Good higher HF day (photo journal)

After some extremely wet weather over the past couple of days - minor flooding of fields is already happening locally - the sun came out today.  But not before some very heavy showers passed through mid-morning, and some snow had been deposited above 900m on the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia).

View from the shack window (car!) early on.

So, here comes the radio bit first - just the higher bands of 12 and 10m from the beach today.  Best actual QSOs on 10m were 3B9FR at 10,374km from 20W into the stick antenna, followed by E20EHQ at 9,733km.  

On 12m, I was regularly hitting RA/UA9 regions in Russia in terms of QSOs, but also being heard in JA and VK - with a very good -9dB into VK4ABW (which is a monitoring station) at 14,004km - China and India.

12m (red) and 10m (pink) activity this mid-late morning.

The beach site is also a great place to have a good walk, relax, and look at nature.  The tides, whilst naturally defining the passage of time, are in some sense timeless; the future in just over 6 hours' time is certain - the low tide will return to high.  Birds line up, right on time for high water, knowing very well that their food will be uncovered in just a few minutes.  

A flock of Oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris) heads for early exposed sand - and food!

 

The beach is so shallow here - it slopes maybe about 2m over 2km - that the water goes out quickly.  One can slowly walk out with the tide, only sometimes stopping for a minute or two for occasional hollows to become shallower.  It's possible to walk out and be completely surrounded by water, which is a unique and rather odd experience!

A ~300 degree panorama.  I'm about 1km out, standing in and surrounded by the sea!

 

The area has very rich shellfish beds, but has been closed to cockle pickers for some time, to allow populations to recover.  Unfortunately, gangs often descend from north west England here, stripping the area bare in what can be a very lucrative, and sometimes criminal-linked business.

An empty Razor Shell (Ensis ensis)

Remains of an old boat near the mean low water line.