Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Davesnave

ancientofdays said:

We have a Brook,  what I'd call a culvert, just beyond the back garden border and that has been in spate. It drains from a local golf course and I can't see why it is like Davesnave's chocolate stream but it is.

If it has a muddy bottom then that will account for it. The streams here like ours are mainly fast flowing with stony bottoms, so they don't usually go as brown as it was last week. The soil being washed-in is a problem because it ends up in the small rivers and makes them silty, which can ruin the trout and salmon breeding areas in the gravel.

No pictures from me today I'm afraid; I didn't dare risk the camera. This morning I used the inclement weather to do more serious cutting back on the far bank of the stream where ownership is somewhat contentious. I'm whipping out 20' trunks of hazel that overhang us under cover provided by a large holly. As I do this, I remove the evidence, so the farmer or his wife on the other side aren't alerted by piles of branches when they walk their dogs. This means a lot of sloshing about in the stream and on the very muddy bank. I do some, then leave everything for a week to recover. This palaver is ridiculous, as it's almost certain we share the hedge/trees and I don't cut anything on their side; it's just easier just to try and keep the peace.

In the afternoon, after thawing out my feet, I undertook an even less interesting task; pulling up all the blackthorn that try to invade the top field from the road hedge. If I get them at about 30-40cm tall, they pull straight out after heavy winter rain. Anyway, they're all gone now; about 150 of them. Another tedious job off the list.... 

greenbee

Davesnave said:

ancientofdays said:

We have a Brook,  what I'd call a culvert, just beyond the back garden border and that has been in spate. It drains from a local golf course and I can't see why it is like Davesnave's chocolate stream but it is.

If it has a muddy bottom then that will account for it. The streams here like ours are mainly fast flowing with stony bottoms, so they don't usually go as brown as it was last week. The soil being washed-in is a problem because it ends up in the small rivers and makes them silty, which can ruin the trout and salmon breeding areas in the gravel.

No pictures from me today I'm afraid; I didn't dare risk the camera. This morning I used the inclement weather to do more serious cutting back on the far bank of the stream where ownership is somewhat contentious. I'm whipping out 20' trunks of hazel that overhang us under cover provided by a large holly. As I do this, I remove the evidence, so the farmer or his wife on the other side aren't alerted by piles of branches when they walk their dogs. This means a lot of sloshing about in the stream and on the very muddy bank. I do some, then leave everything for a week to recover. This palaver is ridiculous, as it's almost certain we share the hedge/trees and I don't cut anything on their side; it's just easier just to try and keep the peace.

In the afternoon, after thawing out my feet, I undertook an even less interesting task; pulling up all the blackthorn that try to invade the top field from the road hedge. If I get them at about 30-40cm tall, they pull straight out after heavy winter rain. Anyway, they're all gone now; about 150 of them. Another tedious job off the list.... 

That's the problem we've got. Well, run-off from the fields and rubber/brake dust from the roads apparently. 

You can send me the blackthorn if you like. I quite like the idea of a nice spiky barrier in various places. 

Davesnave

greenbee said:

Davesnave said:

ancientofdays said:

We have a Brook,  what I'd call a culvert, just beyond the back garden border and that has been in spate. It drains from a local golf course and I can't see why it is like Davesnave's chocolate stream but it is.

If it has a muddy bottom then that will account for it. The streams here like ours are mainly fast flowing with stony bottoms, so they don't usually go as brown as it was last week. The soil being washed-in is a problem because it ends up in the small rivers and makes them silty, which can ruin the trout and salmon breeding areas in the gravel.

No pictures from me today I'm afraid; I didn't dare risk the camera. This morning I used the inclement weather to do more serious cutting back on the far bank of the stream where ownership is somewhat contentious. I'm whipping out 20' trunks of hazel that overhang us under cover provided by a large holly. As I do this, I remove the evidence, so the farmer or his wife on the other side aren't alerted by piles of branches when they walk their dogs. This means a lot of sloshing about in the stream and on the very muddy bank. I do some, then leave everything for a week to recover. This palaver is ridiculous, as it's almost certain we share the hedge/trees and I don't cut anything on their side; it's just easier just to try and keep the peace.

In the afternoon, after thawing out my feet, I undertook an even less interesting task; pulling up all the blackthorn that try to invade the top field from the road hedge. If I get them at about 30-40cm tall, they pull straight out after heavy winter rain. Anyway, they're all gone now; about 150 of them. Another tedious job off the list.... 

You can send me the blackthorn if you like. I quite like the idea of a nice spiky barrier in various places. 

Sorry, they were all thrown up onto the hedge at intervals as I'd no intention of bringing them back. Our bonfire pile is already huge, but with around a dozen hedgehogs counted in the autumn, it's a good bet some are under it!

goldfinches

Farway said:

GF, that is some rain, is the area where the gulls are a cricket pitch in summer? Only asking because of the sight screens on the left

F, quite right, was a cricket pitch only last week too!
White building in the distance beyond trees on the right is the pavilion.
There's usually at least 6 feet of river bank to be seen in the foreground but that's vanished over the last couple of days as rain has fallen both here and to the north of us so we are all doing the habitual annual eye roll about water management hereabouts.   

Farway

Bright but very frosty morning here, another day not doing any gardening

Even if I wanted to I couldn't at the moment, somehow I've pulled my left shoulder, no idea how, certainly not lifting things or exercises

goldfinches said:

Farway said:

GF, that is some rain, is the area where the gulls are a cricket pitch in summer? Only asking because of the sight screens on the left

F, quite right, was a cricket pitch only last week too!
White building in the distance beyond trees on the right is the pavilion.
There's usually at least 6 feet of river bank to be seen in the foreground but that's vanished over the last couple of days as rain has fallen both here and to the north of us so we are all doing the habitual annual eye roll about water management hereabouts.   

Water management seems to have gone environmental these days, which basically from what I read means leave it alone to do whatever it wants

Thinking Somerset floods a few years back, and the recent case where the landowner just cleared all the debris from a river to allow it to flow & not flood

Having a river near is a mixed blessing I'd guess

greenbee

Farway said:

Thinking Somerset floods a few years back, and the recent case where the landowner just cleared all the debris from a river to allow it to flow & not flood

Having a river near is a mixed blessing I'd guess

If I clear mine (which is how my next door neighbour would like it) then there's not much current (it's too wide for the volume of water most of the year) and although flood water will 'flow' and not flood here, it increases the rate at which it moves downstream and floods Winchester... 

Farway

Bright, sunny & frosty morning, only gardening today will be looking through the D T Brown catalogue that arrived yesterday

Black_Cat2

Morning F and all.  Very very cold here with ice on the outside of the windows, making a pretty pattern 😺

No plans for me, just keeping warm and browsing the Web 🐈

in_my_wellies

Black_Cat2 said:

Morning F and all.  Very very cold here with ice on the outside of the windows, making a pretty pattern 😺

My shed, reminds me of opening the bedroom curtains in the 1960s
Just thawing out the hens drinkers, picking a few sprouts then I'm inside for the day too

Davesnave

We had an interesting red sky in the west this morning......

I thought, "Hmmm, bit of weather brewing" and it's here now, with occasional heavy sleet showers. Exmoor's disappeared, but Dartmoor doesn't look white yet.

Might do some hedge-cutting, or might just stay in and plan some walks for the nice warm days ahead in 2021.