30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 10

Today it has been raining, a lot!  As I haven’t been able to get outside to do anything ‘wild’ I have been sat at my computer planning on how to help the wild.  There isn’t a water butt in the patch garden, so this evening I have ordered one!  The house is a little odd in that all of the down pipes are in really awkward locations; the water is going to have to be collected off of the garage roof so the water butt can be located away from major walkways.  This however means I need to repair part of the guttering and clean the rest of it out.  I was looking at it the other day and there is grass growing in it, so I don’t think it is going to be the easiest of tasks.  I want to get it sorted though so I can make the most of collecting rain water and using it in the garden.  Every little bit helps 🙂

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day 07

I was sat at work wondering what ‘wild’ thing I should do this evening, half an hour later it started to rain and that familiar smell drifted through the window, rain on a warm spring day! Until recently I didn’t know this smell had a name, everyone always says it smells of rain but really we should be calling it ‘petrichor’.  Reading the Met Office website it says the term comes from the Greek words ‘petra’ – stone & ‘ichor’ –  golden fluid that was said to flow through the gods and the immortals veins in Greek mythology.

The actual origin of the smell is from the oils flushed from the pores of stones, rock, soil etc as moisture fills them. This starts before the rain falls when the humidity increases and then further increases when it rains, with the droplets hitting the ground spreading the scent in to the breeze.  The scent is carried in tiny air bubbles created by the raindrop when it contacts the ground, the bubbles then burst from the raindrop in a fizz of aerosols.  You will notice petrichor more during light rain, as in heavy rain the speed of the drops falling stops the creation of bubbles and thus the release of the aerosol and the scent we all love.