frogesque

Time to get all the camera batteries charged, the tripod packed and the remote bulb checked over. Kp7 forecast on Solarham for the 6th. and 7th. All that's needed are some clear skies. Moonlight may be a problem but it looks like the best chance for aurora for a while.

And, as per normal, low, virtually blanket cloud cover!

Pretty well clouded out last night too. Tonight looks to a bit meh so far. May improve as it gets dark.

Back to weather! Just looked out and there's a respectable display of noctilucent clouds developing. Still a bit light yet but should show up nicely after midnight.

Common name Peruvian Lilly. An absolute thug in the garden. Will take over and even Roundup won't get rid. Roots are deep thin multiple tubers and brittle, leave one tiny piece and they are off again. Worst case, if they go to seed, move!

Good luck and clear skies! Was fortunate enough to see the eclipse from Side, Turkey (March 29th. 2006). Unforgettable experience.

Few rumbles, some rain and a couple of visible flashes. Nothing too dramatic yet.

Odd day. Brilliant warm sunshine down on the beach at Leven this morning, went to Coupar this afternoon and on the way back caught the edge of what must have been torrential rain over Falkland way. More or less dry as we got home but the roads were literally steaming where they had been wet. Got home, wee bit work in the garden and quite a few rumbles but basically dry. Currently sunny spells with some looming black clouds. Warm and humid. Don't think the day has finished with us yet.

A few heavy showers this afternoon, but only a handful of flashes and rumbles. hopefully a bit more interesting this evening.

No sign of NLCs tonight but a beautiful sky clear to the horizon with yellow/orange glow. Getting near midgie time but free so far. 21billion of the little devils expected in Scotland due to the mild winter.

Scotland is a wonderful place to live, 21 billion midges can't be wrong. After a mild winter the midge population is expected to explode this year. You have been warned!

Basically, contrails form when the water vapour content of burnt jet fuel condenses and then freezes in the cold upper atmosphere. These tiny ice crystals then act a seeding for super cooled atmospheric water vapour to give up heat and freeze out. If conditions are right this seeding effect continues and the trail can spread out. Other times the contrails will be intermittent as the jet flies through different layers of atmosphere. Contrails are a real manifestation of anthropomorphic activity unlike so called chemtrails which are the product of an overactive imagination!

Quite a bit more spawn now but the cold snap has slowed the frogs down. Much scrambling about in the bottom of the pond. Only a few brave souls on the surface. Snowing at the moment.

Currently snowing, some slushy stuff on car windscreen but otherwise not laying.

We have our first frogspawn! Wet and misty all day yesterday, mild night and today is bright and sunny. Frogs are going at it full on like a Next New Year sale. More spawn showing all the time and at this rate I'll be able to walk across the pond.

Thanks guys! Still no frog spawn here but pond very active. Regarding pumps and filters, I have my pump in a bucket with tight fitting holes for the lead and hose. On top of the bucket is a neat fitting plastic garden sieve with some fine mesh in the bottom. This is covered with scotcbrite and the filled with fine gravel. The bucket sits totally submerged in the pond with a flat rock on top with some bigger pebbles to support it and allow free circulation through the filter down to the pump.This rock helps keep leaves, rubbish and blanket weed from blocking the setup. Effectively its an under gravel bed filter, the only maintenanance in ten years has been to hose the top of the filter to remove any debris that does manage to get on top of the gravel. To my knowlege, no taddies or fish embryos have ever gone through the pump. One pump recently gave up the ghost but you only get a 3 year warranty!

After a mild night, fog early morning and a bright day we now have too many frogs to count but looks like we have at least 10 pairs as well as all the hopefuls.

Been a bit pre occupied lateley but our frogs are currently getting very voluable and amorous. Edit: pond pump problem now resolved

OK, will go for it!

Showing my northern bias lol. Hadn't considered the proximity of the magnetic South Pole to Oz or NZ. Makes a lot of sense.

Cracking pics there WH! NZ auroras haven't been much publicised in the past but like Scotland they are often colourful. Why don't we see more from Scotland? In a word, weather! Also the Northern hemisphere pics are dominated by Alaskan and Norwegian pics. The northern auroral oval also tends to favour the greater land masses of Canada/North America and Russia/Norway etc. rather than the UK due to the position of the magnetic North Pole and the lines of magnetic force. Like everything else, I suppose fashion has a part too.

Weather History: really nice vid showing the genesis, highlight and decay of auroral activity. Of interest, when I uploaded my miserable efforts I saw my last decent Aurora was on the 8th of March last year.

OK, had a look at pics from last night. Pretty miserable but I tried! 1st. one taken directly under a lamp post outside the house. Other 2 taken a short drive away about 30 mins to an hour later

By the time I managed to de-ice the car and take a short drive it was pretty much all over. Only managed a few green smudges. Will post a couple of snaps later if I get the chance. Some nice pics doing the rounds on Facebook though.

Visible aurora from Fife at the moment.