Raspberries, Worms & Frog spawn

Frogs Spawn - 21st March

Frog Spawn

Even though we have had hundreds of frogs and some toads in the field last year they didn't spawn and I introduced some tadpoles that a friend's daughter got. She was going to keep them in a bowl for a bit of fun but I gave them a better home. This year there is a lot of spawn. It would be nice to see some toad spawn and I'll have to keep fingers crossed.

Raspberries

Malling Leo Raspberry bed

Yet another raspberry bed. 10 plants go in today since you can't have too many raspberries and the digging will also help drainage and fertility. 5 wheel barrows of manure mixed with the clay should hopefully break it up a lot but judging by other beds it'll take another year or 2 of manure mulching to make the soil better.

Worms

I'm still at a loss as to why people buy worms for a wormery. Simply put a load of manure on the ground, wait a couple of months and before you know it you have hundreds upon hundreds of worms. One spadeful alone must have had well over 50 worms. A barrow load taken from a worm rich seam must have had several hundred.

Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse

The solar eclipse as a spectacle wasn't on the scale of the 1999 eclipse because you needed to be more northern to get the fullest eclipse but it did give an opportunity to see what the eclipse looked like to my IR and Visible light meter as well as see it's effect upon a solar panel.

Two things about the eclipse had bugged me in the run up to it. Firstly the media were reporting that the loss of the sun during the eclipse would put strain on the power generation system and also scientists had been asking for "citizen scientists" to report on changes of clouds and wind. I didn't, couldn't and still can't see why it would have been a problem for the power generation in the country, the chances of a black out or power shortage seemed a farcical idea and more like an opportunity for a news headline and why would scientists need people to report on the weather change when they could monitor it themselves? Again, another PR opportunity to create "engagement" with the public I think.

Simple graph plots of the solar panel power output along with Infra-red, Ultra Violet and Visible light should be sufficient to answer both questions.

Click graphs for bigger image.

UV Index

Solar Panel Insolation in W/m2

IR and Visible Light

UV Index Rolling Average Over 1 hour

Obviously all graphs look incredibly similar but since we are monitoring the sun, which is being blocked up to 87% or so, that is what would be expected. The solar panel Y scale hasn't been calibrated and is probably around 18% too high but that is unimportant.

Potential power shortage?

To answer the question as to whether there was any likelihood of a power shortage caused by the dip in power from solar panels you need to consider that good solar panels are only around 15% efficient and since the sun's power hitting the panels is only going to be around 150 to 300 w/m2 at this time of year at the time when the eclipse happened a maximum loss of 15% of that equates to about 33 watts per hour. Across 2 hours that's 66 watts per meter. Considering it wasn't totally dark even less was actually lost. Also this time of day just doesn't generate much power anyway, compared to the mid day sun which can produce 150 watts per meter. Across 2 hours around mid day had the eclipse happened then, it would have lost 300 watts per square meter which would have been nearly 5 times worse. Very little power was lost due to the eclipse and when you consider that my panel had almost no cloud cover it wasn't much different to there being no eclipse and a fair amount of cloud. I conclude that the national grid had no issues what so ever compared to any normal March day during this time.

Scientists want to know weather conditions from citizen scientists during eclipse

Why? All 3 graphs, UV, IR / Visible and Solar insolation are "spiky" across most of the day. The spikes are cloud cover, pollution in the atmosphere and general humidity. They are there most of the time, even with little cloud because there is often a haze. The darker and thicker the clouds the deeper and bigger the spikes. Yesterday was a hazy but generally bright day at my location all day as the spikes show but during the eclipse the spikes disappear to a large extent. This matches what I felt, the wind seemed to drop, and it seemed to clear up the more the eclipse happened and then as the eclipse faded the wind rose a little and the clouds formed slightly more. The graphs certainly suggest the cloud cover thinned. If I can see this then why do the scientists want you to tell them what you witnessed? The calming of the weather often happens around dawn and dusk and can also be seen in the late afternoon on the graphs which also ties in with the sun having a regular effect on cloud and wind as it gets brighter in the morning and then dulls in the early evening. The sun being covered and reducing the amount of solar power hitting the ground will have also effected the temperature. Up to 300 watts per meter of solar power was reduced on the surface of the earth which is like having a 300 watt heater on every square meter turned down and then off.

