"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower" - Albert Camus
To be honest, I have forgotten what November was like this year. Neither hot nor cold nor wet nor dry, November just slipped out of my memory and forgot to leave its calling card.
According to the Met Office, however, November was stormy and unsettled at first before turning quietly autumnal and then a cold snap at the end of the month. So there was some weather about!
At the start of November (Photo 1), the garden was in full leaf with just hints of autumn colours. The red-leaved acer is the star of the show, as it is pretty much every autumn ...
Photo 1: Looking down the garden at the beginning of November 2023
By mid-month, the leaves were starting to fall and the arrival of Storm Debi on November 13th accelerated the process (Photo 2).
Photo 2: Looking down the garden in the middle of November 2023
By the end of the month, the deciduous trees had lost most of their leaves (Photo 3) ...
Photo 3: Looking down the garden at the end of November 2023
A time-lapse slideshow of November's daily photographs can be viewed in Video 1.
Video 1: Daily Garden Photos (November 2023)
Summary of Weather Parameters for November 2023
A bit of every type of weather in November with the main weather parameters collated in Table 1.
Table 1: Weather Stats for November 2023
November 2023
Weather Parameter
Value
Dates
Average Monthly Temperature
8 oC
Maximum Monthly Temperature
15 oC
18th
Minimum Monthly Temperature
-3 oC
25th
Number of Air Frost Days
5
Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)
0
Monthly Precipitation
51.4 mm
Greatest 24 h Precipitation
9.2 mm
1st - 2nd
Number of Dry Days
13
Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)
51
Average Wind Speed
3 km/h
Highest Wind Speed
48 km/h
13th
Maximum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)
1032.9 hPa
21st
Minimum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)
960.9 hPa
2nd
Average Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)
1005.2 hPa
Heating Degree Days
315.7
Cooling Degree Days
0.0
November's daily temperature, rain and sunshine values are presented in Figures 1 & 2. For most of November, temperatures were neither warm nor cool until the cold snap at the end of the month (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Daily Min/Max Temperatures for November 2023
Most of the rain fell in the first half of the month (Figure 2), as did most of the sunshine!
Figure 2: Daily Rainfall and Sunshine data for November 2023
This year's November temperature, rain, sun and wind are compared with their equivalents in 2020, 2021 & 2022 in Figures 3 & 4.
Although the mean (average) temperature for November 2023 was similar to the previous three years (Figure 3) it felt cooler (though not cold) overall perhaps because of the lower maximum and minimum temperatures.
Figure 3: November Temperature Data for the 2020 - 2023 Period
Figure 4: November Rain/Wind/Sun Data for the 2020 - 2023 Period
The UK's Met Office report for November 2023 can be found here along with their monthly maps for mean temperature anomalies, and relative (%) rainfall and sunshine duration. All three maps have a distinctly 'average' look to them. Temperatures (Figure 5) and rainfall (Figure 6) were there or thereabouts the 1991-2020 average. Sunshine hours (Figure 7) were slightly above the long-term average (1991-2020) as was most of England.
Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (November 2023)
Figure 6: UK Rainfall (% relative to 1991-2020 mean) - November 2023
Figure 7: UK Sunshine (% relative to 1991-2020 mean) - November 2023
Jobs in the Garden
Harvesting cauliflower, red cabbage, beetroot, parsnip, carrot, Swiss chard, spinach beet, celeriac, celery, medlars and Jalapeno chillies
Still eating stored potatoes, onions, garlic and tomatoes
Composting
Flora & Fauna (seen in the Garden)
2 x Blackbirds
5 x Blue Tits
Photo 4: Blue Tits on the Feeder
1 x Coal Tit
2 s Collared Doves
4 x Crows
2 x Dunnock
1 x Goldcrest
1 x Great Tit
Photo 5: Great Tit in Medlar Tree
20 x House Sparrows
Photo 6: House Sparrow & Blue Tit on Bird Feeder
1 x Long-tailed Tit
2 x Magpie
1 x Robin
20 x Starlings
Video 2: Starlings on Bird Feeder
Photo 7: Roosting Starlings on nearby TV aerials
3 x Wood Pigeon (1 x young)
And, finally, some November photos:
Photo 8: Cherry tomatoes ripening off (November 2nd)
It is early January in the year of 2024 and we needed something for lunch. Off to the kitchen garden to dig up a celeriac to make some soup. Is a double celeriac (Photo 1) lucky like a four-leaf clover? I'm guessing that two seedlings planted close together have become joined at the hip. After hosing down outside to remove most of the soil ...
Photo 1: Celeriac after hosing down to remove most of the soil
... and trimming the leaves and roots (Photo 2) ...
Photo 2: Just before the split
... the two halves are split asunder with a sharp knife & carefully peeled to reveal the edible bits (Photo 3).
