I'm writing this the morning after the soggiest windiest day in living memory. I've only just recovered from it. Well, relentless rain was forecast, and they were right ! Luckily, I got out early, and walked down to the river/flood under nasty-looking clouds. The Flood, however, was still very dry.... just 8 Pied Wagtails to be seen. And as for the saltmarsh, nowt. As I walked back, having perused/pursued a Lesser Throat, it got rather ominous and the rain started..... as did the wind. Luckily, it didn't start to get torrential until I got home ,when it really kicked in ,and by 11 the gauge had 17mm of rain . From then on it chucked it down, with added hefty winds to add to the mess. But, I couldn't resist going out again a bit further afield, and on the marina were 40+ Swallows ... but nothing else ... no HMs, no Smartins, and most definitely no Swifts. They must have had very slim pickings in that weather. As did I. If I was them, I'd bog off back to Africa ! But they are programmed to do what they do. They aren't "thinking" about anything. So I drove back home, windscreen wipers on overdrive, and that was that. Most of the garden birds were very soggy and bedraggled ( an excellent word) by mid-afternoon. If they don't manage to get dried they're going to have a dangerously cold night. This morning the rain gauge had 40mm of rain ..... but with the ferocious winds, which tend to blow the rain more horizontally and missing the gauge, I suspect there was a lot more. Here's the usual totally irrelevant song ......
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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