It didn't go dark

A market stall owner had brought some torches just in case it went dark but as the graphs show, the solar panel output dropped to almost zero as expected at the peak of the eclipse but the other readings only dipped. A rough look at the graphs show that the light levels dropped about 84% (very roughly) which equates to the percentage of the eclipse cover, although there was also some extra scattered light getting through bouncing off of the atmosphere. Even with the sun being covered 84% or so it was still very light which goes to show how your eyes work. The pupils dilate as needed to let more of less light in. When it is very bright bright your eyes try to reduce the amount of light hitting them and when there is poor light levels your eyes open up more to let more light in and hence you din't notice the light levels drop by that much.   

A few minutes of eclipse?

The graphs also so, despite clouds and haziness,that far from the eclipse being a 10 minute wonder it happened between 8:40am to 10:30am at least and maybe longer.

Body clock
Another observation is that the birds quietened down as the eclipse happened and changed their behaviour. The previous eclipse I saw in 1999 demonstrated this to a much bigger degree, which shows that they, and us, are influenced by the rhythm of the sun and light levels.

Update
The UV sensor failed, caused by corrosion. The manufacturers have told me that the problem is caused by the lead free solder and other modern processes. Something to do with moisture, air and sulfur...it wouldn't have happened with non-eco type processes. I think it is caused by some copper pads not being covered fully by solder and the solder reacting / copper reacting with moisture. Either way it only lasted 6 months before shorting out. The white powder around the components is the problem. Replaced sensor and back up and running.

Going for diversity

Diversity and Forest Garden

I like to have as many different fruits as possible and over the last few days I have managed to find a fair few berry fruit bushes that I hadn't already got. I've already got a few different Raspberries but have added 5 "Malling Leo" canes to the collection since we all eat Raspberries and the more different varieties will help to extend the season.

I have 5 Gooseberry bushes already but have no idea as to their names but going by the colour of the fruit and size of the bushes they are different so I've added another desert red Gooseberry to the list.

Other berry bushes about to go in include, Boysenberry, Cow berry, Mulberry, Chokeberry and Cranberry which will add to the collection of Strawberry, Blackcurrant, Redcurrant, Logan berry and Tay berry and 4 other Black berry bushes.

Two small black grapes and 2 Kiwi fruit bushes will have to go into the greenhouse along with the previous Orange and Fig that I bought last year. It'll be interesting to see how these go.

Dog Wood Area

Half of the field is slowly developing into a forest garden which is currently an orchard with all the standard type of fruit trees, Apple, Pear, Cherry, Plum, Crab, Medlar, Quince, Cherry plum and perhaps another but I want to expand it and add a woody area so 10 "Cornus" red dog wood bushes have gone in to a small area with a Hazel nut bush with a Laurel  and "Griselina Litoralis" bush to give a bit of instant height as well as being ever green. This small area will be inter planted with strawberry as ground cover since I have found strawberries suppress the grass. Hopefully all the leaves will drop and help to hold back the grass and slowly condition the soil. All the bushes were placed into a hole and the clay was mixed with rotted manure and then mulched with manure. There are also some "wild" Daffodils (which I'm not too sure are wild) planted in this area which came up last year but haven't broken through the grass yet but I did put a spade through one and can see that it was growing. The turfs that came up were simply laid between the dog wood to raise the ground and allow what ever bulbs are planted within them to still have a chance.

The two "Ceanothus Puget Blue" bushes will go near the bottom of the pond and hopefully these will link the main hedge to the pond which is then linked to the dog wood area to bring the birds out of the hedge and into the central area of the field. This area is filled with flowers with a sitting area in the middle and is screened from the car area by the willow we planted last year. I have two cork screw Hazel bushes to also go in within this area, somewhere.

I'm going to have to start planting between the fruit trees at some stage but since this is a large area I haven't decided how to keep the rabbits at bay yet. The boundary fence put up during the first few months when we started isn't stopping the rabbits and although specific areas have been fenced off to protect them the bigger orchard area will be a problem. I think each individual fruit bush that I inter plant between trees may need it's own little ring fence.

I've also got 10 bare root field maples and 10 bare root Beech trees to go in along the south and east boundaries to help stop the wind from whistling through the field. The house and stables protect from the North, the main road hedge protects from the west but most of our wind comes from the South East so this area needs attention. I think one of each of these will also go into the chicken area which hopefully will not only give the chickens some more cover but will add leaves for worms and slugs etc to hide under to help the chickens to scavenge with the added bonus that the holes I dig will aid drainage and allow the trees to suck up water since I have only half solved the flooding problem in this corner.

