The Met Office tells us that March was “unsettled wet and dull”, with a succession of Atlantic fronts bringing wind and rain. The resulting rainfall total recorded by Rachael Parks in her Formby garden was 91.5 mm, which is about 50% more than average. My measurements at the Devil’s Hole suggest that the sand-dune water-table...
BTO Press release The latest report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel, published today, reveals four species of birds of prey, including Osprey, have reached record totals in the UK, as have several species of rare and colonising heron. However, two species of rare breeding bird failed to breed for the second year in succession....
My May notes ended with “Surely June can’t be as dry as this, can it?” Well it was, for the first nine days, leaving our wonderful sand-dunes burnt brown. Thereafter, live-giving rain fell on ten days but only in small amounts. Met. Office maps showed we had about 75% of normal rainfall during the month. Nationally, it was the hottest June since records began and the sunniest since 1957.
I thought we had got away without a spring drought this year but no such luck. May provided begrudging rainfall on only six days and nothing after 19th. Rachael Parks sent me rain-gauge data from her Formby garden. Her May total was 28.5 mm, this being 50% of the long-term average. Met. Office maps for May show that Greater Manchester and north Merseyside were the driest areas in England.