Despite some of the country experiencing glorious sunshine this weekend, it’s already being suggested that this will become known as the "year with no summer". Experts in many agricultural fields have been commenting on the signs of autumn coming. Blackberries are ripening, conkers are falling, holly berries are red and mushrooms are springing up. Ian Johnson, of the National Farmers’ Union has expresed his concern in The Telegraph that global warming will increasingly mean such weather disturbances affecting crops unpredictably.
This year’s early harvest is partly due to one of the hottest springs on record which set plants flowering early and animals breeding and migrating sooner than usual.
However, according to Met Office forecasts, we shouldn’t despair yet, as they hint at some hotter, drier weather yet to come in the latter half of August. What that will mean for fruits and crops already ripening ahead of schedule will remain to be seen. We will also have to wait and see if this year’s unpredictable weather is part of a pattern of global warming weather fluctuations or merely a one-off aberration.
I ate ripe blackberries from a hedge in Bury today.
Perhaps the year that summer went on holiday? it's been rather hot here on the east coast of the US...