Noisette Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Is it me or is this the coldest, wettest spring for at least 15 years? How are your gardens doing? From what I can see of mine from the windows, the early flowers are certainly lasting longer due to the low temperatures, and the paper wasps are getting knocked back a bit, but that's it for the silver linings 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLister Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Couple of weeks ago it was 30 degrees then it turned on a dime. Just had a week of wind and now forecast for a week of rain. Happy for the rain ( might get to run the pool this year ) but the grass could certainly do with a cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 It's the weirdest weather I have known in my umpteen years here. Planning to walk with friends this afternoon as it's been sunny and only a bit cold this morning but I made the mistake of looking at the météo. It says, orage and grêles this afternoon! So it will be lunch at home and perhaps I'll make some bread. I am no domestic goddess, moi, so this does not seem like an attractive alternative to a walk and perhaps taking some pictures on my new phone and see if they come up upside down like Noisette's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Well, we have the Saints de Glace which is a cold spell in late April to sometime in the first week of May so big drop in temperature and some frosts. But the Gods of Weather seem about to give us warm southerly breezes. Finally I sill be able to finish getting thengarden into some sort of shape; there are queues of plants waiting to go in and they are beginning to mutter. Plus I have grandson for a week so will have to go out more than usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Having only arrived to our current home in December 2022, we don't have lots of years of experience with weather here. However, I will say that Winter of 2023/2024 was FAR wetter than the previous Winter. In fact I think the rain started n October 2023 and it was a rare day between then and March 2024 that it didn't rain. Everyone was talking about it. Really does a number on your mood. And like Menthe, we like to walk each day but not in the rain. So, we miss being outside. We have managed to get some plants in the ground, but then the freeze came, so we are keeping an eye on everything. Put some tomato, cucumber and pepper plants in the ground and so far, they are still alive. Miracle after that last storm that brought small bits of hail. Now we have the same risk for tomorrow.. Be a miracle if it survives. The grass got mowed and strimmed yesterday while a light rain was falling. At least it got done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 According to the global boiling brigade:- "most parts of Europe experienced exceptionally warm spring temperatures between early March and mid April" So there..!! https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/warm-spring-weather-benefitted-crops-most-europe-2024-04-22-0_en 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Replying to my own post here:- Observing some signs of the variance of plant growth in our own garden, the fact that the variegated privet hedge some 25 metres long along the road boundary of our property lost it's leaves totally this last winter and was still bare in mid March, the first time this has happened since we arrived in 2009, no sign of any infection etc, and a large flowering cherry putting out the worst show of blossom again since 2009, leads me to think that the global boiling brigade are talking up their agenda, rather than telling it like it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLister Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 or maybe they are just drought stricken. I've lost a cherry and a mulberry over the last 12 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisette Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 44 minutes ago, Harnser said: Replying to my own post here:- Observing some signs of the variance of plant growth in our own garden, the fact that the variegated privet hedge some 25 metres long along the road boundary of our property lost it's leaves totally this last winter and was still bare in mid March, the first time this has happened since we arrived in 2009, no sign of any infection etc, and a large flowering cherry putting out the worst show of blossom again since 2009, leads me to think that the global boiling brigade are talking up their agenda, rather than telling it like it is. Now be fair, Harnser! There were at least three days in early April when we got all excited and braved the pool. The water was 20C. So there you have it....the planet's totally doomed 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisette Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 25 minutes ago, DaveLister said: or maybe they are just drought stricken. I've lost a cherry and a mulberry over the last 12 months. I think it's the extremes that do for most plants here. There are very few that will withstand soggy soil all winter and then the heat and drought of most summers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisette Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 8 hours ago, anotherbanana said: Well, we have the Saints de Glace which is a cold spell in late April to sometime in the first week of May so big drop in temperature and some frosts. But the Gods of Weather seem about to give us warm southerly breezes. Finally I sill be able to finish getting thengarden into some sort of shape; there are queues of plants waiting to go in and they are beginning to mutter. Plus I have grandson for a week so will have to go out more than usual. