A kind winter thus far in the UK

Posted on by Tony

What a difference a year makes. At this midway point through Meteorological winter 2016/17, the weather so far has been much kinder than last year. December 2015 was horrendously mild, bad for wildlife in that most things were out of sync, the natural world in the UK at least didn’t know whether it was coming or going.

 

It was also bad for farming at this stage last winter, crops and grass were growing vigorously, and diseases and pests were prevalent, meaning more chemical expenditure down the line for struggling farming communities. We need winters like those of former years to return occasionally to restore some balance.

 

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This one thus far has seen a very typical Temperature setup locally with a reasonable tally of Air frosts when skies cleared by night, although precipitation has been somewhat with December proving very dry when compared to the average as the image below states.

 

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Personal Weather Station Monthly Climatological Summary for December 2016

 

As you’ll notice upon reading the above article from the Newbury Weekly News dated January 14th, 2016, phenology events, i.e., those signs from nature bore no resemblance to most years past, way before climate change processes steadfastly took a grip on things. The winter of 2016/17 thus far has been kinder to the farming community and consequently nature itself, as far as I am aware from what I’ve read and heard about in the press. Here’s to the rest of the winter, playing ball too then. I do feel for our European neighbours, though. January 2017, in particular, has so far seen brutal cold in a significant number of places as the following link to a recent BBC article indicates.

 

Icy weather in Europe causes more hardship and chaos

 

A couple of phenology events which need updating to my records database are the 1st instance of flowering Hazel catkins on the 15th January and 1st flowering Snowdrops around about the 13th January.

 

As ever, you can continue to access my Facebook updates by clicking on the Red Admiral butterfly icon below.

naturestimeline Education services – “A conservation professional sharing his personal perspective on breaking news stories from the world of nature alongside his own accounts from the field.”

and

 

Another core business objective – Developing the brand on Social Media

Posted on by Tony

To a Social Media Marketer or person trained in SEO and other Social Media activities, brand building, content management and publishing comes as part of their day job. As for myself, an individual one-person entity, I have to do all of the above with limited funds and resources. In fact, so far I’ve tended to do this alone, learning or making mistakes as I go, which is nothing new to me as I’m largely self-taught in everything I undertake. I will check up on the consistency of what I want my brand and blog pages to promote, on a monthly basis. In fact, today I did just that by analysing my insights on my various Social Media platforms. The following excerpt being taken from my Facebook page.

“Having just gone through my latest monthly insights and as a result of my broader social media analyses, I am pleased to confirm the consistent growth of both my pages here at naturestimeline and naturestimeline.StandUp4Nature. I am not currently in a financial position and moreover do not view it as a viable option right now, to partake in any paid advertisement of my pages. The progress of brand “naturestimeline” is truly only possible with you, my followers engaging with me and by your “word of mouth” exposure to other interested parties. Nonetheless, as I expand brand exposure and ultimate achieve more business opportunities, I may eventually consider the prospect of paid advertising. As my audience grows, those of you reading this become all the more important to me, so do share your thoughts with me, send me ideas, provide some opportunities for general chit-chat, whatever. Below is a snapshot of just how you, my followers, have played your part in allowing me to develop naturestimeline over the past year. *to make more sense of the figures within the spreadsheet screen grab, simply expand the image to full screen. The data is courtesy of my Facebook Insights and as such, private data issued to me directly from Facebook hence I’m made the data is deliberately small.

All the best wishes and any questions, please DM me.

Tony William Powell and naturestimeline.”

 

 

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Facebook Insights statistics for my pages at Naturestimeline and Naturestimeline StandUp4Nature January-November 1st 2016

 

As ever, you can access my Facebook updates by clicking on the Red Admiral butterfly icon below.

naturestimeline Education services – “A conservation professional sharing his personal perspective on breaking news stories from the world of nature alongside his own accounts from the field.”

and

One of naturestimeline’s core business objectives – Freelancing

Posted on by Tony

A quick blog of perhaps several to highlight where and how I intend naturestimeline to develop over the coming months and years from a business sense and also from an educational viewpoint.

My working background

Freelance Professional – Short-term contract worker offering Bird Surveys/Desk Research/Work from Home Office services

 

Visiting Researcher and professional Ornithologist/Field Surveyor

 

Undertake ad hoc visits to clients who need any of the following tasks completed in relation to assessing the natural environment.

 

  • Have the ability to detect the presence of any birds and other wildlife residing on their land. I am well known for my skills in identifying birds through their calls and songs. I have been practising natural sound recordings for more than 25 years.

 

  • Provide an evidence base comprised of abundance and distribution of all bird species and or other wildlife making use of their land. I have been undertaking such studies for many years both in a voluntary capacity and in paid positions for repeat clients since 2014. 

 

  • Visit as many times as deemed necessary and provide datasets which gather enough information to provide an excellent evidence base. The landowner can then choose whether he or she acts on produced evidence to enhance his or her landholdings for the wildlife.

 

  • Provide a detailed systematic analysis of my findings via spreadsheets and associated reporting services. Examples can be made available through direct contact via my Facebook details or email.

 

  • Where appropriate, in my own time, I will also input these findings onto the British Trust for Ornithology’s BirdTrack system. In doing this, I hopefully provide the BTO research scientists with further evidence to add to their existing knowledge base which they can act on in the name of conservation.

 

 

See you next time.

 

Best Wishes

Tony Powell

 

 

 

 

naturestimeline Education services – “A conservation professional sharing his personal perspective on breaking news stories from the world of nature alongside his own accounts from the field.”

and