Photo 3: Peeled and ready to cook
This double celeriac yielded 1 kg of prepared vegetable and a nice lot of kitchen waste for the hot composting bin!
With one half of the celeriac (518 g, Photo 3) I prepared faux* cream of celeriac soup in the Vitamix blender. [* faux because I use cashew nuts instead of cream]. Only six ingredients:
My Xmas stocking (2023) contained, along with an apple, satsuma and gold coins, a book and a bookmark (Photo 1). This is an oldish book first published in 2006 - proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Saint Nick, or maybe his elves, is not averse to finding a bargain in a secondhand bookshop. The pyrographed bookmark was a nice and classy touch though!
Simon Barnes is a journalist and author - although originally (and maybe still) a sportswriter, I came to 'know him' through his wildlife articles for The Times and the RSPB's in-house magazine. I've always enjoyed his writing style (gentle, humorous, descriptive, informative & evocative) covering a wide range of wildlife topics but especially birds.
How to be a bad bird watcher (To the greater glory of life) is a pure joy to read - easy on the eye and difficult to put down.
Photo 1: Book and Bookmark
This quote from the book offers a good summary:
Look out the window. See a bird. Enjoy it. CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a bad birdwatcher.
Indeed, we are all birdwatchers - come on, be honest, who can resist looking skyward upon hearing the mellifluous dulcet tones of a male blackbird singing his heart out from the rooftops as the sun goes down (Video 1).
Video 1: The Blackbird's Evensong (18:40 hours, 22/5/2023)
Of course, there are grades (bad to good) and types of bird watchers - (i) the fanatical twitcher who is interested only in the unexpected visitor, (ii) the box-ticking collector who thinks bird watching is a competitive sport, (iii) the scientific ornithologist who is as happy as Larry studying the behaviour and traits of, say, the common house sparrow and (iv) Jo(seph)(ine) Bloggs who just observes and enjoys birds and birdsong as they go about their everyday life.
My bird watching skills are poor, so I'm a bad birdwatcher, but that doesn't detract from the pleasure I get observing them through binoculars or filming them in the garden. Mary, an ecologist, is a good bird watcher achieved through many years of practice.
The easiest way to become a bad bird watcher is to attract our feathered friends into the garden. And the easiest way to do that is to have a bird table and/or bird feeders. Always have your camera phone or camera handy for that award-winning nature shot or you can install outdoor cameras (here and here) for more intimate and close-up pictures and videos.
Here is a short video recording (Video 2) taken on a camera phone (Pixel 7 Pro) through a double-glazed window. The starling action is over in a flash ...
Video 2: Camera Phone Video Taken at Normal Speed
Fortunately, there are a number of free video editing tools that will slow down the action for you. In this case, I used Adobe Express to convert Video 2 to a slow motion version (Video 3) ...
Video 3: Normal Speed Video Slo-moed using Adobe Express
Alternatively, you can save individual frames from Video 2. For example ...
Photo 2: Still Photo of Starling in Flight from Video 2
Photo 3: Still Photo of Starling in Flight from Video 2
... and stitch them together to make a video. I was able to brighten up the photos in Google Photos before Google, without any prompting from me, came back with a recommendation to turn the 13 still photos into an animated GIF (Video 4). [note: I had to convert the GIF to mp4 in order to import it into Blogger]
Video 4: Animated GIF from Photo Stills extracted from Video 2
Finally, some thoughts:
buy or borrow a copy of "How to be a bad bird watcher'
get a pair of binoculars (a cheap pair is fine) because birds are even more fascinating in close-up and they will help with identification
find a simple field guide to help identify the less common birds; for example, if you are in the UK you might choose a guide on British Garden Birds and graduate up to Birds of Britain. Don't complicate matters by using a guide to Birds of Europe or the World!!
think about setting up a bird feeding station in your garden - if you do, please keep it clean and hygienic
allocate some time to bird watching - this might be sitting quietly in the garden or by a window or it might be taking the dog for a walk in the country, in a park or by the river
if possible, have a camera or camera phone to hand - it may help with identification once you return home
don't expect to identify every bird you see - just enjoy the moment
if you enjoy birds you will enjoy nature - you might want to try observing and identifying butterflies next!
you decide, according to Simon Barnes, whether you want to become a better bad bird watcher by learning flight patterns, bird calls, preferred locations, etc.
Today (4th January 2024), I found this year's first garden snowdrop (Photo 1).
Photo 1: First 2024 Snowdrop in the Garden (4th January)
As usual, for the earliest snowdrop anyway, it could be found in Mary's mini-wood adjacent to the greenhouse (Photo 2).
Photo 2: Mary's Mini-Wood in January 2023
It is the same snowdrop bulb that produced the first flower in 2023 (Photo 2) albeit 10 days later ...
