Spring is nearly here!

Advice on Koi,Ponds and Equipment
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

Sequel to this mornings post is we went for our daily dog walk down at the Elwy in St Asaph and spotted two birds we haven't seen for some weeks due to an almost continually flooded river. The concrete apron was just showing in front of the stone road bridge for the first time in weeks and just up river from the bridge at the back of the Co-op shop we saw a Dipper trying to feed in the still fast flowing river and further up toward the rear of Foxons we saw a female Goosander fly upstream from us.

We returned home to find another increasingly rare but welcome sight, a small flock of Greenfinches on our back garden bird feeders, around five or six, it was difficult to count them as they were feeding in the company of Goldfinches, and Long Tailed Tits, both of which flit about almost continuously.
Greenfinches, like a lot of other finches are in steep decline, by 70%, partly due to loss of habitat but also they're prone to a fatal respiratory disease so it was good to see them feeding today.

Because it was frosty they got extra suet treats out this morning and in the next few days they can feed on left over bits of turkey dinners.

Don't look now but the heavy rain is back with us Sunday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yuck.
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

The rain arrived on schedule Sunday night and with it a big temperature drop, Monday morning dawned fairly clear to a snow capped Clwyds, first snow this winter, just a topping to most of the range, Moel y Parc was just about dusted around the top fifty feet or so but it looked picture book pretty in the fleeting sunshine.
7 dwarves social distancing!.jpg
7 dwarves social distancing!.jpg (83.96 KiB) Viewed 9278 times
With the latest tier 4 Welsh lockdown we are behaving ourselves over the Christmas period and observing the social distancing rules. I think it should be classed as more anti-social as we avidly avoid going out anywhere except to exercise ourselves and our dog and we avoid contact with other people like the plague!
Likewise our resident garden dwarves as you can see who are still observing the rules, no sign of Snow White though?
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

On behalf of the North Wales Koi Club I would like to wish all our readers a healthy happy New Year.
Here are a couple of pictures to cheer you up, our beautiful Vale of Clwyd in it's winter glory, taken today, New Years Eve.
In first picture, Tremeirchion village is down to the right of Moel Y Parc with it's giant tv transmitter tower sitting on the top, it's just under the next hill rising up to the right which is Penycloddiau.

Our walk down by the river Elwy this morning was pretty treacherous as it had started to thaw after last nights hard frost so was quite slippery underfoot, this was after ten minutes of defrosting snow and ice off car!

This 4X4 VW of mine is very sure footed in the rain, snow and ice and gives you confidence to drive anywhere, hence our safe trip out this morning.
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Moel Y Parc from Trefnant.jpg
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Moel Famau from Trefnant 31st Dec 2020.jpg
Moel Famau from Trefnant 31st Dec 2020.jpg (59.87 KiB) Viewed 9269 times
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS - STAY SAFE

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

The beautiful snowy scenes in the Clwyds as seen above continue to attract the idiots here like wasps to a jar of jam!
We are all in tier four or five yet still they arrive in their cars, mostly from across the border in England.
We wonder; just what part of 'Stay at home, self-isolate, don't travel ' do they have the most difficuly in understanding?
Personally, the imbeciles who travel here, remove the road barriers to drive through to the mountains then, get stuck in the snow, as we experienced this week, should have their car confiscated, two police patrol cars got stuck trying to get them out, they should also be billed for the full cost of rescue!

A friend of mine came up with a good solution recently in dealing with the unwelcome visitors/law breakers. Inconvenience them; Hit their pocket! When the police discover these people, they should be directed to the nearest bus or train station with or without a police escort, they drive to the station where the car is impounded, they remove their personal belongings and carless they are forced to get the train/bus back home.
Their car meanwhile is pulled onto the back of a pre-arranged car recovery vehicle operated by one of these rip-off wheel clamping companies who charge exhorbitant fees for the release of vehicle.
The car is then taken to a pound and the owners then negotiate with the rip-off company for the (expensive) return of their car -- when the travel ban is lifted!

Gripe over and on a more pleasant note, some much more welcome visitors today were several Blackcap, male and female spotted, in with a group of Sparrows this morning, they were first seen on the ground feeder under an evergreen bush then later a lone male on the suet feeder until he was bullied off by a male Greater Spotted Woodpecker, we also had a couple of Greenfinches with their usual dining buddies the Goldfinches, we also had several Coal Tits together with their casual aquaintances the dainty Long tailed Tits.
A Buzzard was spotted sitting on our back garden fence early last week, he had most probably come down after the squirrels that daily run the two hundred yards gauntlet of the narrow strip of field that separates the woods from our back garden and bird feeders. It hung around for about a half hour then it dropped off the fence post and flew low toward the house before lifting and casually soaring up the Vale in a huge sweep, the Buzzards an awsome site close up with its five foot wingspan.
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

