James M

A few flashes of lightning here now!

Woken up by a few flashes here in Saddleworth (Peak District)

You can still shoot problem birds, if you apply for a different license. Granted there have been problems regarding applying for the new licenses, but that's Natural England's fault for not being properly prepared. There were problems with the General License being abused and issues over legality, so all that Chris Packham and wild justice have done is campaigned to get rid of that and for the control of birds to be properly regulated. If you go to the Natural England website, there are more details and a timetable for when more licenses will be issued eg.woodpigeons. https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2019/04/28/general-licences-update-and-the-next-steps/

For moorland in particular, restoring bogs and making them wetter again is very important. Traditional management with managed burning is all very well for short term solutions each year, but overall makes the habitat drier. Case in point the big fire here in Saddleworth last year, most of the land burned was a heavily managed grouse Moor with regular burning, but it didn’t make a jot of difference with the hot summer and allowed the peat to dry out quicker.

I know right? It’s like a trip to country on a sunny day these days is not complete without cooking some meat over an outdoor grill. There should be restrictions on buying them by age and shops near the moorland should stop selling them.

Desperately need the rain up here in Saddleworth. 3 new fires today alone, after spending all weekend fending off the idiots and confiscating bbqs. The arsonist are out tonight so I’m out on firewatch.

Very chilly day today. While up on the tops, snow, hail and graupel and a horrendous biting wind.

In Reddish atm so don’t know the speeds, but the wind is loud enough to wake me up. Rattling through the house.

Rain shadow effect for some of us.

Thought there might be seeing as it’s 2.3°C and heavy rain here at 175m

Someone’s going to get lucky under that streamer!

Currently in Reddish at about 80m asl. Some flurries coming down, giving a little dusting.

Well we didn’t get very low last night, down to -2.8°C this morning. But we’ve managed an ice day, just. A max of -0.3°C, temperature tumbling down now.

I wouldn’t get too excited yet. They’re still unsure how far north it go so just covering a wide area.

A nice covering this morning and coming down nicely. Just hope the showers can continue for a bit longer!