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Almost two-fifths (38%) of particulate matter comes from domestic wood burners and open fires, used by 7.5% of homes

Tue, 22/05/2018 - 5:02pm — Carol

Officials say almost two-fifths (38%) of particulate matter comes from
domestic wood burners and open fires, which just 7.5% of homes have.

[https://news.sky.com/story/pollution-proposals-aim-to-curb-emissions-from-wood-burning-stoves-11381351 ]

Interesting statistic!

"How you burn wood is important. In London, 69% of people who burn wood
are doing so in open fires, a practice banned in the capital by the
Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968. New stoves pollute far less than open
fires, but a recent report found that the limits for Ecodesign wood
burners allow six times more particle pollution than the exhaust of a modern heavy goods vehicle, equivalent to 18 new diesel cars."

via https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/08/pollutionwatch-log-f...

Consultation document - https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/clean-air-strategy-co...

Anyone for a Noyau?

Thu, 10/05/2018 - 8:53am — webmaster

Beech Noyau

A noyau is typically a cordial made from brandy, gin, cognac etc.
However, this is a classic British version made using young beech
leaves.

Ingredients:

1 bottle of gin (700ml), 225g white sugar, 200ml brandy, 400ml young beech leaves.

Method:

Using only very young beech leaves, freshly stripped from the stem. Add
these to a bottle or glass jar (with a secure lid) until the vessel is
half full. Add the bottle of gin then stopper the jar and store for 3
weeks before straining the alcohol off. Meanwhile add the sugar and
300ml water to a pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and allow to
cool before mixing with the flavoured gin and the brandy. Pour into
bottles and store.

Word(s) of the day: "rionnach maoim"...'the moving shadows cast by clouds on moorland on a sunny, windy day'. Such compressed el

Tue, 06/03/2018 - 1:00am — Carol

Winnol Weather....

Sun, 04/03/2018 - 10:51pm — Carol

3rd March is the feast of Saint Winwallus, aka Winwaloe, abbot, the third person in the weather-rhyme:

First comes David, next come Chad
Then comes Winnal roaring mad [*]
White or black,
Or old house thack (i.e. bringing snow, rain, or heavy winds)
 
[* (or, “roaring like mad”, or “as if he was mad”, or “as though he was mad”, or “blowing mad”)]

A good Celtic name transplanted from one Celtic country (Wales) to another (Brittany) and back again (Cornwall, and points north), it is variously rendered as Bennoc, Guénolé, Onolaus, Valois, Winwalloe, Winwalve, and several other variations, and in the above weather-rhyme, “Winnold”, “Winneral”, “Whinwall”, “Winnel” and “Winnol”

Word(s) of the day: “scréachóg reilige” - ‘screecher of the cemetery’; Irish name for the barn owl. Also “cailleach-oidhche ghea

Thu, 08/02/2018 - 6:33pm — Carol

Word(s) of the day: “scréachóg reilige” - ‘screecher of the cemetery’; Irish name for the barn owl. Also “cailleach-oidhche gheal” (white old woman of the night, Gaelic) & “Schleiereule” (veil-owl, German). To mark publication, today, of Owl Sense by https://twitter.com/MimDarling @MimDarling

Word of the day: "clinkerbell" - icicle (Somerset; archaic). Other regional names for icicles include "aquabob" (Kent), "ickle"

Fri, 15/12/2017 - 5:22pm — Carol

Word of the day: "clinkerbell" - icicle (Somerset; archaic). Other regional names for icicles include "aquabob" (Kent), "ickle" (Yorkshire), "tankle" (Durham), "shuckle" (Cumbria) & "conkerbill" (Newfoundland).

Cornish dialect: Conkerbell, Cockabell or Cockerbell………….. An icicle
according to The Ancient Language, and the Dialect of Cornwall, with an Enlarged Glossary By Frederick W. P. Jago

Cornish language: 

English Words

kleghi

kleghi

n.coll

Word of the day: “Eisvogel” - German for kingfisher, literally “ice-bird”; in Russian Зимородок, lit. “winter-born”

Mon, 04/12/2017 - 12:20pm — Carol

Word of the day: “Eisvogel” - German for kingfisher, literally
“ice-bird”; in Russian Зимородок, lit. “winter-born”. Names possibly
given because kingfishers appear in new territories when their
established fishing grounds freeze in winter.

Nature - at Hawthorn Time

Thu, 09/11/2017 - 6:14pm — Carol

Cherry blossom over, daffs turning. Hawthorn bud-burst.

Horse chestnuts, swallows, blackthorn (sloe).

Wild garlic, dog violets, sycamore bud-burst. A cuckoo calling.

Ribwort plantain, common bugle, bird's foot trefoil.

Nettles, yellow archangel. Rabbits.

Arum (cuckoo pint, lords and ladies, bobbin joan) - spadix first formation. Ash trees in flower.

Ground ivy, purslane. Beeches in full leaf. Hornbeams first flower.

Celandine, cuckoo flower, meadow buttercup.

Avens, dog's mercury, harebells, vetch. Otter spoor by the river.

Herb Robert, Bracken unfurling. Snakeshead fritillaries.

Ground ivy (hedge banks). Ash flowers.

Milkwort, cranesbill. Pedunculate oaks - first flower tassels.

Garlic mustard. Brimstone butterflies. Crab apples in bud.

Lady's bedstraw, sorrel, bee orchid. Ash bud-burst.

Borage, self-heal, first wild clematis flowers (old man's beard, traveller's joy).

Brambles. Showers wind from the south-east.

Meadow foxtail; first inflorescence.

Speedwell, ragged robin, meadow saxifrage (rare) One early foxglove.

Sample of women's suffrage petition presented #onthisday 1884

Fri, 03/11/2017 - 5:46pm — Carol

A thousand acres of London's super-prime real estate is owned by 5 aristocratic families, the Crown & the Church

Fri, 03/11/2017 - 10:54am — Carol

A thousand acres of London's super-prime real estate is owned by 5 aristocratic families, the Crown & the Church

Who owns central London? – Who owns England? https://whoownsengland.org/2017/10/28/who-owns-central-london/

In 1925, the radical journalist W.B. Northrup published a postcard
depicting a giant octopus, labelled ‘landlordism’, spreading its
tentacles across London. Each tentacle curled around the boundaries of
one of the Great Estates in possession of central London, listing their
acreage and yearly rents. (You can see it pictured above.)