Just Before Dawn

True, but it doesn't stop us southern idiots from coming up though!!!

It's Easter Weekend and the flash warnings cover Grampian, which is likely to be covered in Walkers, Trekkers and Climbers over the weekend. Seems eminently sensible to issue some kind of warning to me, after all, the warning actually talks about blizzard conditions and gales with up to 10cm over higher ground and over higher routes. People die on the Scottish mountains in these conditions.

Well if you're heading N into Norfolk, I might be tempted to meet you - I'll be in the Wolds early doors with the camera, but a comedy drive across the featureless fens in snow showers might be entertaining.

Well done all - some terrific shots in that group. Some of the landscapes are especially impressive.

I'm always interested in what kit people who post on here use - after all, there have been some superb photographs on here in the past and every photographer on earth can talk for England on the merits of his or her particular kit. So what is it? Mine's a Nikon D70 (hoping to move up to a D200 at some point this year)with a Nikon 80-400 telephoto, a Sigma 150mm macro and a fast Sigma 24mm - also Benbo tripod (ideal for macros) and the rather funky Nikon ring-flash for close up subjects. I also use a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter. I also carry around a little Panasonic Lumix FX-55, which I've found to be a terrific little point-and-shooter - next to no weight and the Leica glass is first rate for a camera that size. What's in your camera bag?

Agree 100% Similarly I agree with some of the ideas posted above - especially the weather/non-weather split, as well as the idea for more in-depth discussion of photography. I recognise that this isn't a photography forum, but the photographs shared here do generate a fair bit of interest and I for one would be interested in sharing my experiences.

I was woken up by next door's dogs kicking off big-time at about 12:45am this morning. when they didn't stop (and the next door neighbour could apparently quieten them down, I popped outside and dogs were barking up and down the whole street. Not only that but there were also starlings in the roost over the road in flight and calling. Extremely odd. Then the 'quake hit and it was an impressive, if somewhat disconcerting 15 second impression of being in a fairground ride. Queue the contents of each house spilling out onto the street to examine chimneys etc. It was quite violent here - of course subsequently found it that the epicentre was only 8 miles west of us.

There's quite a lot of similarlity in facial markings between Yellowhammer and Cirl Bunting, especially in worn male yellowhammers - the Cirl bunting in the photo is also rather worn - a good (ish) test is to catch a glancing look at the head - if the first impression is of a dark head with two yellow stripes, it's cirl bunting, if it's a yellow head with dark stripes, yellowhammer. I'd be interested in what the RSPB say, but Cirl buntings are one of our most sedentery birds, they're confinded to the South west and often dont go further than a mile or so from their own territory. If they do turn out to be cirl buntings, it'd be an extraordinary record - I'm not sure they've been recorded ever in Lincolnshire. Just a thought - have a look at little bunting and pine bunting - they occasionally turn up on the east coast, and could be hanging around in a mixed bunting flock - they've got very keenly marked heads too.

Electromagnetic weapons have been of interest to the US Navy for at least a decade as anti-cruise missile weapons to replace their phalanx multi-barrelled 20mm cannons. That's always been their primary value - the metal storm system is a similar area denial weapons system.

Nice photo's Flagpole - be up there in May myself.

Hooray - we agree. You're right of course about metering - the water companies would like to use it for pricing and billing - you're also right that with water it is more complicated than that. In some respects, one would hope that OFWAT would be able to de-couple the need for metering with mechanisms for charging - they don't need to be linked at all - as you say the water rates system worked reasonably well, and metering doesn't take into account the sort of social and economic issues which are perfectly pertinent to pricing issues if used as a pricing and billing mechanism. AMP5 will shortly be enacted (in fact it might have already passed) so water companies will be scabbling around at present trying to assess their infrastructure needs over the next AMP reporting period. It'll be interesting to note how different the submissions of water companies are, particularly those who have a high level of meter data (Anglian Water, for example) to those which don't.

Yeah, we're selfish scum who, despite the fact that we're net contributors to the Social Security system, the NHS and the Tax system make no contribution to the future of the country. Come on, you can't possibly be saying that only people who have children are contributing to the future of the country...or are you? No, because I don't advocate using metering to set charges, but to assess need - two different things. To use your analogy, it's a bit like the librarian knowing how many books are out in which town, but not knowing who has them. How do they then decide where to build new libraries so they will get the most use? How do they know where to send the mobile libraries? How do the plan for library expansion of service? Of course, no-one sane would think the above is a positive thing, but the law of the land prevents this from happening, metering or no metering. Only after negotiation and agreement with OFWAT can a water company change what it charges for water. They are effectively government controlled and metering has nothing to do with that. As others have said, we have no national grid for water. To build one would cost billions of pounds that the Government would subsidise to a minor degree. Where would the money come from? Water is not an endless supply in the Home Counties if the SE continues to expand as it is and is planned to do under the Thames Gateway and others Growth Points. In Wales, yes. In the North Pennines, true, but in the South East, as it stands, demand of water does outstrip the ability to supply from regional resources, which is why water companies down there buy water from companies further north and west. I doubt we'll agree on this, as I suspect that this hinges on the fact that you don't trust water companies, whereas I don't see a choice.

