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Blog - extreme weather

Annual rings, dendrochronology and climate change.

Annual rings, dendrochronology and climate change.

by Chris, 24 September, 2019, 0 comments

Dendrochronology seeks to gather information from the annual rings of trees, dated to their year of formation.   As trees age, they form new distinctive rings, outward from the centre, and each year a circle of new, dead wood is formed (by the cambium) around the trunk of most trees. The annual rings form because the water conducting xylem vessels or early wood formed in late spring and early summer (when growth is rapid) are wider and lighter than those formed in late summer and early autumn, which are narrower and darker (sometimes called the late wood).  A light and dark ring together constitute one year’s growth.   In winter, there is no growth. Trees and their annual rings are essentially long term recording devices that ‘house’ information about climatic variations, past climates and ecosystems; they can even offer insights into historical events. From an annual ring, it is possible to extract information about precipitation, temperature and other climate data about that year. Read more...
And is there honey still for tea?

And is there honey still for tea?

by Chris, 25 July, 2019, 0 comments

Declining bee populations in Europe have caused alarm in recent years and the decline has been attributed to a multitude of factors / causes, for example :- Climate change Pesticides - especially neonicotinoids Varroa mites Viruses Now Russia is reporting mass bee deaths and major declines in their bee populations in recent months.  Read more...
Hedgehog havens ?

Hedgehog havens ?

by Lewis, 8 July, 2019, 0 comments

The hedgehog was once a common visitor to urban gardens, but now its numbers are in steep decline.   Our hedgehogs face a number of threats in the modern, urban environment.   For example : Being hurt by a pet dog Being hit by a car Ingesting slug pellets (metaldehyde - a poison) Becoming entangled in netting for growing peas / beans Getting stuck in a discarded tin can Entanglement in discarded rubber bands Being burnt in a bonfire whilst hibernating / sheltering Being wounded by garden implements eg. strimmers Read more...
Robustness and the resilience of woodlands.

Robustness and the resilience of woodlands.

by Lewis, 28 September, 2018, 2 comments

Over the centuries, our woodlands have experienced (to a degree) a relatively stable environment - both in terms of climate and biological ‘incursions’.  There have been occasional ‘perturbations’ some climate or weather related - such as the Great Storm of 1987 and some biological such as Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970’s. Our woodlands have been managed largely on the basis of this stability - a relatively constant biological and physical environment.  However now, climate change is an established fact and the number of biological threats to our native flora and fauna has increased significantly in recent times.   Climate change has seen the advance of Spring and more ‘extreme weather’ [for example, drought, high winds] plus the large scale movement / importation of trees, timber and plants from many different parts of the world has lead to the introduction of various pathogens and pests.  Read more...
Counting butterflies

Counting butterflies

by Lewis, 20 July, 2016, 2 comments

The British have always been inclined to talk about the weather “it's been too hot, too cold, been raining for days etc”.  However, there is now some justification for discussing the weather as recent years have seen the number of extreme weather events increasing and there have been significant changes in the ‘pattern of the weather”. Though not extreme, the weather this Spring and early Summer has been been disappointing.  Sleet and snow fell in late April, and there were a number of sharp frosts.  The April temperature was 6.5o C, 0.9o C below the 20 year long term average.  Most regions were colder and wetter.  This pattern continued into June.  This sort of weather, when coupled with last year’s rather cold , wet summer has significant effects on both insect and bird populations. Read more...
Winter weather, and its effects

Winter weather, and its effects

by Chris, 20 February, 2014, 5 comments

In 2010, the blog reported on the exceptional winter weather.  Back then, we had just ‘emerged’ from one of the coldest winters on record. Currently, we are experiencing one of the wettest winters ever. In December, the East Coast faced storms and a tidal surge (affecting communities from Scotland down to Essex), and then Christmas Eve saw high winds and the cancellation of flights from Gatwick.   January brought some 175 mm of rain in the South East.  The closest comparable January was that of 1948.  A summary of the winter so far can be found at the Met Office web site - here Read more...
Unseasonal weather

Unseasonal weather

by Lewis, 13 December, 2011, 4 comments

We have experienced an extended and warm autumn, and now true to Pliny's words - "A fair and dry autumn brings in always a windy winter" - winter weather has now firmly settled upon us.  The temperature is down to "more representative" seasonal values for December, and cold, high winds have recently lashed Scotland and other parts of the U.K. The warmest Autumn (for some 300 + years) was in 2006, when the temperature was some 2.4 / 3 oC above the seasonal average ; places like Kinlochewe recording a daytime temperature of 22.5 oC.   The recent mild weather * was due to an unusual pattern of high altitude winds over the Continent.  The course of the jet stream meant that there were southerly winds and relatively settled conditions over the United Kingdom. Read more...
Weather and climate ......

Weather and climate ……

by Chris, 25 December, 2010, 6 comments

Books often describe our climate as being ‘mild for the latitude’.  It might be difficult to believe this given the actual weather over these last few weeks. Newfoundland is similar in latitude to the British Isles, but the average temperature is some 10oC colder in winter.  We are the beneficiaries of the warming effect of the North Atlantic Drift – a current that develops in the Gulf of Mexico and then flows north-east across the Atlantic. It is a part or continuation of the Gulf Stream but we are also at the mercy of the jet stream. Read more...

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