Yahoo News Spring ‘actually arrived in November’ due to warm weather
The signs of spring arrived early this year, with plants blooming and insects flying as early as November, a nature organisation has said.
The Woodland Trust said that it received 64 reports of spring-like activity in November, including snowdrops blooming and butterflies emerging from hibernation.
The report is based on sightings from the public in its ‘Nature’s Calendar’ scheme.
Our #NaturesCalendar species of the week is #hazel first flowering with 13 records. You can record it when the male catkins have expanded and are releasing their pollen. You may notice this on a breezy day or by lightly tapping a branch with your finger https://t.co/L8iStrs95t pic.twitter.com/HVf99ZKN3s
— Woodland Trust (@WoodlandTrust) 15 January 2019
Sightings included a tortoiseshell butterfly spotted on Christmas Day in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, and 24 records of snowdrops flowering around the country – including in Southampton on November 30.
In Cambridgeshire, a red admiral butterfly was spotted on December 17, five months earlier than the species usually emerges from hibernation. Hazel trees usually flower in early March, but there have been 23 hazel flowering recordings, with the first on December 1.
Song thrushes have been heard in 11 places since December 5, and are increasingly being reported singing all winter, even though they are expected to start their chorus in March.
But the organisation warned that the early spring could come to an abrupt halt as a ‘cold snap’ is forecast for Britain.
Did you think it was mild today? Well cold air is on the way meaning temperatures will plunge by the end of the week pic.twitter.com/hermoYrfjq
— Met Office (@metoffice) 15 January 2019
Kate Lewthwaite, citizen science manager for the Woodland Trust, said: ‘Once again – despite being in the throes of January – flora and fauna are reacting to milder climates, and spring seems to have sprung early.
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‘Data like this has continuously brought into question the way we think about the seasons, and to see spring in December no longer seems unusual.’
‘The more data we have, the better we will understand the effects of warm winters, cold snaps and heatwaves. In short, we need more Nature’s Calendar recorders.’
Temperatures will drop next week as forecasters predict a return of the winds that brought in the savage Beast from the East.
But the Met Office has stressed the same winds, and a weaker jet stream following a warm December, doesn’t necessarily mean a rerun of last February’s severe cold spell.
Chief meteorologist at the Met Office, Dan Suri, said: ‘From Thursday, colder arctic air will have spread across the country, with temperatures struggling to reach above 5 or 6 Celsius for most of us.
‘This is close to the average January temperature for the UK – but since it has been quite a mild winter so far, many will notice the difference by the end of the week.’
