covers my childhood and early adult years. And we all like to compare & contrast our current situation with how we fondly remember our childhood!
Figure 1 is a screen dump from Climate Monitor for Hereford on the 9th July 2026. It shows today's predicted daily maximum temperature (31 ℃) is 11.4 ℃ above the normal daily maximum for the 9-10th July (based on the 1961-1990 climatic period). This is a huge difference (20 ℉) albeit supercharged by the the current heatwave affecting the UK.
Figure 1: Climate Monitor Screen Dump for Hereford on 9th July 2026
As I am writing this blog post at 11 o'clock in the morning, the temperature outside is already 28 ℃ and rising. Today's maximum temperature, based on yesterday's hourly data, should occur around 4-5 pm with an estimate of 34-35 ℃; that is 14-15 ℃ above normal!!
There is more information presented by in the freely available Climate Monitor app. For example, the 'How This Year Compares' inset in Figure 1 graphically represents how the monthly average temperatures in 2026 have deviated from the 1961-1990 norm. For Hereford, apart from January (0.6 ℃ higher), all the other months have been 2.9 ℃ to 3.6 ℃ higher than normal. There is a very strong possibility that 2026 will be a new record hottest year for Hereford.
Table 1 (also from Climate Monitor) summarises the Continental mean for high temperatures (and their anomalies) on July 9th 2026. All continents are warming but Europe is warming fastest. Interestingly, the North American continent is one of the slowest warming continents. Does this explain why climate denial (i.e. the refusal to accept the scientific consensus that human-caused global warming/climate change is a fact) is more prevalent in the USA? Things are never as simple as that but it may be a factor along with electing a narcissistic senile bully with a low IQ.
Table 1: Continental Averages for Maximum Daily Temperature (9th July 2026)
Well-adjusted means you can make the same mistakes over and over again, and keep smiling - George Bergman
Video 1: Gulls Over the Garden (July 2026)
Just yesterday (7th July 2026), at about quarter-to-nine in the morning, there was a great commotion in the skies above our town garden. As a rough estimate, I would say there were 40+ lesser black-backed gulls circling overhead (Video 1). What could have caused such a hullaballoo? Even in land-locked Hereford, we are used to seeing flocks/colonies of gulls circling around a food source; but that clearly was not the situation here. In the evenings, we have seen smaller flocks gathering overhead before heading out to their overnight roosting places. But this was early morning!
It was only when, about 90 minutes later, on my way to the kitchen garden to check on the Hotbin composters that I discovered the probable reason for the earlier brouhaha. There, on the potato patch, was a lesser black-backed gull with a very badly damaged right wing.
Photo 1: Lesser Black-backed Gull with 'Broken' Wing (July 2026)
The bird was relatively calm though it moved away awkwardly if I approached it. Photo 2 shows the damaged right wing very clearly; flight was impossible.
Photo 2: Lesser Black-backed Gull with 'Broken' Right Wing (July 2026)
I assume the earlier cacophony was a 'gull down' response from all the other gulls. The gulls have been breeding here or hereabouts so there are lots of family groups.
Mary supplied some water & food (suet pellets) and I contacted Herefordshire Wildlife Rescue run by a small group of local volunteers. It took a few hours to get a response and they advised capturing the bird and taking it to a local vet. Neither of us were overly confident in taking on this task because these birds can be aggressive and we were concerned about inflicting further damage.
Fast forward to today (8th July), the bird was still alive. It was still mobile and had now moved to the Japanese garden. More food and water. Mary returned from her volunteer work with the Hereford Cathedral Broderers (about 3 pm), We'd not heard anything from the rescue group, so we needed to take more drastic action. A quick phone call to the vet (fortunately, only about 150 yards away) to confirm they would accept the bird if we could deliver it.
I managed to find a large box (full of toilet rolls) which seemed suitable (minus the rolls, of course) and Mary found an old blanket. Off to the Japanese garden where the gull was 'enjoying' some afternoon sunshine. Mary used her blanket like a matador to usher the bird towards the open box held by yours truly. It turned out to be easier than we thought.
Photo 3: The Bird Box
A five-minute walk to the vets, a bit of paperwork to sign over the 'care' of the bird to the vet and we were soon back home. We will never know what happened to the injured gull; if I had to guess it would probably involve humane disposal because we think the injuries are probably too severe.
A while ago, I received one of the regular e-mails from hotbincomposting.com which discussed when/how to use the supplied hot water bottle that is included with every new HotBin. Following Sod's Law, I'm now having trouble locating that e-mail. From memory, the advice was to use the hot water bottle only during the colder months when the outside temperature was below 15 ℃. This seemed unnecessarily restrictive.
Photo 1: Newer & Older HotBin Versions
I regularly use hot water bottles during the winter to help maintain the active (i.e. top of the heap) composting temperature above 40 ℃. It is important to keep the active region above this temperature when the kitchen caddy (possibly containing cooked food) is the main source of green waste.
