We have reached the end of 2021 and December's report on the garden. See the report for November for links to the earlier months. If I get round to it I'll do an annual summary report but don't hold your breadth!
The first photo is from December 3rd, a still and cloudy day after a cool night. I have the coffee roaster out on the patio table. You can just pick out the steamy smoke haze coming from the roaster. Two colanders are ready and waiting on the bench for the final stage of removing the chaff and cooling the beans; this is where a breeze is helpful to blow away the chaff as the hot beans are transferred from one colander to the other. Fortunately, the 'bean of the day' was Sumatran arabica from the Usaha Tani Gayo Co-operative and there was very little chaff.
In the centre of the photo, our Mountain Ash (Rowan tree) stands full of berries and is a popular dining out venue for the local birds. Starlings can demolish the whole crop in a day but they've kept away this year and that has left more for a family of blackbirds, a male and female blackcap and, new this year, a mistle thrush and redwing.
By December 12th, only the low hanging fruit is left and the branches are too thin to support the larger birds though there is usually plenty of fallen fruit. The blackbirds have developed a cunning flypast strategy grabbing the fruit in mid-air and then retiring to a safer perch to enjoy their prize.
The next day (13/12/21) all the berries had gone. And the Mistle Thrush, which had been a daily visitor, has not been seen since!
New Year's Eve (31/12/21) and in another 14 hours it will be 2022. The garden is still surprisingly green and the flowering cherry is in bloom as it was last
January.
December was warm for this time of year in part due to the SW and W wind direction for much of the month. Generally cloudy with not much in the way of sunshine. There were two warm periods (12/12/21 -16/12/21 and 29/12/21 - 1/1/22) when the average daily temperatures (night & day) were in double figures. No doubt we will pay for this mild weather in January and February.
December 2021 (2020) |
Weather Parameter | Value | Dates |
Average Monthly Temperature | 7 oC (6 oC) |
|
Maximum Monthly Temperature | 16 oC (14 oC) | 31st |
Minimum Monthly Temperature | -2 oC (-4 oC) | 22nd |
Number of Air Frost Days | 2 (7) |
|
Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC) | 0 (0) |
|
Monthly Precipitation | 52.2 mm (115.6 mm) |
|
Greatest 24 h Precipitation | 16.4 mm (21.0 mm) | 7th - 8th |
Number of Dry Days | 9 (7) |
|
Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated) | 36 (43) |
|
Average Wind Speed | 4 km/h (3 km/h) |
|
Highest Wind Speed | 53 km/h (50 km/h) | 8th, 30th |
Maximum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level) | 1042.2 hPa (1034.4 hPa) | 17th |
Minimum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level) | 978.5 hPa (968.0 hPa) | 7th |
Average Barometric Pressure (Sea Level) | 1011.7 hPa (1001.9 hPa) |
|
Meanwhile, we can continue to enjoy flowering primroses:
Foxgloves:
Salvias:
Wallflowers:
Fuschias:
and more...
A Happy and Prosperous New Year to one and all.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment