Thundersnow in Perthshire

It's beginning to look a lot like.............. a Christmas card scene here! and  since we don't have a 4 wheel drive we are snowed in until  a snowplough decides to come our way.   That won't be anytime soon as they can hardly keep the main motorway from here to Glasgow open.  It's been 17 years since it last snowed in Scotland during November and along with that we've had thundersnow!  (a video at the bottom of post from the thundersnow in Bangor)

What a bizarre 8 hour blizzard we had including the deep muffled bellows from the thunder as it rumbled over the winter landscape and lightning that startled me every time it struck. I know the geography behind it all but it still is quite rare to happen here.  My husband remembers only hearing one loud rattle of thunder many years ago with a blizzard in Belfast - but this storm started at 5.10am and finished around 1pm today.

 Berberis berries - well and truly berried treasure today!

from wikipedia: One unique aspect of thundersnow is that the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder. The thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many miles away, while the thunder from thundersnow can usually only be heard within a two to three mile radius from the lightning.................. The thunder also is unique. Instead of a typical "clap" and "roll" typical lightning exhibits, the thunder sounds like a large electrical arc or a blown transformer without the reverberation.

 

Chaffinch in flight

The easterly wind from Scandinavia has been beating against our bedroom window all day. We lay awake part of the night watching the snow - from large fluffy flakes blowing in all directions to the the tap tap tapity tap beats of the granular snow blowing layer upon layer up against our window frames.

Male Blackbird under cover

As for the birds - even the crows  have had difficulty flying in the wind.  My bird station had been quite quiet but a little activity started this afternoon.  The blackbirds have now decided that the berberis berries are ripe enough now along with the crab apples.

Male Blackbird eating the crabapples

Did anyone else here in the UK have thundersnow today? or do you get thunder with your snow storms often elsewhere in the world?

Chaffinch

I'll leave you with the only flowers in my garden -  as everything else is under nearly 1 foot of snow.

Mahonia

Thank you for taking the time to visit today.

Other thundersnow related links for this area :
Tayside police headquarters struck by lightning 
What is thundersnow?  (Scottish TV report)


edit to add:
A family member rang me in the middle of a thundersnow storm in Bangor Northern Ireland on Saturday evening  -  19th December 2010. 


James Angus in Bangor N.Ireland captured it on video so if you would like to hear thundersnow for yourself you can listen to it below. (featured on UTV live)

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Evening flames along the lade

Along to lade

The evening flames with purple and gold...the mighty host of trees baptized in the purple flood stand hushed and thoughtful, awaiting the sun's blessing and farewell.  John Muir

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Anyone for some twittering and tweets?

Myriads of leaves have now fallen and the trees are awaiting layers of frost and snow to start dressing their bare branches. Mist lingers over the surrounding fields as it awaits the morning sunrise.

Berried Treasure

In the leavesnbloom garden Miss Petite Wren can be seen doing her daily morning inspections along the wooden fence.   The very tame blue tit family and a company of sparrows hop about from branch to branch in amongst the callicarpa, cotoneaster and berberis shrubs twittering away to each other. Mr and Mrs Blackbird are doing some taste sampling of the crabapples and the little pears but it looks like they are still not quite palatable yet.  While the very honourable Mr Robin Red Breast  has marked out his territory and seems to be a soloist in the garden. 

1. Cotoneaster horizontalis berries
2. Little pears from the Pyrus salicifolia "Pendula" - silver weeping pear tree.
3. Crabapples from Malus "Profusion"
4. Berberis thunbergii berries
5. Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' berries 

Trichomoniasis Update

I've really missed watching the birds feed at the bird station though they have had plenty of pickings in the garden recently but now those food sources are starting to dwindle. It was back in September when I watched the first sick green finch fly into the garden and struggle to eat and drink.  The advice from Charlie over at 1000 birds and others was that I must wait 4 weeks before I feeding again as there was Trichomoniasis (finch flu) in the area.  I took down all my feeders and thoroughly cleaned and distinfected them along with the birdbath, threw out of all the seed from the feeders and then waited.  Just as I was thinking of feeding them again in October in flew another sick greenfinch only this one could hardly fly any distance at all and it was so sad to watch so feeding was suspended yet again.

The winter soloist - a little bit of my digital art

Now that winter is imminent in our part of the world (this week from what the weather forecast is predicting) I know that the birds will really be depending on me from now on.  The bird feeders finally went out again today!  The lovely clean feeders are now hanging from my bird station at a prime spot on the patio. Niger seed, mixed seeds, sunflower hearts and apples are on the menu for this week and soon some more high energy foods will added.  I just hope that all the neighbouring bird feeders  in the area are clean aswell.   Indoors I have my tripod set up so that I can take some shots of many visitors feeding and the only thing now left to do is to clean the windows inside and out so I can take some clear photographs.

