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Cherry blossom out
Trees budding
Snowdrops been up for 3 weeks
First daffodil spotted 2 weeks ago
Birds seem rather vocal and frisky
Can we have some Winter please? There have only been 3 mornings where I’ve had to scrape the car windows...
Anyway, let’s ignore it and get booking our holidays abroad for this year 😏
Hmmm
I've seen none of the above, but it's been pretty mild for the last few days.
I did dare think today that I've not really seen a frost this winter so far, let alone snow, in fact I can't recall a single sub-zero day, let alone ride.
Still there's still 7 weeks or so until the first measure of Spring, we could all be balls deep in snow next week.
It was minus 4 when I was riding last night.
Spring doesn't start until March 20th.
I had to scrape the ice off my car at 5:30 last night to get home from work.
But how’s the snow looking up there Scotroutes?
More overnight and plenty on the way.
I hope so, and if you could send some South that’ll be lovely
-7 here this morning.
due to be 10 again tomrorow .
I for one will be very happy if it stays slightly above seasonal norms for temperature, no risk of TRIAD's being called 🙂
Its a royal pain in the arse for us so as long as it stays like this till the end of February I will be a cheerful type.
I've been back in work shorts for delivery for ~3 weeks now, after swapping to trousers in early November, it's been very mild of late around Southampton. Just hope we don't now get a bitterly cold spell, last year we had a crazy warm Jan/Feb which woke up at least some hibernating animals, it then turned bitter and one pond on a delivery I do had a pile of dead frozen adult frogs above the pond ice. 🙁
We've had blue tits viewing our nest box. External and internal. And our summer hanging baskets are still going!
Blossom here today and I've not cut back those bloody willows yet.
Been very mild down south the last week, +13 during the day; almost T shirt weather.
I'm in Poland.
It's warm.
Was chilly for this mornings ride, 5 degrees, but dry and sunny with only a 10mph wind, felt nice.
Wednesday morning was 11 degrees, but felt colder than today due to light drizzle and a stronger colder wind.
Almost warm enough to sit outside the cafe which is unheard of for a January ride.
very spring like on todays ride, lot of rain overnight left some local flooding and a few rivers running down the road but mostly dry for change. Would be nice to have a proper mcwinter but i fear, here anyway, it's going to be another frost free year.
"I for one will be very happy if it stays slightly above seasonal norms for temperature, no risk of TRIAD’s being called 🙂
Its a royal pain in the arse for us so as long as it stays like this till the end of February I will be a cheerful type."
I don't miss dealing with TRIAD's. Still a mild winter just makes managing them harder - you'll still get charged accordingly, just it's harder to predict when they will be so harder to minimise your exposure.
Been a 11c through the night here until last night when it was -2c I had to switch the screen heater on in the car as I was walking home this am
Spring doesn’t start until March 20th
You can't definitively say that.
By 1 measure it's March 1st, by another March 20th and by a 3rd it's a short transitional period measured by changing in the natural world.
The 20th one has always been the least accurate to me. It says Winter doesn't start until the darkest day of the year when Weather-wise Winter is well established and Summer until the longest, you could hardly call June the 15th 'Spring'.
It was 10 degrees in Leicestershire at 7am the other morning. Crazy.
Here in northern Spain it's sunny and, if you're in the sun, really quite warm. Cold at night and first thing in the mornings of course.
No sign of any snow, aside from up in the mountains, also no sign of any rain at the moment.
Our flat is cold. During the day it is actually warmer outside than it is inside!
Yesterday I watched a kestrel trying to raid a nest in the tree opposite my house. The nest was full of chicks. Don't know what they were (small brown jobbies) but it seems very early to have chicks hatching.
Weather-wise it feels more like early march rather than January.
Big Surf today, waters cold but no boots no hood and no gloves.
Roll on Summer.
scruff9252
Member
I don’t miss dealing with TRIAD’s. Still a mild winter just makes managing them harder – you’ll still get charged accordingly, just it’s harder to predict when they will be so harder to minimise your exposure.
In the last 4 years we have managed to avoid running during the TRIAD's that were called, saving around £450,000 per site in electricity cost each year.
I did notice NG said people were becoming too good at TRIAD avoidance!
Strange that as I thought they wanted us to stop due to Grid loading?
Oh no its just a cynical money grab 🙁
What did they expect £0.13 a unit during red band period but £49 a unit during the same period but call it a TRIAD
Date GB Demand (MW) Peak HH Called?