Privet Hedge starting around compost heap area

As we enter our 3rd year I'm rather hoping that all this latest planting will transform the field once more as has been done in the previous two years. This year will also see the biggest amount of planting of non fruiting bushes and trees with yet more every greens to go in and at some stage soon a pagoda will be going in which will allow a few climbers to be added. The fence separating the car area from the field will also be extended.

I have also sown some (50 to 100) hazel nut and walnuts that someone gave us to eat, fresh off of their bush, in the autumn and I'm rather hopeful that a few of these will set. Some are in the green house, some in a cold frame and some direct sown into the hedge line. I'll consider this to be a bonus if only a few succeed but last year I had a Sycamore and an Oak self seed and take which I transplanted into the hedge along with a walnut that we were given.

Seeded with wild flowers

My attempts to get wild flowers to germinate within grass failed on several previous occasions and so this time I have scattered seeds and then covered them with some compost. The grass was cut very short during winter which has held it back a fair bit and the addition of compost will hopefully allow the seeds a good start before the grass over powers them.  

Spring is almost here

Spring is almost here

There is normally one day around this time of year that suddenly makes me realise that Spring is almost here and it kick starts me into sowing seeds and readying the veg beds, and today was that day. It isn't just being aware of a warmer sun, it's a mixture of things. Many buds on the fruit bushes are looking as though they are about to open, Daffodils burst into colour and the Hawthorn leaves have started to show on the odd bush, the Crocuses are almost all out and the greenhouse feels very warm now.

Looking back at February's weather and comparing it to the first 10 days of March I can clearly see the difference. The average temperature "High" in the first 10 days of March is nearly 3.5 degrees C higher than in February and the number of hours of sun in Feb averaged out as 2.2 hrs per day compared with 4.4 hrs for March so far. Clearly a big difference.

The average UV index for Feb was 1.2 and so far in March it has averaged 2.1 and yesterday the UV index averaged 3 for the day which is the first time it has reached this level since September and so March has the same risk to your skin as September has.

The last day of air frost / freezing temperatures was 2nd of May last year and 1st of May in 2013 so we still have a way to go before the freezing temperatures stop but since Onion sets are normally happy as long as the temperature doesn't fall to minus 5 or so and since the coldest night (air temp) has been -3.5 this winter I think it is safe to plant Onions, which is what I did today as well as Early Onward Peas and some Field Beans.

I also looked at the worms in the compost heap today, as I do most weeks, and the worms are closer to the surface and are far more active than previous weeks. The Algae and duckweed in the pond has also started to multiply as well as the pond snails. I also saw the first Brimstone Butterfly yesterday as well as a couple of Bees today and this week has seen the Tomato plant seeds germinate in the greenhouse. The Willow has had it's Catkins out for a while now and the grass is growing and now needs cutting. Also the Solar lights along the path are brighter

The wind for March has come from the North West so far but today has seen it change to the South East and the forecast for the next week is also South / South East and so is yet another indication of better things to come.

So many pointers to Spring being around the corner.

With a tax rebate of £1900 paid into my account today it can only mean one thing.....off to the garden centre tomorrow! 

February

Temperature

***********

Maximum February 2015 Temperature outside was day: 25 at 13.3 Deg C 

The average high for February was 8.2 Deg C 

The average low for February was 1.17 Deg C 

Minimum February 2015 Temperature outside was day: 10 at -2.8 Deg C 

Average February 2015 temperature outside is: 7.48 Degrees C

There were 6 freezing days  and the last day of air frost was 27 in February

First frost day was: 1

Solar

****

Potential Electricity production (24 sq Metres of panels / 4KW system): 126.19 kWhs (£16.41)

There were 61.87 Hours of sun (>120 W/m2 irradiance) in February

The Average UV Index was: 1.21946

The sunniest day was: 9 with an average UV Index of: 2.56606

The dullest day was: 12 with an average UV Index of: 0.181467

Cloud

*****

Average cloud percentage: 67.03%

There were:

   Awful Days: 2 - Totally dark clouds all day

   Dull Days: 12 - Mainly cloud all day

   OK Days: 2 - Sunny spells

   Nice Days: 5 - High cloud, fair amount of sun

   Very Nice Days: 3 - Almost no cloud all day

Wind

****

(This site sees 40% less wind than Met Office suggests. Wind & Gusts are averaged over 10 minutes)

Max gust, not averaged over 10min was from NW, Jan 25th 2014, at 59.3 mph - perhaps tornado close by.