Waxwings

Another little bit of bird news is that I saw for the first time in my life a Waxwing from Scandinavia and not just one but a whole flock of them.  I knew there had been sightings in the neighbouring village along with sightings mentioned on BBC's Autumnwatch so I was on the look out.  One afternoon as I was out walking along a busy main road I heard this unusual bird song and as  I walked under a large tree I looked up and saw it full of Waxwings.  The sound was just amazing to listen to never mind watching their flight pattern which resembles the starlings.  Thankfully I had  the camera with me and I zoomed in on them as they were perched on a very tall tree but it was a typical dull scottish afternoon with a grey sky  and the photograph  was so poor but none the less the shot is treasured. 

That's all for today, thank you for taking the time to visit and I hope that those of you celebrating this week will have a blessed Thanksgiving with your loved ones.  

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Carefree

The little robin red breast

That little bird has chosen his shelter.

Above it are the stars and the deep heaven of worlds.

Yet he is rocking himself to sleep without caring for tommorrow's lodging,

Calmy clinging to his little twig,

and leaving God to think for him.

Martin Luther 

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day November 2010 at leavesnbloom

Alas leaves aswell as blooms are in short supply in my garden for the November Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. The odd valiant bloom from an Osteospermum, Nepeta and Cyclamen are dotted around the garden but pride of place for November colour  is my Mahonia x media "Charity". 

Edit to add - One of my photos (not featured on this blog)  is in the top 3 in a photographic challenge - if you would like to vote for my submission you can click here  :) Thanking you in anticipation.

Blooms 7 -8 feet in the air

The blooms on this bush are still towering above me  despite the fact that it lost at least a foot of its stature after last winter.  I just wish I had planted it in a position in the garden so that I could view it from my favourite seat in the sunroom.  Behind it towers a golden bamboo and next to it a crab apple tree laden with red crab apples which the blackbirds are keeping their eyes on.

The Hydrangea paniculata "Limelight" flowers are gracefully fading away.

1. Sedum spurium "Dragon's blood" with its lovely pink flowers and red edged leaves
2. Skimmia rubella buds
3. Geranium "Rozanne"  has been in flower since June
4. Rudbekia fulgida var. sullvantii "Goldstrum" with a large greenfly surveying the landscape
5. Clumps of Primrose "Heritage"

The self sown seedlings from the Limnanthes douglasii are blooming their little poached egg faces off as they glisten in the late autumnal sunshine.

My new addition to the garden  Aster lateriflorus "Lady in Black" has finally started to open her tiny buds despite being only 8 inches tall.

Finally just look what buds of promise I have sitting here hopefully for GBBD next month.  If the witchhazel doesn't start to flower by then these hellebores might be the only blooms in the garden next month that is if they are not covered in snow like last year!

That's all for today from my garden. To see more garden blooms across the world on the 15th of each month please visit our host Carol over at May Dream Gardens.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today.

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com
photos all taken on 14th November 2010. 

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Cyclamen persicum "En Vogue Purple" - the parasol flower

Have you seen this latest addition to the houseplant cyclamen range yet? Cyclamen persicum "En Vogue Purple" is something quite unique in a cyclamen flower.  Before this plant starts to flower  it just looks like any other type of cyclamen but once those flower buds open it looks ever so different.  

At the end of the flowering stem it has a large white caylx and from that caylx beautiful elongated purple petals extend.  The caylx is so heavy that the flowers cannot hold up their heads so they look like little parasols held above the marbled white and green leaves.

The underneath part of the petals is certainly not as interesting.

It has a flowering period from September to December and is treated just like any other type of cyclamen.

I get asked daily how I look after our cyclamen so this is what I suggest for those of you growing them in the UK. (The Cyclamen Society has a  great FAQ page on the care of Cyclamen). Remembering the plants life cycle is the key to success in looking after these houseplants.

Life cycle

Firstly it is a Mediterranean plant and as the temperature rises from April time onwards the leaves start to turn yellow  and it goes into dormancy as a little tuber where it stays dry all summer.  Once the temperatures start to decrease after the hot dry summer and there is more moisture available it starts to produce leaves and then by late autumn the flower buds have appeared.

Temperature  (critical in preventing yellow leaves)

Keep it on a cool  frost free window sill  as the leaves will turn yellow if the room is too warm - remember its life cycle above - if the room gets too warm the cyclamen gets confused and thinks that summer is on its way and it starts to go into dormancy hence yellow leaves.  Approx 55 degrees F  is the best temperature for them preferably in indirect sunlight or on a north or east facing window sill.

