Summary of 2004 Weather so far:
After last year’s exceptionally warm spring, summer and autumn it was unlikely to be repeated. We were not disappointed!
Although temperatures have been very mild, long settled sunny periods have been few and far between. Probably the most settled period of warm weather occurred during the latter part of May and well into June.
This was excellent for late spring Butterflies and the developing summer Butterfly and Moth larvae. This period also helped many Birds breeding in late spring and was reflected in good numbers of family parties of tits and finches later in the year .
The beginning of the year started with several days of hard frosts. This encouraged good numbers of winter visiting Redwings and Fieldfares to visit the Whins for the dwindling crop of berries.
A pair of Blackcaps were also seen for the first time during the winter. This normally summer visiting warbler is becoming commoner over-winter. It is believed some have altered their migration pattern to spend the winter here rather than travel to Africa.
