Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded - Yogi Berra
Today (21st March 2026), we spotted our first positively-identified garden butterflies. There have been earlier instances this month when either Mary or I spotted something out of the corner of our eyes but could not make a definitive ID. These were not the first Lepidoptera we'd seen this year: there were at least three instances of Brimstone butterflies spotted during our recent trip to see the wild daffodils at Betty Dawes Wood.
Photo 1: Brimstone, near Betty Daws Wood (17th March 2023)
Anyway, back to today's sightings. First on the scene was a Comma butterfly that had settled on a Viburnum bush ...
Photo 2: Comma Butterfly in the Garden (21st March 2026)
This butterfly has emerged from its winter hibernation as an adult and will be laying eggs soon (April) on its favoured food plant, the Common (or Stinging) Nettle. This specimen looks in fine fettle and is a common sight in the garden.
About half an hour later, there was a fast-moving black/dark coloured flutter that landed on the back porch roof ...
Photo 3: Peacock Butterfly in the Garden (21st March 2026)
When it opened its wings to bathe in the warm Spring sunshine, identification was easy: the Peacock butterfly.
Photo 4: Peacock Butterfly in the Garden (21st March 2026)
Peacock butterflies seen this early in the year have overwintered as adults and will be hoping to mate before laying their eggs on Common Nettle in May. Peacocks are one of the longest-living butterflies with an average lifespan of 10-11 months. You can see a little bit of damage to wings but this specimen looks in pretty good order.
Butterflies, as is their nature, are rather fluttery and tend to keep moving. This Peacock kept returning to the porch roof in between its flutterings. It was a warm sunny day and the roof tiles would have provided a warm landing spot in between feeding forays; e.g. to this nearby primrose.
Photo 5: Peacock Butterfly on Primrose Flower (21st March 2026)
Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning? - George W Bush
Photo 1: Flowering Cherry in Front of Ludlow Castle*
Today (18th March 2026) was provisionally declared the warmest day of the year so far by the UK Met Office. Temperatures of 20.9 ℃ and 20.2 ℃ were recorded in NW Wales and London, respectively. In Hereford (specifically our back garden), the temperature was 21 ℃ for 3 hours this afternoon (2 - 5 pm)**. Mary reported that lots of people were wearing T-shirts in Hereford City. It certainly was a very pleasant day to work in the garden.
How does the Foehn effect work? In this case, the prevailing wind was from the East. As the moving air hits the Welsh mountain ranges (Brecon Beacons*** and Snowdonia****), it rises & cools causing the water vapour to condense out so that the air becomes drier. As this cool dry air descends on the other (western) side of the mountains, it is compressed (as the altitude drops) and adiabatically warmed. Which is the how and why it was warmest on the NW coast of Wales today.
* Strictly speaking, a small Kojo-No-Mai potted cherry tree in front of a photograph of Ludlow Castle!
** All my Davis Weather Station temperature readings are rounded to the nearest whole number
It was impossible to get a conversation going, everyone was talking too much - Yogi Berra
Photo 1: Canada Geese at Brockhall Quarry, near Hereford (19/1/26)
First of all, let's dismiss the urban myth that Canada Geese were named after an ornithologist called John Canada. There is no evidence such a person existed and, in any case, the nomenclature for Canada geese has a purely geographical origin.
Carl Linnaeus formalised the name of Branta canadensis or geese from Canada in 1758. Although migratory birds, they seldom reach the United Kingdom by this route. Canada geese were introduced into Britain in 1665 by Charles II as part of his waterfowl collection in St James Park, London. From such small beginnings, Canada geese have proliferated and are now ubiquitous throughout the UK. The UK population of Canada geese is estimated to be between 150,000 and 200,000.
On a recent visit to the nature reserve at Brockhall Quarry, we came across a good number of Canada geese ...
