Category: Science & Nature

Plants for bees 3

Plants for bees

Anna and I, along with half of the Aberystwyth Beekeeping Association attending a lecture in the National Library on Wednesday. It was a lunchtime lecture so we all met up for dinner in the cafe first and then headed into the very nice lecture theatre. The lecture was titled ‘Plants for Bees‘ and was given...

Andromeda 4

Andromeda through my Meade 15mm Eyepiece

Christmas may only be a distant memory now, and my birthday was a couple of weeks before that, but one of my birthday presents was a Meade 15mm eyepiece for my Skywatcher 130 telescope. I have briefly used it once or twice since then but Sunday night was the first time I got to use it properly. This isn’t...

Big Garden BirdWatch Results 2013 1

Big Garden BirdWatch Results 2013

That’s the Big Garden Birdwatch done for another year. As usual during the hour that we allocated we didn’t really get anything exciting, except for a load of Lapwings. If it had been last weekend then the list would have been full of thrushes and redwings but we saw none of these today. As always...

Thrush 1

More Winter Birds

I still haven’t managed to get any really good photos of the birds that have been in the garden during the snow. I’m not really patient enough to sit out there hidden away somewhere so I’ve taken a few photos through the conservatory windows instead. They aren’t the cleanest conservatory windows at the moment so the...

Redwing 0

Snowy Birds

All the snow we’ve had recently has meant that there have been plenty of birds in the garden looking for shelter and food including Redwings and a Snipe. I couldn’t get close enough for a decent photo of either though, mainly because Morgan was chomping at the bit to get out and play in the snow so...

On the shore of Lake Rotorua 0

Canopy Tours, Zip Wires and Kayaks – New Zealand Day 19

We woke up a bit later than usual today, had breakfast in the camper and then had our final soak in the pools at the Waikite Thermal Valley complex before heading ever onwards on our road trip around New Zealands North Island. Rotorua and Canopy Tours We drove into Rotorua again, this time to do...

Thermal Pool 0

Taupo, Geothermal Rocks and Hot Pools – New Zealand Day 17

After spending the night in the car park of my parents holiday apartment in Taupo we had a leisurely breakfast with them and then set off to be tourists in the town. We wandered along the lake-front and then around the various souvenir shops where we bought ourselves some nice hand-crafted coasters made from native...

Steaming Landscape 1

Craters, Coffee, Cakes and Cruising – New Zealand Day 16

Wednesday started as most days in the camper had with a big breakfast, we then packed up, didn’t really make use of any of the facilities at the campsite and headed off to my parents apartment for coffee and a day out with them. The day before we had left the camper on the road...

Tuatara 0

Kiwis, Caves and Snow-Capped Volcanoes – New Zealand Day 14

It’s Monday and we are still having the holiday of a lifetime in New Zealand. We awake to a damp drizzly day in Otorohanga, have a shower and breakfast in Camp Kiwi and then take the 30 second walk to the Kiwi House. The Kiwi House We are the first ones in and are treated...

Surfing The Bar, Whangamata 1

Surfing ‘Da Bar’, Crazy Golf and Kawhia – New Zealand Day 12

It was the day of the K2 race around Coramandel today. I’d found out a little bit about it now. It was a 200km hard core hilly bike race around the Coramandel Peninsula. The start location and route change from year to year and with the hot sun and the hilly route this years looked...