Feeding

Feed weekly to encourage new leaves and the feeding also helps to prevent yellow leaves.  

Watering

Let the top 2 inches of the compost dry out  Never water directly over the tuber but water either from the base or from the top near the sides of the pot. Never let the plants sit in water for too long as they detest "wet feet".

Weekly Maintenance

Pull off the fading flower stems and old leaves as close to the tuber as possible to prevent grey mould/botrytis.

A little tidbit.....

When you are buying your cyclamen gently move away the leaves and look into the centre of the plant. The best plant to buy is one that has lots and lots of new flower buds sitting hidden under those leaves.

Cyclamen persicum "En Vogue Purple"

What do you think - do you prefer this new introduction or the more traditional type of cyclamen flower?

Thank you for taking the time to visit today. 

This is my submission to Macro Flower Saturday

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

 

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Parasols

I think that this is a parasol mushroom though I am not 100% sure.  I only photograph fungi - I never eat them from the wild.



My submission to NF Macro.


© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

The Wild Scottish Salmon Leap

Have you ever seen a wild salmon leap?  well come with us on a little walk and we'll let you see one or two........  At the weekend we decided to go out walking and view the glorious autumnal colours against a clear blue sky. The October sunshine made the leaves look like burnished gold, bronze and copper while in the breeze little gold leafed leaves would flutter past us and gracefully fall to the woodland floor.

The lade

The lade to the left and the river to the right of the little path

As we walked along the path which looked like it had been laid with a richly coloured axminster carpet we had on one side of us the strong current from the River Almond noisily rushing over the rocks while on the other side of the path the deep lade waters gliding smoothly and quietly down towards the old mill.

The dramatic drops down to the River Almond at the start of our walk

When we reached the end of the path there was a little bridge across the lade that would take us up into Bluebell Wood if we decided to venture that far but we decided to stay at the weir and watch a most spectacular sight for almost an hour along the river bank.

The little wooden bridge that leads up to Bluebell Wood

Let's set the scene with some very short videos...

Below is the spot that I took my photographs and videos from.......... you can even see one salmon take a large leap in this next video.

The Salmon were constantly leaping!

The wild salmon were coming home to spawn - some of them had probably swam 2,500 miles from Greenland to come back to the very same river that they were hatched in. How amazing is that! They use their God given sense of smell and memory to get back home again.

There were big and small fish on Saturday determined to leap over those rocks and some of them looked like they were 20 pounders.  They quickly leapt time and time again to get over the rocks and I'm really not sure how many made it past that part of the river as the current was so strong.  Sometimes we even heard the odd thud as a fish would fall back and hit the rocks.

Below are a few of the photo's from my point and shoot camera and you can view some more larger ones on my photoblog - Centre of Interest.  I only wish I had brought  a tripod along and worn some wellington boots so that I could have ventured a bit further out on the rocks of the river. But I'm not too sure if I would have been brave enough to get any closer!

 

If they managed this leap then the next big leap ahead of them would be at Buchanty Spout waterfall further upstream and believe me that is quite a leap!  

The determination of these fish was just so amazing to watch.

That's all for today and thanks for taking the time to visit. 

 oooOOOooo

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Are there any NBN members here today?

As I'm part of the team behind the scenes at NatureBlogNetwork here is a little bit of the latest news for all members if you're not a regular reader of our blog.

Feed Experiment

We now have introduced a feed system so it should be a lot easier to catch up on members posting new content to their blogs.  So far it's just been the team that have been beta testing this but now we're opening the feed to all NBN members. We're now on Twitter so it would be great if you could follow us as we have a feed on twitter as well.

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Wild Salmon leaping in Perthshire

Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another. John Muir 

This was the scene along the River Almond in Perthshire on Saturday afternoon. This leap is off the tourist trail and is normally only visited by the locals in the area.

 The salmon are taking the force of the river as they try to reach their spawning grounds upstream.

The next leap the salmon have to face is at Buchanty Spout.

 I just wish I had brought the tripod !

Salmon lead complex lives. They spend the first 2 or 3 years in rivers before undertaking a journey of thousands of miles to their feeding grounds around Greenland in the North Atlantic. Whilst at sea, salmon feast on prawns and squid and gain considerable weight. After a period of roughly 2 years in the sea salmon return to the river in which they were hatched in order to reproduce. Sometimes this journey spans up to 2500 miles of open sea. Exactly how salmon find their way back to their `home river` is still something of a mystery. However it is thought that the salmon's ability to migrate is hereditary and also that the specific taste and smell of their own river plays a part.  source

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20