Video 1: Canada Geese @ Brockhall Quarry (19/1/26)
... Mary estimated about 400. Brockhall Quarry (aka Sugwas Pools) is a few miles outside Hereford. It is not far from the SAS base at Credenhill where, coincidentally, the Met Office weather station, that I often refer to in my View from the Rear Garden series of posts, is located. The above video features a helicopter returning to its Credenhill base.
I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork - Peter de Vries
Mary was busy in the garden yesterday while I was busy catching up with my Citizen Science work in our second kitchen (or my laboratory!). I could see through the kitchen window that Mary was looking at something on the patio. She quickly gestured to me to pass over my phone which I duly did. And this was the picture she took ...
Photo 1: Sparrowhawk with its Prey, a House Sparrow (3rd March 2026)
Our resident House Sparrows were the home team while the Sparrowhawk was the away team. Clearly an away victory!
We've had a Sparrowhawk in the garden before though many years ago. It also took a single House Sparrow and consumed it on site. I think only the beak survived! This time the Sparrowhawk was spooked and disappeared with its meal.
A few years back, our son came across another Sparrowhawk that had downed a wood pigeon and was about to enjoy a somewhat bigger meal. Generally, the larger female Sparrowhawk will take birds up to Wood Pigeon size (40-42 cm) whereas the smaller male Sparrowhawk is limited to Mistle Thrush (26-28 cm) and smaller. Both sexes are happy to take smaller birds like tits and sparrows.
Video 1: Sparrowhawk with Pigeon Dinner
Although primarily a bird of woodland, the Sparrowhawk is often found hunting in gardens where humans provide an all-you-can-eat buffet table, otherwise known as a bird feeder and/or bird table! Sparrowhawks need to eat 2-3 small birds (e.g. sparrows, starlings) per day. The male Sparrowhawk eats every day but the female can survive for 3-4 days on a single large kill such as a Wood Pigeon. There is no evidence to indicate that Sparrowhawks have a detrimental effect on the local small bird population.
Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up - Tom Stoppard
We were glad when January ended. The first week of the new year started off cold, dry with a decent amount of sunshine. It then continued cold and wet for another week. It warmed up a little in the final two weeks of January (no frosts); the downside of this relatively warmer weather (bearing in mind it is still winter) was that it turned much wetter.
This month's garden picture (Photo 1) was taken on the 12th January and is representative of the whole month (i.e. dank).
Photo 1: Back Garden on 12th January 2025
And nobody's favourite: Where's Woody?
Photo 2: Where's Woody?
All January's daily garden photos are collated in Video 1.
Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden (January 2026)
Selected weather stats from our garden weather station are summarised in Table 1. There were only 7 frost days in January which is on the low side - most of them came in the first week which may have influenced the perception of a cold month overall. Monthly precipitation (92.0 mm) was above average which definitely influenced the perception of a wet month! The greatest amount of rain within a 24 hour period came on the 8/9th when Storm Goretti hit the UK. Herefordshire largely escaped the damaging winds though. The Isles of Scilly, Cornwall and the Channel Islands took the brunt of the storm in the UK - here is a video from Longships Lighthouse taken during Storm Goretti which I found interesting.
Table 1: Summary Weather Statistics for January 2026
Daily minimum and maximum temperatures for January 2026 are reproduced in Figure 1. The first half of January was colder than the second half due to a combination of higher daytime and nighttime temperatures. The lowest temperature (-5 ℃) was recorded between 1.30 am and 2.00 am on the morning of the 6th. Somewhat unexpectedly, the highest temperature (12 ℃) was recorded in the evening (ca 8.30 pm) on the 11th.
Daily rainfall and sunshine hours are shown in Figure 2. It rained on 24 of the 31 days in January. From the 10th January, it rained every day with only 2 exceptions. There are reasons to be thankful, however, since it rained every day in January in the village of Cardinham, Cornwall. There were two intense 24-hour rainfall events on the 8/9th and 26/27th (see Figure 2) arising from Storm Goretti and Storm Chandra. It will therefore come as no surprise that sunshine hours were generally depressed throughout the month apart from the first week.
