Boodly frogs!

Reluctant, that’s how I feel this morning, it’s almost 7:00AM, still not fully light due to the thick cloud and I suspect it’s gonna start pishing down shortly  

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IKYLE21

There’s no sign of Skye or the Storr the wind a stiff north westerly and the forecast is grim. Not a great day for what I’ve got planned, which involves going up a boodly great big hill to fit a strainer which I’ve yet to make. Though I suppose at least the cold wind from the north will stop me over heating in my dry suit cos I’ll be wearing that to save me going paddling in a loch full of leaches and frogs. Not that I’m bothered about the frogs but it’s themselves that have been causing a problem lately. Both mine and my neighbours hydro turbine having suffered from recent blockages caused by the unfortunate amphibians taking a one way trip down the penstock and getting jammed in a jet. For me this isn’t so much of an issue cos both my Powerspout https://www.powerspout.com/ hydro turbines use two jets and I have multiple energy sources. However my Pal’s Harris turbine https://harrismicrohydro.com/ operates at such a high head that it only needs one tiny jet to produce more than enough electricity to supply his needs. As a result of this once the single 4mm jet gets blocked it stops working.

When we installed it in 2008 https://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/the-harris-hydro-turbine/ we fitted a filter on the intake but that must be getting pretty much ‘past it’s sell by date’ by now cos in the last couple of months we’ve had three or four decapitated frogs turn up at the turbine  

  

As I found out yesterday when I went along with Bonzo to check on his salamis.

So my first task this morning will be to fashion a new filter and then go and fit it.

With the forecast being for thick cloud and rain for a couple of days yesterday I also decided to turn on one of my own hydro turbines. More to check its operation than any actual need of the electricity but I’ve only just recently fitted this one, a Powerspout to replace a Stream Engine hydro turbine and wanted to see how it performed at low flows on one jet.

When taking Bonzo out for his morning walk I checked the header tank and seeing the trickle of water going into the system ( I guessed about half a litre per second) I thought I’d have a wander down to the shore and turn on one nozzle. My idea being that eventually the rain that was forecast would arrive and gradually build up the output.

 

After slowly turning on one jet and watching the Pelton runner build up speed Bonzo and I took advantage of the low tide to walk down the normally flooded secret gully to the waters edge.

   

This really is a magical place that was once used for bringing fishing gear ashore and carrying it up to the hamlet of South Arnish.

     

You can still see steel spikes wedged into the rock for tying boats and the remains of the path down from the crofts.

And that was it really, apart from washing the caravan and Land Rover I enjoyed my Sunday at home doing paperwork and almost starting my VAT return