The Weather

[Sake-san]

I must say that I am not completely convinced either way on the global warming debate but, the weather currently is very strange. I have been gardening today in shorts and a t-shirt and it is mid-December!
I planted a lot of trees at the end March this year and despite frequent watering we lost around 75% of them due to the heat and drought that followed. I replanted again with replacements in early November and have been again forced to regularly irrigate!. Also had a pair of Hoopoes in the garden this week, they should have been back in Africa weeks ago!.
Hopefully it's just a strange year and normality shall return in 2016...

[Timmytree]

It's strange here as well, grass is growing strongly, the mallards on the pond in work are mating and we have daffodils coming up. A spell of cold weather in the next few weeks would cause havoc.

[Sake-san]

No doubt something resembling winter shall ultimately arrive but, our forecast for the next week is all dry and sunny, I seriously considered mowing the lawns and the orchard today but, got distracted post pruning with some spinner targets that just happened to be loitering in the orchard
I think I am finally at the end of the tuning / tweaking journey with the TX's now and they are so, so good.
Shall be taking one on my Italian adventure post Christmas to shoot some Latino Field Target

[Outandabout]

Global warming is new phenomena. Weather experts have looked back over thousands of years and these weather cycles have happened every so many thousand years?. Still its not much comfort to know we seem to be leading into another one of these cycles, which will inevitably bring changes to the world in the years to come.
Out worlds life style seem to be helping with this next stage of global warming, making it happen a lot quicker than previous changes.
Kevin

[FPoole]

While it has been a mild winter so far, the global warming thing seems to have been de-bunked. It's now called climate change and 2 U.S. weather agencies, NOAA and GISS, have been caught doctoring temp. records to make climate change seem more real. They've shown in their records of temps a steady increase, but the actual temps, which are still on record, show no trend. Our hottest year since we became so interested in stats was 1940. Weren't the Vikings farming Greenland back in Leif Ericson's time? I guess all that greenhouse gas folks were producing 1,000 years ago was the reason for the mild winters then.

[Katzenjammer]

I have roses budding and blooming still!
Plenty of time for a bad winter. The snow of winter 46/47 didn't arrive until late January and lasted into April and beyond in places.
Yes the Vikings did farm in Greenland but I doubt the world population count then would have enough fart power to cause global temperature change. People are the cause and their demands. In the Twenties there were two billion people, now there are 7.5 billion and the world is a lot more industrialised. Until we really control population and demand I don't see how we can save the Planet as demand will increase and to keep our systems and economies going we have to keep producing?

However if one of the big super volcanoes blows then that may change our outlook - fade to grey...........

[Timmytree]

This morning I've got woodpigeons mating in the oak tree. Crazy!

[Katzenjammer]

Lunch sorted then? and they died happy

[Timmytree]

Lunch sorted then? and they died happy

No, I didn't have the heart!
There's not enough pigeons around here anyway and coitus interruptus is not covered on the GL.

[Sake-san]

A long (>1m) line of processionary caterpillars marched past my shooting cushion this morning, I have never before seen them active at this time of year, always fun to gently remove (tweezers recommended due to their irritancy) the last one in the line, the procession immediately stops as if to say "where's Fred gone?", place him back and off they march again