Taking into account wind is 40% down then this would have been around 100 mph

February 2015 Maximum gust of wind was day: 22 at 29.8 mph 

Windiest day was: 23 with an average speed of: 12.59 mph predominantly from a North Westerly direction

There were 0 days of gales (10min average wind speed above 34knots / 39.13mph) in February

Wind Rose for February 2015

 N (average:  0 mph) - 0 days

 NE (average:  5.93 mph) - 7 days

 E (average:  0 mph) - 0 days

 SE (average:  4.36 mph) - 2 days

 S (average:  0 mph) - 0 days

 SW (average:  5.52 mph) - 2 days

 W (average:  0 mph) - 0 days

 NW (average:  6.21 mph) - 17 days

The wind in February could produce a maximum 260.824 KWHs of power (£33.91) for a 4 metre blade turbine

Pressure

********

Lowest February 2015 pressure day was: 23 with 981.8 millbars

Highest February 2015 pressure day was: 8 with 1035.9 millbars

Rain

****

Total February 2015 rainfall was: 62.17mm

Wettest Day was: 1 with 13.5mm of rain which represents 21.72% of February rainfall

There were 10 rainy days (above 1mm) in February

There were 1650 minutes of rain or 27.5 hours (rounded up to nearest 10 minutes) in February

Rain rate was 2.27mm per hour.

139.51 cubic metres  (139509 litres / 30687.8 Gallons)  of rain fell on the plot of land in February

26.68 cubic metres  (26670.9 litres / 5866.78 Gallons)  of rain fell on the house area (House stables yard garden) in February

112.84 cubic metres  (112839 litres / 24821 Gallons)  of rain fell on the field in February

When raining, 2.27 litres / 0.5 Gallons of rain fell per hour on each square metre of ground in February

Each square metre saw 62.17 litres / 13.68 Gallons of rain in February

March so far

Temperature

***********

Maximum March 2015 Temperature outside was day: 7 at 16.71 Deg C 

The average high for March was 11.64 Deg C 

The average low for March was 1.57 Deg C 

Minimum March 2015 Temperature outside was day: 9 at -2.6 Deg C 

There were 3 freezing days  and the last day of air frost was 11 in March

First frost day was: 9

Solar

*****

Potential Electricity production (24 sq Metres of panels / 4KW system): 108.51 kWhs (£14.11)

There were 44.35 Hours of sun (>120 W/m2 irradiance) in March

The Average UV Index was: 2.11087

The sunniest day was: 10 with an average UV Index of: 3.09093

The dullest day was: 5 with an average UV Index of: 0.868141

Cloud

*****

Average cloud percentage: 31.43%

There were:

   Awful Days: 0 - Totally dark clouds all day

   Dull Days: 2 - Mainly cloud all day

   OK Days: 1 - Sunny spells

   Nice Days: 3 - High cloud, fair amount of sun

   Very Nice Days: 4 - Almost no cloud all day

New Chickens

New Chickens but also an electric fence

Yesterday 19 white chickens arrived yesterday from a commercial farmer who takes day old chicks and grows on until they are ready to lay. They are commercial Point Of Lay chickens but I can't remember the make and model number of them. 6 Cockerels, 1 to keep and 5 to fatten up and eat.

They were kept in the shed for 24 hours before letting them out and the first thing that struck me was how much and how quick these things eat compared to the Leg Bars, Leg Horn and Silky chickens of before.

The previous chickens would slowly eat their food and there would have been some left after 30 minutes but these lot eat everything within 2 minutes. When I fed them in the shed all I could hear was tap tap tap as the beaks hit the floor as they pecked, and then it fell silent as they finished.

Around the pen I've put an electric fence at the top which will hopefully stop the fox but of course time will be the judge of this.

The last lot all had names and different personalities but with 19 white commercial almost identical chickens that's unlikely to happen without a tin of spray paint and some imagination.

With the wings now clipped it's just a matter of sitting back waiting for eggs and since they are from commercial stock these things are likely to lay eggs in a prolific fashion so our diet is likely to change to omelette, scrambled, poached and boiled egg along with lots of cakes :) .... or alternatively a possibility into starting to sell produce at the country market.

They are supposed to have 100g of special feed per chicken per day (almost 2kg) while we slowly wean them off of their normal food onto corn/wheat, layer's pellets and kitchen scraps but luckily the farmer gave us 4 bags of their normal feed thrown into the price. It's looking like the feed might be close to a £1 a day once they start laying. This living cheaply and having your own eggs and meat is beginning to look like the expensive option - especially during the winter when no eggs are forth coming!