18-Nov-19 44,292 35 YES
02-Dec-19 44,102 35 YES
17-Dec-19 43,485 34 YES
Heres a few shots of todays surf:
It's tropical in Prague at the minute
7 to 9c during the day.
Spotted a couple of bats out last week.
And a report of a local kid with a tick bite!
It's not very spring like in Burns country tonight, blowing a hoolie and pissing it down.
Have seen a few bees buzzing about in the last couple of weeks. Most recently yesterday at the pub.
Sadly I've found two dead bees. One on my sister's terrace and one in the New Forest last week.
I caught the tail end of a piece on R4 about the warm weather and how it is possibly affecting hibernating animals and bees. Many broods will die at the first sign of frost. They weren't quite able to say whether it was a good or bad thing that the bees are still buzzing.
I thought we were meant to be experiencing Siberian conditions by 2020:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver
JP
Anyway, let’s ignore it and get booking our holidays abroad for this year
You do understand the difference between climate and weather, right?
There has been an intense arctic low pressure vortex this year, which is being held in place by some strong stratospheric winds, caused by a phase of equatorial winds and tropical rainfall. This in turn creates a low (below Britain geographically, but still high atmospherically and fast Jet stream which in turn is bringing warm wet weather from the South West. A trend that is set to continue.
That is why it's warm and wet.
Spotted a couple of bats out last week.
they were out in the garden this evening
Spring doesn’t start until March 20th.
Nature cares not for your calendar.
wasn't very spring like out today on the bike though with no wind it didn't feel particularly wintry either also there were some daffs out along the side of the road.
Lots of grey and blue tit activity in my garden today. My robins and mr & mrs blackbird are busy nesting in the ivy. Snowdrops looking optimistic and there’s even a solitary forget me not in flower.
It is peculiarly mild imo. At least the bloody wind has dropped.
I hope not as I've been lax in my gardening this winter!
Still need to prune the fruit trees and gape vine, and till the veg patch a few times in between frosts to kill of the weed seeds and break up the soil!
The 20th one has always been the least accurate to me. It says Winter doesn’t start until the darkest day of the year when Weather-wise Winter is well established and Summer until the longest, you could hardly call June the 15th ‘Spring’.
If you ignore air temps and look at soil temps (i.e. what matters for plants) they make more sense. Because the ground takes so long to warm up and cool down they lag the number of hours of daylight by about 4-6 weeks.
Lots of snowdrops out today. I even took my armwarmers off at one point it felt so warm, then regretted it 10 minutes later when the clag rolled back in.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49424180378_15033db87c_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49424180378_15033db87c_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iirQV1 ]IMG_20200122_142857[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/76951366@N02/ ]hutchinson2017[/url], on Flickr
Positively scorchio out there today compared to last few days of pretty chilly south coast starts, but on a day off I'm happy to hibernate indoors.
Finally had some frosts over the last 3 days but today back up to double figure temperatures.
Spotted my first lambs too
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what's really annoying is that it's weeks and weeks until Shrove Tuesday and yet the supermarkets are already selling eggs. flour, sugar and milk. Grrrr....
We’ve had 4 frosts this winter, only just under freezing. I’ve seen midges swarming in the fields where I walk the dogs and my carnivorous plants are beginning to wake up. Rubbish wet winter so far.
I had a wander up the Birmingham Library yesterday on me lunch, and was well chuffed to see snowdrops well out in the Secret Garden. Lovely. 🙂
Took this photo in town on the 5th, as I was walking along the side of the river - I was rather surprised to see it, ‘cos my garden is almost overrun with cowslips, but there isn’t the slightest sign of any flowering yet, although there’s lots of new growth.
I’ve got a gorse I dug up as a tiny little stem from Fyfield Down, near Avebury a couple of years ago, it’s now a couple of feet tall, and it’s showing lots of tiny flower buds, so looking forward to a splash of bright yellow with nice smells soon.
Got lots of snowdrops up, buds aren’t quite open yet, though, and loads of daffs with buds ready to flower.
I’ve put a new bird box on the silver birch at the bottom of the garden, it’ll be interesting to see if any of the tits take to it this year - a pair were showing interest in an old one I’ve had on the tree for ages last year, but nothing came of it.
Lots of other green shoots popping up, some of which I’ve never planted, so curious to see what they turn out to be, quite a few are bulbs, so could be any damned thing!
