Author: Alan Cole

Curse of the New Kit 2

Curse of the New Kit

Ever since buying my new windsurf speed kit way back in March, there just hasn’t been any wind. Not enough anyway. Yesterday however looked liked the most promising day so far, NE’s and hopefully Ivor our katabatic wind would show up. Usually on such occasions he starts blowing early in the morning, sometimes around 4.30am...

Taking up Beekeeping with the Co-op 1

Taking up Beekeeping with the Co-op

It looks as though everyone is jumping on the beekeeping bandwagon at the moment. A good thing for bees, a good thing for the environment and a good thing for beekeepers too. Even the Coop are trying to encourage people to get into beekeeping. Their ‘Plan Bee‘ has been offering training courses and has even...

Multiple Income Streams 0

Multiple Income Streams

One of the important things to do as a self-employed freelancer is to make sure you have multiple income streams as you just never know what is going to happen next. I don’t do too badly in that respect although it can get quite hectic now and then. As well as my main job as...

Barred Umber Moth 3

A Box full of Moths

We were going to go to the RSPB reserve at Ynyshir last night for a ‘Nightjars and Glow-worms’ walk, but decided not to at the last minute so instead I put the moth trap out again. I don’t normally trap on consecutive nights as I like to make sure I give the moths a chance...

Surf Dude 0

My First Surfing Lesson

Summer must be here – I’ve just got back from taking Morgan for his first surf lesson. It wasn’t that much of a lesson really, just getting him used to being in the sea and riding a board. I gave him a push onto most waves, but got him steering whilst lying down and as...

Inside the Moth Trap 0

Yet more Moths

It’s amazing just how many moths there are in the garden. I went to put the moth trap out last night at dusk and the Lilac was completely covered in moths. I couldn’t tell what species they all were as they were on the wing, but there were several different species and at least 5...

Gold Spot 0

Garden Moths – 100 species and counting

The recent large catch in my moth-trap has put us over the 100 species mark for moths recorded in the garden. Not bad in just over half a year, with much of that being winter. It was quite nice that there was a Gold Spot in the catch too which is one of my favourite...

Enjoying Swimfit 4

Enjoying Swimfit

Swimfit was good on Tuesday this week. As usual I was fairly tired by the time I got there having done a lab test for Jon at Sports and Exercise Science and then an hour of circuit training, but I soon got into the swimming. After a warm up and some drills Lauren had us...

RSPB Make Your Nature Count 1

RSPB Make Your Nature Count

The RSPB Make Your Nature Count Survey starts tomorrow. It is very similar to the Big Garden Birdwatch held earlier in the year. Basically you have to spend one hour counting and noting the birds that come into your garden. The only difference is it is held in June not January and they are also...