Since the farmer doesn't want cockerels I have been told I can have as many cockerels as I want or can cope with but now we are about to find out if the cockerels will tolerate each other. They have been split up from the hens (although 1 was left with the little flock, brood , peep, clutch or chattering or what ever the group is called). If they can't get along we'd better create some freezer space!

Since the neighbour has just given us a 4 yr old apple tree which I planted in their coup I guess I can now say the eggs come from "woodland chickens" as is now the fashion. That's what another local chicken farmer has done, planted a few young trees in a field where the chickens can roam and now the supermarket has "from free range woodland chickens" printed on the boxes, with a higher price of course.  

Just remembered the chicken shed needs some more roof felt and another roosting perch, more items on the job list.

Who'll be the first to get a shock as we forget the electric fence is live in the morning? Seems like the kids have got the job of letting the chickens out in the morning :)

Water Quality Testing

Water Quality Testing

One thing always leads to another....

I was asked by the Wildlife Trust to do some Salinity Water Tests on various water bodies as the previous volunteer had stopped doing the tests. It involves a good walk all over the nature reserve visiting all the ponds and taking Salinity readings. The results are useful to know for various reasons but recently they are being used to determine what effect the December 5th 2013 storm and tidal surge / sea breach had upon the ponds.

Since I use the blog to remind myself of my thoughts at the time when I look back in a year or two I'll mention that it takes about 12,000 steps to complete and takes about 4 hrs.

There are various types of ponds from freshwater, brackish to very brackish with some drying up in dry summers. Some are heavily influenced by the tides.

When I looked at the 2013 results for the 25 or so water bodies and compared them to the 2014 results I realised that several ponds react differently to others at different times of the year. Testing the ponds once per month, although revealing a lot of interesting information, posed more questions to me than answers. I've therefore increased the number of water bodies tested to over 50 to get a fuller picture.

Testing even more ponds then posed more questions and highlighted the fact that on a site where there are salt marshes, freshwater marshes, sand dues and meadows with man made barriers and natural as well as man made creeks and ditches connecting different parts of the site, it was a far more complicated environment than I had first thought.

What a salinity test is

A salinity test is a measurement of how much salt is in the water, at least I thought tit was. Even testing the water poses many more questions than just "what is the salinity".

For a start the results of a test can be reported as a unit of electrical conductivity, EC, which uses the unit of Siemens (that's probably where the company of the same name got it's name) but the amount of electrical conductivity is smaller than the Siemen (S) so milli or microSiemens are used (mS or uS). The test basically measures how conductive an area of water is over 1 cm of distance (the positive and negative probes are 1 cm apart). It is measuring the amount of ions in the water.

Unfortunately this EC measurement is often expressed as Parts Per Thousand (ppt) or Parts Per Million as well. This equates to milli grammes per litre and introduces another term called Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). This is the weight of salt that would be left in a bucket if you evaporated all the water off and weighed what was left.

Total Dissolved Solids

 The problem with evaporating off the water and weighing the residue is that it doesn't represent what was in the water precisely because some things that you want to measure also get lost. Evaporating water and calculating what is left is difficult and can't be done quickly or out in a field. An electrical equivalent is used instead.

Electrical Conductivity

The unit of Siemen is simply the reciprocal of the Ohm (1/Ohms). The reciprocal of the Ohm is written backwards, Mho. The problem is that different salinity testers convert the electrical conductivity to a TDS reading (ppt or ppm) in different ways.

There are various different representations of how much salt is in water.

Some, perhaps most, testers measure the conductivity and convert to a TDS value which is a representation of how much Sodium Chloride there is in water, the NaCl equivalent. They report the value in ppm.

Others convert to a TDS value which is a representation of how much Potassium Chloride there is, the KCl equivalent. Also reported as ppt.

And also other testers convert the electrical conductivity to a TDS value in ppm that represents a mixture of salts, 40% sodium sulfate, 40% sodium bicarbonate, and 20% sodium chloride, which is the 442 representations.

A Tale of Woe

So, you could have 3 different testers that give 3 different readings.

A tester that converts 1 mS/cm into a NaCl TDS value could be 500 ppm (0.5 factor)

A tester that converts 1 mS/cm into a KCl TDS value could be 550 ppm (0.55 factor)

A tester that converts 1 mS/cm into a 442 TDS value could be 700 ppm (0.7 factor)

On top of all that, 1mS/cm electrical conductivity unit is different around the world.

The USA would convert 1 mS/cm as 500 ppm

Australia would convert 1 mS/cm as 700 ppm

Europe would convert 1mS/cm as 640 ppm

So you not only need to know what the TDS salt value represents (NaCl, 442 etc) but also which market it is aimed at.