No, it's because it's the easiest way of accurately assessing water usage, which is surely a good thing, unless you actually want the water companies to charge you on the back of a best guesstimate. As for the second part of your quote - the sky doesn't treat your tap water to make it potable. It doesn't remove, then treat your sewage. It doesn't monitor the outputs from sewage plants to ensure discharges are environmentally safe. It doesn't remove pollutants, nor does it fix the burst mains in the street outside or supply water by bowser when it floods, or during droughts. It doesn't monitor the availability of water to minimise impacts on customers or the environment. It does allow cross-catchment water transportation, but pretty randomly. No doubt the AMP5 process will again look hard at water conservation measures as part of pricing and major infrastructure costs undoubtedly necessary to provide facilities for the new Growth Point areas. This is another area where the water industry is leading the way. How much for a similar system for energy infrastructure? An objection to linking metering and billing is a vaild point of view (whether you agree or not) but metering itself, I honestly can't see a downside.

Well, having invested heavily in my photography equipment over Christmas (and honestly, a decent crack habit is a cheaper pastime than photography) I've decided that, in 2008, I'd try to get out in the great British countryside and photograph some of our rarest and most threatened wild flowers. Why? Well, some of these species will become extinct if we're not careful - it seems to me that botany is the poor cousin of birds and animals when it comes to nature conservation and any little bit we can do to raise awareness of the state of our natural flora is worth doing. Secondly, they stay still - a not insignificant advantage when your photographic skills are as limited as mine. So, for this year, my blog will document my efforts in seeking out and photographing some of Britain's rarest wild flowers. I'll also try and link this blog to a gallery album so you'll be able to share in the fruits of my labour. Of course, it's still months away from flowering time for most of our wild plants, however as I'm discovering, you can't plan too early or too thoroughly for an expidition like this. Firstly, a lot of these species are closely guarded by organisations or individuals, trying to safeguard plants from vandalism or theft, a dispiritingly common practice even in these enlightened times. Getting information on locations is therefore a difficult and often clandestine operation, with references checked and motives examined. I'm fortunate in that I work for a conservation organisation and have testable references (I'm in the surveyors list for the recent BSBI flora atlas of Britain), but even so, I still have a great deal of research to do and e-mails to write. Things are starting to sure up, however. I've already tentatively booked a weekend in early June based around the Western Yorkshire Dales, Arnside Silverdale and the Southern Lake District in order to visit some of the National Nature Reserves in the area - Ingleborough and Gait Barrow famous for their marvellous limestone pavements, and Sandscale, which has some tremendous sand dunes. This visit promises small-white orchid, coral-root orchid, dark-red helleborine, bloody crane's-bill and grass of parnassus as well as a very, very rare and charasmatic plant that I can't mention...yet. Later, in mid July, I'll be down on the Oxfordshire/Berkshire border, looking for Monkey and Military Orchid, Chiltern gentian, burnt orchids and chalk milkwort. Add to that yet to be arranged trips to Kent, Norfolk, South Wales, North-West Scotland and Cornwall, and summer's looking pretty full. There's still a fair number of site visits to arrange, permits to acquire, local knowledge to tap and research to be done, but it's looking hopeful. Next update will be mid-Feb, by which time I'll be getting ready to start looking for the early season woodland species close to home.

Amen. Two other things to consider here - not all of our potable water comes from reservoirs - I live on top of a commercially abstracted aquifer where groundwater is abstracted for domestic purposes. Our aquifer was abstracted in the late 90's to the point where Anglian Water voluntarily ceased abstraction on environmental grounds. I doubt that direct aquifer abstraction is commercially significant (SF?) but it is environmentally sensitive and these do require time to recharge. Secondly, as SF says, there's always a trade off in complex systems between robustness and commercial realism. Just as our gas and electricity grid would not cope with every single eventuality, nor will our water infrastructure. What it is, is remarkable for the cost. I was recently involved in the expansion of Rutland Water (from an environmental point-of-view) and the figures Anglian Water produced regarding water 'leakage' in their system, compared with expanding the capacity at Rutland were eye-watering. Personally, I'd love to see everyone metered.

Louth, Lincs as of 22:30 pm for 5th Jan. Pressure - 1001.3mb - rising Wind - WSW 2.7mph - max gust 11mph SW Temp. 3.3C Dew Point - 1.3C Relative Humidity - 87% Ppn (up to 22:30pm) 2mm Generally overcast but dry day after one or two light showers early morning. Now clear ans calm and temp dropping quickly.

Popped over to Donna Nook on the N Lincolnshire Coast between Christmas and New Year - the most southern Grey Seal rookery in Britain. Awwwwww. Photos taken on a Nikon D70 with 80-400 VR telephoto and 1.4 teleconverter

Cheers folks - At present it's running off batteries, however I've just picked up a mains adapter (those crazy French and their unusual plugs) so I'll try this first. Thanks again.

The christmas pudding is perfectly justified - for me it relates to the late 1990's when everyone started getting access to Met Organisation's long term weather modelling via the internet. If anything is the cause of some of the bioplar winter reactions, it's the ability to dissect every model run and every ensemble out to weeks in advance.

Frequent light snow flurries here after a night of light showers - around 1cm of lying snow here - just been out for a quick drive into the Wolds - more on the tops - around 2-3cm with a some blowing snow up around Tetford and Somersby (for those who know The Wolds).

8:30 am Pressure - 1002.3mb now steady Wind SE 8mph gusting 14 mph temp. 0.6C Dew Point -2.1C Humidity - 78% Cloudy, frequent light snow flurries, approx. 10mm of lying snow.