This and That

And we're into June already - the swallows and swifts are back with us, although I think this (as a nest) needs a bit more work!* 

 

We're still feeding the birds off and on, but it turns out the mice are also somehow finding their way up onto the bird feeders - although it must have been something of an acrobatic feat!

The sun has been shining, and we had a beautiful late afternoon walk around Cwm Rheidol.  

The nice weather means that locally the farmers have already been cutting the grass for silage - here it is drying in the late evening sunshine . . .

*After some high winds a week or so later it was duly abandoned.

Summer Returns

After the cold snap earlier this month, it's been good to see the sun and enjoy some warm weather.

Took a trip out to the RSPB Ynys-hir reserve this weekend for a wander round in the sunshine - didn't see many birds, but it's worth it just for the views!

Then a lazy Sunday afternoon sitting in the sun with my book . . .  only to spot a wasp apparently setting up home inside our roof as it busily went back and forth through a hole in the eaves.

Martin duly spent the next hour or so checking round the eaves, and repairing all the holes.  

I almost felt sorry for the wasp then as it desperately searched for a hole it couldn't find - but it did eventually move on and hopefully found somewhere else to live, a little further from where we do!

Out and About

September holidays - and with some sense that normal service is resuming, decided we would take a break and actually go 'away'!

Booked ourselves a Travelodge in Portishead on the Bristol Channel, and headed off for three days of sun, sea and sightseeing. 

 
Stopped off at Clifton on the way, walked round Portishead taking in the views (and the graffiti) and fitted in a return trip to Tyntesfield (which had to be pre-booked, and was all very one-way and socially distanced):

Also had a day trip to Clevedon - with its pier, and marine pool (really missing the opportunity to go swimming back home, but unfortunately hadn't brought my bathing gear).

All in all it was a nice few days - we mostly ate / drank in beer gardens (kind of regretted the one trip to a too-busy Wetherspoons) so it all felt safe enough - and the weather was remarkably kind.

At the same time we were glad to be going home again.

Stopped off for a final (pre-booked) visit to Duffryn Gardens - then back to the safety of our little bit of Wales.

Sunny Days

Daily Generation May 2020

Our highest solar generation day for last year was on the 28th of May when we made 24.24 kWh of electricity.

Perhaps the trimming of the Yew Tree has helped, but, May 2020 has seen our generation record beaten nine times with 14th of May generating 26.13 kWh.  

Maybe not that surprising now the Met Office has confirmed that May was the sunniest calendar month on record in the UK!

Given the fantastic weather we have had at the start of this year, March and April also proved to be considerably better than 2019:

Monthly Generation Comparison

Hoping for more sunny days to come - will update later in the year with the annual review.

What We Did on Our Bank Holiday . . .

A lot of gardening . . . at various points over the weekend.

Martin dug and rotavated the veg plots, and we got the courgettes and potatoes planted out, as well as the main greenhouse.

The rest of the garden is looking very colourful too at the moment, with the clematis, rhododendrons and azaleas out:






A sunny Saturday afternoon on the prom watching the Cyclefest events - including the Women's Tour Series:

And on the bank holiday Monday itself a slightly too hot walk round the Hafod grounds . . .

A nice extended weekend - and a sunny one at that!

Flying High

Glorious day in West Wales - afternoon walk up Consti and over to Clarach with paragliders overhead:

Enough said!

A Tale of Two Weekends

So, this weekend(ish) took me East to visit my parents for a couple of days - beautiful Spring weather, and we were out and about, including a visit to the Springfields Outlet Shopping Centre at Spalding - shopping and tulips (etc.) :)

  

While I was basking in glorious sunshine (and shopping!), Martin was busy in the garden tackling our moss problem:

Generating lots of bags of moss for the tip . . .

By the time I got back - on the Saturday afternoon train - the moss had all been dealt with.  

Met at Borth, for a walk along their prom, and a look at the Borth Scarecrow Festival, including this happy group at the old YHA Borth (stayed there back in the day when I was contemplating coming to Aber to university!):

All in all a good couple of family days for me - even managed to fit in my first ever parkrun - and some productive garden tasks completed at home!

Seashore Sunshine

Beautiful sunny evening on the prom - what else is there to say!

Sunny Weekend

A bank holiday weekend of glorious sunshine (well, alright, it did rain on the Saturday) . . .

Made an early start on the hedges, as well as cutting the grass and other more general garden maintenance tasks - all of which generated a number of bags of garden waste.

Also found some time to enjoy the sunshine and relax though - met up with old friends for lunch, and walked the prom in the sunshine (taking in the views of the annual charity Raft Race).

On the bank holiday itself we were even moved to get the barbecue out - (as it appears was everyone else - had to make do with sausages, as we couldn't find a burger in the shops for love nor money!).


Just have to hope now that that wasn't it, and that the summer still has more sunshine to offer . . .

Summer in November?

A beautiful day out today, and we ended up in Aberaeron making the most of it.  The day had started out warm, but the sun kept shining, and it got to the point where it could have been mid-summer.

So there we were - Aberaeron harbour, eating chips, and indulging in ice-cream, while basking in glorious sunshine - had to keep checking it was the 1 November!

As it turned out this was apparently a November record - and mid-Wales was the UK hot-spot.