Starlings Roost AWS, Cullompton, Devon

The AWS, currently running a Fine Offset WS3083 and powered by CumulusMX, has been here in various forms since mid-2016. This was mainly used to look at current conditions, since the equipment was not really exposed sufficiently to produce satisfactorily accurate readings, and the number of glitches combined with cumbersome editing of the text files/records generated by Cumulus made record keeping too labour-intensive and time-consuming.

Since January 2020 several improvements have been made, starting with the housing of the temperature/humidity sensor within a fan-aspirated homemade Stevenson Screen, and the establishment of a 5-inch check rain gauge to compare the tipping bucket rain gauge against. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in 2020 gave me time to develop a small website, and a number of tools to help me automate data quality control and make data editing/record keeping much more efficient. This has since expanded into Starlings Roost Weather.

RoostCam South was installed in May 2020, with RoostCam North then added in December 2020. In March 2021 I installed a Blake-Larsen sunshine sensor, and in Summer 2021 I finally mounted the anemometer on the 10m mast.



Temperature/Humidity sensor in solar-powered fan aspirated Stevenson Screen

A standard WS3083 battery-powered transmitter (containing onboard temperature and humidity sensors), housed in a homemade Stevenson Screen constructed with plywood and exterior white gloss. The screen is positioned 1.5m above ground level. The south-facing solar panel powers a small computer fan in the base, which in sunny conditions drives air out, drawing fresh air in through the louvres and across the sensors.

The screen is situated as far from heat sources as possible, and whilst it sits in quite a sheltered spot (near a hedge) the fan aspiration hopefully mitigates against any stagnation of the air


Anemometer, wind vane and sunshine sensor mounted on 10m mast

Basic anemometer and wind vane mounted on top of a 16ft stainless steel pole, which itself is attached to the corner of the house giving it both clearance of the roof and surroundings, and a height of very close to 10m above ground. Despite this height, the anemometer is still a little sheltered, with tall trees in the vicinity.

Sunshine sensor employed sits near the top of the main 12ft mast, facing due south. The sensor is a "Blake-Larsen", which gives very accurate sunshine duration from sunrise to sunset. Trees to the west reduce the measured sunshine totals by around 1 hour on totally clear days. See www.sunrecorder.net for more information about the Blake-Larsen sensor.


Automated tipping bucket rain-gauge, and 5-inch manual check gauge

Tipping bucket rain-gauge measuring at 0.3mm resolution, located as far from the house (and footballs) as possible. 5-inch manual gauge next to it, read every 24 hours at 2100Z, or at more frequent intervals should it be required or of interest.


RoostCam North (left), and South (right)

IP POE cameras connected to the internal network, providing both a live stream and static images which are automatically stitched together in a time-lapse movie every 24 hours.

RoostCam North is an H.View 5MP security camera (HV-500G2), and RoostCam South is an IeGeek IP security camera.


Spare UV/solar sensor

UV/Solar sensor that originally came with the WS3083 station. A bit temperamental and not very well situated. Readings kept for interest but are not fed into the record or website.


Check barometer

Electronic barometer powered by an Arduino UNO microcontroller and Bosch BMP280 pressure sensor. The underlying code senses both indoor temperature and pressure, and when coupled with altitude (programmed in) gives a reading of sea-level pressure. The program also runs LEDs which act as pressure trend indicators, and powers an LCD display which shows hourly trends and 3-hour pressure change.

This is used as a cross-check with the WS3083 pressure reading, which occasionally has a tendency to drift slightly.

In October 2021 I made this more permanent version (see picture), using an ATMega328P microcontroller chip, stripboard and jumper wires, which can be powered by USB connection from my weather station Mini-PC.