Trefnant to Tremeirchion road bridge 21st Jan 2021.jpg
Trefnant to Tremeirchion road bridge 21st Jan 2021.jpg (88.38 KiB) Viewed 8985 times
Here is the view that appeared at dawn this morning after a day and night of continuous very heavy rain of biblical proportions in the Vale of Clwyd.
This is/was the 19th century stone road bridge spanning the river Clwyd that connects Trefnant with the nearby village of Tremeirchion, it was built some time around 1860. The picture is taken looking East toward Tremeirchion were a glowering ominous looking sunrise is peering over Rhuallt hill.
It appears that the sheer weight and volume of flood water carried the bridge away, a large section of the bridge remains on the left of the far bank.
To give you a geographical view, the river Clwyd flows from the Denbigh direction which is to the right of the picture, St Asaph is downstream to the left and the Clwyd joins up with the river Elwy at Rhuddlan where it becomes tidal and flows to the coast at Rhyl, they are both fast flowing rivers draining a large area of the Vale and beyond.
As you can see in the foreground, the road was only resurfaced last summer, the snow melting on the Clwyds and Denbigh moor is also adding to the problem.

Meanwhile: RSPB bird count is next weekend so binoculars, pen and paper ready!
We spotted a Treecreeper at our birdfeeders in yesterdays deluge and this lunchtime during a rare sunny spell we had a large flock of Goldfinches, the largest group yet this winter.
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

The Llanerch bridge picture posted on January 21st, I only just noticed that the large old oak tree that was growing alongside bridge on the far bank right hand side has also been ripped out and swept away.
I looked on Google Earth this morning and noticed that several other large trees are also now missing!

A female Blackcap was at our feeders this morning despite the snow falling, it was attacking a new RSPB fat tube installed 8.00 am .
We don't usually use RSPB food, it's very good quality, but, it's quite expensive to buy, however, this fat and other treats was free, donated by a kind nephew.
The snow fall last night and this morning has really brought the birds in mob-handed to the feeders.

My Koi were actally quietly lying on the pond bottom mostly in a row this morning, close to wall in the deepest section, they were all facing return flow from opposite wall. I have diverted the return pipe from veg filter and waterfall to direct entry from Nexus filter (in it's insulated housing shed) by the shortest route.
The returning filtered water enters back into the pond just at the surface only about five feet from filter.
If it was left running through freezing cold veg filter in winter it would be chilled by running through shallow iced over veg filter then further chilled by dropping through cold air from two waterfalls.
On some very cold mornings the returned water actually steams slightly as it reaches pond, this is because the air pump actually warms the water and there is a very slight heat produced by 55w UV filter bulb so, the returned water is just that few degrees warmer!
roselanekoi
Posts: 307
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by roselanekoi »

Very changeable weather at the moment. A few days ago sheep on the fields in the valley were all huddled up on a piece of higher ground to escape the floods caused by the river alyn overflowing, now the sheep on the higher ground are not looking too happy with the snow.
Sheep in Snow.jpg
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The photo was taken as I went for my early morning walk yesterday (Saturday). I see more snow is forecast for today and it's not due to warm up until mid week.
pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

A 6.05am post Colin, that's very early for the cold winter months, were you just rolling home from a riotous night on the town?

I like the pic, I think your photo sums up sheep in a nutshell.
Sheep have got to be the toughest creatures around, they are out in all weathers including the torrential rain and sleet on Thursday and Friday yet they just stroll around the fields at the back of our house, heads down chewing grass and ignoring the rain bucketing down.
This morning they're out in the open field busily scraping frozen snow off the grass to feed, luckily for them and us, we are well above the Clwyd here.
Strange geographical feature here is that we are on a ridge or escarpment between the Elwy to the West and the Clwyd to to the East.
Anyone who has ever driven down the Old Denbigh Rd from here to St Asaph round the S bends will appreciate how sharp the bends are and how steeply it drops down to the Elwy! It would make any Swiss folk feel at home.

Next weekend (29th to 31st) is RSPB birdy count so here are a few common garden birds you are sure to see.
Birds under feeders in snow.jpg
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Top pic has several Chaffinches, a Blackbird and a young Woodpidgeon, note the Woodpdgeon has no white collar?
Second pic is one of my favourite garden birds enjoying the new suet put out for them during this hard snowy weather,( note the ice on trunk of apple tree.)
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Long Tailed Tit in icy winter.jpg
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pollygog
Posts: 617
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:26 pm

Re: Spring is nearly here!

Post by pollygog »

How's this for service!

I ordered a repeat order of 30 kilo's of Bakery Grade sunflower kernels from Hopewells Feeds yesterday mid- morning and it arrived 10.30 this morning. Even better is it's still the lowest price on the internet at £30.95 including post and packaging. At £1.03p a kilo it's terrific value and all our birds love it. 30kgs sounds a lot but the birds have eaten this amount from the 28th October last year, plus they have gone through an awsome amount of fat logs and suet pellets. Provided you have resealable plastic tubs, like the wheatgerm koi food, it will keep for quite some time.
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