Figure 2: Daily Rainfall/Sunshine Hours Data (January 2026)
The past 7 years of monthly temperature data for January (2020 - 2026) are shown graphically in Figure 3. The mean monthly temperatures indicate that January 2026 was not especially cold and, indeed, was very average compared to the previous 6 years. Is there a decreasing trend in maximum monthly temperatures? Probably not! You never quite know what your going to get in January. Take 2022, for example: it had the most frost days (15) and yet its average monthly temperature was 2 ℃ above the norm for 2020 - 2026.
Figure 3: Time Series (2020 - 2026) of January Temperatures (Hereford City)
The 2020 - 2026 time series for monthly rainfall, sunshine hours and maximum wind speeds are shown in Figure 4. The standout feature here is that 2026 had the wettest January since my records began in 2020. We can also see that the amount of January rainfall is highly variable. As mentioned above, the weather in January can still be a mixed bag. Interestingly, sunshine hours have been fairly constant over the past 7 years despite the 4-5 fold variability in rainfall levels.
Figure 4: Time Series (2020 - 2026) of Monthly Rainfall, Sunshine Hours & Maximum Wind Speed (Hereford City)
The following three figures are taken from the UK Met Office's Monthly report for January 2026. Figure 5 shows the mean temperature anomaly (relative to the 1991 - 2020 average) for the United Kingdom. Southern England, including Herefordshire (circled), experienced a monthly mean temperature close to the long-term average while more northern and easterly climes were below average. According to our nearest Met Office weather station at Credenhill (about 4 miles away), the 1991 -2020 average temperature for this area is 4.7 ℃. The recorded mean of 5 ℃ from our garden weather station is, therefore, in good agreement.
Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (January 2026)
Figure 6 reports the January 2026 rainfall for the UK relative to the 1991 - 2020 long-term average. Southern England took the brunt of the wet weather thanks to the Storm Goretti and Storm Chandra, although parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland were strongly affected. Herefordshire experienced above average rainfall (150-200 %). This is in good agreement with my backyard weather station where January's rainfall (92 mm, Table 1) was 150% that of the expected value (62 mm average based on the last 7 years).
Figure 6: Relative UK Rainfall (January 2026)
Figure 7 shows the relative sunshine hours in the UK for January 2026. The far north of Scotland and much of the east coast had below average sunshine levels while the remainder of the UK had average or slightly above average sunshine hours. Typically, January sunshine hours in the Midlands are 50-55 hours; hence the 46 hours recorded by my weather station (Table 1) is on the low side (87% of the expected value) but not wildly so.
Figure 7: Relative UK Sunshine Hours (January 2026)
Jobs in the Garden
A quiet month as the rain and cold are not conducive to gardening
Harvesting spinach and celeriac from the garden plus some potatoes. Remaining beetroot in the ground suffered frost damage
Continue hot composting at a low level
Still using last year's red onion and garlic crops
Eating aubergine, chilli and bell peppers, green beans, tomatoes, field beans, blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants, apple, blackberries and raspberries.
Flora and Fauna in the Garden
Blackbird (x1, male)
Blackcap (x1, female)
Blue Tit (x2)
Collared Dove (x1)
Crow (x2)
Dunnock (x1)
Great Tit (x1)
House Sparrow (x10)
Robin (x1)
Starling (x9)
Wood Pigeon (x2)
Wren (x1)
For once, no extra photographs of the back garden apart from those taken in Video 1 plus the snowdrops reported here. It can be quiet at this time of the year!
Perennials are the ones that grow like weeds, biennials are the ones that die this year instead of next and hardy annuals are the ones that never come up at all - Katherine Whitehorn
Mary was saying, just the other day, that the Winter Flowering Cherry (WFC) tree was devoid of blossom; as can be seen in Photo 1 taken on the 27th February 2026. Indeed, it is fair to say that Mary was more than a little worried that there was something wrong with the WFC tree.