Crocuses out
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january daffs
really pleasant out today especially sheltered from the wind.
Last three nights, Mr Robin has started his dusk serenade. Marvellous. 🙂
Bloody freezing this morning!
Had the weirdest CX ride yesterday.
The off road went something like this:
Damp
2ft deep puddles
Dry, hero dirt
Deep muddy climb with ruts and roots
Damp
Dry, hero dirt
Dry, hero dirt
How can one 8 mile loop alternate between conditions so bad you question whether you can be bothered to ride at all for the next 6 months. And absolutely sublime?
Bloody freezing this morning!
Yup, made the call not to wear gloves on the way in as I was on the road bike but in office clothes (going for a ride at lunch) and didn't want to get hot and sweaty, my hands are still numb and tingly 2 hours later.
Crocuses are out in the woods though!
Glad I didn't have to commute in at 0630 this morning, really quite bitter in Southampton, still quite nippy when I popped out for some groceries just after 0900 in thin gloves and Hydrosphere jacket.
just been sitting in the garden drinking a double espresso, lovely an warm in the sunshine. there about 5 inches of growth on the bluebells
-3 this morning, cars iced up many times this season. Lots of snow in November. Proper winter, no but not too warm either. We did have a bbq on Christmas Day (bbq Turkey is lush)
Lots of Lambs about (there always is at this time) lots of snowdrops (there always is at this time of year)
wildlife is going to be pretty bamboozled by today it's gone from -4 to 11, so warm I couldn't sit for long in my winter riding kit.
Glad I didn’t have to commute in at 0630 this morning, really quite bitter in Southampton
Yeah, but its dry and wind-free! Commute was lovely. Really nice to get home before dark too.
Just been sat in the sunshine with coffee and biccies for half an hour, chatting to a neighbour. Lovely.
Wood pidgeons eating the buds off the purple plum, crocuses out, birdies chirping all over the shop, song thrush waking us up at 6:30.
We're not even at Fools' Spring yet. Remember last week of Feb last year? Mmmm. Still went to shit again a couple of times over until proper spring.
Bright warm sunshine on the moors above Calderdale, curlews back from the coast calling overhead - a little bit of magic today, lucky to be able to ride and enjoy it.......
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Sat out in beer garden this afternoon, had to take my jumper off as was too warm
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24°C on Sunday and not much less in the ski resort. 27°C in Toulouse. Daffodils will be out soon.
Last year in feb there was a weekend where it was something silly like 23 degrees C. I was bikepacking across the Cambrium mountains and it was bizarre. I got burnt!
I saw a bat tonight. That's not normal is it?
The great tits are still paying attention to the bird box I put up, and I’ve added another, to see if any others like the blue tits are interested.
Two hedgehogs fossicking around in the garden tonight, but they seem to be around every night anyway.
Got lots of green shoots showing in the garden, not sure what a lot of them are, so it’s going to be interesting to see what they are. My little gorse Bush I got from the other side of Avebury two years ago is showing lots of little white buds, so shouldn’t be long before I have a splash of bright yellow with sweet smells.
the local skylarks are calling it here, they were out in force today. Bloody glorious, if a little breezy, today 😀
Pair of blue tits in and out of the nest box this morning despite gusts up to 48 mph. And that's in Salford - hardly coastal.
5k run in a blizzard today and hopefully we'll get up for a slide at the Lecht tomorrow for the first time this season. Definitely not spring yet.
Wild garlic is out in Hampshire - it was April last year. Picked some for my post-ride soup, which was delicious.
hopefully we’ll get up for a slide at the Lecht tomorrow for the first time this season. Definitely not spring yet.
True dat ,it's sideways sleet with us just now but forecast is good for a day up the hills tomorrow.
Thought about this thread during my ride today....massive moth landed on my leg & saw some returning geese,hurrah.
Then, back at home , I revived a bumble bee with a drop of honey and then saw one pollinating the yellow primroses.
Sorry @v8ninety just read your post, it was the Robin Hood inn Drayton
I heard a Willow Warbler calling continuously in Lulworth Cove yesterday. They are a sub Saharan migrant. About four weeks early!
Felt like spring in the Lakes today. Drying trails, warm sun, birdsong.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49622879386_3110257520_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49622879386_3110257520_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iB1ecY ]IMG_20200305_113433[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/76951366@N02/ ]hutchinson2017[/url], on Flickr