Saturday 1 May 2010

Bimonthly Weather report March -April 2010

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Winter dragged on.  The Cranes were late flying north.  Often one sees them around February 25th.  They fly in great V skeins cackling so that you hear them from a kilometre away.  We had two flights each of several formations on March 1st and then much later on March 14th.  The 1st cuckoo was heard on March 21st. The 1st Swallow on April 5th; Hoopoe April 9th; Oriole April 21st; and Nightingale April 18th.   
No nightingale has been heard near the house up to May 1st.  We had one last year.  The cuckoos have not been so apparent as previously.
 Butterflies - The scarce swallowtail seems early on 17th April; Orange-tips on the 5th April. 
The beautiful tree - Le Prunier de la St. Jean flowered fully on 23 March - It was on March 14th in 2009, and in 2008 was in full flower on February 19th.
The peach tree bloomed fully on 25th March, ten days later than in 2009.
The first Orchis morio (orchid) was seen on April 11th and the first daffodils on March 4th.


These two months have been very dry - April saw only 13 mm of rain.
The first half of March was cold and raw with  frosts on ten nights, one down to minus five.  The first real change to Spring did not arrive until mid April.
The first daffodils came into flower on March 4th.