On top of that is the temperature compensation. Water conducts electricity differently at different temperatures. From what I can gather most EC testers compensate to a temperature of 25 degrees Celcius at the rate of 2.1% per degree difference from 25 degrees C. Other machines can compensate to 20 degrees C and some machines let you assign the compensation percentage from 1% to 3%.

There is no standard at all.

Then of course you have cheap, very accurate testers  made in China (and they are accurate) and you don't know which standard mS/cm value they use (USA, Europe etc) which also doesn't help. 

I have also found that even when you know the conversion factor (0.5 for example) it isn't liner, ie, although they say that they use 0.5 the algorithm actually uses between 0.45 and 0.55 at different parts of it's full scale.

Then some manufacturers seem to use 0.71 as a linear factor.

With the temperature compensation for a reading of 500 ppm taken at 20 degrees C referenced to 25 degrees do they work out 5 x 2.1%  which is 10.5% difference and add that to 500 which equates to 552.5 ppm or do they work out the compound percentage change for 5 degrees which is:

500 + 2.1% = 510.05 ppm

510.05 + 2.1% = 521.2205 ppm

521.2205 + 2.1% = 532.1661305 ppm

532.1661305 + 2.1% = 543.341619241 ppm

543.341619241 + 2.1% = 554.751793245 ppm

The difference isn't much, 2.25 ppm, when measuring low salinity readings but if you had a value of 15,000 ppm (15 ppt) the 5 degree celcius compensation values could be 280 ppm difference.

A ppt salinity reading from one machine could be 5000 ppm while another could be 7735 ppm from another, around 50% difference for the same piece of brackish water.

The Problem

I face this exact problem. When I compare the 2013 salinity results with the 2014 results some of the results of ponds that had sea water pour into them making them very saline were 50% or so lower than in the previous year when the sea didn't pour into them. Clearly either a different machine was used to take the readings or the same machine had different settings applied. Both years results are correct and accurate and I know what settings and conversion factors were used in 2014 but what factors were used in 2013?

The difference doesn't matter much for some ponds since they were and still are fairly low salinity readings but many ponds were and still are very saline but can't be compared.

Some Detective Work is Needed

It looks like I need to try and work out what tester was used in 2013, what salt it was compared to (NaCl, KCl, 442 etc) and use the temperature readings to reverse the ppt readings back into the mS/cm electrical conductivity measurement in order to compare one year before the sea breach with the following year after the breach.....DOH!

Anglian Water

Being a bit sad and not getting out much I decided to look at my own drinking water composition as measured by Anglian Water. See http://waterquality.anglianwater.com/map.aspx 

They handily publish what the minimum and maximum values for electrical conductivity are of my drinking water. I also looked up the values for the Nature Reserve. Both my water and the Reserves tap water read identical on 2 different salinity testers. Both readings were 0.31 ppt. 

When you convert the Anglian Water EC values for both locations in ppt or convert my ppt readings into EC values (mS/cm) I find that my readings, taken with 2 accurate testers, do not fall within the range specified by Anglian Water, even when I compensate for the fact that their readings are referenced to 20 degrees C and mine are referenced to 25 degrees C. They also don't publish, not that I can find them, what type of machine they use. I can only presume they use the European value of the 1 mS/cm and not the USA one or Australian. Their readings no matter how I look at them are 25% higher than my readings.

Salinity in a pond
Another problem that I have found is that although you can take a salinity reading in a pond, if you move 20 feet along the pond and take another reading you can get a different reading, but only on some days. This tells me several things, one accuracy of the meter isn't that important unless you understand what causes this and if you do understand it the reading is wrong unless you put that reading into context. The context perhaps should be multiple readings from multiple places of the same pond on the same day within a few minutes of each test. It is caused because rain water or run off water hasn't mixed well in that location or salty water has seeped in and not mixed.   

Conclusion

I've come to the conclusion that salinity readings should only ever be done in mS/cm and not converted into TDS readings. Many more measurements need to be taken and each pond really needs a volume measurement as well as profile taken as to how salt or freshwater mixes over time since rain or high tides.

Why can't life be simple? Trying to learn something new is hard enough without these little complications.

Although I've learnt a lot I still have 2 years worth of data that I want to compare and have learnt that I can't unless I do an awful lot more work

The Future

To produce meaningful results of the salinity tests I have started to add PH tests and have started to log the tides as well as introduce the recording of the time along with the salinity results. As the salinity rises and falls I need something to compare the changes to and I presume the changes are mainly down to the tides as well as rainfall and evaporation. I have also added other information such as the life forms seen within the ponds and different vegetation as it appears.

