Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail. 28th January 2017
Take Care!
I start with a cautionary tale this week. If you get a splinter or thorn in your finger – and then start feeling ‘fluey’, don’t ignore it, it might be related! Yep, you’ve guessed it, I did just that – got something in my finger last week whilst clearing scrub from a bank in work and despite my finger swelling, my arm hurting (honestly), sweating profusely and my finger throbbing so much it kept me awake at night, I still thought that I was probably ‘unlucky’ and had caught a cold as well as hurting my finger!
Nagging friends made sure I went to the surgery (after a week of ‘putting’ up with it) where I was given horse-strength antibiotics … and a row! The moral of this story is if your finger is swollen and hurts, you have probably got an infection in it – not a cold!
Lighter Mornings
On a more cheerful note – the evenings are drawing out – hooray! And I have learned something fascinating, thanks to reader, Brian Butt. When I mentioned a few weeks ago that I noticed that the mornings almost seemed to be getting darker, he sent me a link which explained that they actually do!
It goes something like this …
Although it would seem logical that after the shortest day has elapsed the mornings would start getting lighter earlier, it isn’t what happens – the mornings do continue darkening until well into January.
Apparently, the primary reason behind it all is that a day – a solar day to be precise – is not always exactly 24 hours.
“In fact, it is 24 hours only four times a year, and never in December,” explains astronomer Stephen Hurley, who runs a popular science blog called The Science Geek. “It is at its shortest around 23 hours 59 minutes and 30 seconds, in early September, and at its longest around 24 hours 30 seconds in December.”
There are two reasons why the length of the solar day varies, the first being the fact that the axis of the Earth’s rotation is tilted – 23.5 degrees from vertical – and second, the Earth’s speed varies because it moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun, accelerating when it is closer to the star’s gravitational pull and decelerating when it is further away.
The sun therefore in effect lags behind the clock for part of the year, then speeds ahead of it for another.
“It would be complete chaos if our clocks and watches had to cope with days of different lengths, so we use 24 hours, the average over the whole year, for all timekeeping purposes.
“So, as the solar days in December are on average 24 hours and 30 seconds, while our clocks and watches are still assuming that each day is exactly 24 hours, this causes the day to shift about 30 seconds later each day.”
So this cumulative shifting explains why the evenings draw in towards their earliest sunset a couple of weeks before the shortest day, and why the mornings continue to get darker until a couple of weeks after.
I was fascinated – and the good news is that the sunrises are getting earlier now!
Have a Grow!
Articles in the press this week have flagged up a shortage of courgettes – and other veg – in UK supermarkets due to the recent cold weather in Spain and Italy. This will obviously restrict the availability and increase the price – with aubergines, spinach, peppers and tomatoes also likely to be affected.
So, all the more reason to ‘grow your own’ – and the good news is that courgettes and spinach are really easy to grow whilst aubergines, peppers and tomatoes just prefer a bit more TLC.
Our very own ‘home grown’ allotment-eer Terry Walton is also encouraging us to ‘have a grow’ at producing our own crops and not paying through the nose for them! And there are numerous ‘How to’ articles and videos on the Thompson & Morgan website, where amateur gardeners can find all the information and support they need to grow a variety of tasty and nutritious veg. Thompson & Morgan’s full range of vegetable seeds and plants can also be found on its website. www.thompson-morgan.com
Not Too Late for Big Bird Watch
The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend and it’s not too late to join in. You can still register and download a free pack from www.rspb.org.uk and ‘count the birds that are counting on you!’ I highly recommend it – the pack is fabulous and not only has the necessary forms to complete to log the birds you spot in your garden but lots of interesting charts, identification information, a nature diary and lots more.
Since 1979, people have been watching the birds in their garden or local park for an hour, and telling the RSPB what they’ve seen. It’s a simple hour of watching, but they now have 37 years of data to compare against. The results help them to find out what wildlife is in trouble, and what’s thriving. The statistics are fascinating – and alarming! But it means the RSPB can take action to put things right. Also, it means that over half a million people UK-wide are connecting with the nature nearest to them. And that’s got to be good news!
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