After quite a lengthy dry period at the end of February, we’ve had rain on 6 out of the last 7 days. Despite this, the rate of rise in the water level in the aquifer has slowed constantly during the week and fell by 1mm overnight last night. So is this an indication that Spring has really arrived? Maybe, but other indicators say otherwise. Two weeks ago, an old friend living in the north of England expressed concern that she had not seen, or heard, frogs mating in her garden pond this year. We’d noticed something similar 200 miles further south – we normally see frog-spawn in the first week of January – if the pond isn’t frozen solid. Within 24 hours of my friend posting this on Facebook, our pond was a writhing mass of debauchery and so far we’ve noted at least 15 separate clumps of frog spawn. That would all point to a very late Spring indeed. Clearly, we will have to keep watching the levels over the next few weeks to be sure of what is really going on.
It’s going to be damp overnight, clearing early on Saturday, to leave quite a pleasant day. Tomorrow morning should be dry with the possibility of some more rain later in the day. You can expect yet more rainy periods on Sunday and continiung intermittently into early next week. As the week progresses. the rainy weather continues and there remains the chance of a colder spell, but any snow should be well to the north of us. March is likely to blow itself out in a spell of windy, but drier, weather.