The previous people taking the salinity readings didn't log the time or combine the readings with any other data and because it was done just once per month very little information could be gleamed from the results apart from "this pond is more or less saline that that other pond and the salinity changes throughout the year".

I want to know why it changes, what effect the rain, sun and tides have on the different ponds, at what salinity levels do the dragonflies and other insects get affected and how long does one event, such as a high tide or rain or sunny conditions, take to effect the salinity and by how much.

Environmental Science Degree

I am aiming to take a Science Degree but will need something to research and this fits the bill. To this end I took a 3rd year Environmental Science Student around the site and explained what I was doing because she is almost at the end of her degree and needs to finish her dissertation which is on the "effects of salinity with respect to the Orchids on a freshwater marsh or meadow". She turned up to see the reserve (at the wrong time of year for Orchids) with the wrong test equipment and a PH meter which was not calibrated, but to her credit she had brought some de-ionized water to do the calibration but didn't know that she needed a PH buffer to calibrate against. She also thought a salinity tester was a Calcium tester so had rented the wrong equipment and didn't know anything about an Electrical Conductivity / TDS meters even though her study depended upon the results of them. Orchids require Fungi or Mycelia to form a symbiotic relationship with the them in order to grow which she didn't know and she couldn't identify an Orchid either. She had only 4 or 5 more weeks until her whole dissertation had to be handed in complete with study data, methodology and conclusion / findings etc but apart from all that she was hopeful about passing.

Unfortunately she doesn't appear to have learnt anything in the last 3 years of University, not that corresponds to what her dissertation is about anyway, can't be bothered to look things up and admitted that when she tried to read a scientific report in her area of study that she found it rather difficult and got bored reading it, and is looking at a Masters degree next. 

When I asked how she got on her course, because I need to find a way in, she said various Universities turned her down but since she took a Maths A level (and failed with an E, or passed with an E) she could get into one of the Universities if she obtained one more A level....so she took an A level in Dance....and got accepted onto a Science based degree course.

Begs the question how good are people with degrees, what actually do they get taught and would it be worth me taking an A level in "dance" to get in?

....and I have to give her all the data that I've collected and just in case someone spots that our 2013 data doesn't correspond with the 2014 data I have to convert it for her some how. 

    

Sedentary Lifestyles

Sedentary Lifestyles

During most of last year I did a job that basically involved standing still for 10 hours a day. That's a bit of an exaggeration but not much since I was spending hours up a ladder or standing wiring up electrics for an electrical company. I put on the best part of 1 stone (14lb) of weight.

The weight gain became a little worrying and I needed to lose it. I need targets and statistics so I used a pedometer app on my phone to count how many steps I do during a normal week and thereby I'd know how many more I need to increase by to become more active.

I've since stopped that job and have gone back to my normal lifestyle, which means I'm very busy and active during the winter and less so from about now, February, until October.

Reading up on how many steps we are "supposed" to do, and how much exercise health professionals say we need to do suggests that we should be aiming for approximately 150 minutes or 2.5 hrs of moderate exercise per week, or ideally 30 minutes per day. 

The number of steps a sedentary person does is around 2,000 to 4,000 steps per day and the goal of 10,000 per day would suggest that you are an active person. 12,500 and above is a "very active" person. 70,000 per week is active and above 84,000 per week is very active.

I knew that I always do more exercise even on a quiet week than 2.5 hrs but had no idea how many steps I'd do.

I managed to track my steps for the very last week of my winter schedule, when I am busiest. Most weeks during the winter are the same apart from the last week which was a little less busy, although it was only one active day less. 

The number of steps that I do during the winter weeks is around 130,000. The last week actually measured 127,500 steps and since that was slightly less busier than the normal week I presume for 12 winter weeks I would do between 120,000 and 140,000 steps per week.

The app also measured how many "active hours", calories burnt and distance travelled. My active hours measured 22hrs for the week, the distance was 77.5km and calories burnt were 5,000 during this exercise.

I was impressed by just how active I am compared to most people but that then got me thinking, what did I do and how would that compare to rural people with an active lifestyle many years ago?

During the week I only had 2 days that involved walking from a to b. Those 2 days were when I was bush beating for local game shoots - often during the winter I'd do 3 days of this but they are only relatively short days, 9am start, 4pm end although I walk there and back (or cycle). The other days were spent digging the garden and chopping wood and volunteering for 1 day at the Wildlife Trust and those days are much shorter.

