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.
Met Office maps show that, while England had average or above average April rainfall, Merseyside was much drier than usual; it was also on the cool side. Formby had a mere nine days with measurable precipitation and only one properly wet day (10th). As a result, the sand-dune water-table fell by about 12 cm (5 inches). Nevertheless, conditions were nothing like as bad as the spring droughts of recent years.
After a largely insect-free winter, I always look forward to March when things really begin to kick off. On 7th I was pleased to find a Greater Spring Blacklet basking on Ivy in woodland at Freshfield. This was a fairly early record of a widespread spring-flying hoverfly that mimics solitary bees.
In contrast to last February’s three named storms in a week, this month was dominated by persistent high atmospheric pressure. As a result, there was measureable rain in Formby on only three days. The Met Office tells us it was the driest February in England since 1993, some places registering only 1.6 mm since 15th January. Most UK rivers are running well below normal levels, meaning less water for agriculture, water-supply and nature.