Growers are starting to get twitchy
LAST winter was the “single, longest wettest period” Joseph Atkin has known as head gardener at one of Carmarthenshire’s best known attractions.
“We are now on the way to one of the single, longest, driest periods,” he said.
The flip in the weather after heavy winter rainfall, which included two destructive storms - Ciara and Dennis - has been eye-opening.
The skies cleared in March, and April was the sunniest on record in the UK - although in Wales it was third sunniest. The average temperature in many areas in April was 3C above normal.
The turnaround could not have been better timed as the country faced the psychological dislocation of the coronavirus lockdown.
The largely dry and warm conditions - albeit with some sharp frosts - have continued during May and there is little indication of change, in south Wales at least, until June at the earliest.
But it is starting to make some people twitchy.
Mr Atkin, of Aberglasney Gardens at Llangathen in the Towy Valley, said: “We have never done this much watering before June. We can cope – we have tactics to make sure we are drought-tolerant.
“We keep on with the mulching process. The established plants should manage okay. And we have some natural springs through the site.”
A thunderstorm a couple of weeks ago, he said, drenched Gorslas a few miles south but left the gardens bone dry.
“If you look at the weather data, records are being broken,” he said. “I do find the weather more extreme.”
Mr Atkin said trees were more susceptible to sustained dry conditions in spring because their developing foliage lacked the waxy surface on top which helped prevent evaporation.
In Kidwelly, dairy farmer Dai Gravell and his son Thomas said the weather since last autumn had been challenging.
“The rain started early, and it was the wettest February on record,” said Dai.
“That brings problems because slurry pits fill up a lot quicker.
“To comply with environmental regulations, dirty water that fills the yards has to go into a slurry pit.”
Full slurry pits have to be emptied quicker, he said, and that meant extra costs.
The 57-year-old said farmers have been cutting silage earlier than normal this spring.
“You may have a nice crop of grass now, but you know you have reached a line because you need rain for it to grow back,” he said.
Without rain, he said, there was a strong possibility that farmers would have to feed silage to their cattle in the summer, instead of from October onwards.
Dai said milk prices had dropped due to the hospitality industry virtually shutting down since the end of March.
“So that’s a double whammy,” he said. “You need a good season just to compensate.”
Dai, who is chairman of Carmarthenshire NFU Cymru, said farmers had been dealing with weather extremes over the past five or six years.
He said: “We seem to be breaking records in a very short period of time.
“All we need now is 3m of snow - it wouldn’t surprise me!”
A spokeswoman for NFU Cymru said farmers’ focus remained on keeping the nation fed.
She added: “Growth of spring sown arable crops are also being impacted.
“On many farms some winter crops failed as a result of the extended waterlogged conditions, these fields have now been replanted with spring sown crops and these young plants are in need of some significant rainfall.”
River levels in West Wales at the end of April were below normal, notably low or exceptionally low compared to the 19812010 average, according to data from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Most were exceptionally high two months previously.
Seven species of fish migrate from the ocean to rivers to spawn in Wales, and Peter Gough, principal fisheries adviser for Natural Resources Wales (NRW), said salmon and sea trout mainly entered rivers between March and October, waiting until November to spawn.
Their offspring make the journey the other way after two years, usually in the spring.
“All of these journeys are affected to some extent by river flow and water temperature conditions,” said Mr Gough.
Mr Gough added: “The general pattern of warming of rivers is a threat to salmon and sea trout, which are basically coldwater species.
“It can lead to disrupted migrations and the risk of mortality.”
He said this would affect the number salmon returning Wales’s rivers in 2020.
Welsh Water publishes annual drought plans.
There are five indicators which identify when the water resource situation is moving into a drought - from normal operation all the way to emergency measures.
A spokesman for Welsh Water said: “At this stage, we do not have concerns about our water resource levels - but given the recent dry and hot weather, we are monitoring the situation to ensure that, if this weather persists, we are able to manage our network to maintain water supplies.
“We also - as always - ask customers to use the water they need, particularly to ensure they remain safe and healthy, but not to waste any water.”
A bit of rain would certainly be welcome at a vegetable-growing cooperative on Gower.
Tom O’Kane, grower and director at Cae Tan CSA, near Parkmill, said still of to the last few springs have been dry and warm.
“Saying that, this spring has been more extreme,” he said.
The dry weather had its benefits, he said, reducing competition from weeds because fewer of their seeds germinated.
“Now it’s becoming a problem,” he said. “We’re having to irrigate crops we wouldn’t normally have to.
“We grow salads in poly tunnels from December to the end of May, but this year they’d gone to seed (become bitter) by midApril. We’ve not had that before.
“But the onions seem to be doing really well.”
The eight-acre cooperative, which supplies 125 customers with veg all year round, introduced a new irrigation system after the long, hot summer of 2018.
“That summer was a real shock for us,” said Mr O’Kane. “It has a cost - we’re on mains water.”
But he also said the produce grown in 2018 was excellent.
“There was still quite a lot of moisture lower in the ground,” he said.
Mr O’Kane frequently checks a weather app on his phone.
“Another month of this would put a lot of pressure on us,” he said.
Over at Aberglasney Gardens, the absence of visitors is a more pressing concern for Mr Atkin.
He said 70% of the attraction’s staff were currently furloughed.
Asked if the atmosphere felt strange in the gardens, he replied: “You realise how important it is to see your visitors, and see them enjoying the place.
“We really do miss it.”