Category: Climate change and gardening


PicPost: Spring not sprung

Nature lies dormant ahead of first day of spring

UK Spring Weather : Icicles on the side of a road in South Derbyshire

‘Conservationists report lack of budding plants, animals returning to hibernation and migrating birds held back by wintry weather

One hundred years ago, on the official first day of spring, the Anglo-Welsh war poet and naturalist Edward Thomas set off from Clapham Common in London to cycle and walk to the Quantock Hills in Somerset. The record of his journey, called In Pursuit of Spring, became a nature-writing classic, telling of exuberant chiffchaffs and house martins, daffodils and cowslips in full flower and “honeysuckle in such profusion as I had never before seen”.

Had Thomas taken the same route today, he might not have seen very much wildlife – and could well have frozen. Mist and fog, rain, a bitter north wind, and temperatures just above freezing are forecast for , the first “official” day of spring…’

Tony's avatarnaturestimeline

Looking back at January 2013, were my local climatic conditions much different to that of 2012?

Firstly, in the United Kingdom, 2012 began as “the year of the drought” * with recorded precipitation totalling 32.8mm in my neck of the woods. By comparison, January this time around looked like this.

In total, we received 61.6mm, which is still below the revised 1981 to 2010 mean by approximately 25% or so. What about the Air Temperatures?

January 2012 was mild in comparison with some 11 double-digit Fahrenheit Maximums being achieved back then and unsurprisingly a mean of 0.8cabove the long-term average, mentioned previously. This time around, January2013 saw the following daily Air temperature trend.

Due to almost two-thirds of January 2013 being in the cold to very cold category, it is unsurprising that the mean return of 4.0c was below the long-term average by 0.6c. As a result…

View original post 400 more words

Four Seasons in One Day – survey on climate change and the garden

The Royal Horticultural Society needs your help! They’ve partnered with the University of Reading, asking Britain’s gardeners to share your view on climate change and whether it will influence your choices and plans in the garden. Please complete the survey: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/crg/climate-change-and-gardening

My next article on climate change and the garden will look at how we can be prepared for the unpredictable weather patterns that come with climate change – due out Monday 25th March.

Aphids forecast to fly considerably later this year

‘…Dr Susannah Bolton, HGCA Head of Research and KT, said, “Average temperatures in January and February can be used to forecast the first aphid flights. As this winter was colder than the long-term average throughout the country it means that aphid flights are expected to occur much later this year.”

In the southern half of the country, as average temperatures were between 1oC and 2oC below normal, the first aphid flights are expected to be two to four weeks later than average.

In the northern half of the country, as average temperatures were less than 1oC below normal, the first aphid flights are expected to be up to two weeks later than average….’

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