HURRICANE BERTHA AND MY GARDEN

The weather people have said that what's left of Hurricane Bertha is heading my way.  Well, not just my way but the way of many people in the UK.  Of course, the Pennine Mountains in West Yorkshire are to get special attention and in the morning I will look out and see if I still have garden fences.   In fact, tomorrow morning I shall look out and see if I still have a garden.  We had a lot of sunny weather lately and we have needed the rain, but it has rained almost non-stop today, and we had torrential downpours yesterday, and I have a wittering and whining cat that hates to be cooped up when many birds are in my garden.  Not that he ever catches any.

Blue Tit enjoying the peanuts

I noticed this morning when I got out of bed and looked out of the kitchen window that my bird-feeding station was busier than normal.  A dozen birds or more of all different kinds were busy getting plenty to eat.  I wonder if they know that furious weather is coming our way and that they know they will be hiding in the bushes and trees for quite a while.  I did feel a pang of worry, wondering how such tiny things cope in the strong winds that we get here so often.  One gust and they might just be blown away.  The Great Tits, the Blue Tits, the Coal Tits, the Collared Doves, the Woodpigeon, the Thrushes have all been busy most of the day, even in the rain, feeding.  They are making me nervous.



Not that I care about thunder and lightning.  For the most part, it's all much ado about nothing but severe winds are deadly dangerous and I think, maybe, that they cause a lot more damage and injury than lightning strikes.  I lived in the Caribbean during many hurricane seasons and never experienced the wind that we get here on the Pennines. 



I've been out today and removed many of the bird feeders; filling up one of the large ones and lowering it so that it is less likely to be affected by the wind.  I've tied in all the plants that I can to the fences, and staked what I can in the garden.  If, tomorrow, it was all for nothing, I shall be very glad of it. 



West Yorkshire Weather Warning

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather

From: 1800 on Sun 10 August to 0900 on Mon 11 August

   

Westerly winds are expected to pick up on Sunday evening across North Wales, Liverpool Bay and northwest England, then also across the Pennines and northeast England before extending to southeast Scotland overnight.



Gusts of 40-50 mph are likely quite widely, perhaps in excess of 60 mph - this most likely across the Pennines where isolated gusts as high as 70 mph are possible. Winds will tend to moderate from the southwest of the yellow area overnight but will remain strong across northeast England and southeastern Scotland into Monday morning.



The public should be aware of the potential for some disruption due to the unseasonably strong winds, with some difficult driving conditions likely.