December 2015 November
Tuesday 1st
6 to 14 to 12°C. 787Wh 150W max. A better day; cloudy and mild with very little rain.
It is a shame I am still not fit enough to do any work outside. There is plenty to do in the polytunnel and I still haven't built the cold frames I was hoping to finish by the Spring.
Wednesday 2nd
10 to 12 to 10°C. 231Wh 60W max. Another mild dull day. Heavy drizzle started around lunchtime with light rain or drizzle continuing into the night.
Thursday 3rd
9 to 13 to 8°C. 322Wh 100W max. Another very dull day but with only a few light showers in the afternoon and evening.
Friday 4th
7 to 11 to 12°C. 990Wh 400W max. Clear bright start with even a glimpse of the sun in the morning but clouded over in the afternoon becoming windy but stayed dry. Another spell of stormy weather is forecast for the weekend.
Saturday 5th
12 to 12 to 12°C. 581Wh 200W max. A grey windy day with a few brighter periods but no rain apart from some very light drizzle.
A day when we are thankful that the Welsh mountains to the west protect us from the worst of the weather. There has been torrential rain and flooding further north and in South Shropshire and all along the Severn the river has burst its banks.
Sunday 6th
12 to 13 to 8°C. 468h 80W max. Another grey day with a few showers around lunchtime and less windy.
Monday 7th
8 to 14 to 12°C. 1.97kWh 900W max. A better day with even some sunny intervals around lunchtime.
Tuesday 8th
10 to 11 to 5°C. 1.18kWh 600W max. A windy day with some sunny periods but also some heavy showers. Turned much colder after dark.
Wednesday 9th
3 to 11 to 9°C 1.99KWh 500W max. Mainly cloudy with some sunny intervals in the morning. Feeling warmer as the wind had dropped.
Thursday 10th
10 to 12 to 6°C. 313Wh 80W max. Rained most of the morning. Dry in the afternoon buy still overcast. Feeling much colder.
Friday 11th
5 to 8 to 3°C. 1.57kWh 500W max. Brighter but colder.
Every day for the last 7 weeks the 3 hens have laid 2 eggs. Yesterday and today they laid 3. It might be something to do with filling the wild bird feeders which meant the sparrows and robins aren't stealling their layer pellets?
Saturday 12th
3 to 11 to 5°C,. 104Wh 20W max. Rained all day, heavy in the morning, lighter in the afternoon, finally clearing around 10pm. Strangely it was the warmest when it was pouring down.
3 eggs again. Even in summer it is unusual for hens to lay eggs three days in a row.
Sunday 13th
3 to 5 to 6°C. 174Wh 50W max. Overcast and light rain in the morning. Slightly brighter in the afternoon but misty after dark.
Yet another 3 egg day.
Monday 14th
7 to 9 to 8°C. 488Wh 150W max. Misty start with some light rain showers in the afternoon and evening.
Another 3 eggs. That's 5 days in a row. Its a good job we like boiled, scrambled and poached eggs for lunch, omelletes for dinner and egg custard with our stewed fruit.
Tuesday 15th
9 to 11 to 12°C. 104Wh 20W max. A very grey day with some light showers but feeling very mild for the time of year.
Pat moved the pots of summer bulbs and fuschias into the polytunnel; not that there was any danger of damage by frost at the moment. She was going to replace them with polyanthus and dianthus in the bed behind the conservatory but this mild weather has caused the snowdrops, crocus and bluebells to already start sprouting through so we might need to put them somewhere else.
Another 3 eggs. Will we get 21 in a week? Very unusual even in summer.
Wednesday 16th
12 to 14 to 13°C. 1.94kWh 500W max. A much brighter day and very mild for December.
We did get 3 eggs again so that is 21 eggs in a week. Maybe the hens think it's Spring just like some of the bulbs?
Thursday 17th
12 to 14 to 11°C. 247Wh 50W max. Dull and mild with some showers.
Another 3 eggs!
Friday 18th
11 to 13 to 12°C. 257Wh 50W max. Dull and mild and dry for change.
27 eggs in 9 days!
Saturday 19th
14 to 15 to 14°C. 36Wh. Dull mild and wet. The lowest recorded solar electricity except when the panels are covered with snow and there isn't much chance of that at the moment.
