Occasional musings on meteorology and other bits of Earth science
It is nice that lockdown is easing and that we can now go for walks further afield; I am looking forward to doing that next week. There are not that many more hills which are easily accessible from Dunbar by bike; I recently cycled up one which is a bit more of a push thanContinue reading Another cycleable classic lump
Brunt hill lurks behind Doon Hill, and is another example of a classic lump where you can cycle almost all the way to the summit. The true summit is actually in a fenced-off area with “keep out” notices, but the view is worth the effort of riding to a point as close to the summitContinue reading Cycleable classic lump
I have done “classic lump” posts about hills from various corners of Britain, and a few abroad. Now, with the pandemic, and the resulting lockdown, I am stuck with places I can reach on my permitted exercise. The nearest classic lump to Dunbar is Doon Hill, which has that splendid “classic lump” feature: a carContinue reading Up and Doon
I have been conscious for a long time that, on a clear day, the view from Dunbar includes mountains that are a long way to the north. But I never knew which mountains they were, exactly. It was clear a day or two ago, so, while out on my permitted exercise, I set my cameraContinue reading What is in the distant view?
A bank of celandines (Ficaria Verna) is a sure sign of spring, and I was cheered to see this large patch of them during my Boris/Nicola-permitted walk a few days ago. Celandines are not just a plant of the countryside, I find lots of them in the garden as well, where they are in someContinue reading Celandines
Every year, at some point during the spring, there is the magic moment. Now, I always grow my tomato plants from seed, planting them in a heated propagator in my study, usually in early February. Before the magic moment, the plants in my study are growing away happily, and any that I am unwiseContinue reading The magic moment
I don’t have a lot of choice as to where to go for the exercise permitted to me by the government. The obvious choice is to go east along Dunbar beach (see previous post). But by sneaking through a few streets and past the swimming pool I can go west along the beach instead. IContinue reading Inside a local volcano
Like everyone else, I am stuck in my house on account of the COVID-19 outbreak, only going out for essentials and my one allowed walk per day. Fortunately, I have easy access to the beach, where I can get in a long walk without meeting too many people. It is actually an easier walk thanContinue reading Social distancing geology walk
One of my birthday presents last year was a proper, official-shaped rain gauge. It took me a while to get around to setting it up, mostly because of the difficulty of picking a good spot in the garden: almost everywhere is close to a wall, under a tree, or is a place where a rainContinue reading Gauging the Rain
Well, I am still on strike. At least it means I can take advantage of any non-horrid weather to get some garden jobs done. This time of year is when I do one of the most physically demanding tasks: removing last year’s compost from the greenhouse and putting some fresh compost in, so that itContinue reading Compost, lovely compost.
