No-one is listening until you make a mistake - Stephen Wright
November (2025) was a bit of a strange month. There was plenty of sunshine but it also seemed to rain most days - sunshine and showers were the norm. Temperature-wise, the first half of the month (November 1st to November 15th) was extremely warm with a mean daily temperature of 12 ℃, some 5 ℃ warmer than normal! Temperatures returned to normal (daily average 6 ℃) for the second half of the month.
Storm Claudia hit Hereford on the 14th of the month with just over 22 mm of precipitation (Figure 2). Fortunately, we escaped the worst of the rain; c.f. Monmouth. Despite the (almost) one inch of rain deposited by Storm Claudia, the heaviest 24-hour rain event occurred a few days earlier on the 11th-12th November (Table 1).
This month's photo of the back garden (Photo 1) was taken on the 3rd November when there was plenty of autumn colour and before the autumn winds had removed the leaves.
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| Photo 1: The Back Garden on 3rd November 2025 |
Due to the popularity of last month's 'spot the wood pigeon', here is another test of your observational skills (Photo 2) ...
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| Photo 2: Spot the 'Woodie' |
The rest of the daily garden photos for November 2025 are collated in Video 1 ...
Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden (November 2025)
Selected weather statistics from our backyard Davis Weather Station are summarised in Table 1. We had our first autumn frosts this month (seven of them), all during the cold spell (17th -26th November, Figure 1) when the mean daily temperatures were around 4 ℃. The other notable feature of November was the near 100 mm precipitation, well above average.
Daily minimum and maximum temperatures for the month of November are shown in Figure 1. As noted above, the first half of the November were exceedingly warm, followed by about 10 days of below average temperatures with a return to warmer days and nights at the end of the month.
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| Figure 1: Min/Max Daily Temperatures (November 2025) |
Figure 2 displays the daily sunshine and precipitation values for November. Rain fell on more than ¾ of the days, yielding 99.2 mm (approximately 4 inches) for the month as a whole. 60% of the monthly total fell over a six day period (9th - 14th) resulting in local flooding. In spite of all the rain, sunshine levels held up well especially during the cold snap.
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| Figure 2: Daily Rain/Sunshine Data (November 2025) |
Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the November weather trends over the past 6 years (2020 - 2025). The mean November temperature (1991-2020 period) recorded at nearby Credenhill weather station is 7.3 ℃. Therefore, the mean November temperatures in Hereford itself (8 - 9 ℃, Figure 3) have been significantly warmer than the long-term average for the past 6 years.
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| Figure 3: Time Series of November Temperature Data (Hereford City) |
November rainfall (Figure 4) has varied from about 5 mm to 100 mm over the past 6 years. The long-term average recorded at Credenhill is 68-69 mm; the past six years in Hereford have, therefore, seen one very dry November (2021), two below average (2020, 2023), one average (2024) and two well above average (2022, 2025) months. By comparison, sunshine levels have been remarkably constant.
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| Figure 4: Time Series Rain, Sunshine & Wind Data (Hereford City) |
Figure 5, Figure 6, and Figure 7 are taken from the UK Met Office's monthly report for November 2025. For England and Wales, including Herefordshire (marked), November 2025 was warmer than the long-term average. The 1991-2020 November mean temperature at Credenhill (7.3 ℃) was 1.7 ℃ lower than my value (9 ℃, Table 1); i.e. at the upper limit indicated in Figure 5 (UHI and rounding effects?)
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| Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (November 2025) |
England and Wales, including Herefordshire, had a wet month in November (Figure 6) in agreement with my backyard weather station (Table 1). Based on the Credenhill long-term rain data, my garden received about 150% of its normal rainfall in November. Some locations in Hereford (or just outside the city) received two, three or even four times as much rain than my back garden did during Storm Claudia. This would explain why Herefordshire, generally, received 175 - 200% of its normal November precipitation (Figure 6).
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| Figure 6: Relative UK Rainfall (November 2025) |
Herefordshire (Figure 7) received above average (110% - 150%) sunshine during November 2025 and we certainly enjoyed a number of sunny days. Based on the evidence that sunshine levels were very average in November 2024, Figure 4 infers that sunshine levels in November 2025 were only 10% - 15% higher than normal.
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| Figure 7: Relative UK Sunshine Hours (November 2025) |
Jobs in the Garden
- Hot composting continues: finished compost added as mulch to the fruit beds
- Pick last of the aubergines and tomatoes in the polytunnel
- Harvesting beetroot, potatoes, turnips, chard and spinach
- Start clearing the polytunnel
Flora & Fauna in the Garden
- Blackbird (x2)
- Blue Tit (x3)
- Collared Dove (x1)
- Crow (x1)
- Dunnock (x1)
- House Sparrow (x11)
- Robin (x1)
- Starling (x12)
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| Photo 3: Starling Melee on the Bird Feeder |
- Wood Pigeon (x3)
Not many photos from the garden this month ...
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| Photo 4: Gazania Plants on the Patio Table (Nov 6th 2025) |
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| Photo 5: Cosmos in Pots (6th November 2025) |
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| Photo 6: Salvia amongst the Autumn Colours (6th November 2025) |
We were given a cutting of this Epiphyllum many years ago (20?) by a B&B landlady, Dinah, near Cleobury Mortimer. It flowers every year and we have passed cuttings onto family and friends.
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| Photo 7: Epiphyllum (indoor) - November 17th 2025 |
Finally, here is a short (2-3 minutes) video of the starlings attacking our bird feeder. Quality is not good because it was filmed through a glass windowpane in slo-mo. Can you count how many starlings there are?
Video 2: Starling Melee
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