30 eggs in 10 days. They always used to reckon that hens didn't lay well during the short gloomy days of winter.
Sunday 20th
13 to 14 to 7°C. 1.36kWh 300W max. Rained overnight then cleared for a time in the morning before turning colder with a westerly rather than southerly wind and frequent showers.
Another 3 eggs making 33 in 11 days. Maybe it's the unseasonal weather and now that it is coming colder they will start laying less.
Monday 21st
6 to 12 to 7°C. 370Wh 100W max. Light rain most of the day with a brighter period after lunch.
2 eggs first thing. Pat took them some cooked potato, their favourite. Snowdrop and Marigold were already out and Bluebell came rushing out of the hen house to make sure there was some left for her. She returned later to lay one herself, so that's three again but maybe Bluebell will miss tomorrow?
Tuesday 22nd
10 to 14 to 9°C. 524Wh 100W max. Windy and cloudy with heavy showers. Still mild for time of year; today is the shortest day.
Another 3 egss making 39 in 13 days. Pat decided to dig up and cook some parsnips. Despite not having any frost they were quite sweet.
Wednesday 23rd
7 to 9 to 8°C. 2.36kWh 800W max. Sunny morning though quite windy and clouded over in the aftenoon. Storm Eva is forecast to arrive late tomorrow.
Another 3 eggs making 42 in 14 days. Even in summer this would be unusual.
Thursday 24th
11 to 6 to 4°C. 1.16kWh 700W max. Rained most of the night and morning with some sunny intervals in the afternoon and a lot colder, but not cold enough for snow.
3 more eggs. Pat found enough sprouts for our Christmas dinner. The early ones have nearly finished and the late ones are still quite small.
Friday 25th Christmas Day
3 to 7 to 14°C. 361Wh 100W max. More of a grey soggy Christmas than a white one and very mild, especially later in the day. Only a few heavy showers here in the morning but further north it looks like they might have heavier rain with a risk of more floods.
We don't eat meat very often but always get a large free-range cockerel at Christmas and everything else, sprouts, potatoes and herbs for the stuffing came from the garden. Just the two of us but that is how we like it. And the hens continue to lay 3 eggs each day; their treat was the peelings from the sprouts.
Saturday 26th
14 to 14 to 12°C. 62Wh. A very grey damp windy day but the rain was only heavy for a short while in the afternoon. Watching the news the rain has been much worse further north, including flooding where we used to live in West Yorkshire down both the Colne and Aire valleys.
3 eggs; one of them a double.
Sunday 27th
7 to 10 to 12°C. 911Wh 700W max. Mainly mild and grey but with a brighter period around lunchtime and some rain in the late afternoon clearing after dark.
Only two eggs. it would have been surprising if the hen which layed a double could lay another one today.
Monday 28th
Between 10 and 11°C all day and night. 663Wh 100W max. Mainly dull with a few sunny periods in the morning. Very windy; Today was the council's renewable collection and Pat had to pick up the paper and plastic back after being strewn up the drive and down the road.
3 eggs again. If you count the double on Saturday as two then that makes 57 (yolks) in 19 days.
Tuesday 29th
9 to 10 to 11°C. 2.27kWh 900W max. Another mild windy day with sunshine in the morning and early afternoon. Another storm,Frank, is forecast for tomorrow. I feel sorry for those people further north where there are already floods and this might make them worse. At least we don't have to worry about this although in the past the fields round us have been flooded but we are the highest point.
3 more eggs. Not only are the hens providing us with lots of protein but they are doing a grand job of digging up the vegetable garden and killing all the weeds except for nettles.
Wednesday 30th
12 to 10 to 7°C. 142Wh 30W max. Very windy overnight with some heavy rain in the morning and lighter rain and less wind in the afternoon and evening.
3 more eggs though one was rather small.
Thursday 31st
5 to 9 to 1°C. 1.44kWh 700W max. Cleared overnight to a much colder but sunny morning with some showers in the afternoon then cleared again after dark. We might even have a frosty start to the New Year.
3 more eggs. I usually go down to stand in the road to see the fireworks on New Years Eve but I don't trust my leg, especially if it might be slippery.
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