Tag Archives: weather

Summer is already over with leaves falling from the trees two weeks early, RHS reveals

The Telegraph reports summer is officially over, the Royal Horticultural Society has said, as autumn colours are being seen in their gardens and apples are ripe two weeks early. Many have noticed amber-hued leaves falling from the trees in the last weeks of summer, and the temperature has dropped from the giddy heights of the heatwave.

The early spring heat gave many types of fruit, including greengages and apples, a head start to the growing season, meaning that harvests have come early. Trees and shrubs are turning their leaves as they have been confused and stressed by the recent erratic weather, causing them to prepare for autumn earlier.  

Photo by Jack Cousins under creative commons.

‘The losses could be profound’: how floods are wreaking havoc on wildlife

The Guardian reports as rivers and wildflower meadows in the UK struggle to recover from repeated flooding, the ecosystems they support are collapsing. 

The damage flooding does to humans has been well-documented, but wildlife populations are unseen casualties, with some ecosystems taking decades to recover. “It is frightening to think that we have only just begun to see what might be ahead with our climate. The losses could be profound,” says James Hitchcock from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. 

Photo by willi_bremen under creative commons.

Help needed to rescue UK’s old rainfall records

The BBC report. At a loss to know what to do with your self-isolation time? Well, why not get on the computer and help with a giant weather digitisation effort? The UK has rainfall records dating back 200 years or so, but the vast majority of these are in handwritten form and can’t easily be used to analyse past periods of flooding and drought. 

The Rainfall Rescue Project is seeking volunteers to transfer all the data into online spreadsheets. You’re not required to rummage through old bound volumes; the Met Office has already scanned the necessary documents – all 65,000 sheets. You simply have to visit a website, read the scribbled rainfall amounts and enter the numbers into a series of boxes. 

Photo by Alison Day under creative commons.

Rare UK butterflies enjoy best year since monitoring began

The Guardian reports hot summer of 2018 boosted large blue, and black hairstreak, but small tortoiseshell declined. The golden summer of 2018 saw two of the UK’s rarest butterflies, the large blue and the black hairstreak, enjoy their best years since scientific monitoring began.

More than two-thirds of British butterfly species were seen in higher numbers last year than in 2017, but despite the ideal butterfly weather, it was still only an average season – the 18th best in 43 years of recording.

Photo of female Large Blue ovipositing, by Paul Ritchie under creative commons 

Get your garden and its wildlife off to a good start this spring

The OBSERVER reports that the seasons seem topsy-turvy, but this is still a time of new beginnings. Here’s how to help your flowerbeds and veg plots thrive. Flower power – as soil warms, it’s time to plant perennials, but don’t just impulse-buy the first thing you see that promises pretty flowers on the label. If your garden got frazzled by the weather last summer, put drought-resistant plants that double as pollinator magnets to the top of your list.

Hungry hedgehogs breaking their winter hibernation can roam up to 2km in a night in search of food, but only if their path isn’t blocked by fences and walls. Consider cutting a hedgehog hole into existing fences or, if winter storms mean you need to replace panels, fit hog-friendly gravel boards at the base.

Once hedgehogs are in your garden, make them welcome by setting up a feeding and watering station in a sheltered spot: a dish of cat biscuits or specialist hog food are ideal. Dishes of fresh water will help hogs and other wildlife: an old dustbin lid set into the ground will make for easy access; add a pile of stones on one side so bees can come for a drink, too.

Adders now active all year with warmer UK weather

The Guardian reports that a shorter hibernation period may accelerate demise of Britain’s only venomous snake.

The adder, Britain’s only venomous snake, has for the first time been confirmed as being active in every month of the year.

Adders normally hibernate underground from October to March, a strategy designed to enable them to survive a cold winter, but with warmer weather have now been seen throughout the year.

Concern for early-emerging spring species

The GUARDIAN reports that naturalists are concerned for early-emerging spring species in UK.  Spring is arriving early with swallows, frogspawn and unexpected perfume as temperatures soar up to 20C above this time last year when Britain was blasted by the “beast from the east”. Rooks are nesting, ladybirds are mating and dozens of migratory swallows have been spotted along the south-west coast – more than a month ahead of their normal arrival. Naturalists fear for these early spring species if March does turn markedly colder and wetter.

Photo of ladybird pair by Nutmeg 66 under creative commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/legalcode

Mini Beast from the East hits Wildlife hard

Freezing temperatures brought on by the ‘mini Beast from the East’ just days before the start of spring could have serious consequences for wildlife, experts have said according to the Daily Mail.

Whether sand martins and wheatears returning from long  migrations who need to restore their energy, or frogspawn and insects who thought the earlier warming temperatures were a sign spring was coming, the cold and snow this weekend could have a massive impact on our wildlife.

Snow where to go

We hope you haven’t been inconvenienced by the “beast from the east” as the snow settled in Normandy.  Remember, our wildlife friends may struggle in these unusual conditions too.

Keeping your bird feeders filled will mean you could see a large number of birds, but don’t forget the water too!  As ponds and natural watering places are frozen, you could really help by filling water dishes for our feathered friends.

And you may see some more unusal visitors to your garden looking for food – fieldfare, redwing and goldcrest, for example.  The fieldfares, redwings and thrushes will love any rotting apples you leave out in the garden.