Global warming and associated climate change is now well and truly with us. The Met. Office says that July was the driest in England since 1935 and the driest ever in the south-east. New temperature records were set, including the first time that 40oC was reached in the UK (on 19th). Luckily, it was about...
According to the Met. Office, June continued the run of warm dry months this year, rain in the northwest being only 50-75% of average. In Formby, measureable rain in small quantity fell on only nine days, mainly near the beginning and end of the month. This was reflected in a rapid fall in the dune water-table, the level in the Devil’s Hole, Ravenmeols, dropping by 15cm, leaving the slacks almost entirely dry. This time last year there was extensive surface water. I saw no evidence of Natterjack Toad breeding in the Devil’s Hole and it looks as though it was another poor year coastwide.
Another dry month with only nine days with measurable rainfall; as a result the sand-dune water-table fell by 12 cm. National data show it was the 5th warmest May on record, thanks largely to unusually warm nights. In our region, only 50-70% of average rainfall fell during the spring months of March to May. As...
Following on from an exceptionally dry March, the spring drought continued with only five days of measureable rainfall in April and none after 12th. By the end of the month even the TV weather presenters were acknowledging that “gardeners would appreciate some rain.” You might well ask why farmers, growers, the water supply industry and the natural environment did not merit similar concerns! The Met. Office acknowledged “a run of dry Aprils in recent years.” In fact, this weather pattern extends back to 2000, as I have repeatedly pointed out in these notes. Cold dry nights meant awful breeding conditions for Natterjack Toads. I heard one call briefly at Hightown on 27th and that was it.