Wet Wet Wet

Today we were promised rain and we got rain. About 2 inches worth. The roads were inundated and although it doesn't quite look like Rockhampton in Queensland, the fields are looking very wet.

I drove through Rockhampton on Nov 15th 2007, but I remember little about the town, except that it made me think of the Rockhampton Rocket, Rod Laver. It was some where near here that I stopped in some forest and found a Little Friarbird. My photo notes just say "Forest off the Bruce Highway near Rockhampton QLD 15/11/2007". All I can remember is a very dry, flat area, now an area as large as France and Germany put together is under water, quite unimaginable.

Down in the Bay today I did note this very clean and tidy looking Herring Gull. already smart having lost it's head and neck streaking.

The rain was torrential and I didn't manage to see any divers or other interesting birds. These two Cormorants went by, but I can't explain the "ghost" under the front one, or the strange outline on the back one. It seems the rain had a strange affect.

The White Cliffs in retreat

A cliff fall, quite close to the Bay, has made headlines in the last couple of days. It does look as it quite a good fall took place, and since it was in an area readily accessible a low tide it obviously has caused some concern.

Since we've lived here that have been several large rock and cliff falls, and unless I've misjudged this one, it isn't one of the biggest in that time. I'm not sure what the overall rate of retreat of the cliffs is, but if we are seeing a rise in sea levels and an increase in the number and intensity of storms it doesn't seem unreasonable to believe that we will see an increase in the rate of erosion.

The report I read said that several tonnes of rocks broke away, and it also says that a "Huge" section of the cliff fell into the sea. Solid Chalk has a density of around 2.5 gm/cc, so just a cubic metre weighs 2.5 tonnes. A massive fall would weigh quite a few tonnes, but I haven't been along with my tape measure to try to estimate the real size of the fall.

Happy Fourth Birthday

After only a couple of months of blogging I welcomed Sam, then our youngest grandchild into the world on January 2nd 2007. It really doesn't seem possible that the time has flown by so quickly.

Yesterday we spent a happy time helping Sam celebrate his birthday. No longer the baby of the family, he has handed that privilege to his brother Eliot.

I don't know what Sam wished for when he blew out his candles, and it was the two Ronnies time, fork 'andles, but with all his presents at Christmas and now his birthday he has doing pretty well.