I can tell you when fruit and vegetables need to be sown and harvested but I don't have that superpower when it comes to inedible plants. Last year was very warm overall with the months of October, November, and December also warm. Does winter season warmth encourage flowering?
Photo 1: Back Garden on 27th February 2026
I have photos of the WFC tree going back to 2021 as part of my View from the Rear Window series of blog posts. So let's see what the flowering status of the WFC was in previous years at the end of February. Starting with 2021 ...
Photo 2: Back Garden on 27th February 2021
Photo 3: Back Garden on 27th February 2022
Photo 4: Back Garden on 24th February 2023
Photo 5: Back Garden on 27th February 2024
Photo 6: Back Garden on 27th February 2025
We can see from the above pictures that the WFC had the most blossom in 2023. Note the earlier date for the February 2023 photo as we were on snowdrop tour in late February/early March of that year; see here, here, here, and here. However, as a general rule, blossom levels are very low at the end of February.
Does Mary's 'blossom clock' need re-calibrating? I think so! Looking through past photos of the WFC tree, it seems the end of March is when peak blossom-time occurs. Here, for example, is the WFC at the end of March 2021 ...
Photo 7: Winter Flowering Cherry, 31st March 2021
... and at the end of March 2022 ...
Photo 8: Winter Flowering Cherry, 31st March 2022
... and at the end of March 2023 ...
Photo 9: Winter Flowering Cherry, 31st March 2023
... and at the end of March 2024 (note: peak blossom had already passed by this time as it had with our neighbour's tree in the background) ...
Photo 10: Winter Flowering Cherry, 31st March 2024
... and at the end of March 2025 ...
Photo 11: Winter Flowering Cherry, 31st March 2025
So how had Mary's blossom clock gone so out of kilter? Possibly the extreme 'greyness' of this past winter with little in the way of sunshine to brighten one's mood. We have emerged from the gloom of winter as the mornings and evenings are brighter.
At some point, I shall look at the WFC blossom times in more detail to see if it is possible to identify how weather and climate influence their flowering times. In the meantime, Mary is reserving judgement on whether the WFC tree is on its way out.
A large dose of snowdrops is the best cure for winter blues - Craftycabbage
Photo 1: Snowdrops & Yew Balls, The Weir Garden (February 1st 2026)
The Weir Garden is a National Trust garden located just outside Hereford. It is a steeply-banked riverside garden re-known for its display of Spring bulbs (snowdrops, daffodils, etc). I have extolled its virtues in a number of previous posts; see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. You might have guessed that we do like to visit!! It is fairly basic amenities-wise (just toilets) but a great place for picnics, a gentle stroll, and a visit to the walled garden (time-permitting) to see what's growing in the vegetable garden.
It was the first day of February and a planned walk with friends had been cancelled due to an inclement forecast. We did get some rain but it brightened up in the late afternoon and there was just time to drive the 5 miles to the garden to enjoy the early spring bulbs along with some tea and homemade scones and biscuits.
Photo 2: Snowdrops at the Garden Entrance (Feb 1st 2026)
Despite the lateness of the day (3 pm, closing time 4:30 pm), the car park was surprisingly full. We showed our membership cards at the kiosk as we surveyed the first clumps of snowdrops at the entrance.
Most of the paths around the garden are gravelled and well-drained. There were a few flooded areas and a short section of grassy/muddy pathway where I slipped and landed on my backside. Much to the amusement of Mary. Sturdy footwear is thus recommended and there are a few climbs with rustic steps to be negotiated.
The stars of the show were undoubtedly the snowdrops ...
Photo 5: An Isolated Clump of Snowdrops, Weir Garden, 2026
Photo 6: A Carpet of Snowdrops, Weir Garden, February 1st 2026
Photo 7: Snowdrops En Masse, Weir Garden (1/2/26)
Apart from the snowdrops there were a few other Spring flowers on show though sparsely distributed ...
We stayed for about 90 minutes and were the last to leave. We hope to be back later to see the daffodils and, later on, the wild garlic. By then the weather should be a little kinder.
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