No airplanes

The ash escaping from the Icelandic volcano is still affecting flights in the UK. This afternoon I took this photo of a clear blue sky with no airplanes or contrails. We live just over thirty miles from Heathrow so you wouldn't think that we would really notice the lack of flights over the past couple of days but we have.

A large number of planes fly over this area, my husband has flown over the village several times when returning from America, but they are not very low at this stage and so I don't give them much thought although depending on weather conditions we do see a lot of contrails. This is a photo I took one morning.

Today, when I was in the garden I thought it was quieter than usual but wondered if I was imagining it. Then my son came out and commented on how quiet it was. I think we must somehow filter out the background noise and it is only now it is not there that we notice the difference. We also see military helicopters on exercises, these fly low and are very noisy but they have been absent too.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, flights were suspended for three days and scientists recorded an increase in temperature due to the absence of airplane contrails in the atmosphere. The water vapour in the trails reflects some sunlight back out into space so that less reaches the earths surface so when there are no trails, more sunlight gets through and the temperature increases. I wonder if the same effect will be seen due to the current flight cancellations or will the volcanic ash in the atmosphere have the opposite effect reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. I find it interesting to see how one event, the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, has such far reaching effects.

For the sake of the many thousands who have had their plans disrupted I hope this cloud of ash disperses and that they are soon able to travel safely. There will be no flights from London airports tomorrow so it will be another day of waiting around for passengers but for those of us on the ground, another quiet day with clear skies.

Calendar - April

This is the photo on my calendar for this month. I took this last summer in Shetland on a beautiful sunny day. We spent the morning on a deserted beach and then as we walked onto a nearby headland I took this picture of an isolated croft.

When I am on holiday I like to imagine what it would be like to live in some of the places I visit. Imagine living here. 

Our house is close to other houses, shaded by large trees and has a smallish garden. This would be so different, on its own, plenty of space and not a tree in sight.

I cropped the top photo for my calendar but in the original below you can see just how isolated it is. It was reached by a track about a mile long off a single track road in a quiet part of Shetland.

Sometimes when I can here my neighbours DIY or the noise of traffic from the nearby road seems louder than usual, I think that living somewhere like this would be perfect - only the sounds of nature all day. I wonder whether I would really like it though? On days spent at home you wouldn't see a soul and even going for a walk it is unlikely that you'd meet anyone. I wonder if I would like it in the winter when the days are short (Shetland is as far north as Alaska , level with Bergen in Norway), would it all seem just too quiet?

What do you think, perfect seclusion or unbearable isolation? I'm still not sure, I think I'd like it but perhaps you can't really tell until you've actually lived somewhere for a while.

Easter weekend

I hope everybody has been enjoying a happy Easter weekend. All four of us have been at home since last Thursday and its nice to have a full house again. 

We have been for walks in the countryside near home in lovely spring weather and then a city walk in London where the weather was not so kind.

I haven't spent much time at the computer lately, instead spending more time with the family or at the allotment. This will continue for the next two weeks of school/university holidays although I expect I shall pop in from time to time with a few photos especially if I can find more spring blossom to photograph.

Summer time

Its all been a bit busy here but with the end of term things should calm down a little now. The clocks moved forward last night, the start of British Summer Time and now we have longer lighter evenings to enjoy. Darker mornings of course but it won't be long until the sun is shining when we get up just after six.

These pictures are from my walk first thing this morning, the dew still on the grass,

buds on the trees opening

and although we don't have blossom here yet, looking at this hawthorn, it won't be long now.

A good start to summer time.

Frogspawn and violets

We finally have frogspawn in our little pond. Looking back over previous years, I have posted about the appearance of frogspawn at the end of February. If this is a measure of spring, then it is about three weeks later than usual.

The spring flowers are appearing though and I was pleased that on this first day of Spring, violets are flowering in the hedgerows.

They are such delicate flowers with a lovely scent. When I saw these today I began to believe that winter is over at last.

Happy Spring!