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_de_glace I always understood from neighbours that it's just three days in May? Can't remember it ever happening here, though. I've always gambled on dismantling the temporary 'conservatory' in March and never had a problem until this year 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 1 hour ago, DaveLister said: or maybe they are just drought stricken. I've lost a cherry and a mulberry over the last 12 months. Drought? Breizh Meteo rainfall records for Pontivy observatory - 12 km from us jan 2024 129.4 mm feb 2024 116.4 mar 2025 97.2 april 2024 57.4 I think it's possibly a long drawn out period of cold wet but not freezing weather, and the hedge dropped it's leaves to protect itself, our birch trees were very late budding and coming into leaf also. The hedge is fine now. You will note that https://temperature.global/ shows an average trend 2015 to 2024 of - 0.254 C cooling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLister Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Talking of spring. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can stop birds nesting on my terrace? The problem is that I foster cats for a local charity and the terrace is part of an enclosed area where they can get some outside exercise. I'm afraid, if I allow the birds to nest they could be put off from feeding the chicks because of the cats or, heaven forbid, a cat might catch a bird. Currently I'm out every day dismantling the nests in the hope they'll go elsewhere but I'd rather stop them doing it in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Writing frrm what seems to be the only place in France still under extreme drought conditions, and being no gardener either, plus being in the UK for most of March, all I can say is, that this year has been totally untypical ... one minute so warm I can put a T-shirt on, the next week, I'm back in winter woollies, and that has been happening all year! My drive both ways to the UK was wet, wet, and even wetter, I did manage a few nice days on and off whilst in the UK, but it has been just the same here, except for the rain, we just get grey skies, which are neither use nor ornament to anyone, since I got back. Winter woollies today, 3 days ago, T-shirt!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 1 hour ago, DaveLister said: Talking of spring. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can stop birds nesting on my terrace? The problem is that I foster cats for a local charity and the terrace is part of an enclosed area where they can get some outside exercise. I'm afraid, if I allow the birds to nest they could be put off from feeding the chicks because of the cats or, heaven forbid, a cat might catch a bird. Currently I'm out every day dismantling the nests in the hope they'll go elsewhere but I'd rather stop them doing it in the first place. We put up old CDs on string to discourage birds from nesting under our "upstairs" terrace, as we sit underneath it .. seems to work, I can see the terrace as I type and there are no birds evident, nor have been ever since we put the discs up. Bits of aluminium foil would work as well if you don't have old CDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 I remember Wooly advising me to string up Cliff Richard CDs on our veranda to stop birds commiting harikiri by flying into the glass. Not sure they worked that well BUT they weren't Cliff Richard's as specified by Wooly....I was simply not a CR fan and did not have his CDs. Eventually, I put up voile curtains which were a better deterrent though I appreciate that, in an open terrace, that might not be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLister Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Thank you Judith. If there's one thing I've got plenty of it's old CD's ( or more correctly blank DVD's ). I've tied one to each beam & fingers crossed it'll deter them. I did see one bird do an about face but that could have been because the cat was out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisette Posted April 27 Author Share Posted April 27 When they get used to the DVDs, how about a miniature version of the raptor kites used in the fields to deter pigeons? They're kites on the end of a bendy stick which swoop and sway in the breeze. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Good idea, Noisette, that would work too .. it's the movement and shiny surface that does it according to OH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 3 hours ago, Noisette said: When they get used to the DVDs, how about a miniature version of the raptor kites used in the fields to deter pigeons? They're kites on the end of a bendy stick which swoop and sway in the breeze. Ha! ha! I'd like to see some of those! I used to have a cut out of a seagull but that was a souvenir for me rather than for the birds. You see, I lived along the heritage coast in South Wales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisette Posted April 27 Author Share Posted April 27 There you go, menthe 🙂 It swoops and sways a lot better when it's streamers aren't wrapped around the pole! Amazingly, the photo loaded the right way up 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Well done, Noisette, for getting that very impressive photo! Mind you, if that bird had been swooping upside down, would you have had it soaring upwards? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLister Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Well I've just spent the last hour watching a couple of nest builders skillfully avoid the swinging DVD's to get to their beam of choice. Perhaps I need to record some Cliff Richard concerts onto them. 🤣 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 I must say I never understood the phrase "bird brain" because there is so much evidence to prove that birds are actually very smart creatures. If you could put up with the "noise" perhaps you could use some wind chimes. You could, of course, call the ensemble a Concerto for Aeolian Harps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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