Spring Weather 2016

[Maggi Young]

been snowing here today and now the sun is out

1st rhodohypoxis flower is out in one of the tunnels - seems a bit early

 
 Other people ( not us) always seemed to have Rhodohypoxis  for the Aberdeen Show at around the mid-May mark  - and that always seemed early to me! The pots  had all been under cover of course, which none of ours were!

[Maggi Young]

My Grandad used to keep his guineafowl well fenced in to keep them from  going off too far  to hide their eggs - they're  smart little cookies to do that though, eh? 

[Roma]

 
 Other people ( not us) always seemed to have Rhodohypoxis  for the Aberdeen Show at around the mid-May mark  - and that always seemed early to me! The pots  had all been under cover of course, which none of ours were!

Oops!  I have not repotted or watered mine yet so I won't have any by mid-May this year.

[Maggi Young]

It'd be interesting to  know how long it does take them from the repot and watering to flower though, Roma.....

[johnstephen29]

My Grandad used to keep his guineafowl well fenced in to keep them from  going off too far  to hide their eggs - they're  smart little cookies to do that though, eh? 

Too smart for my liking, great guard dogs though.

[johnw]

My Grandad used to keep his guinea-fowl well fenced in to keep them from  going off too far  to hide their eggs - they're  smart little cookies to do that though, eh? 

Apparently great hunters of ticks and weevils of all sorts.

Bernard Jackson told me last week that pheasants here would lay their eggs amongst the native Allliums to avoid detection by scent.  Smart birds except for the automobile grill marks.....

Weather has been chilly, a flurry of large snowflakes at supper time yesterday, 1/2" down and lasted overnight in shady spots and north-facing rooves.   The Podos surprisingly perked up again by 10 am.

john

[fermi de Sousa]

I hope you lot are going to get your weather sorted out before we get over there next year after the Czech Conference!
I think it was a "Not the nine o'clock News" skit which had 2 opposing politicians on a talk show with one of them saying "we had much more sunshine under a Labour Government"
We are rejoicing in the half inch of rain we received today!
cheers
fermi

[Hoy]

Although we have had cold nights around 0C and a cold breeze from north the sun shone and the temperature increased considerably during the day. Now we have gotten milder weather but rain

It is still snowing higher up and they're striving to open some of the mountain roads which are closed during winter:



http://www.nrk.no/mr/se-den-spektakulaere-broytevideoen-1.12921983

[ian mcdonald]

April showers and a cold wind here today. My washing has been rinsed twice by the rain.

[Steve Garvie]

Looking out of my window here at work I can see snow on the Knock Hill & Saline Hill as well as on the Ochils.
We had warmer days in December & January!

[alant]

Ah, your comment about snow on Knockhill brings back memories.  I used to go motor racing at the Knockhill circuit in the 1970's, and it was always cold and wet there, even in the summer!

There is a silver lining to this extended cold period though.  Many of the plants in the garden have flowered for much longer than usual.  The erythroniums have been in bloom for ages, as have the narcissus.  The downside is the damage that night frosts have done to many of the rhododendron flowers.   

[Tristan_He]

I agree, loads of things are flowering for a long time. Also, cool weather means that lots of alpines are not being stressed at the start of the growing season, especially if they have been recently planted. Should be better for keeping growth nice and tight too. Maybe not so good for pollination though!

[TC]

A couple of pictures illustrating west coast weather.
The one of Arran was taken on Friday.  Full winter gear was required on the coast at Hunterston when we were looking at a Raven's nest with 3 young ready to fledge.

The one of Ben Lomond was taken yesterday on our way back from Garelochead.  We passed it at about 10:30 when it was dazzling white in the sunshine against a cloudless blue sky.  I could not cross the flow of traffic so we stopped at about 16.00 on the way back.  In the 5 hours when we first saw it, half the snow has disappeared.  Testament to the strengthening power of sunshine at this time of year.

[johnstephen29]

Great pictures of Ben lomond Tom, I've passed that mountain many times in the past when I used go on walking holidays in the highlands. I've got a picture somewhere of myself at the top of Ben Nevis in July, there was snow on the ground and it was freezing cold, Nevis is of course a lot higher than lomond, but it felt strange, all those layers on in the middle of summer.

[TC]

My wife and I were last up Ben Lomond in 1964.  I can remember I decided to come down via Ptarmigan hill and catch the Maid of the Loch at Rowardennan.

We descended straight down in a controlled crash and pushed through a forestry plantation to the main road.  On our way down we flushed two Ptarmigans.  Arriving at the road, we were over a mile from the pier and the Maid of the Loch was coming fast.  It was like one of these brutal army forced marches.  We had to run the distance to the pier with me dragging Cindy who had had enough.  However the thought of paying for a 14 mile taxi journey to Balloch for the train or sleeping rough on the shore as we were skint ,plus the promise of a pint of lager on the boat, had the desired effect. We made it just as the boat was mooring up.  Instead of a pint of lager each, we had two !