Photo 3: First 2023 Snowdrop in the Garden (14th January)
... and in 2022 on the 13th of the month (Photo 4)...
Photo 4: First 2022 Snowdrop in the Garden (13th January)
I have reported this sighting to Nature's Calendar, despite their 'warning' that this is outside its usual flowering period. All I can do is report the evidence (with photo).🤷
"The end of the Summer is not the end of the World. Here's to October" - A. A. Milne
"Would October be more interesting if it was the eighth month of the year?" - craftycabbage.com
After a promising start, with October giving its best impression of summer, the month reverted to type with strong autumnal flavours. With a plentiful supply of rain, some warmth and average amounts of sunshine, there was plenty of lush growth in the garden. With no frosts, there were still plenty of blooms to brighten up the garden. October 1st was a Sunday so the first photo was taken after I returned from river water testing (my Brompton cycle with Secchi tube protruding from the front carrier can be seen in the right foreground) - Photo 1.
Photo 1: View down the Garden (October 1st 2023)
By the end of the month (Photo 2), the leaves were taking on their autumn hues ...
Photo 2: View down the Garden (October 31st 2023)
A time lapse video of October's daily garden photos is shown in Video 1. This month's video is a little shorter than usual due as we enjoyed days and weeks away; here, here, and here.
Video 1: Daily Garden Photos (October 2023)
Summary of weather Parameters for October 2023
Warm and dry at the beginning of the month before turning cooler and wetter.
Table 1: Weather statistics for October 2023
October 2023
Weather Parameter
Value
Dates
Average Monthly Temperature
12 oC
Maximum Monthly Temperature
27 oC
8th
Minimum Monthly Temperature
1 oC
15th & 16th
Number of Air Frost Days
0
Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)
3
Monthly Precipitation
81.0 mm
Greatest 24 h Precipitation
18.4 mm
19th - 20th
Number of Dry Days
10
Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)
86
Average Wind Speed
2 km/h
Highest Wind Speed
37 km/h
13th
Maximum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)
1029.4 hPa
15th
Minimum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)
974.7 hPa
20th
Average Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)
1006.9 hPa
Heating Degree Days
189.1
Cooling Degree Days
7.0
October's daily minimum and maximum temperatures (Figure 1) and rainfall/sunshine data (Figure 2) are summarised below:
Figure 1: Daily Min/Max Temperatures for October 2023
Basically, warm, dry and sunny for the first 10 days with a maximum temperature of 27 ℃ recorded on the 8th October. The rest of the month was cooler, wetter and more overcast but still pleasantly warm for the time of the year.
Figure 2: Daily Rain & Sunshine Data for October 2023
This October's temperature, rain, sunshine and wind are compared with the previous three year's weather data in Figures 3 & 4. While the mean temperature for October 2023 was in line with that of the 2020 - 2022 period, this month's maximum (27 ℃) was anomalously high. Fortunately, no recorded air frosts over the last four years meant the growing and, especially flowering, season extended into November.
Figure 3: October Temperature Data for the 2020 - 2023 Period
Rainfall shows considerable variability in this part of the country when looking at the past four years with this October being slightly below average. Sunshine was fairly typical of the last four years as was the number of dry days and the top wind speed.
Figure 4: Rain, Sunshine and Wind Data (October 2020 - 2023)
The UK Met Office's October 2023 Report can be found here. Figure 5 shows the mean temperature anomalies were between 1.5 ℃ and 2.5 ℃ above normal, relative to the 1991 - 2020 average, for the southern part of the UK including Herefordshire. Warmer Octobers are becoming a feature of the UK Climate; for example, see here and here.
Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (October 2023)
Figure 6 shows the rainfall in Herefordshire was noticeably above average this October although my weather data (Figure 4) suggested it was distinctly more average than that. However, comparison of October's rainfall data from my Davis Weather Station (81.0 mm, Table 1) with the 1991-2020 long term average (77.91 mm) from the nearest Met Office Weather Station at Credenhill (just a few miles away), indicates that, in Hereford, the amount of rainfall was close to the mean this October.
Figure 6: UK Rainfall (% Typical) for October 2023
Sunshine hours in Herefordshire, according to Met Office Data (Figure 7), were close to normal in agreement with the data from my Davis Weather Station (Figure 4).
Figure 7: UK Sunshine Hours (% Typical) for October 2023
Jobs in the Garden
Harvesting sweetcorn, rhubarb, apples (Rev Wilks), beetroot, French beans, Chard, Leaf spinach, grapes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes (red & green), potatoes
Photo 3: Harvesting Green and Red Cherry Tomatoes
Lots of composting and garden tidying
Flora & Fauna
We were away for quite a bit of October so our sightings are somewhat lower than normal.
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