Although I clocked up what I thought were very impressive numbers I then thought about what a farm worker, or rural estate worker would have done 100 years ago. Back then, in my area, they would have done bush beating, even more because there would have been many of them but not just beating, they would have had to have walked around the estate or farm on a daily basis checking the game birds and looking and protecting their nests all year. They would have also walked around fixing fences, chopping down trees for firewood, ploughing fields, feeding animals etc. I think that they would have done similar jobs to me, for more hours per day and often for 7 days a week.

I therefore think that they would have clocked up 200,000 steps per week and covered 100 km distance.

The idea that 84,000 steps per week makes someone now days a "very active" person seems to reflect the modern lifestyle change rather more than being a true reflection of an active person. It highlights to me why we are all fat and unfit if we class someone as very active and thereby fit if they only do 84,000 steps a week. That isn't active or fit compared to what even the average person would have done 100 years ago when most would have walked to work and many many people would have worked in the fields.

The following week I tracked my normal, non busy week. 78,000 steps and 13 hrs of being active which included some chopping of wood, a volunteering day at the WildLife Trust and just one day walking to school and back (1.5 miles each direction). This week included 2 days of doing absolutely no exercise at all. 2 days in the car or sitting down where I only clocked up 3,000 or 4,000 steps per day. Several things about this week caught my attention. Firstly sedentary people do around 3,000 to 4,000 steps per day which means they literally sit on their backsides all day since that number of steps is taken up going to the loo and walking to and from the fridge and car and getting up to look for the TV remote and the odd walk up stairs to and from bed. The second thing that caught my attention was how little you have to do to almost be classed as very active, one day walking to and from a local school and 1 day out walking around a nature reserve - I did almost nothing for the rest of the week.

I think the government and health workers have got it all wrong by telling us what we should be aiming to do to become active. The goals are far too low but what is worrying is that they were, or are, considering lowering the amount of exercise they tell people to do, 2.5 hrs per week, because it is unrealistic and most people are ignoring it. I'm sure by setting a lower target their figures for how well their targets are being achieved will then look good but it is really missing the point. Just walking to school and back in the morning and afternoon would allow me to clock up "very active" status. 

It is all well and good saying that people don't have the time in their busy lives to exercise but something is clearly wrong with the modern lifestyle and surely changing the lifestyle to make time for exercise is better than lowering targets and accepting that there isn't time. I'd prefer to exercise than earn more money and then have health problems when I'm old and die younger. What's the point of not finding time to be active if all it will do is make you be ill and an invalid in later life. Once you get to 60, have a heart attack, and feel sorry for yourself I'm sure you'd wished that you'd found a couple of hours per day to walk.

I can see clearly for myself what exercise does for you, I go bush beating with 60, 70 and 80 year old men who have all had an active life and they are still fit right upto the day they drop dead. In the last 5 or 6 years the old beaters that have died have all been around or over 80. I've also seen 60 year olds retire, come bush beating, so as to get exercise, only to have a heart attack a couple of weeks later because their bodies simply aren't up to it. They retire and only then think of keeping active but unfortunately they find that they haven't got long for this world and they now have to keep taking it easy. They retire with plenty of money but can't spend it doing what they want.

The other thing the pedometer has been useful for is showing me how much I over eat. The busy week showed that I burnt off 5,000 calories and I know this is well under what I really burnt because it didn't take into account that chopping wood involves a lot more than a few steps and also bush beating isn't just walking, it is waving a stick and ducking and diving through bushes, hedges and walking over fields with clods of clay sticking to your feet. I would guess that I'm burning off another 1 to 2,000 calories during those weeks which suggests that I am eating upto 7,000 more calories per week than I need. That's a lot per day. It also shows that cutting out a few of the bits of junk food and only having slightly smaller meal sizes and the weight will have to fall off.

In fact, during the winter I lost most of the 1 stone I added during my sedentary job and the last 2 weeks I've been aware of what I have been eating and have not been on a diet but just questioned whether I needed that snack or not and have lost 3lb. I haven't gone without, haven't changed food, nothing difficult, just made myself aware of how many calories I'm eating.

I can see that I'd get down to a very good weight just by being aware of what I shove into my mouth. On quiet weeks I need to not stuff myself and on busy weeks I needn't worry about it one way or the other. 

Anyway, I'm off now to chop wood and move a pile of manure from one part of the garden to another.