Photo 2: Hot Water Bottles for the HotBins
Sometimes, I also use the hot water bottles to start the hot composting process when starting up a 'new bin' at any time of the year. I always like to get the HotBin up and running as quick as possible. Often because I have a ton of garden waste to process because: (i) Mary has had a weeding/pruning blitz, (ii) the neighbours have had a pruning/weeding blitz, or (iii) my local garden maintenance guy, Paul, has just mowed/weeded/pruned one of his client's gardens.
To get a 'new bin' going asap, I use one or more (and sometimes all four) activation methods. In all HotBin start-ups, I assume a suitable mix of brown/green materials is available along with some form of bulking material (bark) and an absorbent (e.g. shredded/torn paper/cardboard) to take up excess moisture:
CompStix is the woody unsieved material recovered after sieving my finished compost which I use as a free bulking agent and compost activator.
Photo 3: CompStix Collected after Sieving Finished Compost
I use this material as the base for a new bin start-up and also as a blending component. It performs two main tasks: (i) aeration by ensuring there are pockets of air throughout the heap and resisting compaction, and (ii) inoculating the new heap with thermophilic bacteria (from previous HotBin runs) to give the hot composting process an early boost. Other bulking agents (e.g. bark or twigs) fulfill the first task but not the second.
Fresh Hot Compost from a concurrently running and active HotBin. This material adds both heat and active bacterial cultures to the start-up bin. Not always available!
Hot Water Bottle (HWB) or bottles are added to provide a heat boost. I often add two 2.5L litre bottles, neither of which is an original HotBin water bottle. Cheap replacements are available (e.g. used detergent/fertilizer bottles) but only use sturdy polypropylene (PP) bottles that can withstand hot/boiled water. My preferred method is to take a kettle of boiled water down to the HotBins (about 50 metres) and use a funnel to fill the empty HWBs that I have already buried in the upper compost layer (Photo 3). I use HWBs to kickstart a new HotBin, recover a partially-full cold bin, to convert a HotBin chugging along at 30-40 ℃ (mesophilic bacteria) into a HotBin racing along at 50-60 ℃ (by activating the thermophilic bacteria), or as a prophylactic measure to prevent the bin temperature dropping too low on a frosty night in winter.
Heat Reflective Cover (i.e. aluminium foil) to retain heat within the compost heap. This is a slightly controversial issue. While the foil undoubtedly reflects electromagnetic radiation (in the form of heat energy) back into the compost heap, it also partially restricts the upwards air flow that is a fundamental to the efficient operation of the HotBin.
Photo 4: Aluminium Foil Top Cover
The key is to ensure the foil cover is loose fitting with plenty of gaps around the edge to allow some hot air (and water vapour) to bypass it and exit via the vent. If the foil has small holes in it then that is also fine.
A word of caution, however. Water retention within the heap is greater with the reflective foil in place. This is a benefit when the temperature of the heap is 55 ℃ or higher. Firstly, it helps maintain constant high temperatures due to the high specific heat capacity of water (effectively, its own internal hot water bottle). Second, it increases the rate of enzymatic (amylases) hydrolysis (saccharification) of biopolymers (e.g. starch) to produce simple sugars for the bacteria to feed upon. A pH of around 5-6 and a temperature of 55-60 ℃ is optimum for fungal and bacterial amylases found in the natural environment.
One thing I'd like to see is the addition of a heat reflective coating to the underside of the HotBin (visible in Photo 4). This would eaid heat retention without restricting air flow.
According to HotBin, you should expect your freshly half-filled bin to warm up to 40 ℃ or higher in 48 - 72 hours. The actual time will depend on your mix of green and browns. Typically, I would expect a 'new' HotBin to be operating at 55-60 ℃ within 36 hours when using one or more of my 'accelerators'. As an example, I started to prepare a new HotBin run on the 10th June 2026:
Spread 4L Compstix on the base, followed by 20L hot partially-composted material from my other HotBin and 80L of mixed shredded garden waste (note: as a general rule I always shred my garden waste, apart from grass cuttings, before adding to the HotBin; this could, I suppose, also be added to the list of accelerator processes). A reflective foil cover was added but no HWB.
After about 12 hours, the lid thermometer read 17 ℃ with the compost heap itself at around 30-35 ℃. A further 20L hot partially-composted material was added and the foil cover replaced.
After 36 hours, the lid thermometer read 25 ℃ and the compost had heated up to 35-40 ℃.
Time for drastic action. Two HWBs (each filled with 2.5L boiling water) were added along with a further 10L hot partially-composted material and the foil cover replaced.
After 40 hours (i.e. just 4 hours later), the lid thermometer read 55 ℃ and the bulk compost temperature was 55-60 ℃. The HWBs were removed and 20L shredded garden waste added and the foil cover replaced.
After 60 hours, the lid thermometer read 63 ℃ and the bulk compost was 60-70 ℃**.
This example shows how the addition of HWBs can, in as little as 4 hours, take a HotBin operating at mesophilic temperatures (35-40 ℃) up to the thermophilic (55-60 ℃) stage. It is important to remember we are dealing with a natural process and such interventions will not always provide such rapid dividends.
** After 26 days, the bin is still operating at 60 ℃ (bulk compost temperature) having consumed over 500L of garden waste.
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