We’ve never known a Glowvember like it!
Delphiniums and ducklings. Ospreys and Mediterranean butterf lies – and hedgehogs too hot to hibernate...
But brrrr-ace yourself for brass monkeys
BRITAIN’S natural world has been thrown into delightful confusion by an unusually warm November.
Much of the country is witnessing sights more normally associated with summer as average daytime temperatures soar ten degrees above the norm.
Delphiniums are blooming in Yorkshire, mallard ducklings were spotted in Calverton, north of Nottingham, and primroses – those harbingers of spring – and wild strawberries have been seen across the South West of England.
In gardens up and down the country, roses are still flowering and foxgloves, asters and dahlias have held on to their glorious colour.
Ospreys, by now normally in West Africa to escape the winter, have been seen in Yorkshire and Hampshire, while the crag martin, a southern Mediterranean bird, has been spotted in Chesterfield.
There is so much food for birds in Scotland and the North of England that many redwings, fieldfares and bramblings wintering there from Scandinavia have not yet had to fly South for nourishment.
The long-tailed blue butterfly, a rare Mediterranean visitor, was spotted in Brighton last week, the first time it has been seen in Britain in November for almost 55 years.
Hedgehogs, newts and bats usu- ally in hibernation have been active while the speckled wood butterfly, rarely seen after October, has been spotted across the country. Honey bees, by now normally clustering inside hives, are also still flying.
It’s no surprise the natural world has gone topsy-turvy. The average daytime temperature for November is usually 48.3F (9.1C) but this year has been 57.2 to 59F (14 to 15C).
Gill Hodgson, 61, who grows 80 flower varieties at Everingham, near York, said: ‘I have still got a plot of delphiniums and I have never seen them at this time of the year before. You can get a second flowering in September but they don’t usually last the month.’
Guy Barter, chief horticultural adviser at RHS Wisley, said: ‘We’ve got delphiniums here in Surrey but in Yorkshire in November that really is very unusual. We‘ve also got extraordinary dahlias that would normally be black from October frosts and our penstemons and passion flowers, which normally would have given way, look wonderful.’
Robin Page, chairman of the Countryside Restoration Trust, said: ‘We had a cold and grim early spring and summer when nothing grew and now it’s warm, the grass is still growing and the cattle are still out.’
Storm Abigail finally broke the balmy weather last week with snowfalls, gales and rain lashing Scotland, Northern England and North Wales. Yet a cold snap is not expected until the end of the week.