Radon Raidioactve Gas Threat.

 

 While it is well known that levels of Radon radioactive gas are high in granite areas to the west of us in Devon and Cornwall, it is not so commonly known that the chalky area in which we live is also subject to high levels of Radon emission. 3% of houses are now considered to be at risk of exceeding safe levels. Older houses with basements are considered to be especially vulnerable. An annual  average level of 200 Becquerels/cubic metre (Bq/m³. one Becquerel is one radioactive decay per second ) is considered to be the level at which action should be taken, usually by a continuously running fan to extract the Radon.

The danger is that the Radon attaches itself to dust particles which are inhaled and remain in the lungs and may cause cancer.  

I have been monitoring the Radon level for a number of years, firstly by the official government test which gave my yearly average as 180 Bq/m³, comfortably below the action level.  I am now running my own monitor which has shown a long term average of about 170 Bq/m³. There is a considerable seasonal variation of the Radon level, but today's short term reading does give me cause for concern.

Radon Monitor.

                                                              

The long term average shown of 169 Bq/m³ is satisfactory, but the short term average (over 7 days) of 466 Bq/m³ which is unusually high, and could lead, in time, to a dangerous level. 

For the government test see  https://www.ukradon.org

 

 

 

The latest news of my sponsored Cuckoo, Arthur  from the British Trust for Ornithology.

 

Gabon beats Cameroon as it has three tagged birds currently in residence - Norfolk Cuckoo Ashok and Sussex Cuckoo Jim are just 30 miles apart in Ivindo National Park, central Gabon, while Norfolk Cuckoo Arthur is 75 miles east of them, in eastern Gabon. 

We are not expecting big movements from our birds now until the New Year when they will once again start to feel the urge to migrate. Visit our website for all the latest Cuckoo updates and to track their movements in real time with our live Cuckoo migration map!

For Arthur’s journey so far this year, go to

https://bto-enews.org/c/AQiX7QIQ49qiBxj8v86VBCClrtOpASjWvoFBIfZdF7Xv-yGuHiaL22mK5r4iPvj0W3UkrzxE3bbF5TU

The Wherry has Bro9ken.

 When I first came to what was then a very agricultural village half a century ago, one of the eagerly awaited events of the year was the breaking of the Wherry, when our chalk stream started to flow again after drying up in the summer months, and its waters became available for livestock. Our stream is one of very few in the world that are Winterbornes and is thus of international importance. "borne" means "stream", (The Scottish "burn" is more familiar). Its flow closely follows the ground water level which has been falling thoughout the summer. Yesterday the Ashton borehole, after a couple of weeks at its lowest seasonal level suddenly started to rise. and sure enough the stream in the village suddenly started to flow again after several weeks of more or less stagnant water around small muddy islands. Though the stream used to dry up completely in the summer it doesn't always do so now, perhaps due to the activities of Wessex Water and climate change might be having an effect.